@@ -284,7 +284,10 @@ escapeNormal = do
284284 CopyMode -> char '\\'
285285 NormalMode -> return '\\'
286286 return [RoffStr "\\"]
287− _ -> fail $ "Unknown escape character \\" ++ [c]
287+ _ -> return [RoffStr [c]]
288+ -- man 7 groff: "If a backslash is followed by a character that
289+ -- does not constitute a defined escape sequence, the backslash
290+ -- is silently ignored and the character maps to itself."
288291
289292escIgnore :: PandocMonad m
290293 => Char