Can anybody in the group help with this question? What is a zuvembie? Did REH create it, or is it based on Haitian/voodoo folklore?
REH describes a zuvembie in his short (and creepy!) horror story Pigeons from Hell as being a kind of zombie, but with differences: a zuvembie is always female and is not dead, but has been given certain powers by a potion created by a voodoo priest. The zuvembie loses much of her intellect, is unaware of time and is essentially immortal unless slain by a lead or steel weapon, is driven to kill people, who she can entrance, and can control her victims' dead bodies until the warmth has left the corpse.
The only other references to zuvembies I can find relate to Marvel comics, who were disallowed by the Comics Code from using the term zombie for reanimated corpses. Given that they were running Conan stories at the time, it is almost certain that the comic writers were aware of the REH story and that they borrowed the zuvembie term from him.
So, is there any earlier origin that anybody knows about?
REH describes a zuvembie in his short (and creepy!) horror story Pigeons from Hell as being a kind of zombie, but with differences: a zuvembie is always female and is not dead, but has been given certain powers by a potion created by a voodoo priest. The zuvembie loses much of her intellect, is unaware of time and is essentially immortal unless slain by a lead or steel weapon, is driven to kill people, who she can entrance, and can control her victims' dead bodies until the warmth has left the corpse.
The only other references to zuvembies I can find relate to Marvel comics, who were disallowed by the Comics Code from using the term zombie for reanimated corpses. Given that they were running Conan stories at the time, it is almost certain that the comic writers were aware of the REH story and that they borrowed the zuvembie term from him.
So, is there any earlier origin that anybody knows about?