Q 01/05

Dictionaries trace the English word 'zombie' back to which group of African languages?

A) Bantu

B) Berber

C) Semitic

D) Khoisan

Answer · why

A) Bantu

The Kikongo word 'zumbi' is one likely root; the English word was already recorded in the 18th century, long before any movie monster.

Q 02/05

Which 1929 W. B. Seabrook travel book introduced Western readers to the Haitian voodoo zombie?

A) The Living Isle

B) The Magic Island

C) Voodoo Nights

D) The Sleeping Dead

Answer · why

B) The Magic Island

The book was so influential that a Hollywood screenwriter adapted it into a horror film only three years later.

Q 03/05

Which 1932 Bela Lugosi film is generally considered the first feature-length movie of the genre?

A) Revolt of the Zombies

B) I Walked with a Zombie

C) White Zombie

D) King of the Zombies

Answer · why

C) White Zombie

The film was made independently by the Halperin brothers and its title was later borrowed by a heavy metal band.

Q 04/05

Roughly how many years after his 1962 'death' did Clairvius Narcisse reappear at a Haitian market?

A) 35

B) 22

C) 27

D) 18

Answer · why

D) 18

He convinced his family with a childhood nickname and intimate family details, and his case became the most famous alleged 'real' zombie.

Q 05/05

Wade Davis claimed Haitian 'zombie powder' relied on tetrodotoxin, found in which animal?

A) Pufferfish

B) Poison dart frog

C) Cone snail

D) Box jellyfish

Answer · why

A) Pufferfish

Davis called the mixture 'coup de poudre' and turned his 1982 Haiti fieldwork into the book The Serpent and the Rainbow.