There is comfort in uniformity, but a glitch in the matrix is often needed to break the monotone of a sensible dimension, because as Paulo Coelho once said, if you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal.
The first thing that fascinates most people when they are introduced to computer text, is font. There is something innately exciting about making one’s writing look different. Font adds emotion to one’s writing, and it was perhaps this exciting ability to make one’s words emote, that creepy text generators came into being, because no genre holds more emotion, than that of horror.
The Origins
The world’s first creepy text generator was eeemo.net, which was built by a developer known as Tchouky, in the late 2000s.
However, the intrigue for glitched or corrupted text began in 2004, when the concept of Zalgo came into being.
2004 is the year that witnessed the advent of one of the most popular sources of modern entertainment: The Meme.
A meme is basically an edited version of a piece of media to tell one’s joke or to convey a certain emotion.
It all began on July 27th, 2004, when an animator, Dave Kelly, also known as Shmorky uploaded edited versions of classic newspaper comics such as Archie Comics to his website.
He had edited the comics in such a way, that in the midst of a strip, the characters would suddenly mutate to look scary, with their eyes turning black and their dialogue bubble would invoke an ominous, monstrous entity by screaming “Zalgo” or simply, “He Comes.”
By 2008-2009, this trend of editing comics got a new edit: Distorting text.
Graphic designers used software such as MS Paint or Photoshop to draw lines of distortion or add corrupted characters around comic dialogue bubbles to add more visual depth and to enhance the whole emotion of horror.
The whole goal of this distortion was to make the comic characters’ words “bleed” or appear glitched, like it was coming from some other dimension.
Such an edit of comics was also called the series of “Cursed” webcomics.
As the Zalgo trend took the online world by storm, eeemo.com revolutionised the distorted script by automating the glitch effect.
This was done using a custom JavaScript function that took standard Latin characters and systemically exploited Unicode combining characters or diacritics.
The script stacked accent marks such as é or ñ over and under single letters to give a corrupted text effect.
For example, Creepy could now be written as C̭̜̹̞͉̪̀̓͋Ŕ̴̶̯̫̻͎̈́͌E̷̛̱͓͕͂͊̍ͅE̡̳͖͈͚̖̓͋̎P̺̗͍̙̣̝̈́͌̄Y̼̞̪̥̬͊̍̅̕
The automated creepy text generator could also modify the intensity of the glitch, from minimal font corruption to 100% corruption.
It also allowed users to copy and paste their desired text and converting it into a creepy font which could be used in scenarios of choice.
Thus, what began as a joke, now revolutionised the internet’s urban legend or creepypasta culture, finding use in webcomics, games, online pranks and even chat rooms.
Glitching a normal font became a way of expression and emotion had a new way to show itself, and what fuses emotion with style becomes a form of art.
The World of Creepy Text
With the advent of creepy text generators, there came a variety in the types of font that could be generated.
Creepy fonts fall into roughly three style categories:
1) The Glitched Style
It is also called the Possessed style and it includes Zalgo, which is the original corrupted style using dozens of accent marks. It also has a Strikethrough or a Slashed style, where letters are aggressively struck out, for example, Cr eepy.
2) Occult Styles.
These are vintage styles inspired by ancient occult texts used in historical accounts of witchcraft or other alleged demonic practices.
For example:
It also includes a Fullwidth style which gives an effect of a voice drowning out, for example, H E I SCOM ING
3) Alien Styles
These are modern styles inspired by TV shows such as Stranger Things.
It includes an inverted or an Upside Down style, such as, uʍop ǝpᴉsd∩
It also includes a phonetic mix of styles or mirror images.
Creepy text draws inspiration from historical symbols, calligraphy, ancient ritualistic practices and even hyper futuristic ideas. Like all art, there is lot of scope in which artists and graphic designers can get creative with creepy texts.
Creepy text finds use in gaming platforms, writing online horror stories, making memes and other forms of visual entertainment, animation and even in social media bios and as a tag for online communities and groups.
Creative writers and visual artists may also use creepy text to enhance their work and it is mostly a medium for harmless, creative fun.
Misuse of Creepy Text
Like all forms of fun expression, even creepy text can be misused.
Some of the ways in which online troublemakers misuse creepy text are:
1) Vandalism
Excessive use of Zalgo text can ruin webpage layouts. Glitched letters can also freeze apps and websites and crash softwares because even a single letter in a creepy text can contain hundreds of accent marks which can disrupt software functioning.
2) Bypassing Content Moderation Filters
Using glitched or corrupted words can bypass the system’s mechanism to flag offensive words or hate speech.
This can be used by troublemakers to bully people online, without getting caught by the moderation system.
3) Phishing and Spamming
Hackers often conceal misleading links in creepy text to confuse spam filters and to let malicious content slip past security barriers.
4) Online Harassment
Creepy text can be misused to intimidate people and to send inappropriate messages. It can be a tool for cyber-bullies to prey on people’s vulnerabilities.
While creativity has the power to create something other worldly and beautiful, creative power in the wrong hands can lead to a deadly spiral.
If creepy text is being used to conceal something offensive or malicious, here are some ways in which glitch text can be cleaned.
Firstly, an online Un-Zalgo tool can be used. Zalgo text cleaners remove all forms of glitch from the text and leave the clean, uncorrupt text for one to read, copy and paste.
Some advanced text editors like Notepad++ have a Find and Replace command which can instantly clean up glitched text.
For a more mobile cleanup, one can copy glitched text into a bare-bones input field such as a web browser url bar. This removes formatting but this technique may not always be useful as most glitched text use accent marks which can be seen as a normal formatting technique.
Creepy text generators are revolutionary. They give supernatural imagination an outlet and they provide a medium for artists, designers and even authors to express their most cryptic emotions. Creepy text has the power to bring communities together, all for the love of being thrilled by the Unknown and expressing fantastical imagination and what is fascinating is that the revolution of glitched, gothic text began with something as simple as a joke.
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