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Date: 7/25/2023
SOUTHAMPTON — Matt “Animal Man” Gabriel brought his Zombie Survival Course to the Edwards Library last week, including a table full of Nerf guns and crossbows. Kids gathered round, itching to shoot the ghoulish undead — but first, the survival instructor talked about his first aid kit.
“Who knows what this is?” Gabriel asked, holding up a tampon. The kids didn’t know, but the parents chuckled. “This is for wounds. This was invented by the military to dress bullet wounds.”
Gabriel’s first aid kit had lots of surprises. The children listened politely, anticipating the serious business of shooting zombies. Among the fun, though, the kids also learned important lessons about emergency preparedness.
Youth Librarian Andrea Leclair hoped for some fun summer learning. One lesson Leclair thought important was bug out bags, a backpack or suitcase packed with clothes and food. Bug out bags ensure teens and tweens are ready to quickly flee the zombie apocalypse.
“Bug out bags are also good in case of emergencies, like flooding,” Leclair said. “But it’s more fun to imagine that zombies are coming for you.”
Paula Maask, a grandparent, knew first aid skills are valuable for children to know. She recalled an incident with her grandson on his bicycle.
“One of his friends fell off his bike and right away, he didn’t know what to do,” Maask said. “But if he had these skills he might’ve done something right there, on the spot, instead of running home to get one of the parents.”
Child self-reliance is a foundational idea for Gabriel, a Stoughton resident who travels throughout New England presenting survival skills and giving animal shows at schools and libraries. He grew up fascinated by trapping, camping, hunting and fishing, anything outdoors. About 14 years ago he attended Trackers School, a survivalist training camp in New Jersey, run by Tom Brown Jr.
“These skills are more and more important,” Gabriel said. “It’s not stockpiling stuff, it’s a skill [that] they can never take away from you. If you’ve got the skills you can take care of yourself and help take care of your family.”
Television is a big reference point for children. Unfortunately, movies and survival shows often give bad advice in exchange for exciting content. Gabriel teaches knots and lashings, a necessary part of traps, the smart way to catch food.
Players on survival shows go hunting. Hunting, Gabriel said, wastes time. Trapping is much more efficient. TV shows also feature actors fishing. Get rid of the fishing rod. Gabriel recommends those getting hungry in the wild to build a weir, a fish trap.
“A lot of certain knots come into play with that,” Gabriel said. Knots play a big role in wilderness survival. “There’s a special knot to tie a suture, so they don’t pop open, you don’t pop a stitch. There’s lashing to help secure clothing, secure gear.”
Parents Steven and Julia Lustenberger brought their son, Cameron, to the Zombie Survival Course. They watched, amused, as Gabriel pulled on his zombie costume and set up the zombie hunt. Kids grabbed dart pistols, rifles and small crossbows, a popular weapon on “Walking Dead,” a popular show about a zombie invasion.
Some parents get nervous when children play with toy guns. The Lustenbergers saw the Zombie Survival Course as a chance to learn important gun safety practices. Cameron will better know how to stay safe in the presence of firearms when an adult isn’t around.
“We are gun owners and we think it’s very important that our son knows the safety,” Julia said. “Should he ever come across one, while we’re not around, he will know what and what not to do.”
Maybe the biggest lesson taught by the Zombie Survival Course is teamwork. Out on the sunlit grass, Gabriel tagged someone, making them a zombie. Team members may dezombify them by shooting an inflatable figure Gabriel brought with him.
“They try to defeat me and it’s a team building thing,” Gabriel said. “They get to work together. If I get somebody and zombify them, they have to do something to get them free. It’s team building.”
It was also fun. The kids chased Gabriel around a big maple, hit him with darts, and he collapsed on the grass.
“It’s part of our summer reading program, which is six weeks of activities and opportunities for kids to earn raffle tickets toward prizes for reading over the summe,” Leclair said. “There’s lots of opportunities for us to provide entertainment in a lot of different ways.”