Zombie survival: Tent packs drive Idaho business

BURLEY, Idaho – Burley native Galen Bench was living and teaching in Indonesia in 2004 when the 9.1-magnitude Sumatra-Andaman earthquake occurred off the coast of northern Sumatra. The massive tsunami that followed killed more than 227,000 people and left 1.7 million displaced, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Witnessing the devastation moved Bench to secure a patent on an invention he’d been working on for years: an all-in-one backpack-tent system.

“He likes to invent things,” said Bench’s brother Mike, general manager of TentPak. “He teaches and invents.”

Bench’s idea was that a portable emergency shelter built into a backpack full of other emergency supplies could help people survive for three or more days following a natural or manmade disaster. He patented his invention in 2007 and brought it home, where it became a family business. He has since moved back to Indonesia and the business has been taken over by zombies.

“The zombie stuff has started to overtake the other stuff,” Mike said.

TentPak is the maker of the Zombie Apocalypse Pak – a modified version of Bench’s integrated tent and backpack system loaded with survival tools. It’s marketed toward consumers with a fear of the undead. The zombie packs range in price from $250 to $445, depending on the model. The general packs range in price from $264 to $350, depending on size.

“The zombie people like to have a machete for the chopping off of heads,” Mike said.

The packs come in various sizes with different-size tents. They’re embroidered with the companies Zombie Apocalypse Pak logo and are sold bundled with survival items including fire starters, first aid kits, multitools and 18-inch-long machetes.

TentPak has sold packs to customers in Canada, Japan and England through its website.