I loaded _posts/articles/2011-03-10-sample-post.md
Jekyll serve
and the error was thrown.
Seems that CHR(92) is the problem in the file.
Some setting is needed to deal with UTF-8.
Google around for a solution to this one. It's a very common issue with Jekyll. Usually comes down to a _config.yml setting or the flavor of Markdown being used. Doesn't have much to do with the theme.
I loaded _posts/articles/2011-03-10-sample-post.md Jekyll serve and the error was thrown. Seems that CHR(92) is the problem in the file. Some setting is needed to deal with UTF-8.