Dimock Braces For Zombie Invasion

Res­i­dents of Dimock, Susque­hanna County have been through a lot in the last few years. Methane-contaminated well water, costly legal battles.

Some­thing worse is on its way, though: zom­bies.

The walk­ing dead are set to arrive Octo­ber 30.

That’s because a group of anti-fracking activists have orga­nized an event called “Zom­bies Occupy Dimock.” It’s a Halloween-themed protest against nat­ural gas drilling, and the Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Protection’s recent deci­sion to allow Cabot Oil and Gas to stop pro­vid­ing water to Dimock res­i­dents with methane-contaminated wells.

Why zom­bies? “It’s Hal­loween, and these move­ments don’t pay very well,” explained orga­nizer Alex Lotorto. “So if we don’t have fun going it – if we can’t have fun it’s not worth fighting.”

Lotorto empha­sized he’s seri­ous about oppos­ing hydraulic frac­tur­ing, but added, “it’s good to have fun.” He helped orga­nize an anti-drilling event in Pitts­burgh last year that fea­tured “Count Frack­ula” and “Frackenstein.”

Lotorto is expect­ing more than 20 zom­bies next week. There’s more infor­ma­tion on the event’s website.