Digital Dying By: Justin Nobel

by Justin Nobel

The most famous case of zombification involves Clairvius Narcissus. “Despite the fact he was completely conscious he still truly thought he had died,” says Hamilton Morris. "When he was resurrected he truly thought he had been resurrected."

Hamilton Morris, a pioneering young pharmacologist, has hacked through the Amazon looking for ayahuasca and hunkered down in a missile silo with an LSD kingpin; one of his most recent adventures involved death. He traveled deep into the Haitian countryside in search of the elusive drugs capable of turning people into zombies. “The first thing to do when you want to know about zombies is put aside all preconceived notions,” says legendary anthropologist Wade Davis at the beginning of Morris' riveting film Nzambi. Digital Dying recently sat down with Morris at a lively Brooklyn café to discuss the undead.

Is the idea of death different in Haiti?

It is almost like a Philip K. Dick idea, to be dead and not know it, or be alive and actually be dead. It is unclear how often zombification happens, and it is unclear how it is perceived by the people who actually go through the ordeal. There have been scientifically verified cases. When Clairvius Narcissus was being poisoned and turned into a zombie, he was completely conscious. He was nailed into a coffin and buried alive, one nail pierced his cheek and it left a wound, which he was proud of showing to people later. Despite the fact he was completely conscious he still truly thought he had died. When he was resurrected he truly thought he had been resurrected.

How do American zombies differ from Haitian zombies?

There's a lot of confusion between the American interpretation of why a zombie is scary and the Haitian interpretation. Americans are afraid of being attacked by zombies and having them eat their brains or claw them to death, but Haitians are afraid of becoming zombies, not of zombies themselves. If you become a zombie you lose your life force, your ability to work. But almost the opposite is true in terms of slave beliefs, which is where the idea of a zombie originally comes from; zombie slaves were put to work. So it seems like a contradiction but there is definitely an evolution in the way the zombie behaves. For example, they say that zombies now use computers. Read the rest of this entry »

by Justin Nobel

George Campbell taught a class on death and dying for 20 years at New Paltz High School, in upstate New York. At one point the popular course had more than 85 students.

New Paltz High School teacher George Campbell taught chemistry, biology and for 20 years, a course on death and dying called “Death Education.” The class began in 1975 with just 17 kids but by the mid-1980s it typically had more than 70 students enrolled and was one of the most popular courses at the school. Police officers and morticians came in to speak and there were class trips to hospitals and the morgue. A textbook on teaching death that Campbell wrote is available online. Digital Dying recently spoke with him about his experience as what seems to be the country's first and only high school death ed teacher.

1. How did you convince the school to run a class on death?

I taught the class for a few weeks just as an experiment. Some kids from my oceanography class who knew me as a teacher joined and were really interested. Then I went to the principal, he was very liberal and encouraged me but said we had to get permission from the board of education. Just by coincidence a medical doctor and a funeral director I had come in and talk for that initial class were members of the board of education, so these people stood up for me and thought it was a great idea. There was only one member who objected, she thought it would be a difficult topic for the students. Interestingly enough she was the daughter of a minister. But the others overruled her. After that it went smoothly. Read the rest of this entry »

by Justin Nobel

Nikki Sian-Leigh Aksamit lost her unborn child after a car crash and struggled how to tell her kids what had happened. Her book, "Mommy, what is dead" explains death to pre-schoolers. (Image courtesy of Nikki Sian-Leigh Aksamit)

One day, a car raced through a yellow light and slammed into Nikki Sian-Leigh Aksamit's vehicle. She was a mother of two and six weeks pregnant. The trauma of the accident eventually killed her unborn child. Her two boys wanted to know what had happened to the baby and Nikki struggled for a way to tell them. Finding no children's book fit for the task, she wrote her own, “Mommy, what is dead?” Digital Dying recently spoke with Nikki on how to talk to children about death.

How did you tell your kids that your unborn child had died?

Rook, my four year-old, knew right away. “Mom, what's wrong?” he asked. I said, “The baby died.” He said, “What do you mean it died. Why did it have to die?” I said, “The accident caused mommy to lose the baby.” He was just so full of questions. I was at a loss for words. My husband and I answered him the best we could, but I don't think he got it. Two weeks later, I wrote out questions and what I wanted the pictures to be with a magic marker and construction paper. It probably took a good month and half to finish the book. Then I read it to him. It was just my scribbles, a way to purge myself, but he got it right away. Read the rest of this entry »

by Justin Nobel

Joan Harvey has written over 10,000 obituaries. "Humans need to talk about the death," she said. "Sometimes they want to talk about the death a lot, with a lot of details." (Photo by Justin Nobel)

Joan Harvey has written over 10,000 obituaries for The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon's Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper. She now writes Life Stories for the paper, feature pieces about interesting and unknown Portland people who have just died. Digital Dying spoke with her about what it's like to cover death for a living.

How did you begin writing obituaries?

I used to write a lot of travel and food stories. I ran into an old friend whose mother had been very nice to me as a child. I asked her how her mother was and she burst into tears. After that I started reading the obituaries. I realized their importance, not just as a source of information about a person, but as a history for the whole community.

Do you always include the cause of death?

Sometimes you don't even know the cause of death. The death certificate says something but it isn't always accurate. When AIDS first started, that was such a problem. People didn't want that in, so we had a lot of 30 year-old men dying of pneumonia. But generally, when people lose somebody they want to talk, and sometimes they want to talk about the death a lot, with a lot of details. They have experienced these horrible things and no one else will listen. Other people will come over to comfort them and talk about movies. But humans need to talk about the death too. Read the rest of this entry »