William of Newburgh was one of the most esteemed and learned men of the Middle Ages.
While his reputation is based on his histories, he delved into other matters.
Like zombies.
“It would not be easy to believe that the corpses of the dead should sally (I know not by what agency) from their graves,” he wrote. “And should wander about to the terror or destruction of the living, and again return to the tomb, which of its own accord spontaneously opened to receive them, did not frequent examples, occurring in our own times, suffice to establish this fact, to the truth of which there is abundant testimony.”
And the poor people back then didn’t even have shotguns to shoot them in the head.