8509: Discovery Channel (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Phil Knowles <Phildk@prodigy.net>

Last night (Thursday 6/28) in our area Discovery had an hour on - well -
occult/native drugs/zombies. Wonder if you had heard about it?

About 3/4 was Haiti-based; the rest was Peru-based and I didn't have time to
watch that part.

IMO the Haiti-Voodoo-Zombie part could have been a lot worse.  The lead-ins
were pretty sensationalized, but the work itself was fairly respectful and
objective.  Which is not to say it's so great that this is how Haiti gets on
TV.

They showed some people in trances, and a 'priest' somewhat blood-splattered
(animal sacrifice),  mentioned drugs and potions, but mostly they followed 2
specific cases of (supposed) zombies.   There were pictures and discussions
with both men and scenes from burials, etc.  The younger man and his Mother
actually submitted to blood samples for DNA tests, and the researchers
(British)  showed positively this 'son' was not related to this 'Mother'.
Despite the hints at occult, it came out disproven.  All-in-all, they
treated everyone respectfully, all things considered.

Phil