'Zombie apocalypse' trend eats through the Web

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The Internet has turned Miami's infamously horrific face-eating attack and other incidents into a "zombie apocalypse," a search term now generating serious traffic on Google and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

A Miami man, Rudy Eugene, made national headlines over Memorial Day weekend after gnawing on the face of a 65-year-old homeless man, Ronald Poppo, in a gruesome attack that lasted nearly 18 minutes, according to the Miami Herald building’s security footage.

The stomach-turning incident has been grouped with a series of other cannibal-like attacks in recent weeks--many of which happen to be in Florida--in what some are calling signs of a "zombie apocalypse."

Popularized by horror films like “Night of the Living Dead” and “28 Days Later,” a “zombie apocalypse” refers to civilizational collapse caused by widespread zombie infestation.

“Zombie apocalypse,” along with rumors that “bath salts” turned Eugene into a zombie, have exploded as search trends on Google, as conspiracy theorists, bloggers and humorists are lumping unnerving and cannibalistic incidents together as evidence for a coming "end of days."

A Tumblr blog called IHopeRickSantorum garnered more than 26,000 comments for compiling a list of “zombie” incidents that have occurred since May 16.

In one news story, Swedish police reported Thursday that a researcher had cut his wife’s lips off and ate them when he suspected she had been unfaithful.

In another, a New Jersey man repeatedly stabbed himself and began throwing his intestines and skin at police officers who had entered his home.

The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday that a 21-year-old Morgan State University student has been charged with eating the heart and brain of a man who has been missing for a week.

In what io9.com called "the most ominous real-life tweet you'll ever read," The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Monday tweeted this campus-wide alert:

One Tumblr blog calling itself "Your one stop for info regarding the 2k12 Zombie Infestation," collects zombie apocalypse images from around the Web.

(Via someecards)

What should you do in the event of a national zombie emergency?

The Center for Disease Control has you covered with this helpful zombie preparedness guide.