diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 90b6b9b8d5ba..b85316242f84 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 ## Unreleased version
 
 - Added `post_search` config setting that creates a Search button in the navbar (older websites need to set `post_search: true` to enable this feature) (#770)
+- Fixed page titles, subtitles, and excerpts rendering correctly when there are special characeters in them (#856) 
 - Slightly reworked margins and position for avatar image to resolve an alignment issue on Safari.
 - Changed the width at which the navbar collapses to a higher threshold because most modern non-mobile browsers are >1000px
 - Fixed bug where navbar secondary level dropdown items didn't inherit the same colour as the primary navbar links
diff --git a/_includes/header.html b/_includes/header.html
index 4c299b668d39..aa35a7aca85f 100644
--- a/_includes/header.html
+++ b/_includes/header.html
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@
     <div class="row">
       <div class="col-xl-8 offset-xl-2 col-lg-10 offset-lg-1">
         <div class="{{ include.type }}-heading">
-          <h1>{% if page.title %}{{ page.title }}{% else %}<br/>{% endif %}</h1>
+          <h1>{% if page.title %}{{ page.title | strip_html }}{% else %}<br/>{% endif %}</h1>
           {% if page.subtitle %}
             {% if include.type == "page" %}
               <hr class="small">
-              <span class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle }}</span>
+              <span class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle | strip_html }}</span>
             {% else %}
-              <h2 class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle }}</h2>
+              <h2 class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle | strip_html }}</h2>
             {% endif %}
           {% endif %}
 
@@ -61,13 +61,13 @@ <h2 class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle }}</h2>
     <div class="row">
       <div class="col-xl-8 offset-xl-2 col-lg-10 offset-lg-1">
         <div class="{{ include.type }}-heading">
-          <h1>{% if page.title %}{{ page.title }}{% else %}<br/>{% endif %}</h1>
+          <h1>{% if page.title %}{{ page.title | strip_html }}{% else %}<br/>{% endif %}</h1>
           {% if page.subtitle %}
             {% if include.type == "page" %}
               <hr class="small">
-              <span class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle }}</span>
+              <span class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle | strip_html }}</span>
             {% else %}
-              <h2 class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle }}</h2>
+              <h2 class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle | strip_html }}</h2>
             {% endif %}
           {% endif %}
 
diff --git a/_includes/search.html b/_includes/search.html
index 7924fd08b213..becf37b584c0 100644
--- a/_includes/search.html
+++ b/_includes/search.html
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
     var searchjson = '[ \
       {% for post in site.posts %} \
         { \
-          "title"    : "{% if post.title != "" %}{{ post.title | escape }}{% else %}{{ post.excerpt | strip_html | escape | strip }}{%endif%}", \
+          "title"    : "{% if post.title != "" %}{{ post.title | strip_html | escape }}{% else %}{{ post.excerpt | strip_html | escape | strip }}{%endif%}", \
           "category" : "{{ post.tags | join: \', \' }}", \
           "url"      : "{{ site.baseurl }}{{ post.url }}", \
           "date"     : "{{ post.date | date: "%B %e, %Y" | default: "January 1, 1970" }}" \
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
       {% endfor %} \
       {% for page in site.html_pages %}{% if page.title != "{title}" and page.title != "404 - Page not found" %} \
         { \
-          "title"    : "{% if page.title != "" %}{{ page.title | escape }}{% else %}{{ page.excerpt | strip_html | escape | strip }}{% endif %}", \
+          "title"    : "{% if page.title != "" %}{{ page.title | strip_html | escape }}{% else %}{{ page.excerpt | strip_html | escape | strip }}{% endif %}", \
           "category" : "{% if page.tags %}{{ page.tags | join: \', \' }}{% else %}page{% endif %}", \
           "url"      : "{{ site.baseurl }}{{ page.url }}", \
           "date"     : "{{ page.date | date: '%B %e, %Y' | default: "January 1, 1970" }}" \
diff --git a/_includes/social-share.html b/_includes/social-share.html
index c04f445f833c..4a7ca01e5b7c 100644
--- a/_includes/social-share.html
+++ b/_includes/social-share.html
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   <span class="sr-only">Share: </span>
 
   {% if site.share-links-active.twitter %}
-    <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text={{ page.title | url_encode }}&url={{ page.url | absolute_url | url_encode }}"
+    <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text={{ page.title | strip_html | url_encode }}&url={{ page.url | absolute_url | url_encode }}"
       class="btn btn-social-icon btn-twitter" title="Share on Twitter">
       <span class="fab fa-fw fa-twitter" aria-hidden="true"></span>
       <span class="sr-only">Twitter</span>
diff --git a/_layouts/home.html b/_layouts/home.html
index c97b27faaff9..806aa7cf29e2 100644
--- a/_layouts/home.html
+++ b/_layouts/home.html
@@ -35,11 +35,11 @@
     {% endif %}
 
     <a href="{{ post.url | absolute_url }}">
-      <h2 class="post-title">{{ post.title }}</h2>
+      <h2 class="post-title">{{ post.title | strip_html }}</h2>
 
       {% if post.subtitle %}
         <h3 class="post-subtitle">
-        {{ post.subtitle }}
+        {{ post.subtitle | strip_html }}
         </h3>
       {% endif %}
     </a>
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ <h3 class="post-subtitle">
 
     <div class="post-entry">
       {% assign excerpt_length = site.excerpt_length | default: 50 %}
-      {{ post.excerpt | strip_html | xml_escape | truncatewords: excerpt_length }}
+      {{ post.excerpt | strip_html | truncatewords: excerpt_length }}
       {% assign excerpt_word_count = post.excerpt | number_of_words %}
       {% if post.content != post.excerpt or excerpt_word_count > excerpt_length %}
         <a href="{{ post.url | absolute_url }}" class="post-read-more">[Read&nbsp;More]</a>
diff --git a/_layouts/post.html b/_layouts/post.html
index 5358515df87d..70d5ee4fcc28 100644
--- a/_layouts/post.html
+++ b/_layouts/post.html
@@ -67,12 +67,12 @@
       <ul class="pagination blog-pager">
         {% if page.previous.url %}
         <li class="page-item previous">
-          <a class="page-link" href="{{ page.previous.url | relative_url }}" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="{{page.previous.title}}">&larr; Previous Post</a>
+          <a class="page-link" href="{{ page.previous.url | relative_url }}" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="{{page.previous.title | strip_html | xml_escape}}">&larr; Previous Post</a>
         </li>
         {% endif %}
         {% if page.next.url %}
         <li class="page-item next">
-          <a class="page-link" href="{{ page.next.url | relative_url }}" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="{{page.next.title}}">Next Post &rarr;</a>
+          <a class="page-link" href="{{ page.next.url | relative_url }}" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="{{page.next.title | strip_html | xml_escape}}">Next Post &rarr;</a>
         </li>
         {% endif %}
       </ul>
diff --git a/_posts/2020-02-26-flake-it-till-you-make-it.md b/_posts/2020-02-26-flake-it-till-you-make-it.md
index b9b550ae3be5..e8679f42d166 100644
--- a/_posts/2020-02-26-flake-it-till-you-make-it.md
+++ b/_posts/2020-02-26-flake-it-till-you-make-it.md
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 ---
 layout: post
-title: Flake it till you make it
-subtitle: Excerpt from Soulshaping by Jeff Brown
+title: "Flake it & un + he`<i>AA</i>`y <i>BB</i> : per g > % cent ' till y\"ou make it"
+subtitle: "Excerpt from \"Soul<i>ITTT</i>shaping by Jeff Brown"
 cover-img: /assets/img/path.jpg
 thumbnail-img: /assets/img/thumb.png
 share-img: /assets/img/path.jpg
 tags: [books, test]
 ---
 
-Under what circumstances should we step off a path? When is it essential that we finish what we start? If I bought a bag of peanuts and had an allergic reaction, no one would fault me if I threw it out. If I ended a relationship with a woman who hit me, no one would say that I had a commitment problem. But if I walk away from a seemingly secure route because my soul has other ideas, I am a flake?
+Under what & f < d > g + g : `<strong>g</strong>`y <strong>sg</strong> e % t ' c " circusmstances should we step off a path? When is it essential that we finish what we start? If I bought a bag of peanuts and had an allergic reaction, no one would fault me if I threw it out. If I ended a relationship with a woman who hit me, no one would say that I had a commitment problem. But if I walk away from a seemingly secure route because my soul has other ideas, I am a flake?
 
 The truth is that no one else can definitively know the path we are here to walk. It’s tempting to listen—many of us long for the omnipotent other—but unless they are genuine psychic intuitives, they can’t know. All others can know is their own truth, and if they’ve actually done the work to excavate it, they will have the good sense to know that they cannot genuinely know anyone else’s. Only soul knows the path it is here to walk. Since you are the only one living in your temple, only you can know its scriptures and interpretive structure.
 
diff --git a/_posts/2020-02-28-test-markdown.md b/_posts/2020-02-28-test-markdown.md
index 4ac869f47ead..5c223764f75b 100644
--- a/_posts/2020-02-28-test-markdown.md
+++ b/_posts/2020-02-28-test-markdown.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 layout: post
-title: Sample blog post
-subtitle: Each post also has a subtitle
+title: Sample blog <i>fds</i>post
+subtitle: Each post al<i>ITAL</i>so has a subtitle
 gh-repo: daattali/beautiful-jekyll
 gh-badge: [star, fork, follow]
 tags: [test]
diff --git a/feed.xml b/feed.xml
index 57f7ad56359a..6148cf15f5d6 100644
--- a/feed.xml
+++ b/feed.xml
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ layout: null
     {% assign excerpt_length = site.excerpt_length | default: 50 %}
     {% for post in site.posts limit:20 %}
       <item>
-        <title>{{ post.title | xml_escape }}</title>
+        <title>{{ post.title | strip_html | xml_escape }}</title>
         <description>
-          {% if post.subtitle %}{{ post.subtitle | xml_escape }} - {% endif %}
+          {% if post.subtitle %}{{ post.subtitle | strip_html | xml_escape }} - {% endif %}
           {{ post.content | strip_html | xml_escape | truncatewords: excerpt_length }}
         </description>
         <pubDate>{{ post.date | date: "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z" }}</pubDate>
diff --git a/tags.html b/tags.html
index 04c193908ec9..55a3c6d4cb66 100644
--- a/tags.html
+++ b/tags.html
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ <h2 id="{{- tag -}}" class="linked-section">
     <div class="post-list">
         {%- for post in site.tags[tag] -%}
             <div class="tag-entry">
-                <a href="{{ post.url | relative_url }}">{{- post.title -}}</a>
+                <a href="{{ post.url | relative_url }}">{{- post.title | strip_html -}}</a>
                 <div class="entry-date">
                     <time datetime="{{- post.date | date_to_xmlschema -}}">{{- post.date | date: date_format -}}</time>
                 </div>