Mesh with animation within a particle system?

Hey, so just thinking about what different particle systems I can try making, and was wondering if/how you could add animation to meshes you spawned within a particle system, like if you wanted to have a particle system that created zombie hands grasping from the ground, you would want to have the hands animated reaching up and bending the elbows and fingers and such. Just wondering if it is possible and, if it is, if someone could give me a quick rundown of how I might go about it.