The popularity of zombies as fearsome characters in movies, video games, and television series continues to grow worldwide. Fans of these undead monsters have taken to the streets in gory makeup in recent years, staging “zombie walks,” “zombie runs,” “zombie survival camps,” even a “zombie pride day.” Some of the walks are for charity, others just for fun. Zombie runs can be playful, or terrifying, as participants overcome obstacles and shambling undead attackers. Gathered here are photos from some of these zombie events from Peru, Japan, Mexico, the United States, Italy, the Philippines, England, Taiwan, Serbia, Nicaragua, Argentina, Israel, Germany, Costa Rica, Spain, and Australia.
The Walking (and Running) Dead
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Zombies prepare an attack hiding in a corner as a competitor appears in front of them in the last stage of Zombie Survival contest at the Cultural House on December 1, 2013 in Alameda de la Sagra, near Toledo, Spain. Participants have to avoid getting touched by Zombies and find all clues to survive. The winners will leave the village by helicopter. #
Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty Images -
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A woman wearing zombie make-up and a wedding dress sit and speaks on the phone while waiting for a friend to join the 2012 Zombie Walk during the Purim festival in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 6, 2012. #
Ariel Schalit / AP -
Atlanta Braves fans participate in the team's annual Zombie Walk promotion prior to the first inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics on August 15, 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia. #
David Tulis / AP -
Mariah Delvalle, made-up as a zombie dressed in green, prepares to march in a St. Patrick's Day parade on March 9, 2014, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Dozens of zombies were among the hundreds of revelers who filled the streets of the Jersey Shore community to celebrate the Irish and all things green. #
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A man in a wheelchair takes part in a zombie race to raise funds for children with cancer at the child Hospital Manuel de Jesus Rivera in Managua, Nicaragua, on October 19, 2014. #
Oswaldo Rivas / Reuters -
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A woman takes part in a night parade in the central avenue of San Jose, Coasta Rica, on October 27, 2012. People dressed up as zombies took part in the "Zombie Walk" during Halloween celebrations. #
Juan Carlos Ulate / Reuters -
Young girls dressed as zombies wait for race participants along the course of the 5K "Panic in the Dark" obstacle run in Lowell, Massachusetts, on November 1, 2014. Participants wearing headlamps in the dark had to clear physical obstacles as well as navigate their way around volunteers playing the roles of zombies along a 5K course at night. #
Brian Snyder / Reuters -
Revellers wait for a table in a local restaurant after taking part in a Zombie Walk in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on October 4, 2014. Thousands of revellers met in Asbury park to attempt to break the Guinness World Record of the largest zombie gathering in the world and raise awareness for brain cancer. #
Eduardo Munoz / Reuters -
A couple wearing masks pose for a portrait as they participate in the Argentina Zombie Walk in Buenos Aires, on November 16, 2014. The procession of the "living dead" is an annual solidarity event in which every participant is asked to bring food that will be donated to a common dinning room from a Buenos Aires shantytown. #
Natacha Pisarenko / AP -
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A volunteer "zombie" waits for participating runners during the "Zombie Evacuation Race" at Carver Barracks near Saffron Walden, England, on October 5, 2013. The race sees thousands of participants attempt to complete a gruelling 5 kilometer cross-country run, while evading "zombies", intent on snatching the three life-line strips hanging from every runner's waist. Those who manage to get through with any strips remaining are named as survivors while those without take home an "infected" badge. #
Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images -
A volunteer "zombie" waits for participating runners during the "Zombie Evacuation Race" at Carver Barracks near Saffron Walden, England, on October 5, 2013. #
Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images -
A participant is terrified by a zombie soldier in a forest section during one of Britain's biggest horror events, the "Zombie Evacuation Race" near Saffron Walden, England, on October 5, 2013. #
Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images -
Jocelyn Moore (right), a participant at a "Zombie First Responder" class, uses a toy gun to attack a zombie on March 11, 2012 in Sandy, Oregon. In an intensive 2-day curriculum participants train in everything from wilderness and urban survival, nerf weaponry, stealth and evasion, and proper zombie "disposal". #
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People participate in the Peru Zombie Walk in Lima on December 28, 2014. Organizers asked participants to bring diapers, pajamas, toys and other items to donate to a foster home for poor children in Lima. #
Martin Mejia / AP -
People participate in a zombie walk procession on the streets in Mexico City on November 3, 2012. The streets of Mexico City were overrun by thousands of frightening and ghoulish zombies on Saturday as the local undead took to the streets as part of the city's sixth annual Zombie Walk. #
Henry Romero / Reuters -
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Runners dressed as zombies race during the Taipei Zombie Run at the Dajia Riverside Park in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 2, 2013. The Zombie Run is a mini-marathon that consists of a 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course where participants must run through, dodging zombies along the way. #
Chiang Ying-ying / AP -
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A woman dressed as a zombie attends the Zombie Walk in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 2, 2011. Participants commemorated the Day of the Dead with the annual Zombie Walk. #
Felipe Dana / AP -
Makeup artists Kamila Wysocka and Alexis Jackson from Florida point at another costumed person as they eat dinner in their zombie makeup at ComicCon in New York, on October 10, 2013. #
Carlo Allegri / Reuters -
Atlanta Braves fans participate in the team's annual Zombie Walk promotion prior to the first inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics on August 15, 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia. #
David Tulis / AP
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