William Seabrook

William Seabrook (1884–1945) was an American journalist, author, and explorer. A WWI ambulance driver awarded the Croix de Guerre at Verdun, he traveled to Arabia, Haiti, and West Africa, writing accounts that blended adventure, ethnography, and the occult. His 1929 book The Magic Island is credited as the first English-language popular work to introduce the zombie concept from Haitian Vodou to Western audiences. Drawn to esoteric circles including Aleister Crowley, his writing combined anthropological observation with personal extremism and sensationalism.