Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / WordSaladHorror

Go To

1%%%
2%%
3%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.
4%%
5%%%
6
7->''"For the first time we have risen, and I see we are being consumed. I see circles that are not circles. Billions of dead souls inside containment. Unravellers have eaten country's moral fabric, turning hearts into filth. I'm from a kingdom level above human. What does that yield? A hokey smile that damns an entire nation. There is no hope."''
8-->-- '''[Fictional] transcript of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan''', ''Website/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1981 SCP-1981]]
9
10[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere The pillow... The pillow is describing the topic. Hurry!]]
11
12This is what happens when bizarre phrases, {{Non Sequitur}}s, and random successions of words are used and arranged either to be frightening on their own or to imply that something sinister is going on behind the scenes. The WordSalad might result from some supernatural alteration of local reality, a NightmareSequence, a drug-induced hallucination, an EldritchAbomination oblivious to the fact that this is ''not'' how those PunyEarthlings actually talk, and many other myriad causes.
13
14SubTrope of SurrealHorror.
15
16Characters who spout this are often LaughingMad too, to deepen their sense of insanity and instability.
17
18The opposite of WordSaladHumor (well, [[BlackComedy usually]]). Compare and contrast CrypticConversation, with which this trope frequently overlaps.
19----
20!!Examples! The examples are chickens!
21
22[[foldercontrol]]
23
24[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25* The title character of ''Manga/NayutaOfTheProphecy'' is a CreepyChild who only speaks in a nonsensical stream of words related to violence and misfortune.
26-->'''Kenji:''' Killing [[MixAndMatchCritters rabbit cats]] is wrong.\
27'''Nayuta:''' Cloudy darkness blizzard slaughter decapitation guts. ''[throws the animal corpse at Kenji]''
28[[/folder]]
29
30[[folder:Comic Books]]
31* Professor Pyg, a villain introduced in ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'', is a somewhat more realistic depiction of insanity than most of ComicBook/{{Batman}}'s foes in that most of what he says is complete gibberish.
32-->'''Professor Pyg:''' On Mondays it's Tiamat ''this'' and Tiamat ''that.'' Tohu va Bohu and ''boo-hoo-hoo.'' On Tuesdays the Gorgon Queen comes to visit, a thousand writhing ''snakes'' for hair. That's what it's like to grow upside down in a world where a ''hug'' is a ''crucifixion''...
33* Also from Creator/GrantMorrison, their run of ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' is full of this, either people ranting crazy things, or monstrosities themselves spewing crazy words.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:FanWorks]]
37* ''Fanfic/DailyEquestriaLifeWithMonsterGirl'': In chapter 8, one of the unicorns 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.
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
41* 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.
42* ''Film/TheFog'': While Stevie Wayne is playing station promos on a tape recorder, supernatural things start to happen and the tape recorder plays a bizarre message.
43-->''"Something that one lives with like an albatross round the neck. No, more like a millstone. A plumbing stone, by God. Damn them all."'' [[note]]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[[/note]]
44* ''Film/TheLighthouse'': Many of Thomas Wake's rants are barely coherent, but filled with mythological and literary allusions foreshadowing both main characters' ultimate doom.
45* All the dialogue in Creator/DavidLynch's short film ''Rabbits'' consists of vague, cryptic allusions, delivered by actors in peculiar [[HairRaisingHare rabbit suits]] while the studio audience cheer ecstatically.
46-->''"I'm going to find out one day."\
47"When will you tell it?"''
48* ''Film/TwinPeaksFireWalkWithMe'', much like the [[Series/TwinPeaks TV show that spawned it]], has its share of this, again with the elements linked to the Black Lodge.
49-->''"You stole the corn that I had canned over the store!"''
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:Literature]]
53[[AC:By creator:]]
54* 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'':
55-->''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''
56* Creator/WilliamSBurroughs:
57** So, so much in ''Literature/NakedLunch''.
58--->''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.''
59** Even more prevalent in Burroughs ' cut-up trilogy of novels. A typical sentence from ''The Soft Machine'':
60--->''Drinking from his eyes the idiot green boys plaintive as wind leaves erect wooden phallus on the graves of dying Lemur Peoples.''
61[[AC:By work:]]
62* "Literature/FourteenOhEight":
63** Mike's [[ApocalypticLog recordings]] become this ("My brother was actually eaten by wolves one winter on the Connecticut Turnpike"), though it sometimes makes sense in context -- 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]].
64** The room's "conversation" with Mike Enslin is made of random sentences and series of numbers [[ThirteenIsUnlucky that add up to 13]].
65--->''"This is ''nine! Nine''! This is ''nine! Nine''! This is ''ten! Ten''! We have killed your friends! Every friend is now dead! This is ''six! Six! Eighteen''! This is now ''eighteen''! Take cover when the siren sounds! This is ''four! Four! Five''! This is ''five''! Ignore the siren! Even if you leave this room, you can never leave this room! ''Eight''! This is ''eight! Six! Six''! This is ''goddamn fucking six''!"''
66* 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.]]
67* The title character in ''Literature/EdenGreen'' gradually loses her rationality to an alien needle parasite. The narrative is increasingly interrupted by incoherent visions, nightmares, paranoid fantasies, and babbling.
68* 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.
69* 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:The truth is actually [[TomatoInTheMirror more complicated]] and [[MindScrew disturbing]].]]
70* In ''Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday'', Sunday begins sending seemingly inexplicable messages that terrify the members of the council:
71-->"The word, I fancy, should be 'pink'."\
72"What about Martin Tupper ''now?''"\
73"Fly at once. The truth about your trouser-stretchers is known. —A FRIEND."
74* 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.
75-->''"...flow the tracks back. We can just see the plains and mountains... They're our lifeline."\
76"Error... Trap. It might have been safer..."\
77"There were a lot of problems. I got scared and apologised."\
78"How do you know it's grandpa when he only has one leg?"''
79* In ''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. It gets worse when people start actually ''seeing'' the nonsensical things that are being described.
80-->'''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 whirlwind of recycled paper! Computer graphics playing in my head, and I like it! I don't support technicolor parfaits and the snobby little petit fours 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!
81* In Creator/ArthurCClarke's short story "Playback", the protagonist is a disembodied intelligence [[BrainUploading recorded]] by {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s 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.
82* Subverted in the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Adventure of the ''Gloria Scott''", in which a 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."), 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.
83* ''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."''
84* 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:
85-->''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. [...]''
86* In ''Literature/TheTrueMeaningOfSmekday'', early in the story, Gratuity writes about finding her mother acting possessed, and shouting random words in both English and Italian in the middle of the night (later revealed to be [[spoiler:Boov interference]]).
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
90* An episode of ''Series/CodeLyokoEvolution'' involves 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]].
91* ''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 [[MadOracle what is about to happen]].
92** [[spoiler:Donna]] also descends into this after absorbing Time Lord knowledge, and it leads to one ''hell of a'' TearJerker moment where [[spoiler:The Doctor has to wipe her memories. [[TearDryer We see]] [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheStarBeast her regain them and survive due to splitting it with her child 15 years later]] [[TearDryer though.]]]]
93--->'''[[spoiler:Donna:]]''' Brilliant! [[BorrowedCatchphrase Fantastic! Molto bene!]] Great big universe, packed into my brain. You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just tried hotbinding the fragment links and superseding the ''[[MadnessMantra binarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinarybinary--]]'' ...I'm fine. Nah, never mind Felspoon. You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I bet he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin? Shall we? ''[=CharlieChaplinCharlieChester=][[{{Franchise/Peanuts}} [=CharlieBrown=]-]]'' No, he's fiction! ''Frictionfictionfixingmixingrickstonbrixton-''
94* In 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.
95* ''Series/TwinPeaks'':
96** Any scene that takes place in [[EldritchLocation the Black Lodge]] turns into this. While there's usually ''some'' meaning behind what's being said, it's done in a very obfuscating manner.
97--->'''[[LittlePeopleAreSurreal The Man from Another Place]]:''' I've got good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
98** ''The Return'' also features this with the Woodsmen, strange beings who look like homeless men covered in soot and speak exclusively in this.
99--->''"This is the water, and this is the well\
100Drink full and descend\
101The horse is the white of the eyes, and dark within"''
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Music]]
105* A vast majority of Music/AcidBath's songs feature this, usually juxtaposing images of beauty and youth with creepy vocal effects and lyrics
106-->''Mary Lou left marks on you\
107She just screams at the walls\
108[[TitleDrop The kite string pops]]\
109I'm swallowed whole by the sky\
110We smoke the bones of baby dolls\
111Techno-liquid screaming meat\
112Heaven's cold beneath my feet\
113Cyber love the anti-man we make love... because we can''
114* 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".
115* The vinyl version of Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor's ''Yanqui U.X.O.'' features a bonus track called "George Bush Cut Up While Talking", composed almost entirely of chopped samples from a speech by UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush. The cutting is extremely rapid; Bush rarely completes even a single word, seeming to make him speak in tongues. The "speech" is interspersed with applause cut in the same manner, adding to the creepy effect. This piece is actually the inspiration for the Website/SCPFoundation article providing the page quote.
116* 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).
117* A lot of songs by Music/{{Mili}} are like this, like the eerily beautiful [[https://g.co/kgs/QUqSws "Utopiosphere".]]
118-->''Tick tock, time doesn't stop\
119Prepare your doubts, eat them up\
120Quaff down the pus of thoughts\
121Red sand flows out, sweet mouth...''
122* Music/{{Radiohead}} uses lots of this, 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.
123* 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":
124-->''Everything you can think of is true\
125And fishes make wishes on you\
126We're fighting out way up Dreamland's spine\
127Red flamingos, expensive wine.''
128[[/folder]]
129
130[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
131* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'': {{Invoked|trope}} in the 3rd edition, published in the late 1980s. In the back of the rulebook, there's a paragraph-long word salad that is stated to potentially do 3d6 SAN damage to the reader.
132[[/folder]]
133
134[[folder:Video Games]]
135* The "Taken" enemies in ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' and ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII'' 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.
136-->'''Fisherman:''' OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS ARE GOOD FOR YOUR HEART!\
137'''Lumberjack:''' CHAINSAWS ARE NOISY!\
138'''Farmer:''' [[FarmersDaughter STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!]]
139* In ''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]]:
140-->[[spoiler:X Year X+4 Month X Day\
141tehres somehngs inthecore\
142it maknig thinngsto other tihngs.\
143somethrg not righght hppnng to m.e\
144I nddd hlep.e\
145But snoonenot heree.\
146someone here.]]
147* 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 [[HumanSacrifice sacrifices]]' chests.
148* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Throughout The Consortium's [[ElaborateUndergroundBase facility]], there are various staff members slumped over and spouting complete nonsensical sentences while cackling in madness without any clue to their surroundings as each of them were exposed to [[BrownNoteBeing The Eroder]] that drove them to insanity.
149* ''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:
150-->'''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...
151* ''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 he'll occasionally dip into this territory.
152-->'''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...
153* Weaponized in-universe in ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' by [[EldritchAbomination The Hiss]]. Possessed people keep repeating parts of the lengthy and intensely creepy [[https://control.fandom.com/wiki/Hiss_incantation Hiss incantation]] over and over in order to boost the Hiss' "resonance," and both the protagonist and ''the incantation itself'' explicitly compares it to an EarWorm you can't get out of your head. [[spoiler:Given that VideoGame/AlanWake [[RewritingReality wrote]] the Hiss into existence in order to give his protagonist a StarterVillain to practice and hone her skills on before she could come to free him from the Dark Place, it makes sense that they are very similar to the Taken in this respect. WriteWhatYouKnow, after all. The word salad nature of the Hiss incantation is also justified in that Wake wrote it as a form of Dadaist "anti-art" via cutting up several sentences and words, putting them in a shoebox, pulling out the words at random, and then haphazardly forming them together into sentences so as to represent "an alien force imitating human intelligence"]].
154-->'''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...''
155* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'':
156** The end of the fifth chapter 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]].
157** If you visit the houses of people who died at the end of Chapter 5, 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]].
158* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', the Irrational affliction causes characters to speak in incoherent gibberish.
159-->'''Leper:''' ''[refusing to move]'' Now approach winter and stone-setting, silvered and rotten.\
160'''Arbalest:''' ''[damaging self]'' I was right! Bells in my veins!\
161'''Vestal:''' ''[passing turn]'' It was a beautiful hymn, sung by the pigs of St. Martha's.
162* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': For reasons not wholly known, [[HonestJohnsDealership Spamton G. Spamton]] from [[Recap/DeltaruneChapter2ACybersWorld 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 he's more aware of ''[[MediumAwareness everything]]'' 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.
163-->'''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[=]]=]]]
164* 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.
165* 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]].
166* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': The Gilded from the GameMod ''[[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:Somewhat {{Narm}}[=-inducing=] given that the majority, if not all of their lines, are song lyrics taken out of context.]]
167* The Master from ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' 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.
168* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Pretty much guaranteed whenever [[EldritchAbomination Angra Mainyu]] shows up.
169-->''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--''
170* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1'': The message left on the answering machine on night five is [[BlackSpeech garbled speech]]. Even when decoded into English, the message is completely irrelevant to the game and is just there to be freaky; it's an excerpt from "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhansa Yogananda, speaking about "marvelous mechanisms" used for farming.
171* One of the enemies in the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' series is the Simulacrum, a bio-android [[ActionBomb suicide bomber]] created by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Pfhor]] for sabotage purposes. Despite looking reasonably human ([[DeceptivelyHumanRobots 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 gibberish 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.
172* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'':
173** When Max is tripping on Valkyr in [[VideoGame/MaxPayne1 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.
174--->''"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..."''
175** The ''Series/TwinPeaks''-esque ShowWithinAShow "Address Unknown", whose episodes are scattered throughout the first and [[VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne 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...
176* ''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]].
177-->'''[[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!
178* 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.
179* ''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]].
180-->''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''
181* 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 superior!"]]]].
182* In ''VideoGame/StarControl II'', 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.
183-->'''Orz:''' Orz are not *many bubbles* like *campers*. Orz are just Orz. I am Orz. [[EldritchAbomination I am one with many *fingers*]]. My *fingers* reach through into *heavy space* and [[FightingAShadow you *see* *Orz bubbles*]] but it is really *fingers*.
184* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' has several pages of this while Shiki is bedridden in Hisui's route.
185* In ''VideoGame/WorldsEnd'', MysteriousWaif Aizu talks very incoherently when she's [[spoiler:throwing fireballs and supposedly the avatar of a dead god]].
186-->'''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.
187* While not by any means a horror game, ''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.
188[[/folder]]
189
190[[folder:Web Comics]]
191* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' makes use of this sometimes. It's usually more partial to WordSaladHumor, but it's occasionally used for horror instead. For example, when [[ItMakesSenseInContext a door tries to take over Fern's mind]]:
192-->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.
193* Whatever is [[http://www.charbythevampirate.com/comic/118 playing on the radio]] when a young Victor visits the doctor in ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate''.
194[[/folder]]
195
196[[folder:Web Animation]]
197* ''WebAnimation/LaceyGames'' is full of these, usually 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]].
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder:Web Original]]
201* In 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]]":
202** 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:
203--->No chance of passing\
204No chance of passing\
205How many?\
206Garage side door
207** Eventually, the seemingly random recycled snippets coalesce into something far more terrifying:
208--->I rang [Name] and they said you left at 5\
209I'm starting to panic\
210please stop\
211cold\
212Emily\
213Emily\
214Answer your phone\
215I don’t know what’s happening\
216cold\
217[[WhamLine FREEZING]][[note]]Note that this one ''isn't'' a recycled message, hence why it's a WhamLine.[[/note]]
218** [[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"
219* ''Website/SCPFoundation'' has several:
220** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1981 SCP-1981]] a.k.a. "RONALD REAGAN CUT UP WHILE TALKING" is a Betamax video tape showing UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan's "Evil Empire" speech, only the speech and concurrent events are different with each viewing. Each iteration has in common Reagan talking about various events that happened after the real life speech, surreal sidetracks into disturbing, nonsensical subjects, ominous references to possible future events, Reagan [[BodyHorror being mutilated by invisible forces]] while [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction casually continuing the speech]], and a black-robed figure who replaces a random member of Reagan's cabinet each time. [[note]]Except for the time that it showed up by itself and stared at the camera for 20 minutes before "I SEE YOU" flashed on the screen.[[/note]] Since Reagan was still alive when the tape was discovered, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/dr-robinsons-statement somebody at the Foundation had the bright idea to show it to him]]. It caused him to suffer horrible nightmares for years even though the Foundation almost definitely wiped his memory of the event, and it's implied that the reason he developed Alzheimer's is because it was the only way he could actually forget what he saw.
221** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-058 SCP-058]] is some creature resembling a cow heart with limbs that constantly spouts off completely incomprehensible phrases even while going around killing humans.
222--->'''SCP-058:''' I had dreams of the queen wonders that lived inside the hearts of love and silent treatments of all the elderly that I knew were once whole.
223** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1782 SCP-1782]] is a [[EldritchLocation rather anomalous room]] whose randomly manifested entities and disembodied voices say some very bizarre phrases, [[ArcWords most prominent of which]] is "There's a hole in the wall in the bottom of the floor." [[spoiler:This is because the cause of the anomaly is the still-living aborted fetus of a RealityWarper, and it's trying to help the Foundation discover its location, which is indeed in a small hole in the wall.]]
224** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2030 SCP-2030]]: The Netflix description for the anomalous TV program ''Laugh is Fun'' reads like a foreign language which has been translated into English [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels extremely poorly]], resulting in this:
225--->''"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!"''
226** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2432 SCP-2432]] is an anomalous hotel room which causes anyone who sleeps in it to leave glowingly positive Word Salad Horror online reviews. Despite being creepy and nonsensical, the reviews manage to persuade people to visit the hotel.
227--->''"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."''
228* ''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.
229* Creator/{{Slimebeast}}'s [[http://slimebeast.com/forum/slimy-stories/one-more-time/ One More Time]], in which the phenomenon of "evolving text" causes the narrator's lipids to eat dirty soap, and the more he tries to marinate the engine block, the worse his tranquilizers become.
230* The 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]]'''''
231* ''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 attempted to destroy a watermelon in his room before moving it into the shower, cast in a sickly green light.
232-->'''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.]]''
233* Happens all the time on ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'', particularly when Cecil reads advertisements, notices, or whatever else he is handed by others in the studio. A RunningGag is for Cecil to announce "a word from our sponsors," and then read an "advertisement" consisting of an extremely surreal WordSaladHorror passage, followed by the name and slogan of a real-world company such as Audible.com or Home Depot. For bonus creepy points, sometimes the real slogan is followed by a nightmarish variation on the same phrase.
234-->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."
235[[/folder]]
236
237[[folder:Western Animation]]
238* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': In "Hypno-Germ", Shake undergoes a [[InnerThoughtsOutsiderPuzzlement hallucination]] where he sees inanimate objects coming to life and having conversations before tossing in commands for him to random stuff. Outside the hallucination, his body is motionless while being covered in junk.
239[[/folder]]
240
241[[folder:Real Life]]
242* The infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion]] of 1987 saw the interruption of a ''Series/DoctorWho'' broadcast ("[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock Horror of Fang Rock]]" specifically) with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWdgAMYjYSs a video]] of a person in a Series/MaxHeadroom mask, whose identity is unknown to this day, rambling about completely nonsensical subjects interrupted by him(?) alternately [[LaughingMad laughing]] and screaming. There ''are'' some identifiable themes present (the intruder makes a point of mocking Chicago sportscaster Chuck Swirsky and WGN), but they're quickly subsumed by chaos. It also doesn't help that the bootleg signal resulted in the audio getting heavily distorted, making the actor sound even more like a demented and malfunctioning robot.
243-->''"Catch the wave... ''[throws a Coke can at the camera]'' Your love is fading... ''[hums the theme to WesternAnimation/ClutchCargo]''"''
244* The term "word salad" was coined to describe the rambling incoherent writings and speech of schizophrenics, which can be very disturbing to read or listen to.
245* [[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 word 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.
246* One fairly common sign of autism-spectrum and other communicative disorders is echolalia -- a form of verbal stimming (self-stimulatory, repetitive behavior) or tic where people can repeat sounds, words or phrases they've heard, either immediately after hearing it or a long time after, for either the sound or mouthfeel rather than semantic value. While the intent is simply to control their sensory environment, it can easily be put under this trope by people who don't understand why it's being done, especially if the repeated sound, word, or phrase happens to be emotionally charged or loaded.
247* [[NonSequiturThud Becoming suddenly incoherent after suffering from an accident, an injury, etc. can be a symptom of brain trauma or a stroke]].
248* Many people who talk in their sleep will sometimes say nonsensical phrases that may come off as either this or WordSaladHumor, due to dreams [[RealDreamsAreWeirder often being nonsensical]].
249* During a Facebook AI experiment designed to get two chatbots to negotiate with each other, the researchers forgot to incentivize speaking coherent language, resulting in the chatbots evolving an efficiency-oriented patois that made absolutely no sense to humans ("I can can I I everything else", "Balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to"). Given the existence of the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise and the [[OverdosedTropes prevalence]] of the AIIsACrapshoot trope, every layperson who learned about this found the idea of chatbots creating their own language, English-based or otherwise, incredibly creepy. So creepy, in fact, that when Facebook reset the bots on the basis that chatbots at the bare minimum need to speak a language we squishies can easily decipher, [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/facebook-ai-developed-own-language/ Snopes had to debunk claims that the researchers, fearing they'd created our robot overlords, had freaked out and aborted the experiment]].
250* On March 27, 2012, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JetBlue_Flight_191 JetBlue Flight 191]] captain Clayton Osbon suffered what he later described as a complex partial brain seizure, resulting in a [[SanitySlippage gradual yet severe mental breakdown]] that turned him into a bad-tempered TalkativeLoon as ''100% Blue'' proceeded from New York to Las Vegas. As he turned his flight instruments off, he started making disturbing, nonsensical quasi-religious statements like "We need to take a leap of faith" that became increasingly fervent as time went on, talked about how the plane wouldn't make it to Vegas and it was a city of sin anyway, and then responded to a suggestion by increasingly worried first officer Jason Dowd to let an off-duty pilot in the cockpit by giving [[WordSaladPhilosophy what Dowd described as a sermon]]. Realizing Osbon was unfit to fly and might deliberately crash, Dowd tricked him into leaving the cockpit, locked him out, and, accompanied by the deadheading pilot as relief captain, started to descend to Amarillo for an emergency landing. While this likely prevented a disaster, it caused Osbon to become extremely agitated and hostile, fixated on military actions in the Middle East and a nonexistent bomb on board, and even less coherent than he was in the cockpit. Several passengers on their way to a security conference subdued the deranged pilot as he yelled nonsense like "We got Israel, we got Iraq! ''We gotta get down!''", "Guys, push it to full throttle!", and "We all better start saying the Lord's Prayer!", keeping him pinned down until Amarillo authorities were able to get him off the plane and to a mental health facility.
251-->'''Paul Babakitis''': And he told me, "We're not going to Sin City," and that "we have 130 ''souls'' aboard the plane"; at that point, I realized we were all in trouble.
252[[/folder]]
253----
254.. .. . . . .There is nothing... . .. . .. .
255 . . . . .... .. ... ..(truant, again, and again and ag'ain.).. . . . .. .
256
257 .. . . .. .[[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Why cant you leave before i take you?]]... ... .. ..
258
259
260 . . ... .. ... .. . .The wells are c[[WordSaladHorror ▜]]ming... .. .
261
262 .... .
263
264. ... . ..Go ahead and become wax.. . .. . . .
265
266.. . . . . . . .... ...[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Why don't you come over here and have a seat on my lap?]]. ...... . . .. . . .
267

Top