A zombie is traditionally an undead person in the Caribbean spiritual belief system of voodoo. Essentially a dead body re-animated by unnatural means, the zombie creates dread among the living. Zombies have become a staple of modern horror fiction, where they usually engage in the consumption of human flesh. The term "zombism" is sometimes used to refer to the condition or disease associated with being a zombie!

Zombies in voodoo;
In its original form, a zombie is a person revived by a priest to serve him. He is an empty shell with neither a soul nor a will of his own. His only purpose lies in fulfilling the tasks that his master gives him. Obviously, a myth which is heavily influenced by the experience of slavery. According to the tenets of voodoo, a dead person can be revived by a in Bogor or Mambo. After resurrection, it has no will of its own, but remains under the control of the person who performed the ritual. Such resurrected dead are called zombies. Zombi is also the name of the voodoo snake god of Niger-Congo origin, it is akin to the Kongo word nzambi, which means god. It may also derive from the word zumbi meaning fetish.

Zombies in folklore;
In the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed that the souls of the dead could return to earth and haunt the living.