Synthesize creepy, corrupted demonic text with real-time chaos and diacritic controls.
Chaos / Craziness Level:Cursed (Lvl 5)
Glitch Output (Cursed):
Zalgo Cursed Glitch Text
How Does Zalgo / Glitch Text Work in Unicode?
The "glitch" or "cursed" text effect does not use images, HTML markup, or software bugs. Instead, it exploits a legitimate feature of the Unicode standard known as Combining Diacritical Marks (Unicode block U+0300 to U+036F).
In standard languages, combining marks add accents to letters (such as adding an acute accent `´` to `e` to make `é`). However, Unicode allows an unlimited number of these marks to be stacked on a single letter. When dozens of diacritical marks are piled onto each character, they overflow into adjacent lines of text, creating a spooky, corrupted "void" look.
How Glitch Text Works
Glitch text adds invisible “combining” characters to normal letters. Unicode has a whole block of them, Combining Diacritical Marks (U+0300–U+036F), meant for accents such as the ´ in é. Each mark attaches to the letter before it, and when dozens are stacked above, through and below a letter, they spill out of the line and create the dripping, corrupted look. The letters themselves never change, which is why the text can still be copied and pasted anywhere.
Where Zalgo Comes From
The name comes from an internet meme that started on the Something Awful forums in 2004, when a user edited classic newspaper comics so that characters were overtaken by a sinister being called Zalgo, often with the line “He comes”. The distorted lettering in those edits became known as Zalgo text, and it is now a staple of horror memes, creepypasta stories and Halloween posts.
Choosing the Right Intensity
Subtle: a few marks per letter – readable and creepy, good for usernames and captions.
Cursed: marks above and below – the classic glitch look for horror posts.
Maximum chaos: heavy stacks – dramatic, but they cover nearby lines and are hard to read.
Use the Up, Middle and Down options to control where the marks appear, and keep the chaos level low for anything people actually need to read.
Limits and Etiquette
Each combining mark counts as a character, so a short glitched word can quickly hit limits such as Instagram’s 150-character bio or a game’s name limit. Some platforms and Discord bots remove or block heavy Zalgo because it overlaps other messages, and screen readers read the marks one by one, which makes glitch text inaccessible. Use it for short, decorative words rather than whole messages, and avoid spamming it in shared chats.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Zalgo text, also called glitch or cursed text, is normal text with many combining marks stacked on each letter, giving it a creepy, corrupted look.
It comes from a 2004 meme on the Something Awful forums, where comic strips were edited so a sinister being called Zalgo corrupted the characters.
It adds Unicode combining marks (U+0300–U+036F) above, through and below each letter. The base letters stay the same.
Yes, but some platforms and Discord bots trim or block heavy Zalgo. Lower intensity levels work most reliably.
Every combining mark counts as a character, so heavily glitched text uses up limits like Instagram’s 150 characters very quickly.
It is ordinary Unicode text, but very heavy stacks can make old phones and apps slow to display it. Moderate levels are safe.