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Turn "He comes" into Ĥ̢̬ͮ͜ęͣ̌̇͜ c̷̠̞̞͂̎o̰̳̺͆ͤm̪̖͌ͬͧ́e͖̻ͤ̑s̳̏̑̆̆̕ and copy it anywhere. Pick an intensity from Subtle to Chaos or set the marks above, through and below each letter, make the corruption creep in, and strip Zalgo back to plain text.
Want broken-screen styles instead? Try the Glitch Text Generator or the Cursed Text Generator, or browse all Text tools.
Last updated: October 5, 2026 · Published: 2026-03-24 · Updated: 2026-10-05
Classic Zalgo: clearly corrupted but readable.
Zalgo text
Ĥ̢̬ͮ͜ęͣ̌̇͜ c̷̠̞̞͂̎o̰̳̺͆ͤm̪̖͌ͬͧ́e͖̻ͤ̑s̳̏̑̆̆̕
37 marks added · 45 characters in total · 45 of 280 on X
Your text at every intensity
Subtle
Ĥ̻e̓̽ cͣ̌o̿̉m͂e̋ͪṡ
12 marks · 20 of 280 on X
Normal
Ĥ̢̬ͮ͜ęͣ̌̇͜ c̷̠̞̞͂̎o̰̳̺͆ͤm̪̖͌ͬͧ́e͖̻ͤ̑s̳̏̑̆̆̕
37 marks · 45 of 280 on X
Strong
Ĥ̰̣̞ͮ͗͂͘ͅe̞̞̤̿̉̑̎͂̎ͮ͢ ç̗̟̪̖̙͇ͤ̃ͫ͆͌͒͢͝o̝͕̦̔̽ͭ͗͗̕m͕̝̯̹͔͙͐̐̂͒͜͡ḛ͍̪̹̰̥͋ͮͮ͆ͧ̀̿̏͜͠ͅs̼͚̤͚̹̀́ͭͨ͐͝
84 marks · 92 of 280 on X
Chaos
Ĥ̸̨͇̮̠̤̯̥ͮ͗͂̓̽̋͟ȩ̟̪̖̙͇̋ͪ̉̆̇̍͆ͤ̃ͫ͆͌͒ͮ͢͡ c̷̗̻͕̰͍̹͕̝̔̽ͭ͗͗̏̑̆̆̕͞o̢͇͙̰͍̪̹̰̥͑ͪͮͨ͋ͮͮ͆ͧ̀̿͟ͅḿͭͨ͐̀͌͋҉̸҉̡͉̳͍̞͚̮̰̟̩͉e̶̫̭̟̖̟̗̜͓ͣ͑ͯ͌ͣͭ̾̋͋ͦͨ̉͆͜ş̧̙̣͍͍͈̪͕̣̬͍̂̈̓̾ͣ̑̑ͥ͛ͦ͂ͦ̓͊͜
151 marks · 159 of 280 on X
Zalgo looks different in every app and font, and some games and sites strip or block it. Test it where you plan to post.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Zalgo text is normal text covered in stacks of Unicode combining marks, so it looks glitched, corrupted or possessed. It takes its name from Zalgo, a horror meme that began on the Something Awful forums in 2004, and is often written with the phrase "he comes".
There is no Zalgo font. Combining marks are characters like the accent in é that attach to the letter before them. A letter normally gets one or two; Zalgo text gives each letter many. This generator picks from 108 marks, so the result is plain text you can paste anywhere.
Type your text
The Zalgo version updates as you type. Short phrases look best, since every letter gets its own stack of marks.
Pick an intensity
Choose Subtle, Normal, Strong, Chaos or Custom, and optionally make the corruption build up or fade out.
Copy and paste
Press Copy Zalgo text, or Regenerate for a new random version first. To clean Zalgo text, switch to Remove Zalgo.
"He comes" at each level. The plain text is 8 characters; every mark adds one more.
| Level | Example | Max marks per letter | Marks added | X count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SubtleA light shimmer. Still easy to read. | Ĥ̻e̓̽ cͣ̌o̿̉m͂e̋ͪṡ | 3 | 12 | 20 |
| NormalClassic Zalgo: clearly corrupted but readable. | Ĥ̢̬ͮ͜ęͣ̌̇͜ c̷̠̞̞͂̎o̰̳̺͆ͤm̪̖͌ͬͧ́e͖̻ͤ̑s̳̏̑̆̆̕ | 8 | 37 | 45 |
| StrongTall stacks that spill into nearby lines. | Ĥ̰̣̞ͮ͗͂͘ͅe̞̞̤̿̉̑̎͂̎ͮ͢ ç̗̟̪̖̙͇ͤ̃ͫ͆͌͒͢͝o̝͕̦̔̽ͭ͗͗̕m͕̝̯̹͔͙͐̐̂͒͜͡ḛ͍̪̹̰̥͋ͮͮ͆ͧ̀̿̏͜͠ͅs̼͚̤͚̹̀́ͭͨ͐͝ | 17 | 84 | 92 |
| ChaosUp to 30 marks per letter, Unicode's stream-safe limit. | Ĥ̸̨͇̮̠̤̯̥ͮ͗͂̓̽̋͟ȩ̟̪̖̙͇̋ͪ̉̆̇̍͆ͤ̃ͫ͆͌͒ͮ͢͡ c̷̗̻͕̰͍̹͕̝̔̽ͭ͗͗̏̑̆̆̕͞o̢͇͙̰͍̪̹̰̥͑ͪͮͨ͋ͮͮ͆ͧ̀̿͟ͅḿͭͨ͐̀͌͋҉̸҉̡͉̳͍̞͚̮̰̟̩͉e̶̫̭̟̖̟̗̜͓ͣ͑ͯ͌ͣͭ̾̋͋ͦͨ̉͆͜ş̧̙̣͍͍͈̪͕̣̬͍̂̈̓̾ͣ̑̑ͥ͛ͦ͂ͦ̓͊͜ | 30 | 151 | 159 |
Each letter gets a random number of marks between half the maximum and the maximum, so Regenerate always looks a little different. Chaos stops at 30 marks per letter, the most Unicode's stream-safe format allows in a row.
Zalgo marks fall into three zones. Custom mode lets you set each one, from a halo of marks on top to text that seems to drip.
| Zone | Example | Marks | What they look like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Above | ẑͮa͂̓̽̋lͣ̌̇ͤg̉̑̎͂oͮ̋ͪ | 48 | Accents, arrows and tiny letters stacked over the text. |
| Middle | z̴a͟͜l͘g͜o̸̶ | 16 | Strikes and slashes through the letters, plus marks that bridge two letters. |
| Below | z̘͙a̢̮̩̬ḷ̞͇ͅg̨̠̤̯o̢͚͓ | 44 | Dots, lines, hooks and brackets hanging under the text. |
| Spread | Example at Strong | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Even | ḭ̣̞̂ͮ͗͂͘ͅt̞̞̤̿̉̑̎͂̎ͮ͢ i̧̗̟̪̖̙͇ͤ̃ͫ͆͌͒͢͝s̝͕̦̔̽ͭ͗͗̕ c͕̝̯̹͔͙͐̐̂͒͜͡o̰͍̪̹̰̥͋ͮͮ͆ͧ̀̿̏͜͠ͅm̼͚̤͚̹̀́ͭͨ͐͝i̹͚̲͙̭͌ͧ̆ͯ̿͊̇̓͡ͅͅṇ̫̭͋ͦͨ̉͆͜g̀̈́̅҉̴̩̭ͅ | Every letter gets the same amount of corruption. |
| Building up | it͗͂ i̞̋͟s̥͚̿̉̑ c̤̰ͪ̉õ̧͍̗̟ͫ͆͌͒͝m͖̻̻̀̄ͤ̑ȋ̷̦̗̻͕̰̆̆ͫn͑ͬ̅͂͑ͪͮ͝҉̰͍̖̮̦̼g̸̖̗͖͍ͤͮ͆ͧ̔͐͜ | Starts clean and gets worse toward the end. |
| Fading out | ḭ̣̞̂ͮ͗͂͘ͅt̷̞̞̤̿̉̑̎͂̎͢ iͤ̃ͫ͆͌҉̧͍̗̟̪̖͝ş̻̻̦̞ͤ̑̔ c̦̗̻ͫ̏o̹͔͙͆ͧ͑ͬm̮͋ͮͮ͡ḭ͍͛͠n̰͐g | Starts corrupted and calms down toward the end. |
Most Zalgo marks come from Unicode's Combining Diacritical Marks block, U+0300 to U+036F. They exist for accents, phonetic writing and old manuscripts. Here are a few, each on the letter a.
| Mark | Code point | Name | Normal use |
|---|---|---|---|
| á | U+0301 | Combining acute accent | The accent in é when typed as e plus a mark. |
| ä | U+0308 | Combining diaeresis | The two dots in ü and ö. |
| aͣ | U+0363 | Combining Latin small letter a | One of 13 tiny letters added for medieval manuscripts. |
| a̶ | U+0336 | Combining long stroke overlay | Strikes through a letter; strikethrough text generators use it. |
| a̸ | U+0338 | Combining long solidus overlay | A slash through a letter, as in the not-equal sign. |
| a͡ | U+0361 | Combining double inverted breve | Bridges two letters. The eyebrows in ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). |
| a͜ | U+035C | Combining double breve below | Bridges two letters from below. The nose line in ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). |
| a҉ | U+0489 | Combining Cyrillic millions sign | A ring of commas around the letter, from old Church Slavonic numbers. |
| a̲ | U+0332 | Combining low line | Underlines a letter; underline text generators use it. |
This generator uses 108 marks. It leaves out the invisible combining grapheme joiner and a few marks that Unicode normalization swaps for others, so your Zalgo text stays the same when apps process it.
Zalgo began as a comic-strip joke and became one of the internet's first creepypasta legends: a faceless horror that corrupts whatever it touches. Fans tied it to phrases like "he comes" and "he waits behind the wall", and the messy text became its signature.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1991 | Unicode 1.0 includes the first 66 combining diacritical marks, meant for accents and phonetic symbols. |
| July 27, 2004 | Shmorky posts edited Nancy and Archie strips that mention Zalgo. |
| 2005 | The Combining Diacritical Marks block is completed with 112 characters in Unicode 4.1. |
| Late 2008 | Zalgo edits of other comics spread on Something Awful, and the meme takes off. |
| August 22, 2009 | Shmorky writes that he made Zalgo up and it has nothing to do with Lovecraft. |
| November 13, 2009 | bobince's Stack Overflow answer on parsing HTML with regex melts into Zalgo text. |
| 2010s | Zalgo text generators spread, and the style moves into gaming names, Discord and memes. |
| Problem | Why it happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Marks spill over the lines above and below | Apps draw every mark, even past the line height. | Use Subtle or Normal, or the Building up spread. |
| The post is too long | Each mark counts as a character. | Shorten the text or lower the intensity. |
| It looks different on another device | Fonts place marks differently, and some draw them as boxes. | Test on the app and device you're posting to. |
| A game or app rejects it | Many filter combining marks in names and chat. | Keep names plain and use Zalgo in messages. |
| Screen readers read nonsense | Marks are read by name or skipped. | Keep important information in plain text. |
Remove Zalgo strips every combining mark, including marks from the extended blocks some generators use, and returns the plain letters. Keep normal accents saves letters with only one or two marks, so words like café survive.
Ṕ̙̼̬̃ͤ̾̾̇̚͜a̴͖͇̪̼ͪ̏͗̍͒͂ͧ͢s̨̻͈̱̱̙̑͛̀̀͡t̻̬͚͓̼̺ͨ̓̽̾͊ͥ̕͞e̩͇̟͖̹ͤ̂̃͂ͩ̐͂̍͜ Zͤ̂̓̇͗ͥ͌҉҉͔͖͉̥̳a̵̛̗̺̜̤͚̯̟̒͋̆͐͆̌ͪ̂l̶̝̲̺̇͑͐ͧ͠g̰̤̺̖̬͛̏ͭ̄ͮ̉͘ǫ͍̘̦̣̝̐̑ͯ̃̄̈̚͡ h̛͔͔̤̦̤̠͇̓̋̀͆ẻ̶̗͚̥̙̖̭̺̒ͯ̎͝r͂͊ͩ͐ͩͩ͋̌҉̡̟̰͜ȩ̨͍̫͈ͩ̈ͦ͑̏̋ͫ͘͢
Paste Zalgo here
| Tool | Best for |
|---|---|
| Zalgo Text Generator (this page) | Classic Zalgo with fine control over each zone, build-up effects and a remover. |
| Glitch Text Generator | Broken-screen styles: noise blocks, binary, mojibake and more. |
| Cursed Text Generator | Zalgo combined with chaos fonts, fullwidth and upside-down text. |
| Creepy Text Generator | Horror themes like dripping, scratched and ritual text. |
How Zalgo text works, intensity levels, where Zalgo comes from, where to paste it, character counts and removing it.
Explore more tools in the directory.
Broken-screen effects like noise blocks and binary.
Zalgo mixed with chaos fonts and upside-down text.
Haunted, dripping and ritual text for spooky posts.
Look-alike letters, mocking case and other effects.
Blackletter and Fraktur-style Unicode letters.
Reverse letters, words or lines.