Morning of October 27, 1981. Tuesday.

Even though I had lived in Wisconsin for a few years, this dream is entirely focused on my past residence in Arcadia, Florida.

I am at a modern restaurant seemingly enjoying the day, but the waiter eventually turns out to be a “creepy” zombie (the original, “traditional” kind, supposedly involving Haitian Vodou or West African Vodun, not the misnamed movie version, of which I have never dreamed about, of which I will explain possibly why near the end of this entry).

Time passes, and more and more people become “zombies”, who mostly roll their eyes up (showing mostly eye-white) and mainly just walk around slowly with their hands stretched out in front of them. Even my friend Roosevelt I becomes one, but there is no real threat, only a sort of implied threat for the purpose of dark comedy, it seems. I notice that the whole town of Arcadia has taken on the look of a town from an old western television show and in fact reminds me of the set of “Gunsmoke”.

Later on, I hear nails being pulled from wood and wood being pulled apart with crowbars and see that all the “old” and “creepy” buildings were actually only covered by thin facades being now taken down, and all the “zombies” are actually actors for a new comedy movie featuring Arcadia as a tourist attraction, where “zombies” are always getting orders wrong, spilling drinks and soup, seeming to walk a dog when the dog has gotten away, shopping in a store with narrow aisles and not being able to pass each other, etc. There is a very strong cheerful and “sun is shining” awareness at this point, with birds singing. (It is becoming dawn at this time in real life.) As some of the facades are being pulled down, I notice Lake Katerine had been behind one and I see a small motorboat moving through the water.

I think this dream was at least partially influenced by "I Walked with a Zombie" (1943) which I saw several times as a child and young adult.

I have not dreamed of movie monsters or television characters as much as others apparently have, and I have never dreamed of movie zombies in the misused modern sense. I think it is for a few reasons. One, I cannot seem to relate to the misuse of the “zombie” term at all in the first place (even subconsciously, apparently); two, I cannot seem to (even subconsciously) animate weak-looking or “dead” people, who to me, with little or no viable sinew, would just fall over and be no threat; three, often being fully aware that my conscious mind and real, waking personality does control my dreams for the most part (even non-lucid ones), I tend to dream differently than a lot of people, it seems (although my wife and most other people I have known have rarely, if ever, dreamed of zombies at all, either).