Any other day this week, it would be startling to see a bloody girl in the Quad gleefully putting woodchips in her hair. But on Saturday, it was an encouraging sight for organizers of the Muncie Zombie Walk, wherein dozens of all ages embraced the stuff of their nightmares.
A briefly cloudy sky set the mood as the first zombies emerged from the stark shadows of the Quad forest. Heavy metal music permeated the atmosphere, and event organizer Robert Abner's voice boomed through the crowd.
"Zombies. Let me hear you moan," he ordered.
Ironically, this indulgence in the macabre was for the sake of well-being, with donations benefitting the Second Harvest Food Bank and Animal Rescue Fund.
Looking around at the widely different generations of costumed participants, one could see why the zombie genre was a perfect theme to attract attention for this cause.
"It's a trend right now, a fad," Andrew DeFrees, a junior religious studies major, said.
"But the post-apocalyptic thing has been popular since the '50s," Jennifer Parker, a junior psychology major, added.
For Muncie resident Emily Nabb Baker, the genre is both warmly familiar and bracingly fresh.
"Zombie movies are cult classics," she said. "Even though they all have the same outcome, it's still fun to anticipate what will happen. Here, I'm looking forward to all the different modifications of zombies and seeing people's interpretations of what a zombie is."
There were many among the horde shambling through Muncie - zombie jocks, nurses, soldiers, TV hosts and more. They garnered screams and laughs as they walked through the Village and McKinley Avenue, passing through the heart of campus.
In addition to fun, the event produced a healthy supply of canned goods for its beneficiaries, proving the undead have a capacity for good after all.
Check back Monday for more on this story.
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