From Neolithic times, across Europe and North America, sites of mass burials show unmistakable signs of violence: skulls with stone-axe injuries, arrowheads lodged in vertebrae and decapitations.
Jeffrey Henry faces charges including second degree murder in the accidental decapitation of a 10-year-old boy on the world's tallest water slide in Kansas city back in 2016.
Weird game, we know, but this was back before cell phones and playstation, just a bunch of people, living in the moment, challenging each other to decapitation contests.
The simple idea is kill the brain, stop the zombie. This is generally done through head trauma or decapitation. But any method that removes the zombie-brain's ability to direct the undead body will work.