Zombies of Different Generations Drawn to Different “Places of Meaning,” Study Finds

By Bulletin Staff

Zombies of different generations are drawn to different places that held meaning to them in their living existence, and each generation’s consumer and cultural habits influence their preferred undead gathering spots, according to a new study that documents the generational breakdown of postmortem pilgrimage sites.

The latest research builds on groundbreaking work by preeminent zombie scientist Dr. Peter Foree, who documented his firsthand observations of the undead gathering at a suburban mall during the 1978 outbreak in Monroeville, Penn.

Dr. Foree speculated that the undead who flocked to the mall were responding to remnant consumer impulses that lingered in their consciousness following their transition from living to flesh-eating dead, drawing them to “places of meaning” for them.

“They’re after the place. They don’t know why; they just remember. Remember that they want to be in here,” Dr. Foree wrote in his contemporaneous notes during the siege of the mall. Foree was one of only two survivors of the siege.

Mapping Zombie “Pilgrimages”

The new study from Francine Ross, Stephen Emge and Roger Reiniger, research fellows at the National Center for Zombie Diseases, reviewed reporting from more than 350 outbreaks over the past 50 years at sites across the United States.

For each outbreak, the authors documented, to the extent possible, the demographics of individual zombies or groups of undead associated with the occurrence, then tagged each location based on the type of business or other structure located at the site.

The researchers then cross-checked these zombie “pilgrimages” against cultural records like census data, shopping habits and popular entertainment trends for different generations of Americans.

Ross, Emge and Reiniger used artificial intelligence software they developed called ZombAI to look for “signature” patterns or behaviors that uniquely mark a generation and developed a “Zombie Cultural Affinity Index” to measure each generation’s attraction to certain places.

The Undeadest Generation

The researchers note that the cohort typically called “The Greatest Generation” (born 1901–1927) came of age during WWI and the Roaring Twenties, then survived the Great Depression and fought in WWII. All these experiences shaped the mindset of those of their co-generationals who succumbed to the zombie virus, the study suggests.

“It’s reductive, but we can say that these undead were, in life, deeply patriotic and disciplined, and they shaped the mid-century world order. They laid the foundation for the postwar American Dream,” Ross said in an interview with The Bulletin.

Based on the ZombAI analysis, Greatest Generation zombies are often found at war memorials and military cemeteries, influenced as they were by the trauma and glory of two global wars. Arlington Cemetery, for example, typically deals with an average of 50 undead that appear to be of this cohort every year, according to government figures.

Undead of this vintage also turn up frequently at the sites of nightclubs that were popular during the Roaring Twenties or, alternatively, at the locations of Depression-era public works projects.

“We see the two dimensions of these poor souls’ reality,” Reiniger said. “On the one hand, they experienced the glamour and excitement of the rise of jazz and the Big Band era before the Great Depression, the Roosevelt-era and the New Deal projects that helped give them purpose amid the despair of the times.”

Silent and Deadly

According to the researchers, members of the so-called “Silent Generation” (1928–1945), who grew up at the tail end of the Great Depression and during WWII, valued conformity, respect for authority and stability, lived through the rise of broadcast media and postwar prosperity, and, stereotypically, worked quietly and diligently throughout their lives.

The ZombAI results showed that zombified members of this generation are likely to be drawn to school auditoriums and gymnasiums, possibly because the G.I. Bill fueled mass education and the school dance was viewed as a rite of passage. “Somewhere in their fetid, rotting brains, they may still be ‘hearing’ the last waltz playing from their prom,” Emge said.

Similarly, these aging undead can frequently be found in the vicinity of appliance stores, according to the researchers. “The television revolution hit them especially hard,” Ross explained. “They lived to see the rise of TV as a major cultural phenomenon, from the Howdy Doody Show and Gunsmoke to the $64,000 Question and the Ed Sullivan Show.”

The data also suggest that, in regions of the country that experienced the post-WWII industrial boom, Silent Generation zombies are attracted to the factories and union halls that played such a key role in their consciousness. “Their lives often revolved around working on the assembly line, building America into an industrial powerhouse,” Reiniger said. “It’s no wonder that they have the urge to punch in one more time.”

Boom and Gloom

The walking dead documented by Dr. Foree in the 1978 Monroeville outbreak almost certainly were primarily members of the Baby Boomer generation (1946-1964), who came of age and entered their prime during a time of economic prosperity (the occasional recession and oil shock notwithstanding).

“In the years before the Boomers succumbed to the zombie virus, they experienced the rise of suburbia as the quintessential realization of the American Dream. And no single destination symbolized the postwar consumerist inclinations of this generation more than the suburban mall,” write the report’s authors.

The researchers note that Boomer undead often can also be found congregating in stereotypical suburban cul-de-sacs with finely groomed lawns and two cars in every driveway, seemingly attracted to the kinds of settings they would have seen on popular television shows like Bewitched or The Brady Bunch.

But the great American mall remains the most popular draw for zombies of this vintage, which has become problematic as mall culture has declined in the 21st Century. The number of shopping centers in the US peaked at about 2,500 in the 1980s, falling to an estimated 1,000 now, according to industry trackers.

“It’s not uncommon for Boomer zombies to show up at a site that used to be a mall, regardless of whether the place has been boarded up or transformed into something completely different,” Reiniger said. “It’s become so common that many states and municipalities are requiring undead mitigation as part of any mall redevelopment plan.”

“There’s a haunting irony in this idea that Boomer undead don’t just hunger for flesh,” Emge added. “They hunger for identity. They’re just lost in the echo of the [Rolling] Stones, suburbia and Sears.”

Reality Biters

Members of Generation X (1965–1980) came of age during a period of cynicism, latchkey childhoods and analog disillusionment, bookended by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of reality television. Often stereotyped as skeptical, disaffected and “slackers,” their undead counterparts appear to be following suit, the researchers found.

According to the study, Gen X zombies gravitate toward once-thriving video rental stores and strip malls with long-defunct arcades, locations that perhaps promised escape during their formative years. “The attraction seems to stem from a half-remembered desire to wander aisles of VHS tapes while holding a warm slice of Sbarro,” said Reiniger.

In some outbreaks, investigators found significant Gen X zombie presence in the abandoned breakrooms of closed corporate offices, where microwaves still bear faded instructions for heating Lean Cuisine trays. “They appear to be caught in a loop of existential dread and nostalgia for things they didn’t even enjoy at the time,” Ross noted.

Ross and Emge also point to an unusually high incidence of Gen X undead gathering silently near concert venues where the band Nirvana performed, sometimes standing motionless for hours, as if waiting for the opening chords to finally drop. “It’s haunting,” Emge said. “They’re undead, but they still don’t want to sell out.”

Y2K Zeds

Millennials (1981–1996), raised on dial-up internet, participation trophies and the crushing weight of student debt, have carried their defining traits with them into undeath, too, the researchers write. This generation’s consumer habits and anxieties, the report suggests, have left an imprint on their shambling postmortem behaviors.

The study documents frequent sightings of Millennial zombies in the vicinity of coffee shops, particularly chains with a legacy of offering free Wi-Fi. “They’re often seen attempting to stand in line for beverages that no longer exist,” Emge noted. “We believe they’re instinctively trying to order a pumpkin spice brain.”

Many outbreaks involving this cohort also feature concentrations around co-working spaces and the former locations of food delivery startups. Some are found endlessly tapping on darkened smartphone screens, perhaps trying to summon gig work from beyond the grave.

Curiously, researchers also observed a phenomenon they call the “Zombie Brunch Cluster,” in which Millennial undead gather in dense weekend groups near gastropubs and artisanal bakeries. “They seem to be driven by a need to reassemble their social unit and reanimate the bottomless mimosa experience,” said Ross.

“They’re not just hungry for brains,” Reiniger added. “They’re hungry for validation, Wi-Fi and ethically sourced breakfast meats.”

Gen Z Is for Zombie

Finally, Gen Z (1997–2012), the first cohort to be fully immersed in digital life from birth, has emerged as the most unpredictable group of the undead population, according to the study. With no memory of a world without smartphones, social media or algorithmic influence, their zombie behavior reflects a blur between reality and simulation.

Researchers observed that Gen Z zombies show a marked preference for loitering near influencer houses, e-sports arenas and fast-fashion outlets that went “viral” on TikTok before their zombification. “There’s something particularly eerie about watching a horde of the undead shuffle toward a pop-up museum dedicated to slime,” said Emge.

The data also suggest an unusual behavioral quirk: Gen Z zombies often cluster in large groups for seemingly no reason, then scatter just as quickly, behavior Ross calls “flash zombing” (a nod to the “flash mob” trend).

In one notable incident, a group of undead appeared to perform a rudimentary dance routine near a Chick-fil-A before wandering off in separate directions. “We believe it was a fragment of some latent TikTok choreography that stuck in their rotting brain matter,” Ross explained.

Unlike other generations, these zombies appear less interested in physical locations and more in symbolic ones. “We’ve seen them trying to enter Wi-Fi dead zones as if they’re seeking a signal from the afterlife,” said Reiniger. “One group even swarmed into a server farm in Iowa and just sat there. It was oddly peaceful.”

Experts believe Gen Z’s postmortem behavior reflects a generation less tethered to geography and more to identity, trends and fleeting moments. “Their pilgrimages are driven not by nostalgia or routine,” Ross concluded, “but by the digital ghosts of content they once consumed. Their brains may be decayed, but their personalized feeds live on.”

The study, “Zombified Generational Cohorts and Their Place-Based Behavioral Affinities,” was published in the September 2025 issue of The Journal of Undead Behavior.

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