Keep Austin Zombie-free

Driving my son to school this foggy Monday morning in Austin, I encountered important new construction-related information for rush hour drivers:



"CAUTION!
ZOMBIES!
AHEAD!!!"

This sign is on a major north-south street, Lamar Boulevard (named after Mirabeau Lamar, the second President of the Republic of Texas and the first Governor of the State of Texas, famous for his failed attempt to annex New Mexico — we haven't given up yet!), near the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, where construction has been ongoing for what seems years.

I pointed this out to my son, just as the sign changed:



"RUN FOR COLD CLIMATES"

And then it changed again, another 3-5 seconds later:



"THE END IS NEAR!!!!!!!!"

We continued northward (toward colder climates) and speculated, figuring some inventive hackers had developed a new variation on billboard liberation and completed the hack overnight.

Then, after drop-off, returning southbound, I saw another sign:



"NAZI ZOMBIES!
RUN!!!"

Which caused me to wonder if this is some clever viral product placement by the gang responsible for this new Norwegian Nazi Zombie movie, Dead Snow. I'm happy without knowing, and glad people are doing their dutiful part in the "collaborative fission of coordinated individualism" to Keep Austin Weird.

Though if the construction sign liberators had read their history, they would know that during the Civil War General Custer camped right on the spot where the signs are located, and that if there are zombies in our midst they are more likely wearing Union Blue than Waffen SS Black:

Custer liked the stretch of Shoal Creek that is now Pease Park so much that he established his "bullpens" here, where unreconstructed rebels and other criminals and ne'er-do-wells passed the day and night. When 35 of his men died from a fever, he buried them here. After a flood in the 1880s washed up some of the bodies, they were exhumed and moved to a national cemetery in Washington.

If you don't believe me, drive by and check it out for yourself (before the road crew fixes it):


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See also Austinist: Zombie Defense League Co-opts Construction Sign (includes video).