AIBU to worry as my husband thinks zombies are coming?

Unless your name is Mad Max and you live in Barter Town, getting your kid to sit in the driving seat with instructions to drive off because of crime is also nuts. But as OP said it seems to be Zombies.

OP I think its escalating psychosis. Sorry you are having to deal with this.

Does he take drugs?

Oh gosh, I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. Yes, it sounds like this is his latest fixation and it’s definitely not ‘normal’. Would he be willing to send the GP?

Actually there is a virus that effects snails and turns them into zombies. The snail is technically dead but the virus keeps it going turning its eyes into all weird colours to attract predators - once the predator eats the snail, the virus has a new host. It’s quite interesting and there were some conspiracies stating that this virus could evolve to do the same thing to humans (OP, prob best not to tell your hubby about this)

Your husband is not well.

OP, he might 'appear' perfectly sane, but you aren't sure what's going on underneath. He might have rationalised that he has to behave a certain way so that the 'zombies' won't know he's on to them, and this kind of thing can suddenly fracture in a really dramatic way. As others have said, what if he thinks one of the kids has been 'zombied'?

You don't know what's going on in his head so don't let 'appears normal most of the time' fool you. He's clearly very distressed and unwell.

Yeah I suppose it depends what you’re up against.

It is more than "moments" though, isn't it?

Do you have any relatives who can support you? Any adult children who could look after the younger ones while you try to get him some help?

I think the point people are trying to make is that after 6 years, you should be taking him to be evaluated by medics not Mumsnet. Surely you can see why people dont know if this is real or not.

Well Zombies don't exist so it's not normal.

If was worried about invasion, war or riots it would at least be based in possible event. As all of these things do happen. If it's true he is very unwell. My friend is obsessed with conspiracy theory. But they are based on possible things like greed, money, religion, power etc. Not mythical creatures.

Not perfectly sane.

Get him some help.

Thats like saying someone is totally peaceful and gentle except when they punch you or someone is vegan except they sometimes have a bacon sandwich.

OP, your husband needs help and may not accept it. Please:

1.) Call his GP to explain that your husband has had years of intermittent paranoid delusions but that you are now worried about the safety of your children because of the incident described above. This is an emergency. Ambulance crews also very familiar with this sort of scenario.
2.) If your husband is not accepting of treatment and he is a risk to himself or others then he will need to be detained and treated under the mental health act. Your GP and the community mental health team will help to put this in place and arrange hospital admission or community treatment.

There are people out there who have had untreated psychosis for years, but the sooner that this is dealt with, the sooner he can get better. I’m so sorry. How are you and your children doing?

I read your opening post and then went back to check if you had posted this on April Fools Day.

Of course this isn’t normal, and if this is a serious post then you must know that your husband needs help with his mental health and your children will probably need therapy to overcome this.

Which is why he shouldn’t be in charge of children.

I'm a worrier and like to have emergency plans in place. Or ideas of what I would do in shtf situation

So the locking doors and secure padlock on gate didn't seem unreasonable

The car situation - I sometimes lock doors when sat in a car or even traveling by car in some areas. I would even ask a teen to lock doors if they were waiting in car on their own for a short time.

But not because of zombies and I would not say be ready just in case.
So the last section with kids in car does raise concerns.
The other things I can understand why it was easy to rationalize his behavior.

A psychotic break isn't normal to crazy. It's little things building over time which is why it can be missed for so long before the behavior becomes more extreme.

I would get medical support ASAP. The problem is when he starts to think of actual people are the zombies and then this will quickly escalate.

This.
If you’re not trying to wind people up then you need to get some help for your DH, his behaviour is certainly not normal. And putting a 14 yr old in the diving set of a vehicle with the engine running and walking away is irresponsible and illegal.

But he’s not perfectly sane, even if he appears it most of the time. What are you going to do about it?

OP with kindness you need to wake up and snap out of this. You’re leaving your children open to all manner of damage through this.

He needs help urgently.

Keeping them inside a car with the windows up will not be funny in hot weather though.

If mine did this i’d threaten him with social services and the police. I’d tell him he’s a complete nut job and it needs to stop right now. Protect your DC.

The person I replied to said it’s illegal to allow a child to sit in the drivers seat in a car ESPECIALLY with the engine running. I was correcting them to say just sitting in the drivers seat is not illegal. You can see I clearly said they can’t have the engine running or it’s illegal. But the pp was saying they can’t even sit there if the engines off etc.

For those saying this isn’t real - my daughter actually had similar delusions, although not zombie related. This can be very real and very dangerous. I ended up having to take my daughter to A&E for help

He needs to see a doctor urgently.
It sounds like psychosis and he needs antipsychotic medication.
It can be cured but he must get help.
Good luck 💐