A walking dead from the village of Toraja, Indonesia

The real-life story of the “walking dead” of Tana Toraja, Regency of South Sulawesi Island, Indonesia began with some misinformation regarding a photo that had been circulating around the internet for quite some time (to the left).
The photo was described as a “Rolang” – which literally means “the corpse who stands up.”  It was suggested that it was a photo taken of a funeral ritual in which the body of a dead person was mystically revived (by a shaman), so that they may walk on their own steam, back to their place of birth, and be “buried” there.

Additionally, information included that the walking corpse was also accompanied by a handler who would generally use  specific paths where there would be little traffic.  These paths were generally more or less straight– and the walking corpse would walk  purposefully on his or her course.  Should he or she and the handler encounter another person on their way, the person was to make no effort to touch or communicate with the deceased.  Should that occur, the body was said to collapse (or disappear).

THE TRUTH
All of this, of course sounds pretty incredible, and once again, from any scientific point of view, pretty unbelievable. As it turns out, I was able to uncover the truth behind this belief. My investigation uncovered another funeral ritual performed on the dead by the Toraja people that makes a lot more sense, and I have also managed to track down a video of this ritual (below).
When the people of  Tana Toraja die, they are often placed in boxes which are then placed in tombs carved out of solid rock, high up on limestone cliffs.  So they are, in fact, generally not buried in the ground.  This is what makes the following ceremony possible.  The ceremony is called Ma ‘Nene’ (The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses).  Out of tremendous respect for their dead and afterlife, the boxes are removed from the tombs (every few years), the corpses are removed from the boxes, and are cleaned and re-dressed.  Damaged boxes are fixed or replaced.

The second theory about the Toraja zombies is equally creepy. According to this one, the villagers believe death is a long process, and that it takes many years for the deceased to work their way through it, finally reaching afterlife. So elaborate and expensive arrangements need to be made for the funeral, allowing the dead to make the transition smoothly. In the case of a family not being able to afford these arrangements, they could make use of a temporary coffin, until the funds have been collected. Once the permanent coffin has been made ready, the dead are actually raised and made to walk into it. Again, pretty unbelievable.