BRAAAAAAAINS!

If you’ve ever felt well and truly dead after a night out, spare a thought for Graham, the living zombie.

“Graham”, a man diagnosed with Cotard’s Syndrome, or Walking Corpse Syndrome, has been cured by specialists at Exeter University.

Graham was referred to neurologists after a suicide attempt left him convinced he was dead.

Graham was convinced his brain was fried

Adam Zeman, a neurologist at University of Exeter, found it impossible to convince Graham he was alive.

He believed he had killed his brain after attempting suicide by taking an electrical appliance into the bath with him nine years ago.

Zeman worked with Steven Laureys from the University of Liège in Belgium, monitoring the metabolism across Graham’s brain. Laureys said: “Graham’s brain function resembles that of someone during anaesthesia or sleep.”

Graham’s altered brain metabolism caused:

• Frequent graveyard visits (“That was the closest I could get to death”)
• Hairless legs (“I looked like a plucked chicken! Saves shaving them I suppose…”)
• Black teeth (he was so low he couldn’t be bothered to brush them – his black teeth helped him believe he was dead)
• A refusal to eat, speak or smoke even though those around him told him he was alive

In an article published in New Scientist, Graham said: “When I was in hospital I kept on telling them that the tablets weren’t going to do me any good ’cause my brain was dead. I lost my sense of smell and taste. I didn’t need to eat, or speak, or do anything. I ended up spending time in the graveyard because that was the closest I could get to death.”

However, after psychotherapy and drug treatment, Graham is getting better. “I couldn’t say I’m really back to normal, but I feel a lot better now and go out and do things around the house,” he said. “I don’t feel that brain-dead any more.”