ZOZO: What happens when demons go viral?

You’ve probably heard of Zozo.

Often referred to as the “Ouija board demon,” Zozo is a name that frequently appears during spirit board sessions, where participants report the planchette rapidly spelling out Z-O-Z-O. In recent years, the entity has gone viral on social media, with #zozo even trending on Twitter in 2014. Whether Zozo is a real entity or not, there are very real potential implications to a "demon" going viral.

The Modern Birth of Zozo (2009)

Although scattered references to a spirit named Zozo appear in older writings, the modern legend really took shape in 2009. That’s when Darren Evans published an online account describing his chilling encounters with a Ouija entity that consistently spelled out the letters Z-O-Z-O.

His post spread quickly across paranormal message boards. Almost immediately, others reported seeing the same name during their own Ouija sessions.

On one hand, this sudden wave of sightings could have just been the result of confirmation bias, ie. people primed with the story of Zozo began experiencing it. But on the other hand, researchers argued that the attention itself was what empowered Zozo to appear more often, feeding off the growing collective fear.

But things were only ramping up.

Ghost Adventures Sent #Zozo Trending

The turning point came in 2014, when Ghost Adventures aired its infamous Zozo episode. That night, Zak Bagans tweeted: “Zozo trending. Creepy”

The hashtag #Zozo trended on Twitter, marking the first time a "demon" had broken through from fringe folklore into mainstream social media virality. From there, Zozo became a fixture of horror shorts, “3 a.m. challenges” on YouTube, and TikToks.

What Happens When a Demon Goes Viral?

This all boils down to the central question of: What really happens when paranormal entities like Zozo go viral?

In our latest podcast episode, we tackle this very question.

We explore both sides: Is Zozo an egregore feeding on clicks and hashtags, or is it simply a meme amplified by confirmation bias? You can hear our full conversation on your prefered podcast platform, below: