History Main / WordSaladHorror

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'':
** The ending features [[spoiler:the entire world around you collapsing as the program begins to corrupt. The screen is constantly glitching, particularly when people who are supposedly dead appear onscreen. The speech before and throughout this part often glitches and contorts into weird, unreadable strings of letters, numbers and punctuation]].
** If you visit the houses of people who died during the ending, word salads filled with numbers and punctuation appear once again, but this time [[spoiler:it's their last thoughts jumbled up. Notably, nothing appears for Komaeda, which could point to many theories.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'', one of Yuri's poems is nothing but short sentence fragments, all of which are rather morbid observations about the human condition. [[spoiler:Once things go off the rails and [[HostileShowTakeover Monika takes over the game]], random garbled characters begin to replace normal text, and some text turns from a sans-serif font to a serif font with thick black strokes that cover up the normal text. After [[DrivenToSuicide Yuri kills herself]], both happen at once.]]
* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Pretty much guaranteed whenever [[EldritchAbomination Angra Mainyu]] shows up.
-->''Rabbit's corpse. One eye missing. Rotten, soft, and fresh. Forced into my mouth. Rabbit's corpse smears my esophagus. A clear sensation of eating life. Life is life, even if is rotten. Its real. I can't taste this with cooked food. It feels good. There's no taste. But I'm forced to eat it as long as it is in front of me. A popular place. A big line. A place that will eat rabbits. There is only one clerk. The line consists of rabbits. Lines and lines. They rot as soon as they get in the line. Infested with maggots. Which is rotten? Which is infested with maggots? Which is alive? Which is doing the eating--''
* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' has several pages of this while Shiki is bedridden in Hisui's route.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* The "Taken" enemies in ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' spout this constantly. The words usually seem to have something to do with the [[DemonicPossession possessed]] individual's former life, but they do not appear to comprehend the sense behind their words. It's described in Alan's manuscript as being merely "the nerve twitches of a dead thing". It also very often crosses over into WordSaladHumor territory.

The opposite of WordSaladHumor. Compare and contrast CrypticConversation, with which this trope frequently overlaps.

[[folder: Web Animation]]

* The title of character of ''Manga/NayutaOfTheProphecy'' is a CreepyChild who only speaks in a nonsensical stream of words related to violence and misfortune.

-->'''Dr. Shima:''' Yes sir! True satisfaction! That's what discipline brings! Even the five court ladies dancing to frog flutes and drums had it, and so did the whirl with the recycled paper! Computer graphics playing in my head, and I like it! I don't support technical parfaits and the snobby little petty burgeois that sit there uneaten, and my position on that is common knowledge to everyone in Oceania! Now the time has come to return home to the great blue sky! Where confetti falls like stardust and everything shaken around the shrine gates with the mailbox and the refrigerator leading the hip-hop festival! Anyone who's concerned about expiration dates step aside now! No one gets in the way of ''my'' glory train! They need to really analyze ''all'' the livers of the triangle goose party!

* ''WebAnimation/LaceyGames'' is full of these, usualky from [[TheOphelia Lacey]]'s perspective. Some of them being unreadable, leading to fan attempts on deciphering the texts. [[https://www.tumblr.com/randomlonelymusician/723705996082544640/aaah-thank-you-so-much-for-these-additions-as-for?source=share Such as this post]].

* ''WebAnimation/LaceyGames'' is full of these. Some of them being unreadable, leading to fan attempts on deciphering the texts. [[https://www.tumblr.com/randomlonelymusician/723705996082544640/aaah-thank-you-so-much-for-these-additions-as-for?source=share Such as this post]].

[[/folder: Web Animation]]

* Towards the end of ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'', [[spoiler:Sly damages Clockwerk enough to overtax his HealingFactor, causing him to spout random {{Non Sequitur}}s as he slowly reconstructs in the middle of molten lava. The last coherent thing he says to the young Cooper before getting his head knocked off is "[[AGodAmI Clockwerk]] [[WeWillMeetAgain is eternal!"]]]].

* ''Film/TheFog1980'': While Stevie Wayne is playing station promos on a tape recorder, supernatural things start to happen and the tape recorder plays a bizarre message.

-->-- '''[Fictional] transcript of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan''', ''[[Website/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1981 1981]]''

[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere The pillow... The pillow is describing the topic. Hurry!!]]

!!Examples!! The examples are chickens!!

-->'''Kenji''': [[CruellaToAnimals Killing]] [[MixAndMatchCritters rabbit cats]] is wrong.\\
'''Nayuta''': Cloudy darkness blizzard slaughter decapitation guts. ''(throws the animal corpse at Kenji)''
* In Satoshi Kon's ''Literature/{{Paprika}}'', a mad dream is used by terrorists to inflict people with temporary insanity. The victims break down into long winded, bizarre speeches that don't make any sense at all. It's actually [[WordSaladHumor kind of amusing]], until said victims start throwing themselves off of buildings.
-->'''Dr. Shima''': Yes sir! True satisfaction! That's what discipline brings! Even the five court ladies dancing to frog flutes and drums had it, and so did the whirl with the recycled paper! Computer graphics playing in my head, and I like it! I don't support technical parfaits and the snobby little petty burgeois that sit there uneaten, and my position on that is common knowledge to everyone in Oceania! Now the time has come to return home to the great blue sky! Where confetti falls like stardust and everything shaken around the shrine gates with the mailbox and the refrigerator leading the hip-hop festival! Anyone who's concerned about expiration dates step aside now! No one gets in the way of ''my'' glory train! They need to really analyze ''all'' the livers of the triangle goose party!
** It gets worse when people start actually ''seeing'' the nonsensical things that are being described.
* The eponymous EldritchLocation of ''Literature/OthersidePicnic'' is a world somehow connected to the collective unconscious, which behaves on a dreamlike logic. Once, while in the Otherside, protagonists Toriko and Sorawo make a phone call to MissionControl Kozakura, who stayed behind in the real world; it started well enough but gradually each side began to hear the other as speaking in ominous gibberish. Upon returning to the real world and listening back to a recording of the call, the girls are thoroughly spooked by what they were "actually" saying.
--> "...flow the tracks back. We can just see the plains and mountains... They're our lifeline."\\
"Error... Trap. It might have been safer..."
--> "There were a lot of problems. I got scared and apologised."
--> "How do you know it's grandpa when he only has one leg?"

* Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' is full of this, either people ranting crazy things, or monstrosities themselves spewing crazy words.
* Also from Grant Morrison is Professor Pyg, a villain introduced during [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison their run]] of ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}''. He's a somewhat more realistic depiction of insanity than most of Batman's foes in that most of what he says is complete gibberish.

* ''Fanfic/DailyEquestriaLifeWithMonsterGirl'': In chapter 8, one of the unicorn in the expedition is in the middle of a technical explanation about the magical traces left by Cerea's summoning when she (and everypony else) starts babbling nonsense words. This is soon revealed to be the effect of a neurocypher, a monster which projects a magical aura that scrambles the thoughts of all nearby sapients, allowing it to safely approach and devour its victims alive while they are too brain-scrambled to defend themselves. Cerea, who isn't affected and doesn't know about the monster's effect, loses a few precious seconds to assuming that her enchanted translator's charge is running down.

* ''Film/TheFog1980'' (1980). While Stevie Wayne is playing station promos on a tape recorder, supernatural things start to happen and the tape recorder plays a bizarre message.
-->"Something that one lives with like an albatross round the neck. No, more like a millstone. A plumbing stone, by God. Damn them all."
:: The albatross reference is to Coleridge's ''Literature/TheRimeOfTheAncientMariner'', appropriately enough for a horror story related to seafaring (note the poem's page image). And, of course, the millstone is something that is also associated with being around one's neck in relation a great sin, AsTheGoodBookSays
* Played with at the end of ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''. We, the audience, know exactly what [[spoiler: Francis' deranged shouting]] means, but to everyone else, it comes across as this.
* ''Film/FourteenOhEight'':
** In the original short story, Mike's [[ApocalypticLog recordings]] becomes this ("My brother was actually eaten by wolves one winter on the Connecticut Turnpike") though it sometimes makes sense in context.[[note]]He turns the recorder on to say "The door is crooked" but stops after "The door" because the door isn't crooked anymore, and then is crooked on the other side, and then [[AlienGeometry on both at the same time]][[/note]]
** The room's "conversation" with Mike Enslin is made of random sentences and series of numbers [[ThirteenIsUnlucky that add up to 13]].
--->"Five. This is five. Ignore the sirens. Even if you leave this room, you can never leave this room. Eight. This is eight. We have killed your friends. Every friend is now dead. Six. This is six."
* ''Film/TheLighthouse'' - many of Thomas Wake's rants are barely coherent, but filled with mythological and literary allusions foreshadowing both main characters' ultimate doom.

-->You stole the corn that I had canned over the store!
* Another Creator/DavidLynch project, the short film ''Rabbits''. All the dialogue consists of vague, cryptic allusions, delivered by actors in peculiar [[HairRaisingHare rabbit suits]] while the studio audience cheer ecstatically.
-->I'm going to find out one day.
-->When will you tell it?

* Many of Creator/SamuelBeckett's works contain elements of this, especially his novel ''How It Is'' and his play ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot''.
** From ''How It Is'':
--> ''I see me on my face close my eyes not the blue the others at the back and see me on my face the mouth opens the tongue comes out lolls in the mud and no question of thirst either no question of dying of thirst either all this time vast stretch of time''
* Subverted in ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'', when the alien artifact Rorschach speaks to the protagonists, it seems like it's using perfect English, following all of the grammatical rules. [[spoiler:However, after a series of testing, the ship's linguist discovers that Rorschach is actually speaking nonsense, and is just procedurally generating responses telling them to stay away, like an organic Cleverbot]].
* In ''Literature/ISitBehindTheEyes'', Emily begins to suspect that something is trying to [[DemonicPossession possess her]] when she starts blurting out seemingly random words mid-sentence whenever she is thinking too deeply. The words she yells out form unsettling sentences when put together, such as "LET ME OUT!". [[spoiler: [[TomatoInTheMirror The truth is actually more complicated]] and [[MindScrew disturbing]]]].
* ''Literature/NakedLunch''. So, so much.
-->''I was standing outside myself trying to stop those hangings with ghost fingers... I am a ghost wanting what every ghost wants--a body -- after the Long Time moving through odorless alleys of space where no life is, only the colorless no smell of death...Nobody can breathe and smell it through pink convolutions of gristle laced with crystal snot, time shit and black blood filters of flesh.''
** Even more prevalent in Creator/WilliamSBurroughs ' cut-up trilogy of novels. A typical sentence from ''The Soft Machine'':
--> ''Drinking from his eyes the idiot green boys plaintive as wind leaves erect wooden phallus on the graves of dying Lemur Peoples.''
* In Creator/ArthurCClarke's short story "Playback", the protagonist is a disembodied intelligence [[BrainUploading recorded]] by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens when his ship blew up. The aliens offer to reconstruct a body for him, but the protagonist's attempt to describe what he looks like dissolves into incoherent babble as the imperfect recording breaks down.
* In ''Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday,'' Sunday begins sending seemingly inexplicable messages that terrify the members of the council:
-->“The word, I fancy, should be 'pink'.”
-->“What about Martin Tupper ''now?''”
-->“Fly at once. The truth about your trouser-stretchers is known. —A FRIEND.”
* Dream, vision, hallucination, revelation and/or brainwashing sequences in ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' and its spinoffs tend to be either this or WordSaladHumor, although they are frequently both simultaneously, combining imagery from everything from Literature/TheBible and Myth/ClassicalMythology to Masonic lore, {{Occultism}} and the UsefulNotes/{{Kabbalah}} to Creator/HPLovecraft, pornography and ComicStrip/KrazyKat with ArcWords chosen seemingly at random and very clever yet completely nonsensical wordplay.
* In ''Literature/TheSouthernReachTrilogy,'' expedition members sent by the eponymous agency into [[EldritchLocation Area X]] discover a subterranean structure containing a spiral staircase, along the walls of which is written a [[AsTheGoodBookSays pseudo-biblical text]] going on and on and on. A sample:
--> ''Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dim-lit halls of other places forms that never were and never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who never saw what could have been. [...]''
* And speaking of Literature/TheBible, the Book of Revelation reads like this more often than not.
* ''Literature/TheShining'' : As Jack digs into the Overlook Hotel's history, he finds several disturbing artifacts in the attic, including a poem scribbled on the back of an old menu: ''"Medoc/ Are you here?/ I've been sleepwalking again my dear/ The plants are moving under the rug."''

* Subverted in the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Gloria Scott", where the grammatically-sensible message "The supply of game for London is going steadily up. Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen-pheasant's life." which, as Holmes puts it, "struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead with horror when he read it". The solution is actually mundane- [[spoiler:Read every third word and it becomes "The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life." Hudson was blackmailing both the sender and recipient of the message]], but Holmes believes the sender managed to get rid of him and escape.

* Any scene in ''Series/TwinPeaks'' that takes place in the [[EldritchLocation Black Lodge]] turns into this. While there's usually ''some'' meaning behind what's being said, it's done in a very obfuscating manner.
-->'''[[LittlePeopleAreSurreal The Man from Another Place:]]''' I've got good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
** ''The Return'' also features this with the Woodsmen, strange beings that look like homeless men covered in soot and speak exclusively in this.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Dalek Caan ''seems'' to speak like this, but it's ultimately subverted; all of his cryptic riddles are perfectly accurate, if obtuse, either describing [[spoiler:what he saw while traveling through the time lock around the Last Great Time War]], or what is about to happen.
* On one episode of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' one RealityWarper character's LSD-induced hallucination, imagined while flipping channels between an animal cruelty documentary, golf tournament, and action movie, becomes real. The result? A giant rabbit in a suit that kills people with golf clubs.
* An episode of ''Series/CodeLyokoEvolution'' features this happening to Odd due to XANA's interference and the only way to fix it is to slip away to Lyoko; the horror is downplayed since the characters know what is going and can fix it, but it's still uncomfortable for all involved and puts everyone on edge. Later subverted [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] when Yumi runs into Ulrich and William outside the principal's office and remarks on the school's decision to give the kids orange juice to make them healthier and combat stress; the boys ''think'' XANA has scrambled her brain while [[LockedOutOfTheLoop she wants to know what the heck they're talking about]].

* More than a few Music/TomWaits song lyrics combine this with HarshVocals to make nonsense and dream imagery seem deeply threatening. For instance, from "Everything You Can Think":
--> ''Everything you can think of is true\\
And fishes make wishes on you\\
We're fighting out way up Dreamland's spine\\
Red flamingos, expensive wine''.
* Music/{{Radiohead}} uses lots of it, and frontman Thom Yorke has been known to conjure streams-of-consciousness that fall under this trope. ''Dead Children Playing'', a book released by Stanley Donwood (an artist that has prominently worked with the band), has even more of it to even creepier effect, considering how it's juxtaposed against equally nonsensical-scary artwork.
* A common lyrical technique of Music/TheMarsVolta, to the point where it's arguably the dominant tendency of their lyrics. Sample excerpt: "I've caught mono bobbing for barbed wire / These nasty sores of ataxia will feel the sting of the opiate copulation." It's not entirely clear what that means, but it's creepy, to say the least (particularly in the context of the song itself).
* A lot of songs by Mili are like this, like the eerily beautiful [[https://g.co/kgs/QUqSws Utopiosphere.]]
--> ''Tick tock, time doesn't stop\\
Prepare your doubts, eat them up\\
Quaff down the pus of thoughts\\
Red sand flows out, sweet mouth...''
* A vast majority of [[Music/AcidBath Acid Bath's]] songs feature this, usually juxtaposing images of beauty and youth with creepy vocal effects and lyrics
-->''Mary lou left marks on you\\

* Music/CelticFrost does this often in their songs. It gets cranked up on ''Monotheist'', which features such songs as "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh"

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'': {{Invoked|trope}} in its 3rd edition, published in the late 1980s. In the back of the rulebook, there was a paragraph-long word salad that was stated to potentially do 3d6 SAN damage to the reader.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' features this as part of its [[GainaxEnding memorable ending]], with [[spoiler:the Colonel suddenly spouting off bizarre nonsense over the codec to Raiden. This is the first indication that it's a fake AI Colonel.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Colonel]]:''' I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hari Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!
* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', the Irrational affliction causes characters to speak in incoherent gibberish.
-->'''Leper:''' ''(refusing to move)'' Now approach winter and stone-setting, silvered and rotten.\\
'''Arbalest:''' ''(damaging self)'' I was right! Bells in my veins!\\
'''Vestal:''' ''(passing turn)'' It was a beautiful hymn, sung by the pigs of St. Martha's.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne1'':
** When Max is tripping on Valkyr in the first game (the prologue to part 3), he receives a "prank call" (in his dream), wherein the caller just spouts [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpAW1vSXkY#t=5m45s some creepy nonsense]] (a disturbing parody of Max's usual PrivateEyeMonologue) at him, until Max puts the phone back down. For extra creepiness, just a bit later, Max receives another call, wherein the caller tries to explain to him that he has been drugged. Max proceeds to call it nonsense in exactly the same words as before and put the phone down.
--->''"The bartender is shiny stuff and dreams are made of stooped necromancers. He sings like a banana wrist having strayed too close to the constellations on their shaved skulls. The rain of frogs ended and the rain of blood comes down. Doing the flips and then I'll be gone! The whole city was an image, riding the bar. He yearns to get a taste of those tentacles..."''
** The ''Series/TwinPeaks''-esque ShowWithinAShow "Address Unknown", whose episodes are scattered throughout the first and second games, is all about this with the flamingo character. An actual flamingo that speaks nonsense like "the flesh of fallen angels" and "she has dyed her hair red" with absolutely no context. Even worse is that some Valkyr junkies spout the exact same nonsense as it does...

-->'''The Hiss:''' ''You are a worm through time. The thunder song distorts you. Happiness comes. White pearls, but yellow and red in the eye. Through a mirror, inverted is made right. Leave your insides by the door. Push the fingers through the surface into the wet. You’ve always been the new you. You want this to be true...''
* Early on in ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'', Mandus answers a mysterious ringing phone, and gets the cryptic message "Precious eagle cactus fruit... help us." before the other person hangs up. That said, the phrase does have an actual meaning (though most players are unlikely to know that) - it's a poetic name by which Aztecs referred to hearts ripped out of sacrifices' chests.
* Around the middle of ''VideoGame/{{Observer}}'', Dan Lazarski ends up having occasional hallucinations and after-effects from [[MindRape observing]] some of the people in the apartment complex. In one of these, Dan can talk to an unseen person on a door intercom, but all of Dan's [[DialogueTree responses]] range from nonsensical phrases - like "I smell like Daffodils on a Corpse" or "Don't make me get the Enchanted Membrane", to random strings of characters.
* While not by any means a horror game, the JRPG ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' has quite a few uniquely unsettling moments, though that is likely par for the course for a game that is essentially an extended Creation allegory; a famous example from the game's opening scene involves a spaceship's command displays slowly being overwritten with the repeated message "You shall be as gods" shortly before the ship self-destructs.
* One of the enemies in the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' series is the Simulacrum, [[DeceptivelyHumanRobot bio-android]] [[ActionBomb suicide bomber]] created by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Pfhor]] for sabotage purposes. Despite looking reasonably human ([[UncannyValley from a distance, anyway]]), they don't exactly *think* like a human would due to how their brains are wired, and thus have a tendency to shout pure jibberish while trying to blend in. If you ever hear a "crewmate" shout "Frog blast the vent core!" while running up to you, back up and shoot it before it gets too close.
* The Gilded from the [[VideoGame/{{TheElderScrollsVSkyrim}} Skyrim]] mod [[http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77809/ Clockwork]] by Anistar, have lines that are nothing but word salad meant to evoke their madness. It can definitely come off rather unsettling when exploring the large labyrinth that is the Dwemer city of Nurndural to hear monotonous robotic voices saying things like, "Love can last forever" or, "I don't like these colours one bit," when they turn aggressive. [[spoiler: Possibly {{narm}} inducing when you realise the majority, if not all of their lines, are song lyrics taken out of context.]]
* ''VideoGame/BabysitterBloodbath'': Before breaking in to murder her, homicidal maniac Neokalus Burr calls Sarah to deliver the following message to her in his deep, raspy, hard to understand voice:
-->'''Neokalus Burr:''' Don't lie, don't lie. The game is up. The demons drag my legs to hell, while you sit in your ivory tower. Don't you judge me, I see all...
* Several emails are found in Panchaea towards the end of ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. These emails, ostensibly from an automated system, are often underlined with phrases like "I see it, Mommy...." and the automated passwords are similarly eerie, such as "lstforver". It all leads to the reveal that the Hyron AI controlling the site is PoweredByAForsakenChild.
* ''VideoGame/AlterAila'' [[spoiler: Trauma drops a log entry after you defeat him in Orbital Prison Level 3 that reveals his thoughts during the time he got corrupted by Nightmare]]
-->[[spoiler: X Year X+4 Month X Day]]
-->[[spoiler: tehres somehngs inthecore]]
-->[[spoiler: it maknig thinngsto other tihngs.]]
-->[[spoiler: somethrg not righght hppnng to m.e]]
-->[[spoiler: I nddd hlep.e]]
-->[[spoiler: But snoonenot heree.]]
-->[[spoiler: someone here.]]
* In ''VideoGame/StarControlII'', the translator computer is seriously taxed when trying to decipher the Orz's StarfishLanguage, and has to put in 'best-fits' for words and concepts too alien for the English language. The resulting mess looks (and sounds) absurd, but giving it a tiny bit more thought will bring chill up your spine.

-->'''Aizu''': I feel closer to what I am than ever...passing from one dream to another...what am I? The very monster I've been running from? Well...yes. I've embraced the idea. [[EvilFeelsGood It makes things easier]]. Who could I demand mercy from, my own self? [[PersonOfMassDestruction Now I'm a living declaration of war, war against all]]. Do you have any idea what you're up against? Do I? I've cast aside any hope for sympathy. I only know I no longer have any recourse.
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': The message left on the answering machine on night five is blurry garbled speech. Even when decoded into English, the message is completely irrelevant to the game and is just there to be freaky.
* ''{{VideoGame/Borderlands}}'' is a comedic game series, and its raving mascot Psychos are generally more likely to engage in AxCrazy WordSaladHumor than anything truly disturbing, though some of their threats during combat can be quite...colorful (although too coherent to qualify for this trope). This goes for the playable Psycho Krieg as well, though occasionally he'll dip into this territory.
-->'''Krieg:''' I'm beginning to remember—STOP IT! Keep the memories down with a knife in its throat! Slash it until it bleeds thought juice across the dirt until it is absorbed into nothingnrrrsss...
* ''Videogame/{{Deltarune}}:'' For reasons not wholly known, [[HonestJohnsDealership Spamton G. Spamton]] from Chapter 2 is a disaster of a LivingProgram that has completely lost it, and is afflicted by an ElectronicSpeechImpediment that constantly filters and mangles his words at every turn, preventing him from speaking clearly. It doesn't help that [[MediumAwareness he's more aware of ]]''[[MediumAwareness everything]]'' [[MediumAwareness than the average character]] and trying to use this knowledge to reach a mysterious goal and cast off his strange affliction with your help. As a result, when his crazy rants aren't [[WordSaladHumor humorous]], they get disturbing.
-->'''Spamton''': I USED TO BE NOTHING BUT THE E_MAIL GUY, NOW I'M THE [[It Burns! Ow! Stop! Help Me! It Burns!]] GUY! [[Amazed at thi5 amazing transformation? You too can]] HAVE A [[Communion]] WITH [[LaughingMad [[Unintelligble Laughter[=]]=]]]
* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': The hidden village of Lostseed is populated by [[spoiler:various "vessels" who all act off in different ways. The Inquire/Scrutinize/Bribe/Coerce data for the Ruined Vessel is a cavalcade of nonsensical rambling that forms a [[AndIMustScream meaningful acronym]] if you take note of all of the randomly capitalized letters.]]
-->''The dancer whose former cleric boyfriend was cut down by a swoRdsman who claimed to be a thiEf was so beautiful that yeSterday because there was no apotheCary the hUnter betrayed the mErchants and stabbed the scholar as instructed and the hunter now Means to kill you and mE both but I know I know I knowwwwwwwww''
* The Master from the original ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' speaks in a manner that combines elements of this trope, VoiceOfTheLegion and ElectronicSpeechImpediment, having four distinct voices that speak in semi-random intervals, leading to bizarre interjections and repetitions in his dialogue.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' has several pages of this while Shiki is bedridden in Hisui's route.

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'':
** The ending features [[spoiler:the entire world around you collapsing as the program begins to corrupt. The screen is constantly glitching, particularly when people who were supposedly dead appear onscreen. The speech before and throughout this part often glitches and contorts into weird, unreadable strings of letters, numbers and punctuation.]]
** If you were to visit the houses of people who died during the ending, word salads filled with numbers and punctuation appear once again, but this time [[spoiler:it's their last thoughts jumbled up. Notably, nothing appears for Komaeda, which could point to many theories.]]

* Webcomic/AwfulHospital makes use of this sometimes. Usually it's more partial to WordSaladHumor, but occasionally it's used for horror instead. For example, when [[ItMakesSenseInContext a door tries to take over Fern's mind]]:
-->MULTIPLY AND FEED WITH US IN THE UNSTOPPABLE CYCLE OF THE FLESH CONCEPT. THE DELICIOUS ALL-NATURAL TRUTH OF ORGANIC FOOD-MATTER. ALL NATURAL. ALL ONE. THE SPIRAL OF THE ORGANIC. SPIRALING. SPIRALING. '''ORGANIC! ORGANIC!!!''' EEEHEEHEE.

---> "Have you ever like laugh you come laugh and have all the fun and laugh! Starring all your favorite laugh so ever and always make go to your life!"

---> "My husband and my husband and I have walked drooling path to get here. Bed in Room 710 was soft and cosy and appreciated the decor would recommend the bed and specifically the bed and specifically the bed. "
* IT Q&A forum Stack Overflow succumbed when someone asked about using regular expressions to parse HTML. '''''[[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags#answer-1732454 YOU CAN'T]]'''''

--> As their slogan famously says, "A thousand ways in, no way out. Subway. Eat fresh. Eat so terribly, terribly fresh. Terribly, awesomely, gruesomely, terrifyingly fresh."
* ''Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos'' features this frequently, particularly when dealing with totheark. For instance, his name comes from the phrase "lead me to the ark" from his videos in the ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' series. No indication is given as to what "ark" is being referenced, nor why he wishes to be taken there.
* The {{creepypasta}} "[[https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/29kd1x/my_dead_girlfriend_keeps_messaging_me_on_facebook/ My Dead Girlfriend Keeps Messaging Me On Facebook]]": The messages the main character receives from his dead girlfriend's Facebook account almost entirely consist of recycled snippets of past messages she's sent to him rearranged in seemingly random order, but still feel like someone or something trying to communicate:
-->No chance of passing\\
No chance of passing\\
How many?\\
Garage side door
** Eventually, the seemingly random recycled snippets coalesce into something far more terrifying:
-->I rang [Name] and they said you left at 5\\
I'm starting to panic\\
please stop\\
cold\\
Emily\\
Emily\\
Answer your phone\\
I don’t know what’s happening\\
cold\\
[[WhamLine FREEZING]][[note]]Note that this one ''isn't'' a recycled message, hence why it's a WhamLine.[[/note]]
** [[spoiler:The original poster]] eventually makes a comment similarly pasted together from other comments on the thread -- [[spoiler:It's his last comment, and the account was never used again]]: "I should be scared. I've occasionally opened a heart"
* ''WebVideo/UnusAnnus'' had Ethan/Unus descend into madness during the end of the episode "Crushing Watermelons Betwixt Our Mighty Thighs", becoming "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E_mbu94bwQ the Melon Man]]" as he continually attempts to destroy a watermelon in his room before moving it into the shower, cast in a sickly green light.
--->'''Ethan''': Melon makes Man mad! Melon makes Mad mad! (stabs melon repeatedly with a screwdriver) Who makes the melon if the melon makes the man? Who makes the melon if the melon makes the man? Who are you? Who are you working for?! Who are you working for?! ''Who do you think you are?!'' (punches melon before moving into the shower) Who sees the man into the light of day, who keeps the melon to the melon's man? Well, the Melon Man can! Who is the man... the myth... The Melon Man! (Drops the melon on the shower floor) [[MadnessMantra The Melon Man!]] ''[[MadnessMantra The Melon Man!]]'' (Rips the melon open) '''[[MadnessMantra The Melon Man!]]''' '''[[LaughingMad Ahahahaha!!]]''' ''I am the Melon Man! I've done what Melon Man said he could do!'' This is my man, and this is my melon. Thank you for your sacrifice, Melon Man. For I will now become you! ''Melon Man!'' (Feasts upon the carcass of the slain watermelon) ''[[MadnessMantra The Melon Man... The Melon Man... I am the Melon Man. The Melon Man is who I am.]]''

* The title of character of ''Manga/NayutaOfTheProphecy'' is a CreepyChild who only speaks in a nonsensical stream of disturbing phrases.

'''Nayuta''': Cloudy darkness blizzard slaughter decapitation guts. ''(throws the animal corpse as Kenji)''

* [[TheSociopath Psychopaths]] have a version of this which is interesting in its own way. Psychopaths are comparable to neurotypical people in terms of logic and language skills, but their "mirroring" is less. They have [[LackOfEmpathy little to no subconscious empathy]], to the point [[ItsAllAboutMe that they can't rely on instinctively recognizing other people as other beings whose emotions matter]] ([[PsychopathicManchild compare to how a small toddler has to be taught that other people aren't just objects]] -- they have to consciously rise above that level). They do have an adult's rational intellect, of course, meaning that [[MoralSociopathy they can form a logical framework of ethics]] and [[MaskOfSanity act accordingly on a case-by-case basis]] (hence why psychopathy and sociopathy are ''not'' eligible disorders for an [[InsanityDefense insanity plea]] in the U.S. court system), but they don't possess much of the emotional reactions that a neurotypical person would. Thus, when psychologists interview these people under heavy scrutiny, and ask them emotionally/morally provocative questions, they can respond with what sounds like word salad. Directly compared to the world salad of schizophrenics, this has been termed "semantic aphasia": caught out beyond the reaches of their framework, some just try to fake their way through a rambling response -- poorly, like a student trying to bluff their teacher into thinking they did the reading by repeating what everyone else was talking about.

* Many of Creator/SamuelBeckett's works contain elements of this, especially his novel ''How It Is'' and his play ''Theater/WaitingForGodot''.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' series has [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Pfhor]]-engineered [[DeceptivelyHumanRobot bio-android]] [[ActionBomb suicide bombers]] called Sumulacrums, which are designed to look human but have a tendency to shout pure jibberish while trying to blend in. Thus, if you ever see a "human" running up to you shouting "Frog blast the vent core!", back up and shoot it before it gets too close.

-->''The dancer whose former cleric boyfriend was cut down by a swoRdsman who claimed to be a thiEf was so beautiful that yeSterday because there was no apotheCary the hUnter betrayed the mErchants and stabbed the scholar as instructed and the hunter now Means to kill you and mE both but I know I know I know I knowwwwwwwww''

* The eponymous EldritchLocation of ''[[LightNovel/OthersidePicnic Otherside Picnic]]'' is a world somehow connected to the collective unconscious, which behaves on a dreamlike logic. Once, while in the Otherside, protagonists Toriko and Sorawo make a phone call to MissionControl Kozakura, who stayed behind in the real world; it started well enough but gradually each side began to hear the other as speaking in ominous gibberish. Upon returning to the real world and listening back to a recording of the call, the girls are thoroughly spooked by what they were "actually" saying.
--> "...flow the tracks back. We can just see the plains and mountains... They're our lifeline."
--> "Error... Trap. It might have been safer..."

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulu'': {{Invoked|trope}} in its 3rd edition, published in the late 1980s. In the back of the rulebook, there was a paragraph-long word salad that was stated to potentially do 3d6 SAN damage to the reader.

* The eponymous EldritchLocation of [[LightNovel/OthersidePicnic 'Otherside Picnic']] is a world somehow connected to the collective unconscious, which behaves on a dreamlike logic. Once, while in the Otherside, protagonists Toriko and Sorawo make a phone call to MissionControl Kozakura, who stayed behind in the real world; it started well enough but gradually each side began to hear the other as speaking in ominous gibberish. Upon returning to the real world and listening back to a recording of the call, the girls are thoroughly spooked by what they were "actually" saying.

* The eponymous EldritchLocation of OthersidePicnic is a world somehow connected to the collective unconscious, which behaves on a dreamlike logic. Once, while in the Otherside, protagonists Toriko and Sorawo make a phone call to MissionControl Kozakura, who stayed behind in the real world; it started well enough but gradually each side began to hear the other as speaking in ominous gibberish. Upon returning to the real world and listening back to a recording of the call, the girls are thoroughly spooked by what they were "actually" saying.