What are the different catalysts in the creation and spread of a zombie apocalypse?

In Zombieland, the virus was actually mutated Mad Cow Disease that a human caught from eating a contaminated hamburger.

In 28 Days Later, a chimp infected with a virus meant to cause extreme aggression bit a human who turned almost immediately.

In I Am Legend (the remake), a cure for cancer mutated and infected every human on the planet. Most of the population died, but a portion was immune and a larger portion turned into the walking undead. Technically, these are classified as vampires by some, but the increased aggression and intense desire to consume human flesh are the two main criteria for defining a zombie, so I’ll classify these monsters as zombies as well.

In an episode of Sliders, the sliders encounter a world where most of the population has become zombie-like again, intense aggression and the desire to attack/eat humans being the defining characteristics and they became that way because of a new diet drug that “ate” fat.

In the book Xombies, the plague was engineered and infected women first. I don’t remember if the author mentions why the plague was engineered the first place but it’s an interesting read and I suggest reading it. These zombies are also very strange in that they are sentient and impossible to kill. Once could say that the sentience of these zombies has moved into their cells, so even when a zombie is destroyed completely, that is to say, broken down into nothing but cells, it is still self-aware and can still infect humans, but really only if ingested at that point.

28 days later scares the hell out of me… It is the only kind of zombie invasion that would make me jump off a roof. The rest I might take pleasure in killing? Can you imagine something like that after you? *Shivers.

I think it was spread by a virus. It usually is a virus, isn’t it?

I also believe that sometimes a probe returning from Venus blows apart in the upper atmosphere and unleashes something that alien that causes the dead to reanimate. I don’t have any citations, but I’m pretty sure that returning Venus probes are a major cause of zombie apocalyptic type stuff. Just saying….

One common thread is a dumbass scientists, or multiple dumbass scientists. They encounter the virus/parasite/whatever, and instead of quarantining it or destroying it they decide to study it. Then when it inevitably gets out, they cover it up. A variant on this is the dumbass politician who wants to cover it up and therefore not act appropriately, in order to save face. Otherwise, even a fairly unorganized military could mop it up in a few days.

P.S.: Technically, zombies that try to eat humans are not actual zombies in the strict sense, but “revenant ghouls”.

@lillycoyote *Smiles… I wish I could give you 10 points for that.

@incendiary_dan Hee hee… POINTS!

@KatawaGrey Thanks! This is exactly the type of info I was looking for. It seems that in most apocalyptic zombie situations, the cause is the same, or a minor variation. I am collaborating on a project that involves a zombie-like situation, but we want it to be a totally original idea. By ruling out the types of ways they were “created” in the past, we can be reasonably sure that our drawing board is not tainted by repeat ideas.

@incendiary_dan Exactly the reason we want to avoid this same old thing. =) It actually has become a tedious and completely over-done idea.

I lost an hour and found this link to an article on TVTropes after reading your question.

They have broken it out by categories in an article called: “Our Zombies Are Different”

“The most common zombie archetypes are as follows:
Type V: Voodoo. The original zombie. Reanimated by Black Magic. May either do their creator’s bidding or go insane and turn into Type F. This is a common type encountered in video games and RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons; being creatures of dark magic or unholy powers, these fall under the Revive Kills Zombie rule.
Type C: Construct…”

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Wow, great reference. Thanks! Sorry about the hour! Perhaps it was entertaining?

Yes.

They even have what Dan was talking about under “Obstructionist Bureaucrat”.