The idea of a zombie apocalypse has received cult status from a plethora of those who say it’s not a matter of if, but when the dead will rise and attempt to overtake the living. Of course the idea has been around since George Romero’s first science fiction horror film The Night of the Living Dead, but has taken on a culture that transcends many peoples’ idea of fiction and reaches into the real world. But now with more people suggesting the possibility of a zombie apocalypse, a new subculture of survivalism has sprouted that looks for ways to survive the zombie apocalypse. Of course all of this preparation hinges on one key factor – winter.
It’s generally accepted that the walking dead would be allowed to become animate through some unknown electrical impulses from within the body or some mystical power. But generally most zombie literature accepts that these creatures would not be able to generate their own heat. And therein lies the rub for a zombie apocalypse. In the winter months, survivors of the legions of the dead would be able to comfortably live out their lives unhindered by fears of zombies traversing the wilderness and eating them. As the temperature dropped, the creatures would find themselves moving slowly and then stopping altogether as their bodies became encased in ice. And certain regions, such as those in snow capped mountains or up near the frosty arctic circle or Alaska would be unaffected.
There would be some areas where a bite from the walking dead might still be dangerous. In large buildings, even in winter, there would be a very real possibility of finding some stragglers who had avoided freezing. And in the days between big snows the temperatures could rise enough to thaw out the living dead and possibly even allow them to once again move (depending on how they found their ability to move in the first place.)
The end result immediately casts a massive shadow on the idea of the living dead. If the initial outbreak were to occur say around Halloween, it would not affect the living for very long before the nightmare ended or was at least postponed until the following spring. Of course a winter where the infrastructure was in shambles would in itself require a much perseverance on the part of any survivors of the initial outbreak.
So if you hate the idea of a zombie apocalypse, and you hear the walking dead roaming down the street, just wait a few months and you’ll be in the clear by New Year’s Eve. And who knows, maybe you’ll be able to find your way to cooler ground and never have to see another zombie again. Of course be sure to bring a coat.
And while it may not seem like the typical thing you would expect to see from the paranormal field, it’s certainly strange how all encompassing this cultural phenomenon has become so that zombie “survivors” are becoming increasingly serious over a theoretically purely fictional phenomenon. And as the concept of a zombie invasion moves from literature into folklore territory, it’s only a matter of time before people start reporting seeing zombies walking in the abandoned towns of our world in the flesh.
