The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic

A scientific investigation and personal adventure story about zombis and the voudoun culture of Haiti by a Harvard scientist.



In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombis-people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context ...