You may have stumbled upon this page after encountering someone posting bizarre, distorted text (l̶͓̀̈́͆͒̆͗͝į̶̘̪̫̤͙̤̯̫̻̺͇̗̼̑͗̋̄̂̑͠ķ̷̛͓͉̫͓̦̪̱͔̖̻̈́̓͌̀͐̅̉͗̀̊͠ȩ̸̪͙̬̩̼̺͕͙̼͚̻̠͚͆̀͆̋͝ ̴͖̹̮̯̑́̿̀̐̓̅t̵̢̼͙̙͇͙͎̳͖̀̔͒̈́̚ḩ̵̟͖̺̭̜͈̝̾̋i̴̗̲͈͎̤̮̫̳͖̐̒̾̀͊͠ş̷̢̻̝͓͚͉̜̳̗̼͖̺̬̑̓̽͗͛̂̎̃̽̓̄͘ͅ) in the comments section of a blog, YouTube video, or other social media platform. It's also referred to as "void text," characterized by messy markings that create a "hacked" or "glitched" appearance.
This glitchy form of text is also known as "zalgo" text. When you first saw this strange text, you might have thought it was a hack or glitch which caused it, but, of course you now know that that is not the case. Anyone can convert their text into weird hacky text with all sorts of strange marks - no hacking skills required ;)
This hacky distorted text is pretty awesome, but it's only the beginning! Enjoy creating and sharing y̶̱͠ö̷͙́ù̵̻r̵̜̓ messed up text!
The Roots of Zalgo: Unicode and Diacritics
Well, the story starts with Unicode. Unicode is an industry standard that manages all of the characters that you view on most of your electronic devices. The corrupted nature of the text has interesting origins.
Unicode needed to design a system which would work for all written languages, and so it had to consider that many languages have a huge number of possible characters because certain "marks" can be added to characters to adjust their meaning. So instead of specifying millions of different characters, Unicode just specified the basic fundamental building blocks plus a bunch of "marks" which can be added to characters.
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Unicode contains certain special characters called "combining character". Rather than being their own individual letters, these characters are added to other letters and symbols. In the study of written language, the marks that are added are called "diacritics". These marks are called "diacritics", and as it turns out, The unicode designers never specified a limit to the number of diacritics that can be added to a character.
Considering that different written languages use a different set of characters, Unicode came up with these unique set of marks called diacritics that could be added to any normal text explicitly. Though they are useful for generating crazy text which we can copy and paste into the comments of a funny cat video on YouTube, they're also very useful when we want to augment the way a letter is pronounced.
Someone noticed this and decided to play around with adding many more diacritics than reasonable so that the text became distorted and corrupted. With over 120,000 different symbols, Unicode gives us a HUGE variety of ways to mannipulate and have fun with text.
Zalgo as a Meme: From Comics to Creepypasta
Zalgo is an internet meme which was started by Dave Kelly. Zalgo is the creation of a Flash animator known as Dave Kelly. The term "zalgo" comes from an internet meme/phenomenon which begin with the conversion of a Nancy and Archie comic into a sort of demonic scourge beginning to take over the characters (Thus, zalgo text is sometimes called demonic text too).
The meme involves taking a regular non-creepy image and creepifying in some way. The word “Zalgo” was often mentioned in Archies or Garfield comic strips from the newspaper that used to denote something scary or full of terror. It is also used to address a being who is often called as “he who waits behind the wall”.
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Zalgo can also refer to the creature which pervades zalgo memes - a creature of indescribable terror. The term "zalgo" began to be associated with an ominous entity that took over peoples minds, causing insanity and eventually a horrific death. It has been claimed that the concept of zalgo represents the corruption of innocence, normality and the entire world.
How to Generate and Use Zalgo Text
You can copy and paste creepy text into most blog, and social media comment sections. That's probably where you first saw this weird text before you came looking for a translator. If you cut and paste it into form which only allows a certain subset of unicode characters, then the strange glitchy marks may be removed, or possibly all of your text. If you cut and paste it into form which only allows a certain subset of unicode characters, then the strange glitchy marks may be removed, or possibly all of your text.
Simply navigate to Zalgo.org (You are reading the same on this page, you can ask your friend to visit the page). Enter the text you want to glitch in the input box. Select your preferred glitch effect and specify any additional requirements. Click 'Generate' to create your customized glitch text.
You can also increase the “craziness level” slider that let you control the height of distortion or you can say the amount and intensity of transitioned elements you want around your main text. The more this level is increased, the more garbled up your text looks with corrupted characters and symbols.
The appeal of zalgo text is the fact that it looks like the letters are messed up and the characters are falling apart - sort of like a printing error where characters have been mistakenly repeated or smudged or just printed over the top of one another by mistake. The garbled text and generally corrupted vibe that it gives off makes it a great way to show noobs how good your backing skills are, or to post comments under scary YouTube videos to make people think the world is actually turning into a horror film.
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Zalgo Text Generator
This is the zalgo text generator. It allows you to convert normal text into zalgo text which you can then copy and paste. The zalgo converter engine running behind this translator was made by combatwombat and it allows you to control the height of the zalgo distortions.
Zalgo Text Generator is a free tool that turns your normal text into creepy (scary) or Halloween style. Simply Enter your text in the text box on left side, You’ll get a Zalgo text in the right side text box. With the help of this tool, You can easily convert your Zalgo text to plain text. In order to do so, Simply paste the glitch text into a textbox on the left side, it will be auto converted into plain text.
Zalgo text is made up of glitchy letters like this: W̶̭̽͆̍͘ḥ̵̢̻̜̐͊a̴̞̭̼̦̞̒̆͒͂͠t̴͍̭̙̪̳́̔͑͠͠͝'̷̹̠̀̒̂̑̀͝ŝ̴̢̬̭̩͠ ̶̙̤̺̃̈́̀͛ù̷̡̞̝̟͍́p̴̛̯͎̯̆͠,̸͖́̍͌́́́ ̷͈̬̖͋͛͆͘t̷̢͍̹͚̰̏͑̂͛͋̐ͅḥ̴̞̄̀͆̉ͅį̶͍̊̐͗ś̶͕̆̒̎͊́ ̷̹̙̽̑i̴̞͑̕s̶͈͛̀̈̀̋̃ ̵̢̛̼̞̱̲̺̒ẓ̴̜͚̺̭̈̒a̴̞͐͗l̴̬̖̦̣̱̯̋̈́̉͒͋̏g̵̛̞̰̟͐̑̆̓͛o̷̻̪͓͒̃͂̽ ̵̛̬̖̎t̴̢̪̭͙̏̌̔ͅe̷̼͕͓͍̦͐̈̎͘͜x̴̲̲͋̂́̅́t̷̩̲̳͐͌.̷̯̟͋̎̏̇̉. It's made up of many unicode diacritic marks the marks on top of words in languages like French and Spanish. Some English words like "cliché" have diacritics (above the "e") because they're inherited from other languages.
Other types of distorted text
Text Distortion Use our glitch text generator to create a variety of distorted text effects. This is the zalgo text generator. It allows you to convert normal text into zalgo text which you can then copy and paste. Whether you need a subtle glitch or an extreme distortion, our tool can handle it all.
Do you often see how people post bizarre transitioned texts that look uniquely styled? These texts are portrayed as part of memes or images, some of which look nicely framed while some look very creepy. Many new versions of these texts are introduced every now and then. They are generally referred to as “Zalgo texts” or “Glitch Texts” due to their fleeting malfunction-like or messed-up appearance. No wonder they look like some printing error is been made, hence smudging the characters and symbols all over each other.
It's also called "glitch text" or "glitchy text" fairly often, and indeed this zalgo-type text may have existed well before the zalgo meme. There is the distinct possibility that you arrived at this translator without any creepy context. You may have just been looking for something to make your text look messy - like all the c̵̡̨̛̭̪͙͓̥̋̾̈́͋̽̌̌͊͊̊͑h̵̰̳̱̃́̂̈́̇͛͆͗̈͛̽̽̚̕ͅḁ̵͕͓̻͔̖́͗̾̈̉̑̈́̈́̎͝͠ͅr̴̡̫̱̝̤͇̭̙͇͈͉͙̔̊͂̃̾a̵͈͚̤̖̾͗̀̽̽̈́̈́͌̍̚͜͝c̷̡̆̀͒̓̀̀͛̎̐̔̔̄̓̔̇t̷̢̨̡̛̩͉͇͕̭̥̭͑̆̄̈̌̽̾̋͐͝è̵̬͚ŗ̸̢̛̹̙̙͕͈̠̲͆̄̄͌̋͒̔̽̄̏̌͘͘͠s̶͖̤̙̆͌̏̒̅ are messed up.
Character rendering of Unicode is not like other character encodings. A simple character encoding allows glyphs to fit only in the specified height, unlike the Unicode. The Unicode standard provides a unique number for every character irrespective of the platform, device or language. It allows data to be transported between servers, devices, and applications without any corruption or loss.
Anyway, that's a bit of a rant, but hopefully that gives you an idea of where zalgo text came from and how it works.
How to get zalgo text!
Occult Script Generator
Explore Cultist Armoury's custom-made typefaces, crafted for horror RPG handouts and props. Use our generator to display text in 10 unique fonts, up to 400 characters. All generated texts are free for personal and non-commercial use. Interested in more? Get OpenType versions on Gumroad, available for both personal and commercial use. Find direct links in each font's display tab.
Get the OpenType Font on GumroadEnter the text you wish to convert into a script in the first text box. Select your desired typeface and set the font size. Once you're satisfied, click the 'Download PNG' button to obtain your script file. Note: You can drag the corners of the output text box to adjust its width and height, ensuring the perfect dimensions for your handout.
License: The clippings made with this generator can be used for free for personal projects. It can also be included in PWYW products as long as it is attributed to us (Occult Script Generator by CultistArmoury.org). For commercial use please contact us.
License: The clippings made with this generator can be used for free for personal projects. It can also be included in PWYW products as long as it is attributed to us (Newspaper Handout by CultistArmoury.org).
Cryptic & Eldritch Text
Generate cryptic and eldritch text with our tool. Perfect for creating mysterious and otherworldly text effects. Keywords: cryptic text, cryptic text generator, cryptic font, eldritch text, eldritch text generator, eldritch font, cthulhu text generator.
Hacked & Corrupted Text
Create hacked and corrupted text effects for a unique and edgy look. Ideal for digital art, social media, and more.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of the infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
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