Concepts are how we give meaning to everyday things. We create, name, communicate and imagine concepts all day, every day; concepts are vital to understanding the world we live in. A concept is an abstract idea or cognitive unit of meaning. Zombies, for example, are a concept, but where does this concept of the living dead come from? Is there any religious connection to this concept or is it a picture of the imagination? A zombie is defined as a fictional undead demon or person in a rapt state controlled by a bokor, sorcerer, or wizard. The origin of the zombie appears to first emerge from West African Vodun and Haitian Voodoo. Vodun is the traditional organized religion of coastal West Africa. In this religion a deceased person can be revived by a bokor, such as a sorcerer or priest, and these "zombies" will remain under the control of the bokor as they have no will of their own, according to the principles of West African Vodun. Another tradition of this religion is that of astral zombies. Elizabeth McAlister, of Wesleyan University, reports that this is a part of the human soul that is captured by a bokor and used to enhance the bokor's power. The astral zombie is usually stored inside a bottle where the bokor can sell it to customers for things like luck, healing, or business success. Vodun legend states that feeding a zombie salt will cause it to return to the grave. The concept of zombies exists within the West African Vodun religion, as well as Haitian Voodoo. The existence of zombies in Haitian religion was brought to attention by Wade Davis, a Harvard ethnobotanist. In 1982 he traveled to Haiti to investigate the concept of zombies and from his investigations concluded that a living person could become a zombie. He is... middle of paper... undead. In any case, an epidemic is caused which is a growing crisis. With this we witness the proliferation of a zombie plague that overwhelms the military and law enforcement, leading to the collapse of civil society. This collapse leaves isolated groups of survivors searching for food, supplies and life in a world reduced to hostile extremes. The day a zombie apocalypse begins is sometimes referred to as Z-Day; the film Shaun of the Dead and the book World War Z refer to this term. Zombies can be one of two things: a fictional undead monster or a hypnotized human controlled by a bokor. These two types of zombies arise from theorized real events and the minds of those living in pop culture. Zombies are a concept that will forever remain in the minds of those around us, but the possibility of the world succumbing to zombies is very doubtful.