Maimed construction workers, dead Unicorn descend on Asbury Park boardwalk for Zombie Walk

ASBURY PARK - Kristie Krowbar and Harry the Hammer stood by a table on the boardwalk here Saturday, trying to drum up business for their demolition company.

“Watch your brains’’ was plastered on a banner advertising their “Zombie Demolition Company.’’

Krowbar and Hammer clearly hadn’t heeded their company’s own motto.

A crowbar had penetrated Krowbar’s construction helmet, while another on-the-job mishap had taken off her left hand.

Hammer fell victim to an instrument bearing his name that crushed through his safety helmet and into his skull, while a huge screw penetrated his cheek.

“We were bringing down a house. Things happen,’’ said Hammer, whose real name is Keith Stapleton.

“We do get a lot of construction workers who take pictures (of us) and show them in their safety lectures,’’ said Krowbar, who in real life is Kristie Stapleton.

The father and daughter team came from Staten Island to participate in the city’s annual Zombie Walk, an event which floods the boardwalk with ghoulish dead each year.

Since its co-founding by Jason Meehan in 2008, the Asbury Park Zombie Walk twice shambled its way into the Guinness Book of World Records. The 4,093 attendees in 2010 made it into the record books, as did the 9,592 ghouls who gathered in 2013. (The title is currently held by the 15,458 participants of the 2014 Zombie Pub Crawl in Minneapolis.)

Kristie Stapleton said she and her father have participated in it for about eight years, since the event made it into the record book in 2014.

They started as plain old zombies the first year, but since then realized their portrayal of demolition workers who met with grizzly deaths was a big hit, so they have continued with that tradition ever since.

“So, we’re construction zombies,’’ Kristie Stapleton said.

“Everybody loves construction workers,’’ Keith Stapleton said.

Nearby on the boardwalk, “Brainbow,’’ walked around with a bloody platter of what resembled brains.

"I got ramen noodles,'’ said Brainbow, also known as Michele Montecalvo of Marlboro. “They look like a brain, so I”m going to make it work.’’

Montecalvo said she conjured up her character just days ago.

“I thought of him with my own imagination,’’ she said. “He’s a dead unicorn. That’s why his name is Brainbow.’’

Ryan White of Brick looked to his father’s wardrobe for inspiration for his zombie character.

“I’m supposed to be a cowboy zombie,’’ the 15-year-old said.  “There’s this nice hat and some nice boots, so I figured, why not be a cowboy.’’

The zombie walk, much like the undead themselves, has proven particularly resilient over the years.

Logistical difficulties nearly slayed the walk in 2015, but Mary McGillion and her late husband, John, proprietors of Johnny Mac's House of Spirits on Main Street, purchased the event to operate it in conjunction with Meehan and the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the walk to pivot to a virtual format in 2020, but the dead rose from the grave and returned live in 2021, when in-person festivities returned. Paying tribute to Asbury Park's rich musical history, the Zombie Walk embraced a punk rock theme for the first time this year, so attendees could dress in their "Return of the Living Dead" best.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park Zombie Walk brings all kinds of characters to city