WBRZ - Baton Rouge

TAMPA, Fla. - A recent spate of gruesome incidents has fueled talk online and elsewhere about a "zombie apocalypse."

The horrifying incidents, including the case of a Florida man who chewed off part of another man's face, are anything but funny. But America seems fascinated: The Daily Beast has assembled a Google Map tracking "instances that may be a precursor to a zombie apocalypse."

Even the federal agency that tracks diseases has said it has no evidence of any zombie-linked health crisis.

Elizabeth Bird, an anthropologist at the University of South Florida, says zombies are uniquely terrifying. Bird says zombies are doomed creatures, meaning they resonate in a world where many people feel as though we are moving toward an ending, amid economic crises and fears of bioterrorism.