Necromancy has been attached to myth and fable of all kinds but none of these are so fantastic as the belief in the "living dead". It is unfortunate on many levels that the concept of the undead is given so little attention because of the complexities and semantics that one has to understand before engaging in any form of criticism. Interestingly enough, necromancers are concerned with every form of zombie that has been labelled thus far so it is in our best interests to examine the types that exist, where they originated from, and what their practical applications have been.

The first type of zombie, which is the most famous and yet ironically the most improbable, is the physical walking dead resurrected through the powers of the supernatural. These will tentatively be called "reanimated zombies" so as to be differentiated from other sorts. The reanimated zombie comes from many different traditions, including some reformed necromantic ones (esp. Medieval Latin Necromancy), and generally holds to the idea that the physical dead are restored to some semblance of functionality by once again being attached to a soul which can move it about. The soul is simply an ethereal matrix which ensures the continuance of the physical body in much the same way that "brain" is not considered the sum total of "mind". The walking dead -- a reanimated zombie -- is typically portrayed as a creature whose body is separate from the necromancer but whose mind is enslaved or actually absent and substituted by the control exerted by necromancy. Famous figures recorded as having reanimated the dead are Erictho, Jesus of Nazareth, Elisha, and arguably Rabbi Lowe as well. Agrippa mentions briefly in book three of On Occult Philosophy the necromantic tradition of raising a corpse, though mostly in fable (which is where most necromancers agree it is likely to stay).

The second type of zombie is the non-corporeal spirit which may by conscripted to service by the necromancer as a free and willing spectral agent, as an oath-bound geist, or as an enslaved spectre. These are known by some as "the zombie astral", poltergeist, spectres, wraiths, or ghosts. In the art of Voodoo recognises this variety of enslaved geist by the name petit-bon-ange (which is actually a French derivative to mean "Little Good Angel"). It is by the use of this sort of "zombie" -- the disembodied and dominated soul -- that necromancy has gained its reputation for thanatoic malevolence. These spirits are considered the dread stronghold power of necromancy which can be manipulated to serve a purpose. In Greek and Celtic necromancy forms the use of written tablets placed in graves with supplications or demands of the dead. It must be kept in mind that the relationship between ghost and necromancer is highly dependant upon what methods of soul charming have been employed and can range between anything from cooperative and mutually beneficial camaraderie to oppressive master/minion slavery. Some have even called this particular facet of necromancy 'ghost magic' to specifically indicate that the necromancer has direct intervention in mind whereas leaving this detail undeclared definitively allows for the spirits called to serve also as agents of information, similar in function to a vicarious remote viewing attempt with the added ability to change the observed situation.

Also within the second class of zombie falls the greater realm of death spirits of various sorts. Traditionally these spirits are recorded as taking the form of a horse, devils, a "grim reaper", an angel with a sword, or just an angel. There are stories of death avatars as well, where familiar toads, frogs, and particularly snakes and spiders (even Fate) are associated with forms that death assumes to appear to humans. Also there are such things as the legendary furies and various hellish imps that are supposed to be denizens of the nether regions and are available to be communicated with. These are zombies of a sort as well, in the form of spectres, which are not the souls of the dead yet play a part in necromancy forms which dabble in the superhuman element.

The third type of zombie is also a physical walking zombie, but these have been debated under the name "p-zombie", which stands for "philosophical zombie". A philosophical zombie's condition is the same as a reanimated zombie with the exception that they may never have been truly dead but rather were ensnared and brought into service while still living by falling under the power of the necromancer's soul manipulating charms directly applied to them. Their mind becomes controlled in much the same way as fictional vampire tales might suggest; the mind is reduced to submissive servitude to the necromancer by repetitive psychological deconstruction techniques similar to those which the BDSM community sometimes uses to create submissive slave, which torturers use on POWs to break their allegiances, and which the legendary "vampire" uses to control the mind, and even which is mirrored in the reeducation techniques of Hassan i-Sabbah the assassin which effectively leaves the necromancer as the sole puppeteer which guides the actions of a body which still has its soul. Psychological deconstructions which may be harsh as the torturer or compelling as the vampire (of which the latter is most common) augmented by soul-swaying necromancy is used to create a p-zombie. In this respect the necromancer's role is that of a mystic body-snatcher which cripples individual thought until only an obedient zombie-like body is left to be used and controlled as desired.

The fourth type of zombie, and of undead in general, is the induced hallucination. This sort is considered unreal in every respect except that the one who is cursed with this variety of hallucination would not know any better unless they have the wisdom to doubt their own senses when confronted with such a ghastly vision. The theory is generally that our worst fears lie in two things: the unknown, and deformed humanity. The Unknown is a given that requires very little explanation; humans fear that which they do not understand; indeed, this is the root of all intellectual fears. The concept of deformed humanity is theorised to be the reason that the best horror films usually involve some humanoid beast. The horror flick "The Blob", for example, presented in 1958, gained nowhere near the popularity of later horror films of the same category such as "Dracula", "The Wolfman", and "The Mummy". in comparison to what are now considered the "popular" classic horrors, in general, fear of the unknown alone pales to the combination of the Unknown and Deformed Humanity. The trend to use perverted humanoids as icons of fear continues even to this day, as can be seen from the trends in horror movies. The entertainment industry is expert in this respect more so than any other potential analyst.

The four types of zombie -- reanimated, spectral, p-zombie, and hallucinated -- comprise the four possible options referred to when someone says they can raise zombies. Necromancers often fall into an unfortunate habit of simply claiming flatly that they can "raise zombies" but forget -- perhaps from pomp and pretense, or possibly neglect -- to make the distinction on which form they are referring to and thus fuel the belief that all necromancers claim the ability to raise the dead to life. Although it is unusual to refer to one of the aforementioned categories, save for the first, as a "zombie", it is not unheard of. Be wary that these classifications of servitor are all being thought accessible by the methods of necromancy.