William Seabrook (1884 - 1945) died on September 20th. That's 71 years ago today for those of you who hate math. Why do we care? Seabrook is remembered as one of the original wild and crazy guys. He was an occultist who loved to travel and explore distant cultures. That's greatly condensed by the way.
He wrote 11 books that are based on his travels around the world. One was based on the time he had himself committed to a mental institution for alcoholism-
Asylum, which critics said he wrote as if he were traveling to just another remote culture. 1n 1940 he wrote
Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today.
It's his book
Magic Island that brings me to today's post. In it he described his visit to Haiti, Haitian Vodou, and tells the world about zombies. Seabrook is recognized as bringing the concept of zombies to popular culture. See kids? That's how The Walking Dead was born.
Of course, then there was that time in West Africa when he ate human flesh so that he could better understand what it tasted like....
Today, we're combining those two ideas into one strange post: zombie edibles.
If you can't stomach any zombie edibles, read up on William Seabrook today. Start with this article by
Hugh Ryan. It's all very fascinating.
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