Elon Musk Denies Rumors He’s Secretly Creating a Zombie Apocalypse

Elon Musk may be selling flamethrowers, but he swears he’s not setting up for the zombie apocalypse.

It all started when Tesla and SpaceX CEO and noted futurist Musk took to Twitter to promote the latest project from his The Boring Company, a flamethrower, noting that the device was “guaranteed to liven up any party” and explaining that that the device met ATF regulations and was designed for “max fun for least danger.” Seems pretty straightforward. But with the specs out of the way, that’s when things got a little apocalyptic.

Musk followed up his introduction of the Boring Company’s flamethrower with a promise that the device would work well against hordes of the undead in a zombie apocalypse, even offering a money-back guarantee should the flamethrowers fail to protect during a The Walking Dead like situation. It was a tweet that got people to wondering if Musk was plotting the zombie apocalypse. After all, he did change his Twitter bio to “Zombie Defender.” But the Boring Company founder followed up again, assuring the public that rumors of any zombie apocalypse machinations on his part were completely false.

“The rumor that I’m secretly creating a zombie apocalypse to generate demand for flamethrowers is completely false,” Musk wrote. “You’d need millions of zombies for a so-called ‘apocalypse’ anyway. Where would I even get a factory big enough to make so many!?”

While Musk humorously denies that he’s setting up the zombie apocalypse, Musk may not be quite right in his assertion that you’d need a giant factory to make enough of the undead for an apocalypse. While fans of The Walking Dead don’t know the exact source of the zombies, on that series and many other zombie-related movies and television shows, whatever the source of the zombies, the infection spreads. A full-on zombie apocalypse could very easily start with just one zombie and rapidly go out of control, no mega-factory required.

Of course, the real reason the Boring Company is selling zombie-repelling flamethrowers? It’s a method of raising money for the company’s real aim. The Boring Company seeks to create a network of underground tunnels to ease traffic congestion. The company is privately funded and has been raising money for the massive tunneling operation by selling merchandise. The Boring Company’s previous offering was a simple black baseball hat with the company’s logo. They sold 50,000 hats for $20 apiece last year.

As for those flamethrowers, they are selling for $500 apiece. Musk said on Sunday that 2,000 of the devices had already been ordered. The company plans to cap sales at 20,000 units — not nearly enough to fend off the zombie apocalypse.