# Being defensive ref Zombies etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484 "2008-10-31T19:54:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Erasmus\_Darwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Erasmus\_Darwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erasmus_Darwin)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/41 "2008-11-03T16:23:52Z")
I’m worried that a lot of these ideas seem to be suffering from the Batman Fallacy. Anything’s easy with enough planning and resources. The problem is that the zombie horde isn’t going to wait around while you head down to the ATM for cash and go to Wal-mart where you and a couple friends purchase all the firearms, ammunition, and protective gear in the sporting goods department. It’s just not intellectual honest to ignore secrecy and surprise, the two biggest assets of your average supernatural horror. Those are meant to counter-balance the assets of regular humans – equivalent intelligence (superior vs. zombies), technology, and superior numbers (except for a zombie apocalypse that’s already reached critical mass). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/42 "2008-11-03T16:45:33Z")
I can state for a fact that the running water defence does not work against some Witches. My old girlfriend was a Witch and we had no problem crossing Morrison Creek every day on the way to school. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/43 "2008-11-03T23:50:44Z")
This is something we discussed on Halloween night, actually, and I didn’t get a satifactory answer: as we all know, a ghoul is a sort of shape-shifting demon. Okay maybe we didn’t all know that, given most people only know of their hunger for dead people. They eat dead people, and can shapeshift into animals too. Anyway, suppose you’re confronted unexpectedly by a ghoul, and you don’t have any magical articles, or even a working knowledge of latin. In fact, the only things on you are: a flashlight, a glock with a few rounds in the clip, a mostly empty salt shaker (definitely not enough salt to make a protective circle) and the clothes that you’re wearing. What do you do to defend yourself and the nine-year-old kid you have with you? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/44 "2008-11-04T02:45:45Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > You state that all zombies act vicious. This is simply not the case. You are punish all zombies for the actions of some zombies. You’re just a bigot. I think that means he’s a ‘Zigot’. Course, I could be hallucinating. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/45 "2008-11-04T03:23:01Z")
“No zombies need apply”. ---
**Author:** ![northern\_pixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8edcca/32.png) [@northern\_pixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northern_pixie)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/46 "2008-11-04T04:59:32Z")
“cold iron” won’t kill fae… we just don’t like it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/47 "2008-11-04T05:21:02Z")
> [@northern\_pixie](#): > > “cold iron” won’t kill fae… we just don’t like it 🙂 I must respectfully disagree. I was assaulted by one of the Fair Folk several years ago, while walking in olde city Philadelphia.\* I managed to wrench free a stave from a wrought iron fence and beat the fairy to death. Not wanting to waste a scientific opportunity, I took the corpse home. Thorough testing of the subject revealed that iron is one of the few things that can kill a faerie. True, the mere presence of iron will not kill. But a weapon made of cold iron will cause cellular damage and even death if used properly. - Olde city is filled with iron fences, door knockers, and other ornamentation. This is due to the unusually high fae activity in the area. ---
**Author:** ![northern\_pixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8edcca/32.png) [@northern\_pixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/northern_pixie)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/48 "2008-11-04T05:35:08Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I must respectfully disagree. I was assaulted by one of the Fair Folk several years ago, while walking in olde city Philadelphia.\* I managed to wrench free a stave from a wrought iron fence and beat the fairy to death. Not wanting to waste a scientific opportunity, I took the corpse home. Thorough testing of the subject revealed that iron is one of the few things that can kill a faerie. True, the mere presence of iron will not kill. But a weapon made of cold iron will cause cellular damage and even death if used properly. > > - Olde city is filled with iron fences, door knockers, and other ornamentation. This is due to the unusually high fae activity in the area. gotta love the ones from the Dark Court… ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/49 "2008-11-04T10:43:22Z")
Personally I’m very disappointed that the resources of medical science haven’t been utilised a bit more heavily in regards to investigating the viruses that cause Zombieism and Vampirism. Ah I hear you say since when has Vampirism been attributed to a virus? Gentlemen consider this Zombies are animated corpses… Vampires are animated corpses… Zombieism is spread by biting… Vampirism is spread by biting… The fact that Vampirism is almost certainly spread by infected blood only strengthens my case. Perhaps they are different mutations of the same virus or perhaps there is a whole subgenre of virus s that have evolved in much them same way as hermit crabs use other species shells and the cuckoo other birds nests and parenting except that the V/Z viruses kill their potential hosts before using them as a home/means of transport etc. I think that it is also probably the case that people tend to anthromorphise Vampires. Vampires are not the people they were before with an added condition. Those people are utterly dead,but the virus utilises the hosts corpses most used nerve pathways,brain synapsis and the like that gives an APPEARANCE of the personality that used to inhabit the body. An analogy would be a car that has been sold on to a new owner but that still is unbalanced,has worn bearings or sticky braking that gives a similarity to the driving style of the old owner whereas in fact there is no psychological connection between him and the purchaser. Of course the process is much more complex in the Human corpse/Vampire interaction. It has been found in experiments on the brain that stimulating certain areas will cause certain physical reactions or retrieve certain memories. The corpse could be considered to be physically o.k.(albeit changed)but without a genuine sentience of its own with the virus mimicing its previous occupant . Hence the Vampire being considered to have no soul. So for beautiful women who fall in love with a Vampire you are in fact not falling in love with a person but a piece of biological clockwork,a bit like falling in love with your washing machine. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/50 "2008-11-04T12:31:38Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > This is something we discussed on Halloween night, actually, and I didn’t get a satifactory answer: as we all know, a ghoul is a sort of shape-shifting demon. Okay maybe we didn’t all know that, given most people only know of their hunger for dead people. They eat dead people, and can shapeshift into animals too. > > Anyway, suppose you’re confronted unexpectedly by a ghoul, and you don’t have any magical articles, or even a working knowledge of latin. In fact, the only things on you are: a flashlight, a glock with a few rounds in the clip, a mostly empty salt shaker (definitely not enough salt to make a protective circle) and the clothes that you’re wearing. What do you do to defend yourself and the nine-year-old kid you have with you? I’m afraid that not knowing the attributes of Ghouls this could very well turn into an "either or"situation. I’d try emptying the glock into the Ghoul,smashing it about the head with the flashlight and then stuffing the salt shaker with the top off down its throat. But if these measures didn’t appear to work then I’d throw the nine year old to it and then…er. that is I would nobly offer myself to it as food while shouting at the kid to run like hell of course. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/51 "2008-11-04T14:18:53Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I must respectfully disagree. I was assaulted by one of the Fair Folk several years ago, while walking in olde city Philadelphia.\* I managed to wrench free a stave from a wrought iron fence and beat the fairy to death. Not wanting to waste a scientific opportunity, I took the corpse home. Thorough testing of the subject revealed that iron is one of the few things that can kill a faerie. True, the mere presence of iron will not kill. But a weapon made of cold iron will cause cellular damage and even death if used properly. > > - Olde city is filled with iron fences, door knockers, and other ornamentation. This is due to the unusually high fae activity in the area. You’re a fae basher? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/52 "2008-11-04T22:39:39Z")
Please re-read my post. The faerie in question attacked me without provocation. When I fled, he pursued and continued to attack. I fought back in self defense. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/53 "2008-11-05T01:19:05Z")
Because, through some dispensation of Providence, there happens to be a thread about zombies, I get to relate the cute thing my five-year-old asked me today. She said, “Dad, did Jesus zombie himself?” Against all of my baser urges, I had to explain that no, Jesus wasn’t exactly a zombie, for reasons X, Y and Z. Anyway, blame Halloween for the question. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/54 "2008-11-05T03:41:28Z")
Originally posted by Lust4Life: “An analogy would be a car that has been sold on to a new owner but that still is unbalanced,has worn bearings or sticky braking that gives a similarity to the driving style of the old owner whereas in fact there is no psychological connection between him and the purchaser.” Good analogy. Thanks. I think Analogies are most easily killed by a bullet through the carburetor or distributor. On the newer ones I would go for the on-board computer (HAL) shot. Radiator shots are just too slow and don’t work at all on Volkswagens. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/55 "2008-11-05T03:57:21Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > So for beautiful women who fall in love with a Vampire you are in fact not falling in love with a person but a piece of biological clockwork,a bit like falling in love with your washing machine. Hmph. Wouldn’t stop some people I know… ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/56 "2008-11-05T12:53:32Z")
> [@T.Slothrop](#): > > I think Analogies are most easily killed by a bullet through the carburetor or distributor. On the newer ones I would go for the on-board computer (HAL) shot. Radiator shots are just too slow and don’t work at all on Volkswagens. Which brings us to communities being stalked by a DEVIL car. On this I’ve got nuthin’ They dont seem to actually need engines or petrol,or even drivers, so the only way to assault this threat that I can see is by prayer,priests and holy water but thats just my guess. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/57 "2008-11-05T17:15:15Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Which brings us to communities being stalked by a DEVIL car. > > On this I’ve got nuthin’ > > They dont seem to actually need engines or petrol,or even drivers, so the only way to assault this threat that I can see is by prayer,priests and holy water but thats just my guess. If you’re a really good shot you could try to take out the tires; won’t stop it completely but even the most berserk devil-car can’t go very fast on four flats. Other than that though you really need a RPG. (Or Meatloaf, a.k.a. The Car Killer.) ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/58 "2008-11-05T19:43:07Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > In addition to facilities for melting and casting silver into bullets, you’ll need a supply of [sabots](http://www.sabotreloadingpro.com/) or facilities to manufacture the same. Several gun magazine writers have attempted the use of silver bullets over the years due to the popularity of The Lone Ranger on radio and TV. All their attempts yielded the same results: silver is too hard to properly engage the rifling or seal the bore. As a result, accuracy is atrocious and velocity is erratic. It also apparently doesn’t do the gun any good at all. > My advice would be to consider the use of silver shot in a conventional 12 gauge shotgun shell. The shot cup will certainly protect the bore, as they are already used with steel shot. There are also already sabot slug loads available for the 12 gauge, so it would be a relatively simple matter to substitute a sterling slug for a lead slug. I question I’ve never been able to get a satisfactory answer for, it there a critical mass of silver needed to be fatal? Or would similar contact with a small amount be just as effective? For instance a silver cap on a standard lead/copper slug? Your silver reserves would stretch much further and the cost per round would be significantly reduced. Or having silver plated boltheads for crossbows rather than solid silver. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484/59 "2008-11-05T19:52:53Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > If you’re a really good shot you could try to take out the tires; won’t stop it completely but even the most berserk devil-car can’t go very fast on four flats. Other than that though you really need a RPG. (Or Meatloaf, a.k.a. The Car Killer.) Explosive Magnetic Stingers! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-defensive-ref-zombies-etc/470484.md?page=2)