One possibility why they can appear to be sleeping in water. Could it be like a hibernation state, maybe mutated? Frogs and turtles for instance here in the north, they bury themselves in mud while the lakes freeze. Their heart rates drop to like once a minute and can absorb oxygen through their skin. Since the heart rate is so low not much oxygen is needed.

Or it could just be yet another hole that Bethesda has put in the lore since they obtained the IP. They tend to just throw things in because it's "cool".

I suppose they could have all spec'd for Aquaboy/girl.

Interesting tidbit...

In an interview George said that he originally never considered the "living dead" from the original movie to be "zombies".

He called them "ghouls", or "flesh-eaters".

The term zombie was very rarely used in those movies. In fact I think its only mentioned once in Night of the living dead and once in Dawn of the Dead

makes sense because that's what ghouls are flesh eaters,think I ment more of he started the Zombie fad to what it is today.

Have any of you died to the feral ghoul kill cam yet? Yes, they're zombies. @_@

According to one of the original Fallout devs, Ghouls were a result of the Forced Evolutionary Virus and radiation.

If we're going back in time then zombies are the name given to those who were victim to a certain "potion" derived from black magic in the french colonies of Haiti. A person would be given a poison that would simulate death and a few days later apparently revive but completely brain damaged due to oxygen starvation and damage from the poison.

If we're not going back ghouls are also used to describe minions of a vampire, those who are not virgins are ghouls, those that are become vampires.

I have a even more concerning question in regards to Ghouls - Why do all Ghouls have perfect hair!? How is that even possible..........

@GeneralLuBu - There is an older movie based on that which is actually really good. I wish I could remember the name of it.

In the end they are all the same horribly looking creatures that will attack you but never each other , even if they have their brains rotten... ok....

Could have sworn the first ghoul with hair was unique and bethesda just forgot. In the original games ghouls were all bald and in way worse shape.

And almost every feral ghoul I find has a fancy hairbrush.

Romero never used the word Zombie in Night of the Living Dead. He called them Ghouls, but it's also never said in the movie.

If you have the ghoulish perk maxed out, there is a chance to turn a ghoul, and it will indeed attack another ghoul.

Its been a long time since I've seen it, but according to IMDB it is in fact mentioned once by a reporter on the radio, and said by a main character in Dawn of the Dead.

Wigs

Is that the actual explanation in-game or just an assumption?

It's what I hear from most sources, how else would Daisy have perfect hair?

Well...zombies are undead, whereas feral ghouls have been damaged so severely by radiation that they act zombie-like. So I can assume that the difference between the two is that a feral will stay dead once you kill it (ignoring the game mechanic of respawning, of course!).

Either way, both are creepy as hell...

Good point. Virus vs radiation poisoning.

That's what I figured too but I was just curious if it was ever explained.

When the green ones bring them back from the dead are they still ghouls??