Zombies Create Confusion In Portland

My mother, when I was growing up, was an Registered Nurse who was also a First Aid trainer sometimes. On one occasion I remember her being part of a staged event in which rescue teams were being trained in how to deal with larger scale accidents. The training organizers had done a re-enactment of a bus wreck using boy scouts as victims. Mom said they tried to make it graphically real including bones sticking out and fake blood. (I remember her saying the recipe for fake blood is Nestle's Quik and red food coloring. The powdered chocolate helps give the blood its proper viscosity.) I got the impression it had been quite interesting.

A couple years ago I arrived at an intersection where a van full of young people had been plowed into by a car that evidently failed to stop at a stop sign. The van was upside down and all around there were teens and young adults sitting or lying on the grass and on the road being attended to by others. Fortunate, the victims in this case had no bones sticking out and there was very little blood, just a lot of hurting bodies.

It is with these images in mind that I read the following article about a van rollover in Portland.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A car full of people dressed as zombies crashed on Interstate 84 near downtown Portland on Friday, causing initial confusion by people who witnessed the crash.

Evidently the accident victims were en route to a zombie party.

Sgt. Greg Stewart said people who witnessed the crash initially thought the victims' injuries were much more serious, because of the zombie costumes.

"We're glad that everyone is alive, despite being 'undead'," Sgt. Stewart said, referring to the costumes.

Sounds to me like Sgt. Stewart found the incident amusing. But if you check out this image at Wikipedia, you'll understand immediately why a car crash involving a carload of people dressed as zombies might cause consternation. Yowzer! Is that you, sweetheart?

No deep thoughts here today... just a story for the water cooler.