alt Hacker NewsThe issue there is that the modern Zombie myth of an undead creature that spreads by biting only dates back to 1968.
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onionisafruit • today at 2:33 AM
Why does it being from 1968 mean it wasn’t inspired by rabies?
atomicnumber3 • today at 1:03 AM
previous iterations were clearly not cool enough of a fantasy to be propagated
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Turns out George Romero took the infectious aspect from the novel I Am Legend (made into Omega Man in 1971), which is a vampire story. He mashed up the European vampire with the Haitian "zonbi".
Some scholars think that the 18th century rabies epidemics shaped the vampire legend.
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1999/04/20/rabies-seen-as-b...