Felicia Felix-Mentor
Encyclopedia
Felicia Felix-Mentor was a Haitian woman believed to have been made into a zombie
in the early part of the 20th century.
Felicia Felix-Mentor reportedly died in 1907, after a sudden illness of the type that Haitian belief finds to be characteristic of a person marked to be made into a zombie. In 1936 a woman (either nude or in ragged clothing depending on the source) was found wandering the streets, and made her way to a farm which she claimed belonged to her father. The owners identified the woman as Felicia Felix-Mentor, long thought dead, and Felix-Mentor's husband also confirmed this. Due to her poor health, she was sent to a government hospital. A doctor who interviewed her described her behavior:
While gathering information for the book Tell My Horse, author Zora Neale Hurston
encountered the supposed zombie and photographed her. However, Dr. Louis P. Mars had examined the woman and did not think her to actually be Felix-Mentor -- his reasons for denying the identification include that Felix-Mentor had a permanent limp from a fractured leg whereas the Zombie, though initially brought in with a limp, healed over time and showed no evidence of a fracture in X-Rays.
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
in the early part of the 20th century.
Felicia Felix-Mentor reportedly died in 1907, after a sudden illness of the type that Haitian belief finds to be characteristic of a person marked to be made into a zombie. In 1936 a woman (either nude or in ragged clothing depending on the source) was found wandering the streets, and made her way to a farm which she claimed belonged to her father. The owners identified the woman as Felicia Felix-Mentor, long thought dead, and Felix-Mentor's husband also confirmed this. Due to her poor health, she was sent to a government hospital. A doctor who interviewed her described her behavior:
Her occasional outbursts of laughter were devoid of emotion, and very frequently she spoke of herself in either the first or the third person without any sense of discrimination. She had lost all sense of time and was quite indifferent to the world of things around her.
While gathering information for the book Tell My Horse, author Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
encountered the supposed zombie and photographed her. However, Dr. Louis P. Mars had examined the woman and did not think her to actually be Felix-Mentor -- his reasons for denying the identification include that Felix-Mentor had a permanent limp from a fractured leg whereas the Zombie, though initially brought in with a limp, healed over time and showed no evidence of a fracture in X-Rays.