Claim: Two female Ebola victims mysteriously resurrected as their corpses were being transported for burial.
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PROBABLY FALSE |
Example: [Collected via E-mail, September 2014]
Origins: On 24 September, Monrovia, Liberia-based newspaper The New Dawn published an article regarding an unusual occurrence in Nimba County. According to the local news source, two deceased victims of Ebola had mysteriously come back to life just prior to their burials. The strange and sudden resurrection of two Ebola patients had naturally frightened local residents, all of whom are already living with the specter of a terrifying and deadly outbreak of the disease.
The article was titled "Dead Ebola patients resurrect?" and it began:
The newspaper lists the "Ebola resurrection" as one of a few unusual happenings in the course of the current outbreak in the region, adding:
While the report was widely aggregated to several
international news
outlets, a few key aspects remain unclear. No reports address how the patients were declared dead, or what transpired between that moment and their miraculous resurrections.
What's more, the death of a medical professional who had previously claimed an ability to "cure Ebola" is not a "bazaar" [sic] development. As of September 2014, the only treatments, vaccines or cures for Ebola are experimental, are not available in Africa, and are in the research stage. As such, it's very likely that any individual claiming to have an Ebola cure would a) come in contact with the virus frequently, and b) be at a high risk for contracting and/or succumbing to the disease himself.
On 30 September, the "Ebola zombie" rumor was resurrected with a post suggesting that a third victim of the disease had mysteriously reanimated. However, the site from which the image and story originated is satirical in nature.
No corroborating reports of Ebola resurrections have surfaced since the initial story was published in Liberia, and no details have emerged to clarify the circumstances under which the patients "died."
Last updated: 1 October 2014