Recently, we were able to talk with with a member of the Snedeker family, about whom the movie The Haunting in Connecticut is based on.

Actually, it was she who contacted us. She wasn’t too happy about some of our reporting on the validity of the story behind the movie, and in doing a little research, we realized it was obvious she wouldn’t be sending Ray Garton a birthday card anytime soon, either. Garton is the author of In a Dark Place, and he now claims that the book is a work of fiction.

Please welcome Nancy Boucher…..

DC: How are you related to the family who lived in the house and are you still in touch with them?

NB: Hi Steve. Allen Snedeker is my brother and yes, I am still in contact with him.

DC: Have you been inside the house, and if so, when was the last time?

NB: I did live in the house for a few months a long time ago when my kids were still small and I was homeless. My brother and his wife took me in. When I lived there, it was scary knowing it was funeral home. That is when things first started happening that couldn’t be explained.

DC: What were your impressions of Ed and Lorraine Warren?

NB: I never met the Warrens, I had moved out before all the heavy S@#T started happening and they wouldn’t allow anyone from the family to go to the house when they were there and the exorcism was going on.

DC: What was your Impression of the Ray Garton, and does the family feel betrayed by him?

NB: I’ve never met Ray Garton and don’t want to. The $hit he said about my brother and his family really pissed me off.

DC: Is everyone happy and healthy today?

NB: Everyone is happy and healthy, but I don’t think they’ll ever forget what happened to them. God is very close to them now.

DC: Is everyone excited by the release of the movie?

NB: My Family doesn’t want to see it, it scares them. A lot of the things that go on in the movie didn’t happen, so whats the point of the movie?

Thanks again, Nancy, for the interview.

Steve

Update: June 17th,

I just wanted to let everyone know we have two other more comprehensive interviews on the site regarding this story.

The First was with Ray Garton author of In A Dark Place.

And just recently we did one with the producer of “The Haunting in Connecticut” Daniel Farrands

One of the things about weird news stories — both here and on other sites — is that the stories are very rarely followed up on.

To remedy that (somewhat), here are a few updates on some recent stories –

Chimp Attack

This horrifying story continues to stay in the general news. The latest story is that a Connecticut state biologist warned in a report last October that “this is an accident waiting to happen.”

In addition, the family of victim Charla Nash is seeking $50 million in damages to cover her massive medical costs. After Nash, 55, lost her nose, upper and lower lips, eyelids and both her hands in the attack, as well as the bony structures in her mid-face, she remains in critical condition at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

To help defray medical costs, a Charla Nash Trust website has established. If you wish to donate to help her recovery, you can donate there.

Geronimo’s Skull

Still no word if Yale’s Skull & Bones have given back the skull of Apache warrior Geronimo, but there has been a dispute over the rest of his bones, with a second branch of the family saying that they want his remains to remain in Oklahoma, where they currently reside.

Seal Takes a Break

Okay, I can’t find a link to the story, but I did read that the seal that had landed on the beach in Milford returned safely to the sea.

Teacher Made Boy Eat from Garbage Can

The 67-year-old Bridgeport teacher who forced a 5-year-old boy to eat the rest of his lunch that he had thrown in the garbage has been put on “medical” leave for a week (or until the media furor dies down). I don’t think it’d be a shock if she was forced to retire after this.

Mystery Grave Marker

The grave stone of Lucia D’Arcangelo, which was unearthed during renovations to Duggan School in Waterbury, may just be the marker with no remains beneath it. The manager of a local cemetery says that records show the woman’s remains are interred there; state archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni suggest that stone may have been moved by vandals or was cast-off by the carver as a mistake.

As many of you know, Connecticut is a haven for aspiring paleontologists because, you know, dinosaur were found here and hey, they are cool!

Aside from the Great Hall of Dinosaurs at Yale’s Peabody Museum, kid-friendly The Dinosaur Place in Ledyard, and the little-known Wells Dinosaur Haven (which we plan on visiting this summer to write about), one of the more interesting and unusual state parks in the country is also located here in Rocky Hill — Dinosaur State Park, home to “an exceptional display of early Jurassic fossil tracks that were made 200 million years ago.”

So obviously, there’s some sort of love affair between Connecticut and dinosaurs — that, or we’re simply cashing in, right? (Hmm …) Considering dinos have only really come to light in the last century and half, it’s amazing how much we do know about them.

Anyway, to that extent, I thought it was interesting that considering dinosaurs have been dead for a few hundred million years that they popped up in the news three times in the last week. (Odd things happen in threes?)

The first story that caught my eye was about the discovery in the Arctic of a giant prehistoric sea monster that is currently being called Predator X. With a head twice as big as a T-Rex and a bite four times stronger, this aquatic nightmare measured in at 50 feet long and 45 tons, and is believe to have lived terrorized the planet 147 million years ago. and if that’s not enough to fill your dino nightmares, each of its teeth were 12 inches long . . . eek!

Oh, and having an “X” in its name makes it X-tra cool and X-tra damned, like “The X-Files.”

Predator X will have its official coming out party on March 29 on the History Channel. Here’s a teaser –

From the incredibly large and dangerous to the somewhat small — but still as deadly.

Canadian researchers announced that they have discovered the smallest known North American dinosaur, Hesperonychus elizabethae. A possible relative of the velociraptor with razor-like claws and very sharp teeth — of course — it stood a foot-and-a-half high, scrambled around on two legs and weighed about 4.5 pounds, or less than your average house cat (which it would’ve eaten in a heartbeat).

The final story is that apparently (and this is the actual headline from MSNBC.com!) Teen Dinosaurs Hung Out, Got Into Trouble.

Of course, the first thing I think of is that old Far Side cartoon (at right). As it turns out in this case, the dinosaurs in question were a group of young, birdlike dinos (ornithomimids called Sinornithomimus dongi) that had been cruising the equivalent of the prehistoric mall — a mud bog — and all got stuck and perished together, or went down in some sort dino-emo suicide pact. Apparently, there were no adult dinos around when it happened, as no adult fossils were found.

Of course, that’s one of the most compelling things about dinosaurs — we only know about the species who were unfortunate enough to die in mud or peat bogs, and ended up fossils. No doubt there were hundreds of other types that were never accidentally preserved and are now lost in the shuffle of time.

Dinos, we hardly knew ye!

If it’s the third Thursday the month, that means it’s time for our pal Margey and the monthly Fairfield County chapter meet-up.

It will be this Thursday, March 19, in Fairfield at the Beach Cafe at 7 pm. If you are interested in attending, please sign up through Drinking Skeptically Meet-up so she can get a head count.

This month should be another great meet-up, with an interesting special guest. According to Margey –

This month’s guest speaker is Dr. Charles Wynn who will discuss his upcoming book, And God Said, “Let there be evolution!”

Dr. Wynn’s latest project is his response to 9/11: a book titled And God said, Let there be Evolution!” Reconciling the Book of Genesis, the Qur’an and the Theory of Evolution. In it, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim, each of whom is a member of their religious community as well as a member of the scientific community, explain why biology’s theory of evolution is worthy of acceptance, and, how they reconcile that theory with the sacred texts of their religions. This book is scheduled for publication in Fall 2009 by Kunati Publishers, Fore Word Magazine’s 2007 Independent Publisher of the Year.

And way more info than you wanted on him.

BIOGRAPHY

Charles M. Wynn, Sr., Professor of Chemistry, General Chemistry Coordinator and Assistant Physical Sciences Department Head at Eastern Connecticut State University, is a “Leading Educator of the World,” according to the Cambridge, England-based International Biographical Centre. Dr. Wynn was born in New York and educated at the Bronx High School of Science, City College of New York, and University of Michigan.

At the University of Michigan, he synthesized new organic compounds including potential anti-cancer drugs. After a yearlong appointment as Instructor of Chemistry at the university, his interest in international education was stimulated by service as a Peace Corps Volunteer at the Malayan Teachers College in Malaysia where he was Lecturer in Science Education and Consultant in Chemistry to the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Education in Mathematics and Science. Since then, he has published articles about science and science education in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, Journal of College Science Teaching, and Perspectives (The Journal of the Association for General and Liberal Studies) [all refereed journals] as well as the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers Journal, Connecticut Journal of Science Education, Michigan Science Teachers Association Bulletin and Junior College Journal. He has lectured about these subjects in Malaysia, China, Canada, Australia, England, Puerto Rico and Russia.

Dr. Wynn’s critically acclaimed science trilogy, The Five Biggest Ideas in Science (John Wiley & Sons; Barnes & Noble Special Edition) [listed as ONE OF THE TOP 10 BESTSELLERS IN THE SCIENCES in the UK], Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends and Pseudoscience Begins (Joseph Henry Press/National Academy Press) [named ONE OF THE TOP 15 NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2001 by NonfictionReviews.com], and The Five Biggest Unsolved Problems in Science (John Wiley & Sons; Scientific American Book Club) [offered to members of the Scientific American Book Club as a MAIN SELECTION in an exclusive hardcover format], has been translated into Russian, Italian, Portuguese, French, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Indonesian, Polish and Japanese, is required reading in courses that include a Doctoral Seminar in Science Education, Intermediate Reading and Composition (English Department), Sociology of the Paranormal, History of Science, and Philosophy of Logic, and is the basis of three National Science Foundation Courses for College Teachers taught to over 100 science professors by Dr. Wynn.

One of Dr. Wynn’s other books, Laboratory Experiments for Chemistry: A Basic Introduction (Wadsworth), is in its fourth edition and been used by 120,000 students at over fifty colleges and universities nationwide. In 2007, his second collection of experiments for college students, Laboratory Experiments for General Chemistry, was published by Catalyst: The Prentice Hall Custom Laboratory Program for Chemistry, a subsidiary of Pearson Education.

Dr. Wynn was appointed Visiting Scholar in Science in Society at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and honored for his teaching and scholarship as the E.I. du Pont Outstanding Teaching Fellow at the University of Michigan, Outstanding Educator of America at Oakland Community College in Michigan, and Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year at Eastern Connecticut State University. He has been elected to membership in Tau Beta P1, the National Honor Society for Engineering, Phi Lambda Upsilon, the National Honor Society for Chemistry, and Sigma Xi, the National Honor Society for Scientific Research.

Should be an interesting evening. Hope to see you there!

The parallels between deep space and the deep sea are many. Both are dark, both are cold, both are inhospitable environments for humans, and both are vast unexplored frontiers.

And both have odd mysteries that have cool names — Hanny’s Voorwerp and the Bloop. The Voorwerp exists in space while The Bloop occurred under the ocean a few years back.

The Galaxy Zoo is an astronomy project where the general public has been invited to help categorize different types of galaxies that have been imaged by a robotic telescope as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In 2007, while participating in the Galaxy Zoo and looking at different galaxy images, Dutch school teacher Hanny van Arkel noticed an unusual object near spiral galaxy IC 2497.

Yeah, that blue thing — and it’s not Dr. Manhattan’s junk, either.

Turns out at first no one knew what it was, so they simply called it Hanny’s “object,” or in Dutch, “voorwerp.” Astronomers have now trained their telescopes toward the constellation of Leo Minor where it resides some 700 million light years away, and have studied it further, but still have no clear answers as to what it is. It’s not a galaxy as it has no stars, but apparently the “hole” in the middle of it is some 16,000 light years across. As it contains lots of hot ionized gas, some have speculated that it’s the remnants of a galaxy reflecting a quasar event that may have happened some 100,000 years ago. In short, it might just be a “ghost image” of some more spectacular celestial event from millenia ago. As the light has taken 100,000 years to just get here, obviously what actually happened is long gone, so we may never know.

If you’re interested in seeing more images or reading more about the voorwerp, you can also visit Hanny’s personal site where she details her discovery as well as talks about how it is to suddenly be an “astronomical star,” so to speak.

From deep space to the deep sea –

During the summer of 1997 while monitoring the waters of the South Pacific, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration repeatedly detected an unusual low-frequency tone through the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array. It rose in frequency and was able to be heard on sensors thousands of miles away.

Here you can listen yourself.

So what’s the big deal about some random underwater noise, you ask? The intrigue arises when scientists say that the bloop sounds as though it was created by some living thing — some ENORMOUS living creature at the bottom of the ocean. From their estimates, it would have to be even larger than a blue whale, the largest creature on Earth.

Of course, the speculation has been rampant — everything from a giant super colossal squid to the legendary kraken to some as-yet-undiscovered species. But the part where it gets extra creepy is that the coordinates of this event correspond to the location of the fictional city of R’lyeh from H.P. Lovecraft’s 1926 short story “The Call of Cthulhu,” which is supposedly home to the sleeping Cthulhu, a terrifying god-creature that is pure evil.

You may have seen Cthulhu’s image around …

Yeah, that thing. Possibly living at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to rise from the depths to smite an unsuspecting planet. Great!

For up-to-date info on The Bloop, you can try always visit Bloop Watch.

Friday is March 13, and as any suffering paraskevidekatriaphobic (type that three times fast!) will tell you, it’s a day to be feared.

Of course, the actual reasons how this event — a conjunction of an unlucky number and the unluckiest day of the week — came to be so dreaded have been shrouded by the mists of time. The classic horror film Friday the 13th — and its never-ending sequels and re-imaginings — haven’t helped matters, either.

[Quick sidenote: Friday the 13th Part 2 was actually filmed in multiple locations around Litchfield County, including New Preston and Kent.]

As you all well know, a lot of people think that the number 13 is cursed — many buildings don’t have a 13th floor, some cities don’t have a 13th Avenue, 13 witches make up a coven, and more than a few serial killers have 13 letters in their names: Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo (The Boston Strangler). A Norse legend has it that 12 gods had been invited to a banquet and when Loki, the evil one, showed up, making 13 and creating havoc. Jesus and his 12 disciples also made for an unlucky 13 dinner guests at the Last Supper. And of course, the ill-fated 13th tribe of Kobol apparently were cylon skinjobs who were obliterated in a nuclear holocaust, as any self-respecting Battlestar Galactica geek will tell you!

Backing up to Jesus, he was crucified on a Friday, which is one of the reasons why “Friday’s child is full of woe.” Friday was also the witches sabbath according to another Norse legend, as well as the day that Eve tempted Adam with the apple and when God started the rain for the Great Flood. In the Middle Ages, it was known as execution day, and it was on a Friday (the 13th, in 1307) when the Knights Templar were destroyed. We’ve also had our share of Black Fridays in the stock market.

So a combination of the unlucky day and number have looong made for an unfortunate combination, with people dreading it over the centuries, right? Uh, not exactly.

Historians claim that the tradition of Friday the 13th being a cursed day can only be traced back to the late 19th century, and the hype around it appears to be more of a modern invention. There is no written record of it ever having been popularly considered evil or unfortunate until the early 2oth century, and that may have only occurred after the publication of a now-forgotten novel in 1907 by Thomas Lawson entitled Friday the 13th. The story concerned shady finances and the stock market, not anything otherwordly nefarious, but the book gained enough notice to bring the phrase into cultural mainstream, where it has steadily grown in mythic stature. And like any urban legend, people just continue to propagate it rather than find out the truth.

So get out that rabbit’s foot, don’t step on any cracks and take extra caution if you feel you must, but as with many other things, Friday the 13th seems to be a case of nothing to fear but fear itself.

Probably like a lot of you, one of the things that really got me interested in Fortean phenomena and the unexplained was Bigfoot, especially the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film shot at Bluff Creek in California — here’s a nice cleaned-up version from the Discovery Channel:

Ahh, the Zapruder film of cryptozoology — hoax or not, has any other 17-second piece of celluloid outside of JFK’s assassination ever been more hotly debated and analyzed? It has launched the imagination and curiosity of millions, to say the least. I, for one, have always been fascinated by the stories of Sasquatch, as the Native Americans called the creature; I find it interesting that there are similar legends of a wild man around the globe, be it the Yeti (the abominable snowman) in Tibet, the Yowie in Australia, the Orang Pendak in Indonesia or the Skunk Ape in Florida.

People love the Bigfoot, no doubt. Remember how much hype and publicity surrounded last year’s story about two men in Georgia having shot one? The subsequent press conference was actually carried by CNN.com. Sure it turned out to be a gorilla suit in a freezer, but hey, Bigfoot was in the mainstream press!

I recently saw this recent article at American Chronicle that theorizes that since no Bigfoot remains have ever been found that the elusive creature may be some sort of multidimensional being, able to teleport between universes, visiting various spots and jumping away before getting caught. (Before you raise your eyebrow too high, this theory has actually been around for decades!) It would explain why it’s been seen pretty much everywhere, you know, like Elvis.

Of course, in terms of this universe and this website, the big question for us (after the question if it exists at all, obviously) is whether Bigfoot is a visitor to Connecticut.

The large majority of Bigfoot reports in North America tend to come from the Pacific Northwest, where there are thousands and thousands of square miles of dense forest that could potentially serve as a habitat for a small population of undiscovered primates. At first blush, a state as small and as densely inhabited as Connecticut doesn’t seem to be a likely place for Bigfoot — but yet there have been sightings here, including a few in the 21st century.

For those interested, a few websites with alleged sightings from around Connecticut:

• Bigfoot Encounters reports a few sightings, the most recent being a “young” Bigfoot in Bristol in 2005, one crossing Route 169 in Woodstock in 2004 and one seen in Barkhamstead Forest in 2002.
• The Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization has a 16-inch footprint found in Hartford County in 2003 and a harrowing Bigfoot encounter where it chased a horse and rider in 1997.
• The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has one sighting near East Hampton in 2004 and one over in Norwich in 2005, among some older sightings.

As with any mystery creature, until someone catches or kills a Bigfoot anywhere in the world — let alone Connecticut — the debate will continue.

In the meantime, you may have to get your Connecticut Bigfoot fix from Rocky Hill-based Synthetic Cinema International, who will be releasing the independent film Sasquatch Assault, filmed on location in Connecticut! It’s due out some time this year.

As you may have noticed here at Damned Connecticut, we love to hear from you readers about your experiences with the odd and unusual throughout the state. Be it a haunting, an unusual place, an old legend, or even a picnic with the Melon Heads, we’re always interested in what you have to offer.

To that extent, Kate’s Friend has “volunteered” her Husband’s experiences while working at Remington Arms in Bridgeport, an abandoned old factory complex purported to be haunted. Since it is off limits to the public, it’s cool to get a firsthand report from someone who has actually been inside the complex for an extended time.

According to Husband:

Remington Arms was a really creepy place to be working in even during the day… At first I wasn’t sure it WAS Remington Arms because we were told we were working at General Electric.. Once we were actually in the building and strange things started happening we realized that GE was renting a small section of the Remington Arms buildings…

The strange experience I had was in the restroom… I was alone. The door did not open so I knew no one came in or out and I saw a shadow move across the room like someone else was there. We heard many strange noises in areas of the building where none of our workers were, and since it was the middle of the day and the building supervisor was there we didn’t think of vandals or drug dealers or anything like that.

Another experience I had was when I was taking pictures for my wife (who is obsessed with creepy places) there was a dead bird on the floor in one of the rooms, which wouldn’t have been unusual in an old abandoned building if it wasn’t completely mutilated and half scattered across the room.

To be honest with you I haven’t heard any stories about Remington Arms until we looked up the location online (I am completely convinced that my experiences were supernatural, and so I asked my wife to research the area when I was still at work…) That is when we put it together that “GE” was actually “Remington Arms” and the shadowy figures that I saw in the bathroom have been seen by others also.

Now that I know the history of the buildings and the sightings that other people have seen throughout the years I am totally convinced that my experiences were nothing but supernatural… No explanation for the shadows and sounds that went on in that building.

Thanks to Husband (and Friend) for sharing his experiences!

UPDATE!

Friend and Husband sent along a pair of interesting pics from Remington Arms –

They’re not sure what it is, and unlike many other “spirit” ectoplasm or orb-type photos, this is in broad daylight. Dust? Smoke? Or something else?

And this one –

They have no idea what that it is at the end of the hallway … Husband says there was no one in the area when he took it, but it almost looks like a person at the end of the hall.

Thanks again to Friend and Husband for sending this stuff along!

Like many of you out there, we have been continuing to follow the horrific chimp attack story from last week.

As it turns out, a friend of Steve’s and one of the regular followers of Damned Connecticut — who asked we not use her real name on the site, so at Steve’s suggestion, we’ll go with “Luann van Houten” –  once met Travis and his owner, Sandra Herold. And although she asked not to use her real name, she did send us this photo of her and Travis the chimp.

“Luann” also was kind enough to answer a few questions about her experience.

Damned CT: How long did you know Travis?

Luann: I only met him one time. I believe it was in 1997. I went over to his owner’s shop where Travis had a gymnasium and played with him in his gym for about an hour. It was surreal quite honestly.

Damned CT: When was the last time you saw Travis?

Luann: Aside from on TV, 1997.

Damned CT: Any indication or signs that something like this could happen?

Luann: When I was asked about the opportunity to play with him I was thrilled – who wouldn’t want to hang out with a chimpanzee?? When I got there I was told to put my hair up in a bun so he couldn’t pull it. He still managed to pull it and he also ripped the cuff right off my coat sleeve. He was very playful and loved to play “chase”. He would run up to you and shove you in the chest and then run away to get you to chase him. He was also affectionate and gave hugs and kisses. I was a little apprehensive though (as you can see in the picture). Even though he was just a little chimp at that time…he was solid muscle. At that time, I didn’t think he was any more aggressive than I would expect a young chimpanzee to be. I certainly didn’t fear for my life during my visit, but I was a little anxious about what he’d do next.

I don’t blame Travis for what happened. He’s a wild animal. In my opinion, he should have never been kept by the owners so long…animals are too unpredictable. And who gives an animal wine and xanax?

Damned CT: What was your general impression of his owner and how she treated him?

Luann: To be honest, I didn’t get a good vibe from the owner. She seemed a little “off”. I remember feeling that it was not a good scenario and I was uncomfortable with how she treated him.

Damned CT: How was Travis and his owner generally regarded by the neighborhood?

Luann: I think that Travis, when he was younger, was well liked and everyone enjoyed seeing him driving around or waving from the shop window. I think the older and larger he got, it became more concerning for the neighborhood – based on news/media info. I know I’d be freaked out to live next to a big ol’ chimp like Travis.

Damned CT: Do you still have any connection to the neighborhood, and if so, what have you heard about this situation?

Luann: No connection to the neighborhood. I only know the disturbing story on the news.

Damned CT: Were there children around the chimp ever?

Luann: Hearsay, but my brother (how I got to meet travis in the first place as my brother worked across the street from the owner’s shop) said the last day he was there it took 4 people to keep Travis from “playing” with the owner’s grandchild (I think the kid was like 3 or 5 years old). My brother said that’s the last time he went back as it was too weird.

No way in hell would I let Travis (back in 1997) near my kid.

Thanks to Luann for offering her perspective and sending us the picture.

A few days ago, my buddies Jim and Bob passed along this story from NBC 30 about the game Humans vs. Zombies invading Connecticut colleges.

Although most would argue that any sort of zombie invasion would qualify as “Weird News” I didn’t post it there immediately for obvious reasons — it’s just a fun game spreading virally through college campuses, a variation of the old “Assassin” or “Hit Man” role playing-type games that went around back in the day.

Of course, the always-serious Stephen Colbert had his own take on the phenomenon on a quasi-recent episode of “The Colbert Report” [about 3:17 in] –

Those crazy kids! It’s all fun and games until your undead English lit professor is standing over your split-open skull and is casually munching on your medulla oblongata . . .

Of course, like the oh-so-wise Mr. Colbert, I’ve been long preparing for the impending zombie apocalypse. Aside from the canned goods, machetes and stockpiles of assault rifles stored in my concrete-and-steel zombie-proof bunker 200 feet beneath my secret lair that’s beneath my house, I’ve seen pretty much every zombie film from the classic Dawn of the Dead (and its many sequels) to Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead trilogy (which gave the world its much-needed first taste of Bruce Campbell) to the always-recommended Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later. And although not a serious zombie flick, Peter Jackson’s Braindead may be the most brilliant schlock horror opus in the history of humankind. (I still contend he should’ve gotten an Oscar for this masterpiece rather than those silly Lord of the Rings films no one saw.)

I’ve also spent copious hours reading and re-reading the works of zombie expert Max Brooks: The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z.

Fortunately, to get the message out to the those being slowly zombified by  their TVs and laptops, a film version World War Z is currently in pre-production with director Marc Foster attached, who has helmed critically acclaimed flicks including Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner and Quantum of Silence. It is scheduled for a 2010 release date, unless of course, the undead of Hollywood get in the way.

In the meantime, from The Zombie Survival Guide, here are “The Top 10 Lessons for Surviving A Zombie Attack”:

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

Anyway, when the undead start crawling across my lawn looking for the braaaaiiiins of my family, I’ll be ready! I can only hope now you will be, too.