Making a Zombie with a difference...

[Cheka Man]

(based on this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Tanzler#Early_life )

I see the zombie maker not as the typical necromancer who wants undead slaves/servants, but as one who has tried to reanimate his dead wife (she died young) so she lives again, but has only managed to bring her back to a zombie type level. In his mind she is alive again.

Would she need water to speak? (I see water as letting her croak out a few words at a time.) Given that he has tried really hard to bring her back to life, would any of her mind survive? What sort of actions could she preform? And how long would he have before she rotted and fell apart?

[Cheka Man]

no wonder this got no replies, nearly everyone is at the convention.

[Pariah]

Yeah, there ain't nobody here much to talk to.  Been laying back this weekend myself, watchin' the waves and them surfin' chicks.  I mean, d**n, them surfin' chicks is fine...

BACK on topic...

On the rotting/falling apart topic:  Depends entirely on how much pickle juice he pumps into her.  If he left her in a vat of vinegar every night, for 6 hours a day, she'd never fall apart, though she'd stink of pickles all the time.  If he just started working on her straight after she died, he'd have anywhere between 9 days and 3 months depending on the humidity of the climate and the current temp outside.  IF the body was buried, that plays a role too, if it was just a shallow grave (2 or 3 feet) then animals will get too it, below 10 feet even burrowing insects can't get to the corpse, so the decay prossess is left entirely to the body's own bacteria.  If you want I can PM you more specific stuff.

[Chaosmark]

I saw this, but I didn't have any real input. Sorreh.

[ScorpionJinx]

A number of factors due apply to this. Like Pariah said: depending on her burials conditions, how long she has been dead and if she has been gnawed on by animals is going to affect how long she lasts and the quality of zombie she is.

Water is a no on the speech aspect. That will just extend her stomach and possibly her lungs like some gross organic waterballoon. Vocal cords work on vibrations. With water she would make gugling sounds like a watercooler. Not to mention it would pass right on through and make a big mess because bladder functions have ceased. Nothing like putrid zombie water to mess up a nice floor.

Vinegar/pickling juice is acidic and more than likely would increase her putrification instead of delaying the process. In humid conditions, despite being a zombie, she would stay spongey and soft. Never mind the fact that the bacteria in her body will begin to form gases that will expand and cause distending of the body which leads to the skin splitting as the gases pop. The smell would be horrible and would start to make him sick. Not only would he be smelling her, he would be breathing in her microscopic particles of bacteria.

Zombies are truely grotesque if you apply the laws of decomposition to them.

To be fair, in the most ideal conditions, a month would be pushing it.

As for her mind, about a month is how long it takes for the normal human brain to cease funtioning and have no neural or synaptic responses.

[Pariah]

2 words: Lord Nelson

"Nelson was stripped of his clothes and his body hair was removed before the his was placed inside a water leaguer. The water leaguer was used as there was not enough lead on board to make a coffin. The leaguer was then filled with brandy (not rum as is often thought) to preserve the body. A water leaguer could contain 184 gallons of water and was the largest barrel on board ship of Nelson's time.

The leaguer was placed on the middle gun deck of HMS Victory and guarded by Royal Marines. During the voyage to Gibraltar the brandy was drawn off and the leaguer refilled.

Victory arrived in Gibraltar on 28th October, this short journey taking seven days due to the very poor weather conditions, rough sea state and high winds. Whilst in Gibraltar the brandy was again drawn off and the leaguer was filled with a solution of two parts brandy and one part spirit of wine. This procedure was carried out twice on the passage from Gibraltar to England.

HMS Victory sailed for England on the 4th November 1805, was with Vice Admiral Collingwood off Cadiz until the evening of the 5th and then continued her journey home.

Victory arrived off St Helens on the 4th December 1805 and moved to Spithead on the 5th. The ship remained at anchor till the 10th of December when she sailed for the Nore. At this time Nelson's body was taken from the leaguer for inspection and Surgeon William Beatty removed the bowels which had started to decay and would have putrefied the rest of the body."

It's actually the tale of Nelson that had made me think of having the zombie "sleep" every night is a pickling solution.

[Chaosmark]

Could he possibly keep reanimating her, so that her body regenerates more and more with each casting? When you think about it, is reanimation much different than healing, if you're not using the Dark Arts(tm)?

[ScorpionJinx]

Preserving in an alchohol based solution is viable to extending the shelf life of your zombie to an extent. Nelson remained in the leaguer for the voyage. The zombie would benefit from nightly soakings in an alchohol based solution, but during the time when she is not submerged she is exposed to a numerous amount of germs and bacteria that will resume their consumtion and rot of the body. 3 months in the brandy/wine solution and Nelson still started to decay. The bowels will be the first thing to go due to the acidic contents of the stomach and intestines.

Not to mention the body will be prone to tearing of the skin. Being unable to feel, the zombie is prone to bump into things or get snagged on corners. Think about accidently running into alow coffee table, but the zombie wont curse or hiss in pain. It will not bruise due to the fact that the blood will settle into her feet causing them to be a dark purple/black.

A man who turns his wife into a zombie has gone over the edge of sanity. If losing his wife was so traumatic, think about what kind of psycological damage he is going to suffer as he gets to watch her go through the horrible process of decaying (which will be drug out even longer due to attempts to preserve the body) right in front of his eyes.