ISLAND OF THE DEAD

Zombies have long been represented in Hollywood films as the depleted husks of people who have had their souls removed, but that is not necessarily how they function in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

The term ‘zombie’, or zonbi in Haitian Creole, derives from the Central African Kikongo word for spirit, and Haitian talk about zonbis is more centrally concerned with the work done with the disembodied souls rather than the soulless bodies themselves.

For example, it is believed that can be harnessed by individuals and sent as supernatural assistants to obtain a favourable outcome in a legal case, or perhaps enact vengeance against a spousal betrayal. They can, it is said, also affect a person who incites accusations of jealousy; Haitianonce affixed itself to his leg, causing so much pain and a specialist to have the removed.