CDC website once crashed after The Walking Dead inspired preppers

The Walking Dead focuses on the undead apocalypse but real-life zombie preppers once crashed the CDC website to get information on a possible outbreak.

For many, the thought of there being a zombie apocalypse is a horrible thing. While the possibility of there ever being one is terrifying, the odds of ever living in a world filled with flesh-eating reanimated corpses like on The Walking Dead is extremely unlikely.

Still, that doesn’t stop people from being ready…just in case. Preparing for all kinds of disasters has been the focus of many reality television shows and there are classes, kits, and information about the topic all over the place.

Having that information available is both great and bad for the Center for Disease Control, who reportedly once had their website crash after a large group of people attempted to get information about getting ready for a zombie apocalypse.

Gale Anne Hurd, an executive producer on The Walking Dead, recently appeared on Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast and shared a story about the CDC. Comicbook.com transcribed the conversation on their website:

"“The Center for Disease Control came to us and said, ‘Listen, we can’t get people who are facing an outbreak of SARS or a hurricane to come on our website and find out what they should do to prepare,’ and [asked], ‘Can we do a how-to-prepare for a zombie apocalypse?’” Hurd said. “We said sure. And then they had such an enormous response that it crashed their website.”"

The funny thing about this situation is that preparing for a zombie apocalypse is much like preparing for any other disaster. Having supplies ready and a system for safety for you and your loved ones isn’t exclusive at all to what people would need in the event of the dead coming back to life to eat human flesh.

Maron asked Hurd how she felt about AMC’s zombie survival drama series inspiring so many people to have a plan for an emergency.

"“The truth is that whatever it takes to make someone safer, to protect their families, and not be caught unaware, that’s a good thing,” she explained. “And that’s something that wouldn’t have happened without The Walking Dead becoming a huge pop culture hit.”"

It is true that The Walking Dead‘s popularity has been surprising. It has become a worldwide phenomenon and being able to use that notoriety to help people was a great idea by the CDC as well as AMC’s zombie drama.

Do you have a plan in case of emergencies? And were you inspired by The Walking Dead to have supplies and a strategy in place? Let us know your situation in the comments section below.