Zombies and Cannibals In Our Midst

So they're not exactly dead (the main criteria for being categorized as a zombie), but the recent spate of cannibal/zombie attacks is still terribly strange.

Rudy Eugene and Ronald Poppa

The first account that made major headlines was the gruesome attack on a Miami homeless man, Ronald Poppo, by Rudy Eugene who literally ate off most of Poppo's face. His girlfriend thinks it was voodoo. Police officials think it could be 'bath salts'. No, not the smelly stuff you put in your bathtub to relax, the exceptionally dangerous synthetic drug that can cause people to become very violent and is taking the country by storm. They are waiting for toxicology reports to determine if this might have caused bible-toting Eugene to go on a zombie-like rampage.

Then there's the 21-year-old Maryland college student, Alexander Kinyua, who admitted to chopping up the body of house guest (and grad student)  37-year-old Kujoe Agyei-Kodie, and then devouring his heart and part of his brain.  Just prior to the grisly murder, Kinyua had randomly attacked another student with a baseball bat in the university dorms, severely enough to cause fractures in the man's skull, shoulder and arm, and blinding him in his left eye. Kinyua has no remorse, and has not given any motive for butchering Agyei-Kodie, though friends have said that he became very odd after he was thrown out of ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) for "disciplinary reasons."

Rocco Luka Magnotta

And there's that international manhunt for 29-year-old Canadian porn star Rocco Luka Magnotta who also chopped his lover up into bits and pieces, and then mailed severed limbs to various political party headquarters. Magnotta also filmed the grisly murder of 33-year-old Lin Jun (a student from China), which allegedly showed footage of him munching on some flesh. Magnotta had a history of violence, and bizarre behaviour.

Last Sunday in Hackensack, New Jersey, 43-year-old Wayne Carter, after barricading himself in his room, wound up stabbing himself and then throwing bits of his own flesh and entrails at police. Drugs or mental illness may have been a factor.

That was all in the past week.

And in case you think it's just men who cannibalize, last year Texan Otty Sanchez (33) decapitated her 3 week old son, then proceeded to eat his brains and some of his toes. She was just found Not Guilty by reason of insanity. They blamed it on post-partum depression. Apparently she had mental problems prior to having a child. She could be released in a few years if they find her sane.

And last, but certainly not least, there's a terrible disease afflicting young people in Uganda, called the "Nodding Disease", which turns children into mindless zombies. A CNN video documents the pandemic. There is no cure, and they have no clue what causes it.

It's all incredibly bizarre, but just in case, you can always check out the CDC's Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic