The Undead in World Mythology and Folklore: An Encyclopedia

The undead. Horrific monstrosities that will not remain at rest nor let the living be at peace. Such entities who will not stay buried may appear as animated corpses, or ghostly apparitions; their motives are unclear, they return to advise, to act as a guardian, or devour anyone they stagger upon. From the abhartach of Western Europe to the modern zombie, this book catalogues nearly 400 different varieties of the undead in meticulous and encyclopedic fashion. With a robust bibliography and an exhaustive index, this carefully researched encyclopedia presents an authoritative and rich account of those dreadful entities known as living dead.