Zombie in the context of "Creepypasta"

A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, horror, fantasy, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes terror and fear, often in humans. Monsters usually resemble bizarre, deformed, otherworldly and/or mutated animals or entirely unique creatures of varying sizes, but may also take a human form, such as mutants, ghosts, spirits, vampires or zombies, among other things. They may or may not have supernatural powers, but are usually capable of killing or causing some form of destruction, threatening the social or moral order of the human world in the process.

Animal monsters are outside the moral order, but sometimes have their origin in some human violation of the moral law (e.g. in the Greek myth, Minos does not sacrifice to Poseidon the white bull which the god sent him, so as punishment Poseidon makes Minos' wife, Pasiphaë, fall in love with the bull. She copulates with the beast, and gives birth to the man with a bull's head, the Minotaur). Human monsters are those who by birth were never fully human (Medusa and her Gorgon sisters) or who through some supernatural or unnatural act lost their humanity (werewolves, Frankenstein's monster), and so who can no longer, or who never could, follow the moral law of human society.

Body horror, or biological horror, is a subgenre of horror fiction that intentionally showcases grotesque or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body or of another creature. These violations may manifest through aberrant sex, mutations, mutilation, zombification, gratuitous violence, disease, or unnatural movements of the body. Body horror was a description originally applied to an emerging subgenre of North American horror films, but has roots in early Gothic literature and has expanded to include other media.

The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a corpse reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's own life force or that of a supernatural being (such as a demon, or other evil spirit). The undead may be incorporeal (ghosts) or corporeal (mummies, vampires, skeletons, and zombies).

The undead are featured in the belief systems of most cultures, and appear in many works of fantasy and horror fiction. The term is also occasionally used for real-life attempts to resurrect the dead with science and technology, from early experiments like Robert E. Cornish's to future sciences such as "chemical brain preservation" and "cryonics." While the term usually refers to corporeal entities, in some cases (for example, in Dungeons & Dragons), the term also includes incorporeal forms of the dead, such as ghosts.

A vrykolakas (Greek: βρυκόλακας or βρικόλακας, pronounced [vriˈkolakas]), is a harmful undead creature in Greek folklore. Similar terms such as vourkolakas (βουρκόλακας), vourvoulakas (βουρβούλακας), vorvolakas (βορβόλακας), vourvolakas (βουρβόλακας), vourdoulakas (βουρδούλακας) were also used for the creature.

It shares similarities with numerous other legendary creatures, but is generally equated with the vampire of the folklore of the neighbouring Slavic countries. While the two are very similar, a vrykolakas eats flesh, particularly livers, rather than drinking blood, which combined with other factors such as its appearance bring it more in line with the modern concept of a zombie or ghoul.

William Buehler Seabrook (February 22, 1884 – September 20, 1945) was an American occultist, explorer, world traveler, journalist and author, born in Westminster, Maryland. He began his career as a reporter and city editor of the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia and later worked for the New York Times. He is well-known for his writing on, and engaging in, cannibalism.

Seabrook's 1929 book The Magic Island, which documents his experiences with Haitian Vodou, is considered the first popular English-language work to describe the concept of zombies.

The Magic Island is a book by American explorer and traveler William Seabrook. First published in 1929 by Harcourt, Brace & Company, The Magic Island is an account of Seabrook's experiences with Haitian Vodou in Haiti, and is considered the first popular English-language work to describe the concept of a zombie, defined by Seabrook as "a soulless human corpse, still dead, but taken from the grave and endowed by sorcery with a mechanical semblance of life—it is a dead body which is made to walk and act and move as if it were alive."

The Magic Island was published on January 3, 1929, and was named one of that month's best-selling non-fiction books by Baker & Taylor. It received praise from critics at the time for its characterization of the people and culture of Haiti and its exploration of Vodou, although some reviewers questioned Seabrook's credibility and the accuracy of the material. Retrospective reviews have been critical of the book's depiction of Haiti and Vodou, especially in relation to the United States' then-ongoing occupation of Haiti.