When I last wrote about Creepypasta, I covered the story of The Rake and how H.P. Lovecraft’s influences can be felt in Brian Somerville’s creepy backstory for the monster.
This week we turn to another online horror reminiscent of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos — the legend of Zalgo.
Zalgo is one of the oldest Creepypasta memes, first appearing in a post by Something Awful user Shmorky (Flash animator and artist Dave Kelly) on 27 July 2004. He uploaded a number of modified classic comic strips to his blog. Among these (one a Nancy strip, the other Archie) two featured references to Zalgo.
However, it was some time later before the meme really took off. On 2 December 2008, the Lovecraft and dark fiction blog Grim Reviews posted a feature on the Zalgo phenomenon. Noting that (at the time) Zalgo was ‘confined to a few select off beat forums and image boards’, it featured Zalgo-fied strips from the ever-popular Garfield and web comic Ctrl+Alt+Del.
The following February, Urban Dictionary user lewz submitted a definition for Zalgo that read:
To invoke the hive-mind representing chaos.
Invoking the feeling of chaos.
With out order.
The Nezperdian hive-mind of chaos.
Invoking the feeling of chaos.
With out order.
The Nezperdian hive-mind of chaos.
Zalgo!
Just over a month later, on 21 March 2009, Zalgo first appeared on 4chan’s /b/ board in the shape of a corrupted Calvin & Hobbes image.
On 6 April Zalgo spread to that other great breeding ground of Creepypastas and memes, Reddit, in a post that simply read: Zalgo. What is it and why is it coming?
Soon afterwards the meme developed further, when somebody took an image of Catie Wayne’s online character Boxxy (another 4chan sensation) and edited it, giving the picture bloody, black eye-sockets (something that became a huge part of the ongoing mythos) and supposedly used the image and disturbing, corrupted text as part of a Chatroulette prank. The image proof of this was uploaded to the subreddit r/pics on Christmas Day 2010 and became a massive hit.
The corrupted text was adopted by the various creators of Zalgo fan art and became a key part of the mythos, often including the phrases ‘he comes’ and ‘he waits behind the wall’. The corrupted text is created using an abuse of a Unicode feature, although those without the necessary technical know-how can create their own ‘Zalgofied’ text by using the Zalgo Text Generator, a tool set-up online specifically to create the stylised corrupted text associated with Shmorky’s dark deity.
T̫̺̳o̬̜ ì̬͎̲̟nv̖̗̻̣̹̕o͖̗̠̜̤k͍͚̹͖̼e̦̗̪͍̪͍ ̬ͅt̕h̠͙̮͕͓e̱̜̗͙̭ ̥͔̫͙̪͍̣͝ḥi̼̦͈̼v҉̩̟͚̞͎e͈̟̻͙̦̤-m̷̘̝̱í͚̞̦̳n̝̲̯̙̮͞d̴̺̦͕̫ ̗̭̘͎͖r̞͎̜̜͖͎̫͢ep͇r̝̯̝͖͉͎̺e̴s̥e̵̖̳͉͍̩̗n̢͓̪͕̜̰̠̦t̺̞̰i͟n҉̮̦̖̟g̮͍̱̻͍̜̳ ̳c̖̮̙̣̰̠̩h̷̗͍̖͙̭͇͈a̧͎̯̹̲̺̫ó̭̞̜̣̯͕s̶̤̮̩̘.̨̻̪̖͔
̳̭̦̭̭̦̞́I̠͍̮n͇̹̪̬v̴͖̭̗̖o̸k҉̬̤͓͚̠͍i͜n̛̩̹͉̘̹g͙ ̠̥ͅt̰͖͞h̫̼̪e̟̩̝ ̭̠̲̫͔fe̤͇̝̱e͖̮̠̹̭͖͕l͖̲̘͖̠̪i̢̖͎̮̗̯͓̩n̸̰g̙̱̘̗͚̬ͅ ͍o͍͍̩̮͢f̖͓̦̥ ̘͘c̵̫̱̗͚͓̦h͝a̝͍͍̳̣͖͉o͙̟s̤̞.̙̝̭̣̳̼͟
̢̻͖͓̬̞̰̦W̮̲̝̼̩̝͖i͖͖͡ͅt̘̯͘h̷̬̖̞̙̰̭̳ ̭̪̕o̥̤̺̝̼̰̯͟ṳ̞̭̤t̨͚̥̗ ̟̺̫̩̤̳̩o̟̰̩̖ͅr̞̘̫̩̼d̡͍̬͎̪̺͚͔e͓͖̝̙r̰͖̲̲̻̠.̺̝̺̟͈
̣̭T̪̩̼h̥̫̪͔̀e̫̯͜ ̨N̟e҉͔̤zp̮̭͈̟é͉͈ṛ̹̜̺̭͕d̺̪̜͇͓i̞á͕̹̣̻n͉͘ ̗͔̭͡h̲͖̣̺̺i͔̣̖̤͎̯v̠̯̘͖̭̱̯e̡̥͕-m͖̭̣̬̦͈i͖n̞̩͕̟̼̺͜d̘͉ ̯o̷͇̹͕̦f̰̱ ̝͓͉̱̪̪c͈̲̜̺h̘͚a̞͔̭̰̯̗̝o̙͍s͍͇̱͓.̵͕̰͙͈ͅ ̯̞͈̞̱̖Z̯̮̺̤̥̪̕a͏̺̗̼̬̗ḻg͢o̥̱̼.̺̜͇͡ͅ ̴͓͖̭̩͎̗
̧̪͈̱̹̳͖͙H̵̰̤̰͕̖e̛ ͚͉̗̼̞w̶̩̥͉̮h̩̺̪̩͘ͅọ͎͉̟ ̜̩͔̦̘ͅW̪̫̩̣̲͔̳a͏͔̳͖i͖͜t͓̤̠͓͙s̘̰̩̥̙̝ͅ ̲̠̬̥Be̡̙̫̦h̰̩i̛̫͙͔̭̤̗̲n̳͞d̸ ͎̻͘T̛͇̝̲̹̠̗ͅh̫̦̝ͅe̩̫͟ ͓͖̼W͕̳͎͚̙̥ą̙l̘͚̺͔͞ͅl̳͍̙̤̤̮̳.̢
̟̺̜̙͉Z̤̲̙̙͎̥̝A͎̣͔̙͘L̥̻̗̳̻̳̳͢G͉̖̯͓̞̩̦O̹̹̺!̙͈͎̞̬ *
Shmorky himself returned to his creation on 23 October 2011 with a VERY disturbing Flash animation that he posted to the Something Awful forums. Much like the corrupted comicstrips that birthed the Zalgo phenomenon, Shmorky this time took familiar children’s cartoons and included references to his creation, complete with graphic gore and shadowy tentacled apparitions.
To date Zalgo has appeared in countless DeviantArt images and shows no signs of going away anytime soon.
Videos have appeared on also YouTube — many of which featuring the now ubiquitous black, bloody eye sockets and corrupted text — but now adding scrambled audio as another trademark of Zalgo.
This popularity is curious, but certainly understandable. The otherworldly horrors it represents are mysterious and evocative, encouraging the audience to use their imagination, sparking creative thoughts by suggesting an epic and spectacular backstory, but in turn, by keeping things so simple and not bogging us down in OTT exposition and details, the story can be one that entirely follows your own plot.
In a post to the SomethingAwful forums on 22 August 2009, Shmorky wrote:
I like how people who try to figure out the origin of the “meme” don’t even know where it came from originally. I’ll tell you where it came from. From me. I just made it up. Zalgo is something horrible. Zalgo is something that’s coming. It’s coming soon. It has nothing to do with Lovecraft. I’m not nerdy enough to make those kind of references. Seeing it become a meme kinda killed doing further Zalgo edits in the future (for me anyway) but maybe I’ll do one when you least expect it.
Shmorky may say it has nothing to do with Lovecraft, but even though it does not directly reference any of the author’s works, the basic premise, the idea behind Zalgo, is the sort of thing that the great man popularised.
There are few things we fear as much as that which we do not understand. That there is something out there, beyond our view of the world, something powerful, destructive and malevolent is a deeply frightening concept. And if there’s anything we horror fans know, there are few things that capture the imagination and attention as much as a superbly delivered fright.
Returning to Shmorky, he has since returned to Zalgo, but even if he were to never choose to create another Zalgo piece again, there are enough followers out there happy to continue his legacy.
He waits beyond the wall… and the internet keeps spreading his word.
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Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.
Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.
