Man With Rare Medical Disorder Convinced He Is A Zombie

After failing to electrocute himself in his bathtub, a man who identified himself as Graham woke up convinced he was a zombie. In an interview with New Scientist magazine after his near death experience, Graham recalls, "I just felt like my brain didn't exist anymore. I kept on telling the doctors that the tablets weren't going to do me any good, because I didn't have a brain. I'd fried it in the bath."

With his altered state of consciousness, Graham was fully convinced he was a zombie walking the world of the living. For a time, he lived and functioned like the undead. "I ended up spending time in the graveyard because that was the closest I could get to death. I lost my sense of smell and taste. I didn't need to eat, or speak or do anything," he told New Scientist.

A closer look at his bizarre condition revealed Graham suffered from a rare psychiatric condition called Cotard's Syndrome. According to the Neurology journal of 2003, the disorder is characterized by "the fixed and unshakable belief that one has lost organs, blood or body parts, or has no soul." Awaking from a failed suicide attempt, Graham felt the exact same symptoms in his head. For him being alive was a "nightmare".

After analyzing his brain scans, what doctors found was disturbing. Dr. Steven Laureys of the University of Liège in Belgium told New Scientist his odd findings about Graham, "His brain function resembles that of someone during anesthesia or sleep. Seeing this pattern in someone who is awake is quite unique to my knowledge."

While Graham moved about like everyone else his brain function resembled that of someone in a coma; which explains his altered perception of the things around him and the feeling of walking dead. "I just felt really damn low. I might as well stay [in the graveyard]. It was the closest I could get to death," he added.

Today, with the help of his continuous medication and therapy, Graham is slowly fitting back in to the world of the living and no longer feels trapped in that zombie-like state. He even feels lucky to be alive.