How to type a skull:

First come the horns:

! (exclamation mark) for long horns.
. (period) for short horns.

Then, inside parentheses, put the eyeholes:

. (period) for each dot.
o (letter o) for empty holes.

Finally, type the number of teeth.

Example: becomes .!(..)2 !!.(.o)3

Manual Translation

While this is checked, “To Text” will convert markup to {chapter,page,word} entries instead of plain text, and open every referenced page in a new tab or window.

This will probably set off your pop-up blocker.

Prefer Chapters 4 and Earlier

While this is checked, “To Skulls” will avoid using chapters after chapter four, unless no alternative exists.

This helps ensure that skulls have no more than two eyeholes.

Cursed Words Translator

A project to automate translations to and from the Cursed Language spoken by dark spirits in the webcomic Paranatural by Zack Morrison.

Each pair of skulls corresponds to a single word from the archives of Paranatural itself, so translations require looking up arbitrary words from the comic. This website relies on a hand-maintained transcript, which is complete up to Chapter 4, Page 111 and may or may not get any completer. You can check out the state of the transcript for yourself here; feel free to submit a pull request if you want to help out.

Sometimes the exact wordcount of a page can be ambiguous, for example in the case of hyphenated words, sound effects, tiny unreadable background conversations, wordsbunchedupalltogether, etc. Best judgement will be used in these cases.

Occurrences in the Comic

Page reference	Original	Corrected
Chapter 4, Page 75	!.(.o)4 .(oo)2 .!(.o)7 .(oo)7 !.(o.)5 .(oo)7 !..(..)4 (..)5 !(..)3 !...(.o)6 .!(..)7 !..(..)5 !(o.)3 !...(..)3	!.(.o)4 .(oo)2 .!(.o)7 .(oo)7 !.(o.)4 .(oo)7 !..(..)4 (..)5 !(..)3 !...(.o)7 .!(..)7 !..(..)5 !(o.)3 !...(..)4
Chapter 4, Page 75	..(oo)3 .(o.) (..)2 (oo)3 (..)1 .!(o.)7 ..(o.)2 !.....(.o)6 !.(.o)4 .(oo)2 !..(..)5 (..)3
Chapter 4, Page 82	!...(..)2 .!(..)3 !...(..)2 .!(..)5
Chapter 4, Page 86	(oo)1 (oo)1
Chapter 4, Page 124	!.(..)1 (..)8 !.(..) .(..)5
Chapter 4, Page 148	!.(.o)4 .(oo)2 .!(.o)7 .(oo)7 !.(.o)5 .(oo)7 ...(..)5 ...(.o)4 !!....(..)4 ..(..)7 !!....(..)5 !...(..)5	!.(.o)4 .(oo)2 .!(.o)7 .(oo)7 !.(.o)4 .(oo)7 ...(..)5 ...(.o)4 !!....(..)4 ..(..)7 !!....(..)5 !...(..)5
Chapter 4, Page 148	!(..) !(o.)1 !(..)2 ..(..)3 !!.(..)8 .(..)2 !..(o.)2 ...(o...)8
Chapter 5, Page 89	(oo)3 (oo)3

Tips:

You can submit the form while typing by pressing Ctrl + Enter.

You can force the translator to use a specific instance of a word by typing
{c,p,w} into the plain text box, where

c is the chapter number
p is the page number
w is the word number

If a pair of skulls appears X-ed out:

That word has not appeared in Paranatural (yet). Because of how the cursed spirit language works, only words that have been spoken at some point by the characters in the comic can be translated. Try rephrasing your sentence.

Alternatively, you may have typed the word in a way the translator does not recognize. Check your spelling, and try removing unnecessary punctuation.

GOOD:

' Apostrophes, as in can't, 'kay, fightin'.
- Some hyphens, as in w-what, walkie-talkie, agai-. You can try it both ways.
. Periods when used in abbreviation, as in Mr.
:/ Necessary special characters, as in 8:15, 7/11.

BAD:

.,:;!?"() Most punctuation. If you're not certain you need it, take it out.