FEATURE
HOW TO BE DEAD
Second annual zombie walk rouses Lawrence's undead players By Chance Dibben
By Chance Dibben cdibben@kansan.com
We are headed down a dark, strange corridor. A shakedown is coming. Maybe it's the global warming or the manic economy, but it seems we're tumbling toward the end. But what awaits for us at the end! Some would say ZOMBIES!
Inspired by films like George A. Romero's Living Dead series and video games like Resident Evil, citizens dress like zombies and roam public places like parks, major city streets and bars. Called zombie walks, these outings have become popular year-round across the country and speak to the macabre in each of us.
Last year's zombie walk in Lawrence drew only around 30 participants. Thanks to more organization through Facebook and message boards like www.zombiewalk.com, this year's danse macabre involved an estimated 300 people. Zombie walks are not just for the 18 to 24 crowd. This year small children and older individuals took part in the lurch from South Park down Massachusetts St. and back.
These local revenants show that in the not-too-distant zombie apocalypse, if you can beat 'em, join 'em
Above: Zombie zwagger! The jaunt down Massachusetts St. begins with the howls of the undead filling the night.
Above. After seeing the event posted on Facebook, Clay Westerlumb, Lawrence junior, made sure to come to this year's Zombie Walk, held last Thursday in Massachusetts ST.
"It just seemed like something really cool to do," Westerlumb says. Costumed as a "war veteran zombie." Westerlumb was one of the more extroverted participants, unafraid to confront strangers in their cars or graan at dinner patrons.
Above: You'd look even better to me dead.Tara Bergman, Seneca senior, applies liquid latex on her fiancée, Tyler Watts, 2008 graduate, hours before the walk starts. "It's amazing what you can do with a little Halloween makeup and information from the Internet," Bergman says. This was the couple's second zombie walk.
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October 30,2008