You can’t blame people for being concerned.

It started last month at a busy highway in Miami, when a naked man stopped eating another man’s face only when police shot him dead.

It continued days later in Maryland where a college student confessed to killing his roommate and eating his brain and heart.

A few days before that, a man in San Diego bit off his cousin’s nose. Then a man in Staten Island bit off another man’s ear at a restaurant.

That same week, in Stockholm, a professor cut off his wife’s lips and ate them.

The day after the Miami attack, in New Jersey, a man stabbed himself 40 times and threw his own intestines at the policemen who were trying to subdue him. His actions were described as “zombie-like.”

News of these shocking incidents have instilled fear in people, leading some to ask—is a zombie apocalypse imminent?

“Zombie apocalypse” became one of the top search terms on Google. And we thought we had to wait for fall to get our dose of “The Walking Dead.”

But most of these horrific acts can be explained—some were the result of drunkenness or mental illness while others were blamed on the abuse of bath salts, a lethal drug which shouldn’t be confused with the legit bath salts you use in the tub.

Still, many ignored logic and chose to ride the zombie train. While some found the idea of a zombie attack scary, others thought it was funny. And they told their Twitter followers.

“How I’d spend my time if I were a zombie: 27% gnawing on someone’s face, 8% moaning and dragging myself around 65% doing the Thriller dance.”

“If there’s a zombie outbreak in Vegas … does it stay in Vegas?”

Before you marry someone, ask yourself, “Will they be a good killing partner during the zombie apocalypse?”

Foolish prankster

Some decided to take the fun beyond the Internet. In an exercise of poor judgment, a prankster in Miami decided it would be hilarious to pretend to be a zombie and start running around streets to scare people while his friends captured the whole thing on video. But one of his “victims” pointed a gun at him, almost shooting him. Luckily the man didn’t pull the trigger and the prankster survived his prank.

Not everyone finds the zombie apocalypse scare amusing. Although they previously released a tongue-in-cheek campaign on Zombie Preparedness in an effort to stress the importance of being ready for emergencies, the US Centers for Disease Control had to make an official statement to the Huffington Post saying, “CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms).”

Despite the reassurance, others have decided to play it safe (and capitalize on the scare). Ammunitions maker Steve Hornady marketed special zombie bullets and people are actually buying them. On Reddit, people confessed to devoting a significant amount of time to preparing for zombie attacks, with people stockpiling weapons and supplies and undergoing medical and defense training. In Kansas, the Westlake Ace Hardware store actually has a Zombie Preparedness Center which offers tools for zombie proofing and zombie defense. Also in Kansas, the pricey zombie-proof survival condos that used to be a nuclear ballistic missile silo have sold out.

But you don’t have to wait for an apocalypse to battle against zombies. If you shell out £139, website wish.co.uk will allow you to fight people dressed as zombies in an abandoned shopping mall in Berkshire for three hours. “It’s the ultimate zombie experience!” the site declares. The next available date is on July 27. There are sessions available for booking until December.

In Australia, after being successfully funded by a project crowd-sourcing site, gaming company I.R.L. Shooter is introducing Patient Zero, a real-life, role-playing shooter game that will arm you with gigantic laser tag guns and allow you and five of your friends to fight against walkers in a zombie-infested building. But again, there’s a bit of a wait—it launches in Melbourne on Halloween night and will only run for a month in different locations across Australia.

And there’s always the cheaper alternative that won’t require a passport and a visa—good old Plants vs Zombies.