Zombies were alive and rotting on campus last Friday afternoon to scare and entertain student passersby. Hosted by Worlds End Cafe and sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, “Zombie Walk 2010” encouraged the general public to participate by dressing up as zombies to create a parade of living corpses.

“The idea came up because we were talking about zombies one day,” said Sherri Craig, instructor of English and creator of the event. “A few of us remembered the students who dressed up as zombies at the ‘Art and Word’ show last year, and I thought it would be cool to take it a step further. I have always wanted to be in a zombie walk, but the ones around here are not publicized well. I thought it would be a good idea and that we could give a donation to Peer Educators Educating Peers (PEEPS).”

According to Craig, the walk was originally planned as part of the grand opening of Worlds End Cafe, but there was not enough time to do proper advertising beforehand.

“We have a few more cosmetic changes that really need to be made before we have an official ribbon-cutting anyway,” said Craig.

Participants were invited to meet behind D Vickers Hall at 2:30 p.m. to prepare for the walk by using zombie makeup and fake blood provided by Craig. Zombies were not the only creatures present, as others dressed in various costumes such as a dragon, Fred Flintstone, Princess Leia and the Umpire Strikes Back, a pun on “The Empire Strikes Back.”

The walk officially started at 3 p.m., where the assembled zombies and various characters walked through campus to finally end at Worlds End Cafe. Once the walk was completed, participants were invited to partake in various snacks, such as soft drinks, buffalo fries, buffalo wings and dirt cake made by Craig’s husband Jesse Craig.

Once the walk had ended, participants agreed the zombie walk was a good way to start off their Halloween weekend.

“[Zombies are] kind of a morbid fascination,” said Jared Bentley, a general business senior, who dressed as a zombie with a missing arm. “It made for a greater afternoon.”

While some were not dressed as zombies, they still participated for the sheer enjoyment of the event.

“I had fun,” said English instructor Leigh Rourks, who was dressed all day as Princess Leia. “I’m a very big zombie fan. I play zombie video games, I watch zombie movies, we plan for the zombie outbreak, jokingly, of course. It’s a big pop culture phenomena that I’m very interested in.”

According to Craig, there is intent on holding another zombie walk next year.

“The response after talking to people has been positive,” said Craig. “I was thinking next year to try and get it set up more as a Homecoming event. We were thinking of maybe marching to the football field or possibly just ending up at the Student Union Theater and have a mini zombie marathon.”