Photo: Abigail Crocker
BLOODIED Zombies get smashed. |
The Reverend Al Zombie, organizer of the Providence Zombie Pub Crawl, climbed on the bar at Fatty McGee’s as the event kicked off Saturday night to offer a disclaimer.
“Pub crawls are illegal,” said the reverend, wearing a large cowboy hat. “If anyone asks, I don’t know any of you guys.”
It was a rare acknowledgement of earthly concerns for the 100 or so zombies gathered for the affair.
As they walked the streets, faces glistened with rain and blood, some wore ripped dresses and suits. Others showed off stomachs complete with protruding baby hands.
At Murphy’s Deli and Bar, a pair of zombies wearing white jump suits and red Devo caps staggered up to the bar. When patrons approached, one of the pair growled “Brains! Beautiful brains!,” chasing off beer-seekers.
A zombie dressed in a Santa suit tousled his beard, caked with red. A gang of zombified elves had attacked him, he said. Now, Santa said, he eats small children lured by his costume.
“First they sit on my lap, then I grab them with my hands,” he said. “I’m so hungry.”
But not all zombies were so comfortable with the life of the undead. Recently turned zombie Zach Furman said he was bittten by his friend after he attempted to rescue him using CPR.
“He was seizing, so I tried to give him mouth to mouth. And here I am, a zombie,” said Furman.
A bar fight broke out at one point after a zombie allegedly poured blood on one of the living, according to pub crawler Rich “Oger” McKay. But the undead seemed unfazed. “You need a beer to watch a zombie fight,” said one zombie, crawling up to the bar.
At Trinity Brewhouse on Fountain Street, some patrons said they had no interest in mixing with zombies. “A, they are infected,” said Rupert Quincy Johneest, sitting with some friends. “B, they want brains.”
Besides, he said, they’re terrorists: “They’re part of the Taliban. Look it up on Wikipedia.”
Zombies walking along Washington Street to their next destination, Local 121, smeared fake blood on neighboring storefront windows. Some patrons seated next to the windows jumped back in their seats as zombies leered at them through the glass.
Asked how to fend off an attack from one of his cohorts, McKay said any would-be survivor needed an effective strategy — and a good weapon.
“You have to separate the head from the body,” he said. “It’s the basic zombie rule.”
