Mind-Control Over Zombies Exists in Nature

Vincent Price

Let's define mind control as one living creature's affecting another creature's brain in a way that the victim does something that it does not want to do, perhaps even something that will result in death. Hypnosis and blackmail do not count.
 
Now let's define what a zombie is. You probably think it's a person who dies; the body is reanimated somehow; and the ceaselessly stalking sack of flesh and bones is trying to eat you, particularly for the delicacy that is your brains.

Well, that type of zombie apparently was invented as recently as the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson: I Am Legend. In that story, a pandemic has turned all humans, except the lone hero, into vampires. These are not like previous vampires, which talk with a Transylvanian accent and want to bite your neck to stuck your blood. These vampires basically want to kill you, but they only come out at night. They very much follow the depiction of what we've come to know as zombies, rather than actual vampires. Ten years later, the novel was made into a movie called The Last Man on Earth. It starred the creepy Vincent Price as the lone hero surrounded by vampires that act more like zombies. I Am Legend might sound familiar to you because it was made again into a movie with the same title in 2007, starring Will Smith as the last man standing (who is not also dead).

But there was another movie based on Matheson's novel that truly opened the gates to the "walking dead," brainless zombies we have come to know and love: The 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead. Get it? The "dead" who seem to be "living" because they stumble and mumble. Anyway, the film introduced that type of zombie, even though the term "zombie" was never even mentioned. Fans of the film referred to the deadish creatures as "zombies" because they were behaving very much like real zombies. "Real zombies"?

Zombies have their origin in Africa. Why not? After all, if Africa is the birthplace of the human race, why not the birthplace (deathplace?) of the dead human race? There has been a religion there called Vodun. Many Vodun followers were kidnapped in West Africa and brought to Haiti as slaves. Because the French authorities banned the practice of African religions and forced conversion to Roman Catholicism, Vodun went underground, became infused with a bit of Catholicism, and wound up as the religion we know to day as Voodoo (or now referred to as Vodou).

Certain Vodou practitioners have developed a method, using chemical powders, whereby they apparently induce a trance-like state in a victim, to the point that the "zombie" might appear to be dead, but still follows the practitioner's every command. This hasn't been thoroughly proven, although it is quite certain that this zombie had not died. The strong chemicals eventually wear off; their continued use can actually lead to death.

So, these Vodou zombies aren't exactly the living dead. But can a process in Nature be found whereby one living creature can control another being's brain, forcing the victim to involuntarily carry out complex actions, even if those actions lead directly to the victim's death? Can this happen even if the victim is completely unconscious and more or less dead? Yes.

The Spider Forced to Spin a Different Web

Most spiders' brains are wired to build a specific type of web. One can often identify spider species just by looking at the web design. There is a wasp in Costa Rica that invades a particular spider (Anelosimus octavius) and takes over its brain, forcing the spider to alter its species-specific web design and to create instead a web that protects the wasp's larvae, which (spoiler alert: this is gross!) immediately burst out from within the spider once the web is finished. It is believed that the wasp produces a protein that actually alters the spider's DNA sequence, thus changing the instinctual web design.

The Caterpillar Forced to Climb

Think wasp larvae in a spider is disgusting? Wait until you hear about this: A Gypsy Moth caterpillar is innocently chewing on a leaf, but doesn't notice that it is ingesting a baculovirus (a type of virus only seen with a microscope). The virus invades the caterpillar's cells, takes over its brain and forces it to climb as high as it can. Why? Because the caterpillar then dissolves, and the baculovirus rains down on many leaves below, infecting them -- thus setting up the scene for more caterpillars to repeat the entire process. How can a virus control a brain? The virus affects a specific gene so it releases an enzyme that destroys a hormone that normally signals a caterpillar to stop feeding and to molt. Since the caterpillar does not know it has to stop taking from the buffet, it climbs higher and higher searching for more food. Until the virus shower, that is.

The Parasite That Needs Two Host Species

Gammarid

 

The Thorny-Headed Worm (this is already sounding gross) is born deep inside a pond, but to reproduce it needs to be inside a bird that does not eat worms. How does it accomplish this task? The worm invades a gammarid (crustacean), that's how. The worm takes over the gammarid's brain, and forces it to head to the surface of the water instead of diving down when it senses danger. Once it's at the surface, it becomes ripe pickings for a gammarid-eating bird. Mission accomplished.  The worm apparently affects the gammarid's brain by forcing the creation of chemicals that confuse it. Now you want to know why the worm wants to be in the bird. Okay, it wants to go through the digestive system and come out in its poop, which is dropped in the pond -- the always-beautiful circle of life.

Rats Forced To Laugh at Cats

The single-celled Toxoplasma gondii needs to reproduce in the bowels of cats (yes, this is another poop story). When another animal, such as a rat, ingests this parasite (I will not provide any details how this occurs), Toxoplasma takes over the brain and makes the rat no longer afraid of its natural enemy, the cat. So, if a cat suddenly appears, the rat makes no attempt to flee, and it is eaten -- bringing the Toxoplasma back to its lush breeding ground, mixed with tuna and fur balls. Apparently, Toxoplasma produces an enzyme that increases the release of dopamine and testosterone, which make the rat more curious and less fearful.

The Grasshopper Forced to Commit Suicide

When a grasshopper eats the hairworm Spinochordodes tellinii, the worm produces proteins that affect the grasshopper's brain and nervous system. The worm's larvae reach adulthood and eventually control the grasshopper's movements. The grasshopper eventually is forced to commit suicide by jumping into water, which it normally never does, and the worm then emerges to look for a mate.

I was going to give a few more examples that include samples of controlled snail tentacles and fake fish tongues and more poop stories, but realized that I'm getting very creeped out, and I'm beginning to wonder what type of parasite I might have inside me. Perhaps there's one that forces its victim to write disgusting blogs.

Are there creatures that can control human minds? Well, the Lyssavirus that causes Rabies in animals does have affects on the human brain once it is transmitted. For instance, a human will develop Hydrophobia -- the fear of drinking water (or any liquid). It is an irrational response that the infected human cannot control. Rabies in humans will also cause different moods, such as anxiety, excitement, and depression (unrelated to the person's reaction to the fact of having the illness). I am sure that there are many other examples of creatures controlling a human brain, but I would prefer not to know about them, especially if any of them have to do with exploding heads that rain down bacteria on more unsuspecting humans below. Besides, the next time I commit some questionable act, I can just explain that a thorny-headed worm made me do it. 

So I'm going to stop right here and just summarize that there are many cases in Nature in which one creature has mind control over another creature, and the victim is usually more or less dead -- zombies, so to speak, except that they are not obsessed by how my brain tastes.