# Poll: Zombie invasion or 1863? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873 "2011-11-14T05:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/41 "2011-11-15T17:21:24Z")
1863, because I’d be sure to stuff my pockets with memorabilia right before I came back. Also, even though I’m no medical doctor, I could save potentially thousands of lives with just a bit of info (avoid infection by sterilizing equipment, check cans of food for even the tiniest holes, etc.). All I know about zombie invasions is what I learned from reading _World War Z_, which I would figure a lot of other people had done already. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/42 "2011-11-15T21:48:35Z")
1863, here I come. I’d set up a trust fund in a bank, & leave it to myself. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/43 "2011-11-15T22:12:55Z")
1. 7 months gives me plenty of time to travel from Texas to Cleveland, where I stakehold a young John Rockefeller the $70,500 he needs to buy out his partners oil refinery business. Re-invest the dividends (if possible), place the rest in National City Bank of NY, give JR my proxy and instructions on what to do with the shares come his death in 1937, come back to 2011 and use my hundreds of billions to build Fortress JohnT to fight off the Zombie Hoards. My accent? I’ll tell everybody I’m from California. Or Canada. Or I grew up in Georgia, but went in the Gold Rush back in '48, but made my way back East. Or I’ve got a problem with my tongue. Something. It’s not as if they have recordings or anything. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/44 "2011-11-15T22:18:03Z")
Where are you guys going to get the money, take American Express back to 1863? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/45 "2011-11-15T22:52:58Z")
I’ll pay him in hyperinflated Confederate Notes. 😉 Or set up bets about the outcome of future battles. Any takers on betting Grant wins in Chattanooga? Burnside in Knoxville? What’s the over/under on when Atlanta falls? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/46 "2011-11-16T03:39:22Z")
I’m in Indiana, which saw one Civil War battle. And that was in Corydon, down near the Ohio River, while I’m near the site of the **1811** Battle of Tippecanoe. I’m also 52 years old, so I don’t see myself getting pushed into joining a local regiment and shipped down to Dixie to fight. Obviously lots of people survived the Civil War. Who knows whether anyone will survive the zombie invasion? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/47 "2011-11-16T03:50:14Z")
A chance to see real honest to god history??? 1863 all the way for me. I’m a woman, so I’ll be treated kindlier (sort of), plus I got a lot of future knowledge to take advantage of. No way I’m passing this chance up! I’m unemployed in real life. How come this sort of stuff never happens to me? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/48 "2011-11-16T04:44:40Z")
Fast or slow zombies? I’m not fucking around with any fast zombies - I’m slow. Going to 1863 screws me a bit on the medication side, but its not likely to kill me if I’m careful, just shorten my lifespan a tad. Also going to 1863 for seven months then returning with the _knowledge that a zombie apocalypse is impending_ means I have time to prepare for the impending zombie apocalypse. Preferably on an uninhabited island somewhere. Nope, 1863 in California is far preferable, however much of pain in the ass it may be. As a demonstrably literate white man with semi- passable people skills I should at the very least be able to get a job to keep myself from starving. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/49 "2011-11-16T17:26:40Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > It is a job, after all. Yeah, but how hard would it be to give them the report without actually going back? BTW, I’m addicted to modern technology. Since I wouldn’t have time to prepare and take stuff back with me, I guess it has to be the future. Hopefully the zombie outbreak won’t be too bad–I mean, they apparently know about the future, so they should already know if I’m going to come back or not. They’d be foolish to waste their secret on multiple people, so it would make sense to check first. Unless, of course, they are going to kill me anyways. But then it doesn’t matter–and covering up multiple deaths isn’t as easy as one. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/50 "2011-11-16T19:23:14Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Zombies. > I’m the wrong color to be hanging out in pre-1960s America. > [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > That’s my choice too for the same reason. I hate to break it to you guys, but according to every zombie movie I’ve ever seen, you’re _also_ the wrong color for a zombie outbreak. > [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > (Safety Deposit Box for deeds?) Peeve: Safe deposit box. It’s not a place of refuge. It’s a box that gets deposited in the safe. > [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > I might find a future version of myself that sucks. Or…:(…bites! > [@silenus](#): > > 1863 in a heartbeat. I’m in California and I know where the minerals are. The OP says “you’ll end up in the closest state that was involved in the war.” Cali doesn’t count. ETA: Oh yeah. I’ll take the zombie outbreak. I don’t understand why everyone agrees that the modern US Army could annihilate Ceasar’s legions effortlessly, but they can’t tackle a disorganized mob of shuffling biters. Hell, given welding gear and a VW bus, I can make a good-enough tank to retake a whole city easily. Seriously, four survivors could kill at least a thousand zombies a day. ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/51 "2011-11-16T20:14:38Z")
Being female, young, healthy, and in a really far-off corner of the country, I’d end up in pretty good shape to survive 1863. If a time machine really exists, though, I’m going to assume that zombies follow movie rules and not realistic rules. I’m not going to step into that without some serious preparation. So 1863 for me. Although I’ll curse myself the entire time for not having studied more civil war history. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/52 "2011-11-16T22:30:34Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > …Down Side: Bring Condoms. You don’t want to be your own grandpa… Speak for yourself, square. I’d be planting a whole new family tree. 😃 Beyond that, hours of George Romero movies, the Zombie Survival Guide and Left 4 Dead 1& 2 have convinced me that 2013 is where I am most needed. ---
**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 16, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/53 "2011-11-16T23:05:21Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Hell, given welding gear and a VW bus, I can make a good-enough tank to retake a whole city easily. Seriously, four survivors could kill at least a thousand zombies a day. > [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Beyond that, hours of George Romero movies, the Zombie Survival Guide and Left 4 Dead 1& 2 have convinced me that 2013 is where I am most needed. Ok, both of you can be on my team. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873/54 "2011-11-18T09:02:05Z")
I live in Nevada. Nevada in 1863 had no air conditioning. Oh, **HELL** no. Zombies it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-zombie-invasion-or-1863/602873.md?page=2)