Welcome to my world and beyond...

A collection of snippets of the books I write and, occasionally, my life and the things that inspire my writing...

Thursday, April 5, 2012

A toZ : "F" is for Fugu: A little Science Behind Zombie Magic

The food that can be a lethal dose of tetrododoxin... and  the stuff Zombies are made of.  Really.

Fugo-- just what is it?   (河豚 or ; フグ   Literally, "river pig" --a "puffer fish" .  In Japan, it is served as fugu sashimi--and much value is placed on a fugu chef's ability to create beautiful arrangements with the thinly fileted flesh.

It is risky to eat the fugu--and Japan regulates the training of the chefs who are licensed to prepare it.  Eating it can cause numbness of the lips and tongue, and tingling all over the body--which seem to be the sought after effects. The worst case--it causes paralysis, and eventually, respiratory failure. There is no known antidote for it. Unfortunately, every year (on average) 20-44 people die from eating it.

Pretty bad actor, huh? Well, it gets worse.  Voodoo "priests --mostly in Haiti, figured out a way to take advantage of the toxin's nature.  They dry the fish, powder it, then blow it off the palms of their hands or toss it onto the faces of their victims.  The victim succumbs to the poison, paralysis sets it, but...the victim does not die. Their body mimics death--so completely, that doctors with modern equipment have pronounced victims dead.

The "deceased" are then buried alive--with their voluntary muscles paralyzed, unable to shout out or let people know they are alive.  They are aware of the dirt being put on top of their coffins as their graves are closed.

Then, later...the voodoo priest digs up the grave and takes them away to work as slaves. They are told that the voodoo priest took their souls, and that they are the living dead--soulless creatures.
                                                   
A very good article about Haiti's Living Dead-- written by a Harvard botanist, is  here .

16 comments:

  1. OK... One learns something new every day! I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month.

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  2. Thank you for stopping and commenting! And much luck in your very big endeavor :-)

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  3. Wow, sucks to be on the wrong side of a voodoo priest.

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  4. Yessiree! I think actual, physical distance is prudent :-) Thanks for visiting, Jenn!

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  5. Interesting blog and lovely picture of the sushi, but I wonder why so many people keep eating the fish knowing how toxic it is.

    I did not know the origin of the zombie myth. That was cool, but I agree that I will avoid voodoo priests at all costs.

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    1. HI Maryann :-) Nice to "meet" you. I think it is a cultural thing...and in some way, a risk-taking, bonding thing.

      Thankfully, I know of no one who practices voodoo. ;-) But, yes, if you travel in such areas, it is prudent to know that anyone can make this drug and use it for evil purposes that nothing to do with zombies.

      Voodoo is a strange practice in and of itself. I think--without researching it to freshen my mind, that it is a conglomeration of African faith, and Catholicism. But that is another story for another day...

      Thank you for visiting. :-)

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  6. i was looking for such a drug to fake a death! awesome!

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    1. Hi Tara, your answer made me smile. For a book--to kill off a character? ;-) Glad to have helped. Thank you for visiting!! :-)

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  7. This is turbulently freaky! Thank you Teresa for another eye popper!!! :-)

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    1. Glad you liked it, Lily! :-) And thank you for stopping by. :-)

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  8. Hello Teresa,

    Great post, very informative! Love the way you write!

    I discovered your site through the A to Z Challenge and am now a follower.

    Feel free to take a peek at my blog too if you have time. I'm writing a travel theme:

    http://wordcut.blogspot.com

    best,
    MOV

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    1. Thank you, MOV! And thanks for visiting and following. On my way to your blog now. Happy A to Z-ing. :-)

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  9. That is just unbelievably horrific. WOW. The best stories are fact.

    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Hi, Ishta. Yes, horrific--to be declared dead, to hear the mourners around you, to see the lid of the coffin being closed--and being unable to respond. Terrifying, I think. Many of them were used as slaves on sugar plantations. I think the most bizarre part is that the "zombies" truly believed the voodoo priest held their souls, and that they were the living dead. So, they didn't try to escape. Thanks for visiting :-)

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  10. Wow, I'm learning so much here :) It's the stuff that nightmares are made of. Hey I just remembered the name - there is a Simpsons episode with Homer eating Fugu in a Sushi restaurant?! Somehow he survived eating it. Apparently the chefs have to have years of experience to know how to slice the fish and cut the right parts - not to release the toxins. That's really incredible! And those voodoo priests: Let's put a curse on them...oh wait, that's voodoo, too..ermm

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  11. Hey Dana! I think they need a curse put on them...a dose of their own medicine! That cracks me up that the Simpsons did an episode about the fugu! I have been racking my brain to think of something to compare to the eating of fugu in Japan. Something that is a large cultural thing, that sort of stares down death. But is has eluded me. The chefs have to trained and licensed by the government, I think I read a statistic that only about a third of them pass the test. And it was a strange test that included actually preparing and eating fugu. Now that is putting their money were their mouths are. :-) Thanks for reading and commenting--nice to "see" you! :-)

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