Handling the Undead (17 page)

 'Among other things, yes.'

'And if I don't give a damn about the bacteria? If I say I want to see her anyway?'

'It doesn't matter. You will have to excuse me. I understand how you ... '

'I don't think so.' David stood up and walked toward the door. Before he left, he turned back. 'I may be wrong, but I don't believe you have any right to do this. I'm going to ... I'm going to do something.'

The woman did not reply. Just looked at David with a pitying, owl-like gaze that made him furious. The door banged mutely against the doorstop as he flung it open and stormed out into the parking lot.

Attachment 1

Newspapers

[From
Aftonbladet,
14 August 2002]

Corpses dug up,

try to flee Military open graves

It is six weeks since the 87-year-old died, and his body is in an advanced state of decomposition. But he lives, and early this morning he tried to elude the military cadets who were opening his grave. Shocking scenes such as this were enacted as the military began their work of examining at least 200 graves at the Stockholm Forest Cemetery.

'It is abominable, the worst thing I have ever experienced,' said a young national serviceman.

At half past one this morning, their fears were realised: the buried were alive. Aftonbladet was on the scene when the military began their operation at the Stockholm Forest Cemetery. An 87-year-old man was the first to be uncovered. He lived, although six weeks have passed since his burial. His body was in an advanced state of decomposition. The man attempted to flee the scene, but was restrained. Sections of the man's flesh peeled away at the touch. With the aid of the burial shroud, soldiers were finally able to force the man to the ground. Two people were needed to restrain him.

Tried to flee

'There is no alternative, but it is only a temporary measure,' Colonel Johan Stenberg said about the fence that the cadets had just started to construct. In order to restrain the dead the army engineers erected an enclosure. Meanwhile others were digging up coffins without opening them.

'It isn't pleasant, but what can we do?' Colonel Stenberg said, shrugging. The enclosure was finished at two-thirty in the morning and the cemetery was fiIIed with military personnel. No hospital transports were to be seen. The opening of the coffins was begun and a horrifying sight awaited.

The dead attempted to find their way out, fumbling, uncertain. Many tried to elude the military but were quickly brought back.

Psychological pressure

'This is hell on earth,' a cadet said, sitting apatheticaIIy next to the enclosure. Behind him stood fifteen of the dead, pressed up against the fence. They stared toward us with their empty eye sockets. The cadet threw himself headlong onto the ground, holding his hands over his ears.

'We assumed this would happen,' johan Stenberg said. 'That is why we have so much personnel. I feel sorry for the kid. Psychological pressure.'

It was obvious that the colonel did not mean what he was saying.

The ambulances arrive

Three more corpses were dug up before the ambulances arrived. Quarrels erupted in several quarters. Commanding officers had to intervene in several fights. As we went to press, the situation at the Forest Cemetery had basicaIIy been reduced to chaos. A few of the dead may have escaped. Nearby residents are urged to keep their doors locked. Today the rest of the graves are scheduled to be opened and then the work wiII continue at the rest of the eighteen city cemeteries.

[Editorial,
Expressen
J

The impossible happened last night. Two thousand Swedes, either declared dead or buried, returned to life. How this is possible and what will happen remains to be seen, but even now a fundamental question may be posed: after this, can we regard death as the end?

Probably not.

One of the definitions of man is that he is an animal who is conscious of the fact that he will die. Perhaps the only one. The events of last night will force us to reformulate the conditions of our own existence.

Death is another word for the cessation of metabolism. If we rule out religious or paranormal explanations, then only one alternative remains: the biological mechanism that is our body has the capacity to restart the process of metabolism. At this point there is no definitive research, but there are many indications.

None of the classic signs of death are valid now. We no longer have a way to declare someone dead. Everyone may come back.

During the 1980s a trend began called cryogenics. Wealthy individuals stipulated in their wills that their bodies should be frozen after death. In the USA, in particular, there are thousands of people resting in this state.

It would not be surprising if the much-maligned cryogenics now experiences an upswing. A solution that allows us to preserve our dead body must at least be discussed.

In all likelihood, researchers will be able to determine what

has caused the dead to become reliving. Possibly they will be

able to repeat the results. A serum against a certain disease can be produced from the blood of a patient who has overcome it. Tonight we have seen thousands of people overcome death. What will we be able to learn?

Our present method of handling the corpse of a human being is basically organised around destroying it. Either quickly, through cremation, or slowly by way of decomposition in the ground. In the future it must be up to each individual to decide what is to be done. In a month, a year, or perhaps ten years-we may find ourselves with a cure for death.

Who will want to be cremated then?

Radio

[From
Morning Echo
06.00]

According to military sources this morning, there are around one hundred and fifty graves left to be opened. All of Stockholm's cemeteries will, however, remain closed to the public for the rest of the day ...

Twelve people are still missing. In three of the cases, the graves have been found dug up, and the deceased removed ...

Press conference currently underway in the Stockholm parliamentary building ...

[From
Morning Echo
07.00]

Family members of the reliving have gathered outside Danderyd Hospital. Head physician Sten Bergwall tells an Echo reporter that at present they cannot allow visitors.

'We still don't know enough. The reliving have been isolated but are receiving the best possible care. As soon as the situation is considered safe we will let in visitors. That could be today, that could be in one week.' ...

. . .from the press conference just ended:

Minister of Social Affairs: At the parliamentary meeting this evening we have decided to prohibit all burials and cremations for an indeterminate amount of time. The four people who have passed away in the Stockholm area during the night have admittedly not shown any signs of awakening, but ...

Journalist: Is there room to store so many bodies?

Minister: Yes, for the moment at least. The morgues have never been this empty.

Journalist: But down the track?

Minister: Down the track. .. we will have to think of something. As you can imagine, there is quite a lot that must be ... thought of in this kind of situation .

.. . the police have now found two of the reliving who were missing. In both cases, family members had concealed them in their

homes ...

[From
Morning Echo
08.00]

Staff at Danderyd Hospital with whom Echo news teams have spoken say that the situation has been chaotic throughout the night. In certain wards cooperation has been impossible.

At a crisis meeting earlier this morning it was decided that staff from all wards would be shifted around in order to offset further conflicts ...

Even military sources report certain phenomena breaking out in cases of direct contact with large gatherings of the reliving ...

Sten Bergwall discusses the practical difficulties of caring for

the reliving, particularly those who have been retrieved from the ground, 'Well, technically they are dead, with all the resulting consequences for the human organism. In order to put this more simply, we have had people here all night with equipment in order to change our ordinary rooms to cold storage ... on ethical grounds we would rather not use the morgue, but ... we are talking of close to two thousand people ... '

The funeral home Fonus says that they will naturally comply with the government's recommendations, but they request a swift notification on technical grounds ...

Television

[TV4 morning news 08.30]

In the studio: STEN BERGWALL (SB), head physician at

Danderyd. JOHAN STENBERG US), Colonel. RUNO

SAHLIN (RS), PhD in Parapsychology.

Interviewer: If we could start with practical matters. How many reliving are currently at Danderyd?

SB: One thousand nine hundred and sixty-two. A few more may have been admitted as we are sitting here.

Int: From what I've heard there have been several reliving who have ... died again during the night.

SB: That is correct.

Int: Do we know why?

SB: Not really, no. But primarily this involves a few reliving who were ... in a very bad state to begin with.

Int: How do you know they've died?

SB: [
smiling
] I could say 'you just know' because that is the case, but more concretely there is a certain ... electrical activity in the cerebral cortex that can be measured with an EEG, and when this ceases, there is death. According to current definitions. And the EEG that has been taken on the reliving shows that a certain rudimentary brain function has restarted.

Int: ]ohan Stenberg, there has been talk of telepathic phenomena?

JS: Yes.

Int: Is it true that those of you who have been in direct contact with the reliving have been able to read their thoughts?

JS: No, the phenomena that have been reported have exclusively involved the living.

Int: Can you tell me about the conflicts that have broken out?

[JB looks at SB, passing the question over to him.]

SB: Well, I don't know what has occurred at the cemeteries, but it is true that we have experienced some ... differences of opinion at the hospital.

Int: Because you've been able to read each other's thoughts?

SB: There are conflicts in all staff teams and in a stressful situation they have a tendency to come to the fore. We have no reliable evidence that it really is ... mind-reading that is the basis for this.

Int: Runo Sahlin ...

RS: I think it's remarkable to see two grown people deny evident facts only because it happens not to fit their world view, and the facts are as follows: when a large group of the reliving assembles a kind of force field arises that makes it possible for people around them to read each other's thoughts. I have been to Danderyd myself and experienced this.

Int: Sten Bergwall. How do you explain this?

SB: [
sighing
] The electrical activity in their brains ... the amplitude is at most half a microvolt and the frequency of the alpha waves alternates between one and two Hertz. The frequency can therefore be compared to that of a newborn and the amplitude, that is, the strength of the electric current, is so weak that ... what would be the comparison? Someone who is going to die in a few seconds. That weak.

RS: You're trying to explain this field not by the fact that their electrical activity is so strong, but that it's so weak?

SB: What I'm saying is that we have never seen patterns like this

in living, fully grown humans. It is not impossible that certain kinds of ... side effects could arise. We are still waiting for the RMV's results in order to be able to say anything about how it is biologically possible that these bodies can live. [
Sarcastically, to RS
] But maybe you already have an explanation?

RS: Yes. I think their souls have returned. [
Laughing
] If I had been sitting here yesterday morning, telling you that 'tonight the dead will awaken in their graves' I think you would regard me as not simply-ridiculous but completely off my rocker. The idea of the soul is ancient and is still cherished by many. There is evidence for the possibility of thought transmission ...

SB: Evidence.

RS: Weak, I admit. But it is a possibility. It is not completely out of the question. As opposed to, say, the dead coming back to life. That is impossible. Well. And now they have come back to life. And yet you still regard telepathy and the existence of the soul as an absurdity.

Int: Johan Stenberg, what do you say about all this?

JS: I don't believe it is the role of the military to speculate in questions of theology. [
Looks at RS
] There are others better qualified.

RS: Well, then. If there is a soul it would consist of energy. Some form of energy. The source of this field-which we have all experienced-can't be traced to the brain. No. Why not accept the existence of something outside the body that nonetheless belongs to the body, a transcendent substance that ...

JS: Forgive a simple soldier, but I have never heard that the soul is located anywhere but inside the body.

RS: When we're alive, yes. But it's accepted that the brain is functioning in a hitherto unknown way in this ... state of reliving. Why couldn't the same be true of the soul? If a large number of souls were hovering, so to speak, outside their bodies, could that not give rise to ... how can I put this ...

Int: Our time is almost up. To wrap up: why do you think this has happened? ]ohan Stenberg?

]S: If I had an opinion on that subject I would keep it to myself.

Int: Sten Bergwall?

SB: As I said, we're waiting for the results of the tests.