The Mystery of the Undead

The clues: A voodoo doll, a set of vampire teeth, an invitation to a zombie walk. The file label: "The Undead Are Alive". The investigation: Did Hermione find proof that creatures like vampires and zombies are real? This is shaping up to be one scary mystery! Since voodoo comes from Haiti, Kyla meets a Haitian school friend, Tayana, to investigate the voodoo doll clue. Kyla discovers that Tayana and her mother are voodoo priestesses. She also finds out that the voodoo doll clue has nothing to do with real voodoo religion. It's just a tourist souvenir. Real voodoo is a mix of many different cultures and religions including Catholicism and Buddhism. Kyla helps Tayana and her mother perform a voodoo ritual using a veve to pray to the spirits. She discovers that because voodoo uses skulls and coffins as part of its imagery, it was scary for outsiders and led them to make up stories about voodoo being evil. But voodoo is actually used as a positive force. Sticking pins in voodoo dolls to turn people into zombies is just a made-up legend. E.B. looked through Hermione's contacts and listed under vampire he found the name of an anthropologist called Karen who is an expert on the undead in different cultures. They meet at a place called "Trapped" where, in a locked room, you have to find clues to solve a mystery that will unlock the door. As they gather up their clues, E.B. discovers that lots of different cultures have stories about the undead or people who are cursed like the Wendigo, draugrs, werewolves and vampires. Many of these were inspirations for Hollywood movies but they're just fiction. Hermione's mystery isn't solved yet but E.B. and Karen manage to escape the locked room! Following the zombie walk invitation clue, Kyla meets Thea Munster at the cemetery. Thea is in full zombie make-up and costume and gives Kyla a bit of a scare. But it's all in good fun. Kyla gets her own zombie makeover and with a gang of zombie kids, they shamble around the cemetery. Kyla finds out that although zombies aren't real, people have lots of fun pretending to be zombies and acting scary. Plus, if you are scared of zombies and monsters, pretending to be one can make you feel braver.