Zombie Walk
Encyclopedia
A zombie walk is an organized public gathering of people who dress up in zombie
costume
s. Usually taking place in an urban center, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping mall
s to a public space
(or a series of taverns in the case of a zombie pub crawl) in a somewhat orderly fashion.
walks have become relatively common in large cities, especially in North America
, often becoming annual traditions, though some are also spontaneous "flash mob
" events or performance art
. Promoted primarily through word of mouth and online message boards, zombie walks are an underground
activity. During the event participants are encouraged to remain in character as zombies and to communicate only in a manner consistent with zombie behavior. This may include grunting, groaning and slurred, moaning calls for 'brains'. Zombie behavior is a hot topic of debate. Purists who draw their definitions from the original Romero
Living Dead
films will claim that a zombie would never have the ability to call for 'brains' and furthermore that a zombie needs only living or freshly killed flesh for its sustenance, and not the brain in particular.
The complexity and purpose of some zombie walks have grown and changed with their popularity. An advanced technique to heighten interest and realism, some zombie mobs will "eat" victims to create new zombies, in sight of onlookers. The better coordinated zombie mobs will establish a route and an easily recognizable signal, so that other participants can plant themselves, appearing as an otherwise ordinary human, along the route in old, tearable clothes, and as the mob shambles along it can discover and devour new victims. As the zombies surround the new victim to loudly feed, concealing him or her from witnesses' view, they tear clothes and quickly apply makeup and fake blood, to create a new zombie, who then shambles along with the ever-expanding pack to find new victims. Some participants occasionally dress up as soldiers who are called in to contain the outbreak, or survivors who are trying to defend themselves from the onslaught of the zombie horde. Some events are staged as spoof political rallies organized "to raise awareness of zombie rights", with participants carrying placards. Many zombie walks have also been staged as "hunger marches
" with the intent of raising awareness of world hunger and collecting items for food bank
s.
The earliest zombie walk on record was held on August 19, 2001 in Sacramento
, California
. The event, billed as "The Zombie Parade," was the brain-child of Bryna Lovig, who suggested it to the organizers of The Trash Film Orgy as a way to promote their annual midnight film festival. It was held again on July 27, 2002 and has since become an annual event.
The first zombie gathering run as a non-promotional event and billed as a "Zombie Walk" was held in October 2003, in Toronto
, Ontario
. It was organized by local horror movie fan, Thea Munster, and had only six participants. In subsequent years the Toronto Zombie Walk grew tremendously in size. One of the first participants in the Toronto Zombie Walk, Heather McDermid, moved to Vancouver
, B.C.
and spread the zombie walk tradition to that city. On August 27, 2005 over 400 participants proceeded through Vancouver's Pacific Centre Mall
, travelled on the SkyTrain
(referred to for the event as the "SkyBrain" or the "BrainTrain") and continued 35 blocks to Mountain View Cemetery
.
The mid to late 2000's saw an exponential gain in popularity for zombie walks due largely to the increase of successful zombie films at the time, the Resident Evil movies
, 28 Days Later
, Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead
, Shaun of the Dead
, George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
, and Zombieland
being a few examples. Documentation of the phenomenon appeared in mainstream news media and blogs, such as Boingboing. Zombie walks soon spread across North America
and to cities around the globe, such as Mar del Plata
, Argentina.
On October 29, 2006, 894 "zombie walkers" gathered at the Monroeville Mall
outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which served as the set of George A. Romero
's classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead, to participate in Pittsburgh's first annual 'Walk of the Dead.' In addition to setting a Guinness World Record, the event was a benefit for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Pittsburgh's zombie walk has since grown into an annual horror festival
called Zombie Fest. Zombie Fest is organized by The It's Alive Show
, a local Pittsburgh late night horror and science fiction television program. The Pittsburgh festival plays host to the annual 'Walk of the Dead' as well as a zombie ball
, costume contest, concerts, and celebrity guest appearances. Zombie Fest also serves as the headquarters of The It's Alive Show
' s World Zombie Day, a world hunger
charity event.
Zombie walks are also a regular occurrence at ZomBcon, "The World's First Zombie
Convention
." ZomBcon takes place every October in Seattle, Washington
. Apart from zombie walks, ZomBcon also features panel discussions with zombie authors, actors, and artists, workshops, film screenings, and other activities for zombie fans
. ZomBcon also organizes Seattle's annual ‘Red, White, and Dead’ zombie walk every July.
The first zombie walk world record was set on October 29, 2006 at Monroeville Mall
outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during Pittsburgh's first annual 'Walk of the Dead.' Guinness World Records
certified that 894 people participated in the walk. The second zombie walk at Monroeville Mall
during the 2007 Zombie Fest was also verified by Guinness World Records
as the largest gathering of zombies to date (October 28, 2007), with 1,028 participants.
The 2007 Toronto Zombie Walk drew a crowd of over 1,100 zombies, a number confirmed by Toronto Police Services. At the time, this was the largest zombie walk on record.
A zombie march in Brisbane
on May 25, 2008 set an unofficial record of over 1,500 participants according to media reports.
On June 21, 2008, a zombie march took place in Chicago
with over 1,550 zombies estimated, setting a new unofficial record.
On October 30, 2008, Grand Rapids, Michigan
, became the largest site of zombies anywhere in the world when around 4,000 zombies showed up to a zombie walk organized by Grand Rapids Community College
student, Rob Bliss. Bliss organized the walk on Facebook
but due to cost and application issues he was unable to get the walk certified by Guinness World Records
.
On 31 October 2008, a zombie walk took place in the Old Market Square of Nottingham
with 1,227 attendees. The event was organized by GameCity
, and the zombies did dances to zombie-related songs such as Michael Jackson
's "Thriller
", "Disturbia
" and "Ghostbusters
". There was also a performance from American
singer Jonathan Coulton
. The event achieved a new official Guinness World Record for largest zombie walk.
In June 2009, Pittsburgh zombie fans won back the Guinness World Record after Guinness verified that the October 26, 2008 Zombie Fest 'Walk of the Dead' at Monroeville Mall
had 1,341 participating walkers.
On July 3, 2009, a zombie walk organized by Fremont Outdoor Movies in Seattle, Washington beat all previous zombie walk records. Guinness World Records
officially recorded 3,894 zombies at the 'Red, White and Dead' zombie event, though local news claimed 4,277 participants.
In October 2009 Guinness World Records
officially recorded and approved a new record for the largest gathering of zombies. The record was set at ‘The Big Chill Festival’ in Ledbury
, Herefordshire
on August 6, 2009. There were 4,026 zombie mob participants.
On October 25, 2009 the biggest recorded gathering of zombies in the Southern Hemisphere occurred in Brisbane
with over 5,000 participants reportedly in attendance as reported by the Queeensland Police. The walk was also a charity event helping to raise awareness and money for the aptly chosen organization, The Brain Foundation of Australia.
On October 30, 2009, zombie walkers in Grand Rapids, Michigan
attempted a second run at the zombie mob world record. An estimated 8,000 participants braved rainy weather to gather in Calder Plaza outside of Grand Rapids's City and County buildings. The event was coordinated by Rob Bliss, organizer of Grand Rapids' first zombie walk. Approximately forty to fifty volunteers collected signatures from the crowd. The record is currently unverified by Guinness World Records
.
Organizers of the fifth annual 'Denver Zombie Crawl' in Denver, Colorado
counted more than 7,300 zombie walkers in the event. This is considered to be a low figure as up to 1/3 of the total participants did not walk through the counter. The crawl took place on October 23, 2010 in downtown Denver at the 16th Street Mall
. On October 24, 2010 a reported 10,000 strong zombie walk took place in Brisbane
. As with previous years, the event raised money for the Brain Foundation of Australia. Guinness
has yet to officially recognize either event as the new world record.
Guinness
officially recognized a new record for the world's largest gathering of zombies on October 30th, 2010 at the 3rd annual New Jersey Zombie Walk on the Asbury Park Boardwalk in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Guinness
recorded 4,093 zombies at the event, though organizers along with police and fire officials estimate more than 5,000 zombies were in attendance.
In July 2011, more cities would attempt to break the zombie gathering Guinness
world record held by Asbury Park, New Jersey. On July 2nd, 2011 Seattle, Washington attempted to take back the record at the 3rd annual Fremont "Red, White and Dead" Zombie Walk Hosted by Fremont Outdoor Movies. The zombie count according to Fremont organizers was 4,522 in attendance with estimations of over 4,800-5000 after the official stop point for counting zombies. Representatives from Guinness did not attend the event. On July 23rd, 2011 The Dublin Zombie Walk in Dublin, Ireland had an estimated 8,000 Zombies in attendance, but confirmation is still pending from Guinness World Records
.
October 2011 also saw multiple attempts to break The New Jersey Zombie Walk's Guinness
world record for largest zombie gathering. On October 8, 2011 the unofficial count for the Pittsburgh "World Zombie Day" Zombie Walk was 4,900 Zombies. Over 7,000 zombies are believed to have attended the 9th Annual Toronto Zombie Walk on October 22nd. Both the annual 'Denver Zombie Crawl' on October 22nd and the annual 'Brisbane Zombie Walk' on October 23rd claim to have had over 12,000 zombie participants. Guinness
has yet to officially recognize a new world record for largest gathering of zombies.
October 29 2011 -- The first zombie walk in the Philippines was held in Baguio city by Magnum Artistry (formerly flicklub) spearheaded by Carl Paolo Zobel and Porta Vaga. Over a hundred zombies and hundreds of spectators participated in the event. The zombies danced to zombie related music as choreographed by the Philippine dance group 'DNZ Team' (who also performed the first zombie flashmob dance in the Philippines October 16, 2011).
In November 2011, Mexico
broke a new world record for largest zombie gathering. Guinness
officially counted 9,806 participants, surpassing the previous record established by Asbury Park, New Jersey.
to raise funds and awareness for local and global issues, such as world hunger.
Both world record walks at Pittsburgh's Zombie Fest have included food drives. In 2008, The It's Alive Show
(the organizers of Zombie Fest), initiated World Zombie Day. The It's Alive Show
encouraged cities all over the globe to celebrate World Zombie Day by holding zombie walks to raise awareness of global hunger. The first World Zombie Day took place October 26, 2008; the same day as Pittsburgh's Zombie Fest. More than 30 cities worldwide took part in this day of global zombie walking. Food drives
for local hunger-related charities took place at each participating city's zombie walk. Pittsburgh's walk alone brought in more than one ton of food to benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The second World Zombie Day took place October 11, 2009 with even more participation from cities all over the world.
, some zombie walks have been host to criticism.
On October 31, 2006, a young woman in Bloomington, Indiana
reported to police that a group of "zombies" attacked her in her Land Rover and covered the vehicle in "purple goo". The zombies in question turned out to be participants in a small, local zombie walk, and no arrests were made.
At the 2006 Vancouver
Zombie Walk, an incident occurred in which an impatient driver attempted to drive his car through a crowd of zombies headed down Robson St. This resulted in some minor injuries among the zombies, severe damage to the car, a number of insurance claims, and coverage on CBC Television
.
On May 1, 2010, the annual Zombie Shuffle in Melbourne
saw the largest attendance in its five year history, but some locals complained of the mess that the zombie "gore" left behind as well as the walk's disruption of a play for preschoolers
.
ing, during which participants visit multiple bars
over the course of the walk.
On October 15, 2005, the first large-scale zombie pub crawl was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota
. The crawl consisted of roughly 150 zombie-costumed participants moving from bar to bar in the city's Northeast
district. The Minneapolis 'Zombie Pub Crawl' has since become an annual event and attendance has grown exponentially. Each year it takes place in a different area of the city. Similar large-scale, zombie-themed pub crawls have developed in New Orleans, Providence
, Houston, Chicago
, and Philadelphia. Philadelphia's zombie pub crawl is held on Easter
Sunday in celebration of "the world's most famous
zombie". Zombie pub crawls are now a regular occurrence in cities all over the world.
On Halloween weekend in 2007, the Viking Hats group put together the largest zombie pub crawl in London. London's Zombie Pub Crawl is now an annual Halloween weekend event.
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
s. Usually taking place in an urban center, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
s to a public space
Public space
A public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants...
(or a series of taverns in the case of a zombie pub crawl) in a somewhat orderly fashion.
Customs
ZombieZombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
walks have become relatively common in large cities, especially in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, often becoming annual traditions, though some are also spontaneous "flash mob
Flash mob
A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, artistic expression...
" events or performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
. Promoted primarily through word of mouth and online message boards, zombie walks are an underground
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
activity. During the event participants are encouraged to remain in character as zombies and to communicate only in a manner consistent with zombie behavior. This may include grunting, groaning and slurred, moaning calls for 'brains'. Zombie behavior is a hot topic of debate. Purists who draw their definitions from the original Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
Living Dead
Living Dead
Living Dead is a blanket term for various films, series, and other forms of media that all originated from, and includes, the seminal 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead conceived by George A. Romero and John A. Russo...
films will claim that a zombie would never have the ability to call for 'brains' and furthermore that a zombie needs only living or freshly killed flesh for its sustenance, and not the brain in particular.
The complexity and purpose of some zombie walks have grown and changed with their popularity. An advanced technique to heighten interest and realism, some zombie mobs will "eat" victims to create new zombies, in sight of onlookers. The better coordinated zombie mobs will establish a route and an easily recognizable signal, so that other participants can plant themselves, appearing as an otherwise ordinary human, along the route in old, tearable clothes, and as the mob shambles along it can discover and devour new victims. As the zombies surround the new victim to loudly feed, concealing him or her from witnesses' view, they tear clothes and quickly apply makeup and fake blood, to create a new zombie, who then shambles along with the ever-expanding pack to find new victims. Some participants occasionally dress up as soldiers who are called in to contain the outbreak, or survivors who are trying to defend themselves from the onslaught of the zombie horde. Some events are staged as spoof political rallies organized "to raise awareness of zombie rights", with participants carrying placards. Many zombie walks have also been staged as "hunger marches
Hunger marches
The Hunger marches were a series of marches held in the 1930s during The Great Depression in the United Kingdom to protest against hunger and unemployment in the United Kingdom....
" with the intent of raising awareness of world hunger and collecting items for food bank
Food bank
A food bank or foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes mostly donated food to a wide variety of agencies that in turn feed the hungry. The largest sources of food are for-profit growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who in the normal course of business have...
s.
History
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The event, billed as "The Zombie Parade," was the brain-child of Bryna Lovig, who suggested it to the organizers of The Trash Film Orgy as a way to promote their annual midnight film festival. It was held again on July 27, 2002 and has since become an annual event.
The first zombie gathering run as a non-promotional event and billed as a "Zombie Walk" was held in October 2003, in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. It was organized by local horror movie fan, Thea Munster, and had only six participants. In subsequent years the Toronto Zombie Walk grew tremendously in size. One of the first participants in the Toronto Zombie Walk, Heather McDermid, moved to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, B.C.
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and spread the zombie walk tradition to that city. On August 27, 2005 over 400 participants proceeded through Vancouver's Pacific Centre Mall
Pacific Centre
Pacific Centre is a shopping mall located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is operated by Cadillac Fairview Corporation. Based on the number of stores, many of which are underground, it is the largest mall in Downtown Vancouver with over 100 stores and services...
, travelled on the SkyTrain
SkyTrain (Vancouver)
SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SkyTrain has of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks, running mostly on elevated guideways, which helps SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability...
(referred to for the event as the "SkyBrain" or the "BrainTrain") and continued 35 blocks to Mountain View Cemetery
Mountain View Cemetery (Vancouver)
Mountain View Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in the City of Vancouver, British Columbia. Opened in 1887, it is located west of Fraser Street between 31st and 43rd Avenues...
.
The mid to late 2000's saw an exponential gain in popularity for zombie walks due largely to the increase of successful zombie films at the time, the Resident Evil movies
Resident Evil (film)
Resident Evil is a British-German 2002 horror film written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. The film stars Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, and James Purefoy...
, 28 Days Later
28 Days Later
28 Days Later is an acclaimed 2002 British horror film directed by Danny Boyle. The screenplay was written by Alex Garland, and the film stars Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, and Christopher Eccleston...
, Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)
Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 horror film directed by Zack Snyder in his directorial debut. It is a remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name and stars Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Jake Weber. The film depict a handful of human survivors living in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin shopping mall...
, Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather...
, George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
Land of the Dead
For the disambiguation page on anything else on this topic, come here to Land of the Dead .Land of the Dead is a 2005 horror film written and directed by George A...
, and Zombieland
Zombieland
Zombieland is a 2009 American zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a zombie apocalypse...
being a few examples. Documentation of the phenomenon appeared in mainstream news media and blogs, such as Boingboing. Zombie walks soon spread across North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and to cities around the globe, such as Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
, Argentina.
On October 29, 2006, 894 "zombie walkers" gathered at the Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, eastof Pittsburgh. It is located near the junction of Interstate 376 and I-76...
outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which served as the set of George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
's classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead, to participate in Pittsburgh's first annual 'Walk of the Dead.' In addition to setting a Guinness World Record, the event was a benefit for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Pittsburgh's zombie walk has since grown into an annual horror festival
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
called Zombie Fest. Zombie Fest is organized by The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show is a television program produced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Clownhouse Productions. The show is aired Saturday nights at 10:00 PM on WBGN, a local station and streamed online. Each show includes a horror or science fiction B movie with trivia, sketch comedy and live music in...
, a local Pittsburgh late night horror and science fiction television program. The Pittsburgh festival plays host to the annual 'Walk of the Dead' as well as a zombie ball
Ball (dance)
A ball is a formal dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare", meaning 'to dance'; the term also derived into "bailar", which is the Spanish and Portuguese word for dance . In Catalan it is the same word, 'ball', for the dance event.Attendees wear evening attire, which is...
, costume contest, concerts, and celebrity guest appearances. Zombie Fest also serves as the headquarters of The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show is a television program produced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Clownhouse Productions. The show is aired Saturday nights at 10:00 PM on WBGN, a local station and streamed online. Each show includes a horror or science fiction B movie with trivia, sketch comedy and live music in...
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
charity event.
Zombie walks are also a regular occurrence at ZomBcon, "The World's First Zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
Convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
." ZomBcon takes place every October in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. Apart from zombie walks, ZomBcon also features panel discussions with zombie authors, actors, and artists, workshops, film screenings, and other activities for zombie fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
. ZomBcon also organizes Seattle's annual ‘Red, White, and Dead’ zombie walk every July.
World records
Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, eastof Pittsburgh. It is located near the junction of Interstate 376 and I-76...
outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during Pittsburgh's first annual 'Walk of the Dead.' Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
certified that 894 people participated in the walk. The second zombie walk at Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, eastof Pittsburgh. It is located near the junction of Interstate 376 and I-76...
during the 2007 Zombie Fest was also verified by Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
as the largest gathering of zombies to date (October 28, 2007), with 1,028 participants.
The 2007 Toronto Zombie Walk drew a crowd of over 1,100 zombies, a number confirmed by Toronto Police Services. At the time, this was the largest zombie walk on record.
A zombie march in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
on May 25, 2008 set an unofficial record of over 1,500 participants according to media reports.
On June 21, 2008, a zombie march took place in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
with over 1,550 zombies estimated, setting a new unofficial record.
On October 30, 2008, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, became the largest site of zombies anywhere in the world when around 4,000 zombies showed up to a zombie walk organized by Grand Rapids Community College
Grand Rapids Community College
Grand Rapids Community College is a community college located in the city of Grand Rapids in the U.S. state of Michigan. GRCC offers an Associate's degree, a variety of certification programs, occupational training, and other learning opportunities for the surrounding community.-Campuses:In...
student, Rob Bliss. Bliss organized the walk on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
but due to cost and application issues he was unable to get the walk certified by Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
.
On 31 October 2008, a zombie walk took place in the Old Market Square of Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
with 1,227 attendees. The event was organized by GameCity
Gamecity
GameCity is an independent, annual videogame festival in Nottingham, England. The festival is aimed at the general public, and many events allow members of the public to participate freely. The festival receives little funding from the commercial video game industry, and is concerned instead with...
, and the zombies did dances to zombie-related songs such as Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's "Thriller
Thriller (song)
"Thriller" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michael Jackson, composed by Rod Temperton, and produced by Quincy Jones. It is the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album Thriller. It was released on January 23, 1984 by Epic Records...
", "Disturbia
Disturbia (song)
"Disturbia" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from the re-release, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded , of her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad . The song was released as the third single from the reloaded edition of the album, and seventh overall...
" and "Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters (song)
"Ghostbusters" is a 1984 song recorded by Ray Parker, Jr. as the theme to the film of the same name starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 11 in 1984, and stayed there for three weeks...
". There was also a performance from American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans...
. The event achieved a new official Guinness World Record for largest zombie walk.
Monroeville Mall
Monroeville Mall is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, eastof Pittsburgh. It is located near the junction of Interstate 376 and I-76...
had 1,341 participating walkers.
On July 3, 2009, a zombie walk organized by Fremont Outdoor Movies in Seattle, Washington beat all previous zombie walk records. Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
officially recorded 3,894 zombies at the 'Red, White and Dead' zombie event, though local news claimed 4,277 participants.
In October 2009 Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
officially recorded and approved a new record for the largest gathering of zombies. The record was set at ‘The Big Chill Festival’ in Ledbury
Ledbury
Ledbury is a town in Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and south of the Malvern Hills.Today, Ledbury is a thriving market town in rural England. The town has a large number of timber framed buildings, in particular along Church Lane and High Street. One of Ledbury's most outstanding...
, Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
on August 6, 2009. There were 4,026 zombie mob participants.
On October 25, 2009 the biggest recorded gathering of zombies in the Southern Hemisphere occurred in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
with over 5,000 participants reportedly in attendance as reported by the Queeensland Police. The walk was also a charity event helping to raise awareness and money for the aptly chosen organization, The Brain Foundation of Australia.
On October 30, 2009, zombie walkers in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
attempted a second run at the zombie mob world record. An estimated 8,000 participants braved rainy weather to gather in Calder Plaza outside of Grand Rapids's City and County buildings. The event was coordinated by Rob Bliss, organizer of Grand Rapids' first zombie walk. Approximately forty to fifty volunteers collected signatures from the crowd. The record is currently unverified by Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
.
Organizers of the fifth annual 'Denver Zombie Crawl' in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
counted more than 7,300 zombie walkers in the event. This is considered to be a low figure as up to 1/3 of the total participants did not walk through the counter. The crawl took place on October 23, 2010 in downtown Denver at the 16th Street Mall
16th Street Mall
The 16th Street Mall is a pedestrian and transit mall in Denver, Colorado. The mall, 1.25 miles long, runs along 16th Street in downtown Denver, from Wewatta Street to the intersection of 16th Avenue and Broadway...
. On October 24, 2010 a reported 10,000 strong zombie walk took place in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. As with previous years, the event raised money for the Brain Foundation of Australia. Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
has yet to officially recognize either event as the new world record.
Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
officially recognized a new record for the world's largest gathering of zombies on October 30th, 2010 at the 3rd annual New Jersey Zombie Walk on the Asbury Park Boardwalk in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
recorded 4,093 zombies at the event, though organizers along with police and fire officials estimate more than 5,000 zombies were in attendance.
In July 2011, more cities would attempt to break the zombie gathering Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
world record held by Asbury Park, New Jersey. On July 2nd, 2011 Seattle, Washington attempted to take back the record at the 3rd annual Fremont "Red, White and Dead" Zombie Walk Hosted by Fremont Outdoor Movies. The zombie count according to Fremont organizers was 4,522 in attendance with estimations of over 4,800-5000 after the official stop point for counting zombies. Representatives from Guinness did not attend the event. On July 23rd, 2011 The Dublin Zombie Walk in Dublin, Ireland had an estimated 8,000 Zombies in attendance, but confirmation is still pending from Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
.
October 2011 also saw multiple attempts to break The New Jersey Zombie Walk's Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
world record for largest zombie gathering. On October 8, 2011 the unofficial count for the Pittsburgh "World Zombie Day" Zombie Walk was 4,900 Zombies. Over 7,000 zombies are believed to have attended the 9th Annual Toronto Zombie Walk on October 22nd. Both the annual 'Denver Zombie Crawl' on October 22nd and the annual 'Brisbane Zombie Walk' on October 23rd claim to have had over 12,000 zombie participants. Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
has yet to officially recognize a new world record for largest gathering of zombies.
October 29 2011 -- The first zombie walk in the Philippines was held in Baguio city by Magnum Artistry (formerly flicklub) spearheaded by Carl Paolo Zobel and Porta Vaga. Over a hundred zombies and hundreds of spectators participated in the event. The zombies danced to zombie related music as choreographed by the Philippine dance group 'DNZ Team' (who also performed the first zombie flashmob dance in the Philippines October 16, 2011).
In November 2011, Mexico
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
broke a new world record for largest zombie gathering. Guinness
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
officially counted 9,806 participants, surpassing the previous record established by Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Charity
Charity work continues to be a common component at zombie walks across the planet. Community service organizations have used zombie walks as demonstrationsDemonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
to raise funds and awareness for local and global issues, such as world hunger.
Both world record walks at Pittsburgh's Zombie Fest have included food drives. In 2008, The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show is a television program produced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Clownhouse Productions. The show is aired Saturday nights at 10:00 PM on WBGN, a local station and streamed online. Each show includes a horror or science fiction B movie with trivia, sketch comedy and live music in...
(the organizers of Zombie Fest), initiated World Zombie Day. The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show
The It's Alive Show is a television program produced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Clownhouse Productions. The show is aired Saturday nights at 10:00 PM on WBGN, a local station and streamed online. Each show includes a horror or science fiction B movie with trivia, sketch comedy and live music in...
encouraged cities all over the globe to celebrate World Zombie Day by holding zombie walks to raise awareness of global hunger. The first World Zombie Day took place October 26, 2008; the same day as Pittsburgh's Zombie Fest. More than 30 cities worldwide took part in this day of global zombie walking. Food drives
Drive (charity)
In charitable organizations, a drive is a collection of items for people who need them, such as clothing, used items, books, canned food, cars, etc. Some drives are that people go through their inventory, bag the items up, and put them in a giveaway bin, or charitable organizations such as Big...
for local hunger-related charities took place at each participating city's zombie walk. Pittsburgh's walk alone brought in more than one ton of food to benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The second World Zombie Day took place October 11, 2009 with even more participation from cities all over the world.
Controversy
Due to the spontaneous and naturally chaotic nature of a zombie uprisingZombie apocalypse
A zombie apocalypse is a particular scenario of apocalyptic literature that customarily has a science fiction/horror rationale. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization....
, some zombie walks have been host to criticism.
On October 31, 2006, a young woman in Bloomington, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
reported to police that a group of "zombies" attacked her in her Land Rover and covered the vehicle in "purple goo". The zombies in question turned out to be participants in a small, local zombie walk, and no arrests were made.
At the 2006 Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
Zombie Walk, an incident occurred in which an impatient driver attempted to drive his car through a crowd of zombies headed down Robson St. This resulted in some minor injuries among the zombies, severe damage to the car, a number of insurance claims, and coverage on CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
.
On May 1, 2010, the annual Zombie Shuffle in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
saw the largest attendance in its five year history, but some locals complained of the mess that the zombie "gore" left behind as well as the walk's disruption of a play for preschoolers
Preschool education
Preschool education is the provision of learning to children before the commencement of statutory and obligatory education, usually between the ages of zero and three or five, depending on the jurisdiction....
.
Pub crawl variant
Some zombie walks incorporate pub crawlPub crawl
A pub crawl is the act of one or more people drinking in multiple pubs or bars in a single night, normally walking or busing to each one between drinking.-Origin of the term:...
ing, during which participants visit multiple bars
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
over the course of the walk.
On October 15, 2005, the first large-scale zombie pub crawl was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. The crawl consisted of roughly 150 zombie-costumed participants moving from bar to bar in the city's Northeast
Northeast, Minneapolis
Northeast is a defined community in the U.S. city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, composed of 13 smaller neighborhoods whose street addresses end in "NE". Unofficially it also includes the neighborhoods of the University community which have "NE" addresses, and the entirety of the Old Saint Anthony...
district. The Minneapolis 'Zombie Pub Crawl' has since become an annual event and attendance has grown exponentially. Each year it takes place in a different area of the city. Similar large-scale, zombie-themed pub crawls have developed in New Orleans, Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, Houston, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and Philadelphia. Philadelphia's zombie pub crawl is held on Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
Sunday in celebration of "the world's most famous
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
zombie". Zombie pub crawls are now a regular occurrence in cities all over the world.
On Halloween weekend in 2007, the Viking Hats group put together the largest zombie pub crawl in London. London's Zombie Pub Crawl is now an annual Halloween weekend event.
See also
- CosplayCosplay, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
- Thrill the WorldThrill the WorldThrill the World is an annual international dance event and world record breaking attempt, in which participants simultaneously emulate the zombie dance seen in the music video of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", and the title of the event is an allusion to another of Jackson's songs, Heal the World...
- Flash mobFlash mobA flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, artistic expression...
- Subway partySubway partyA subway party is a celebration that occurs on a mass transit system. Generally, people meet at a predetermined station in their city's mass transit system, wait until their numbers have achieved critical mass, and board the train...
- Performance artPerformance artIn art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
- Happenings
- Cacophony SocietyCacophony SocietyThe Cacophony Society is “a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society.” It was started in 1986 by surviving members of the now defunct Suicide Club of San Francisco....
- SantaConSantaConSantaCon is a mass gathering of people dressed in Santa Claus costumes parading publicly on streets and in bars in cities around the world. The focus is on spontaneity and creativity, while having a good time and spreading cheer and goodwill....
- Zombie (fictional)
External links
- http://www.montrealzombiewalk.com/ The Official Montreal Zombie Walk
- http://www.zombiewalk.com/ Zombie Walk forums
- http://dc.metromix.com/events/standard_photo_gallery/silver-spring-zombie-walk/1556794/content Zombie Walk Photos
- http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2010/08/planet-maynard-why-are-vampires-and-zombies-so-hot-right-now.html Why Are Zombies So Hot Right Now? Maynard ABC Australia
- http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2011/10/10/3336077.htm?site=newcastle Newcastle Zombie Walk 2011, ABC Australia
- http://www.zombieparade.it/ The Halloween Zombie Walk at Bari, Italy