I zombie-fied my good friend Paul from SyFy’s hit paranormal show Ghost Hunters International. Paul is currently guest starring in my comic Tara Normal so this is my way of saying ‘thank you’. I turned him into one of the undead.

You can get your own ‘Zombie’ caricature from me. Just write ‘ZOMBIE’ in the Notes section when you place your order.
http://www.taranormal.com/store/store-caricatures.html

8 Hours Earlier is a short film written by me and directed by Shelley Noel from 2002. It’s actually a prequel to Tara Norma too! The shotgun-toting dad in the movie, Steve, is a character in the first Tara Normal comic, Plan 10.
Now this comic from Plan 10 will make even more sense.
http://www.taranormal.com/?p=246

I hope you’re not eating lunch when you read this disturbing true scientific discovery. There are parasite flies turning honeybees into ‘zombies’ and breeding inside of them.

“A heap of dead bees was supposed to become food for a newly captured praying mantis. Instead, the pile ended up revealing a previously unrecognized suspect in colony collapse disorder a mysterious condition that for several years has been causing declines in U.S. honeybee populations, which are needed to pollinate many important crops. This new potential culprit is a bizarre and potentially devastating parasitic fly that has been taking over the bodies of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Northern California.

John Hafernik, a biology professor at San Francisco State University, had collected some belly-up bees from the ground underneath lights around the University’s biology building. “But being an absent-minded professor,” he noted in a prepared statement, “I left them in a vial on my desk and forgot about them.” He soon got a shock. “The next time I looked at the vial, there were all these fly pupae surrounding the bees,” he said. A fly (Apocephalus borealis) had inserted its eggs into the bees, using their bodies as a home for its developing larvae. And the invaders had somehow led the bees from their hives to their deaths. A detailed description of the newly documented relationship was published online Tuesday in PLoS ONE.

The team performed a genetic analysis of the fly and found that it is the same species that has previously been documented to parasitizie bumblebee as well as paper wasp populations. That this parasite hasn’t previously been reported as a honeybee killer came as a surprise, given that “honeybees are among the best-studied insects of the world,” Hafernik said. “We would expect that if this has been a long-term parasite of honeybees, we would have noticed.”

The team found evidence of the fly in 77 percent of the hives they sampled in the Bay Area of California, as well as in some hives in the state’s agricultural Central Valley and in South Dakota. Previous research has found evidence that mites, a virus, a fungus, or a combination of these factors might be responsible for the widespread colony collapse. (Read more about colony collapse disorder in our feature “Solving the Mystery of the Vanishing Bees.”) And with the discovery that this parasitic fly has been quietly killing bees in at least three areas, it might join the list of possible forces behind colony collapse disorder.

The parasitic fly lays eggs in a bee’s abdomen. Several days later, the parasitized bee bumbles out of the hives often at night on a solo mission to nowhere. These bees often fly toward light and wind up unable to control their own bodies. After a bee dies, as many as 13 fly larvae crawl out from the bee’s neck. The bees’ behavior seems similar to that of ants that are parasitized and then decapitated from within by other fly larvae from the Apocephalus genus.”

Here come the zombies.

Our favorite zombie, Bill Hinzman, the first zombie to appear in George Romero’s 1968 horror classic “Night of the Living Dead”, has passed away at age 75.

Rest In Peace, Bill. All of us at TaraNormal.com will miss you.

Here’s a new portrait I literally just finished of the always awesome Norman Reedus as badass Daryl Dixon from the Walking Dead on AMC. As you can see, he’s doing what he does best: killing a zombie. It’s based on the season 2 episode Chupacabra where Daryl falls down into the creek. He also builds himself a kick ass zombie ear necklace. One of my favorite television episodes ever.

Here’s a link to see my other Daryl Dixon artwork.
http://www.taranormal.com/?p=1826

Make sure to follow Norman Reedus on Twitter. @wwwbigbaldhead

The world’s buzzing after a drugged-up homeless man brutally attacked another homeless man in Miami. In case you haven’t heard, the attacker was found eating the other man’s face just like a zombie. We at TaraNormal.com like to take care of our readers, so here’s all of the news you need about this bats*** insane incident all in one place.

What Happened:
Here’s a report of the murder from CNN.com:

Rudy Eugene, 31, walking along the sidewalk and then stopping in a shaded area created by the tramway bridge. He apparently attacks the victim, dragging him out from the shade, stripping the victim’s clothes off and then beating him as the victim kicks his legs in an apparent attempt to fight back.

When a patrol car arrives, the officer appears to draw his gun quickly, but the actual shooting is blocked by the tramway overpass.

The Victim:

The man who had his face chewed off Saturday afternoon is reportedly a homeless 65-year-old man named Ronald Poppo.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/258279/483/Miami-zombie-attack-victim-identified

The Video:
If you have a strong stomach and a sick sense of curiosity, here’s the security video.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/30/security-video-shows-entire-miami-zombie-attack/

What the Hell Was This Guy On?
Police reports are claiming the ‘zombie attacker’ was high on bath salts. This is the name given to a new dangerous form of LSD that is obviously popular among insane and dangerous people.

Here’s an article on Bath Salts:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/bath-salts-health-cannibal-rudy-eugene_n_1555493.html

According to a CDC report of bath salt abusers in Michigan, users not only experience psychological side effects — there were physical ones too. In fact, 91 percent of users had neurological damage, while 77 percent experienced cardiovascular damage and 49 percent had psychological difficulties associated with the drug. Those difficulties could be severe: 37 percent of the people who suffered mental health problems reported attempting suicide or having suicidal thoughts, related to bath salts.

Who is the Attacker?
Rudy Eugene, a 31 year-old homeless man in Miami is the man who was chewing on his victim before police had to gun him down.

Here’s an article on his past.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57443072-504083/rudy-eugene-fla–face-chewer-called-quiet-boy-by-former-neighbor/

Here’s a report of the cannibal Rudy Eugene’s last hours before he ate another man’s face off.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/29/exclusive-new-details-causeway-cannibal-rudy-eugenes-last-hours/

There are a lot of ‘zombie-like’ attacks happening in this country. And when I say a lot, I mean that 1 zombie-like attack is way too many.

Remember the 1st Miami face-eating attack:
http://www.taranormal.com/?p=1862

The Maryland cannibal attack; Maryland zombie eats brain:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/zombie-apocalypse-continues-new-cannibal-attack-sees-maryland-man-eat-victims-brain-75875/

And the recent but equally as disturbing story about the Texas zombie man who ate a dog alive:
http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/national/another-zombie-like-attack-man-eats-family-dog-after-police-say-he-ingested-synthetic-drug-k-2

The CDC, the Center for Disease Control (you might know them from real-life or TV’s The Walking Dead), released an official statement about the impending zombie apocalypse.

“CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms),” agency spokesperson David Daigle told The Huffington Post on Friday.

I’m not buying it.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/04/cdc-to-america-there-is-no-zombie-apocalypse/#ixzz1z5ei7Ajp

Next time you’re at the movies and your loved one forces you into the next Twilight movie (Come on, some of you have been forced to do so), use this delightfully tasteful zombie head popcorn bucket.

They’re unavailable right now, but I’m sure they’ll return (from the dead) soon.

Source:
http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2012/07/16/zombie-head-popcorn-bucket-pic/

http://horrorbucket.com/

Even though the CDC claims there’s no zombie apocalypse coming (but they’re still prepared for one if it does!), we’re all on edge after the bath salts-driven attacks. Now, I know you’re saying wait- the lab results revealed the Miami ‘zombie’ attacker only had pot in his system. Pot doesn’t make you eat someone’s face. It makes you eat a lot of Doritos. Also, Bath Salts don’t show up on a lot of drug tests.

We all know it’s Bath Salts. What are Bath Salts? Here’s an awesome infographic explaining all. People need to stop doing this stuff and then trying to eat people. Please.

Image Source: FloorGem Baltimore

Thank you to FloorGem for sending us this graphic.
http://floorgem.com/blog/infographic-bath-salts-abuse/