The news about the Miami cannibal attack became sensational in the US over the weekend as it sparked a conspiracy theory about the so-called “Zombie Apocalypse.”

The term was actually a title of a 2011 horror movie on Syfy channel inspired by fictional undead creatures popularized by hit movies such as “Dawn of the Dead” and tv series like “The Walking Dead.”

Intimately tied to the conception of the modern zombie is the “zombie apocalypse”, the breakdown of society as a result of zombie infestation, which has emerged as a prolific subgenre of apocalyptic fiction and been portrayed in countless zombie-related media post-Night. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread (usually global) rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization. Victims of zombies may become zombies themselves. This causes the outbreak to become an exponentially growing crisis: the spreading “zombie plague/virus” swamps normal military and law enforcement organizations, leading to the panicked collapse of civilian society until only isolated pockets of survivors remain, scavenging for food and supplies in a world reduced to a pre-industrial hostile wilderness.

It’s interesting to note that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US issued a warning about the zombie apocalypse in 2011. Titled “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse,” is a blog post of the agency that uses a zombie apocalypse scenario to raise public awareness on preparations for emergency situations. In a blog post titled “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”, the Director of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, Rear Admiral Dr. Ali S. Khan writes: “Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.” Comparing the upcoming hurricane season and possible pandemics to “flesh-eating zombies” from the horror film Night of the Living Dead and the video game series Resident Evil, Dr. Khan recommends Americans prepare for natural disasters as they would have prepared for “ravenous monsters”

Now it seems like the Zombie Apocalypse is becoming a reality after the Miami Cannibal Attack: a homeless man named Rudy Eugene was shot and killed by police on Saturday, while chewing another man’s face off.

Eugene was caught by the police naked under a flyover in Miami chewing the face of another naked man. The police told him to stop but he did not listened. He was shot and killed while the other man was brought to the hospital.

This incident ignited the conspiracy theory about the Zombie Apocalypse.

Take note that in the last 12 days, similar incidents happened in Florida.

In chronological order, here’s what went down in the sunny state:

May 16 – According to a report by the Huffington Post, students and teachers at a Florida high school had to be decontaminated after breaking out in a mysterious rash.

May 21 – According to a report by MySuburbanLife.com, A man from Bellwood, Illinois, was arrested after allegedly biting an 18-year-old woman’s cheek.

May 23 – According to NBC San Diego, a man from Spring Valley, California was arrested for allegedly biting the tip off of his cousin’s nose off.

May 26 – According to ABC News, a Florida anesthesiologist allegedly banged his head against the inside of a cop car until he started bleeding following a DUI arrest last Saturday, the same day as the Miami cannibal attack. He then proceeded to allegedly spit blood in a police officer’s face.

These events have sparked a nationwide sensation making people think that what they’ve seen on movies like “Shaun of the Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead,” “Night of the Living Dead” and TV series “The Walking Dead” are coming true.

Here are more events that support the “Zombie Apocalpse” theory:
May 26 – According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, a man from Palm Coast, Florida, was arrested for allegedly biting the lips off one kitten and strangling another cat to death.

May 27 – According to the Daily Mail, a man from Hackensack, New Jersey, allegedly stabbed himself repeatedly in front of the police then began to pull his own guts out, and proceeded to throw his intestines at police officers.

These weird events happened in nearby locations just a period of 12 days since the breakout of a mysterious rash at a Florida High School. Is this really the beginning of “Zombie Apocalypse”?

Via the Miami Herald:

It was a scene as creepy as a Hannibal Lecter movie.

One man was shot to death by Miami police, and another man is fighting for his life after he was attacked, and his face allegedly half eaten, by a naked man on the MacArthur Causeway off ramp Saturday, police said.

The horror began about 2 p.m. when a series of gunshots were heard on the ramp, which is along NE 13th Street, just south of The Miami Herald building.

According to police sources, a road ranger saw a naked man chewing on another man’s face and shouted on his loud speaker for him to back away.Meanwhile, a woman also saw the incident and flagged down a police officer who was in the area.

The officer, who has not been identified, approached and, seeing what was happening, also ordered the naked man to back away. When he continued the assault, the officer shot him, police sources said. The attacker failed to stop after being shot, forcing the officer to continue firing. Witnesses said they heard at least a half dozen shots.

Miami police were on the scene, which was just south of The Miami Herald building on Biscayne Boulevard. The naked man who was killed lay face down on the pedestrian walkway just below the newspaper’s two-story parking garage. Police have requested The Herald’s video surveillance tapes.

The other man was transported to the hospital with critical injuries, according to police. Their identities were not released.

Watch the video of the Miami Cannibal Attack below as taken by a surveillance camera nearby: