Phenomena Soundwave Study 3
Reverse Speech and Electronic Voice Phenomena

 Author: Edward O'TooleDate: 7/3/2006

My interest in EVPs, Electronic Voice Phenomena, or Instrumental
TransCommunication (ITC) as it is now known, is quite recent. Last year
we experienced some odd activity at night in our kitchen and so I looked
into the various means of not just dealing with it but recording it
also. Following guidelines given to me by helpful members of the ghost
hunting community worldwide – and armed with a whole bucketful of
warnings – I set about attempting to capture our nocturnal visitor
with a 35mm camera and a noise-activated Dictaphone (as I had no wish to
fork out a vast quantity of money on 'official' ghost hunting
merchandise). Secure that the cause of the noise and movement was not
some rodent, and following Sherlock Holmes' advice that
"When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however
improbable, must be the truth."

I set about getting proof that we did indeed have some non-mortal guest.
I had visions of producing material that would be a contender for a
'White Noise' sequel.
Flash photography in the dark resulted in my aging camera producing a
roll of ruined film; so ruined in fact that I threw away the camera in
disgust and bought a new, digital one. The noise-activated Dictaphone
went from me saying the time that I had set it up to the sound of my
sons screaming and running around as they got ready for school – some
seven hours later. To summarize, after several attempts I managed to
record absolutely zip. This is not to say that I have given up the idea
that EVPs are plausible entirely, far from it. The area in which I live
is filled with the settings of death and carnage resulting from multiple
wars throughout the ages and the local Slavs and Poles mark every road
accident death with fresh flowers and crosses so the highways are
teeming with possibilities. I just haven't got around to pursuing that
ghoulish activity yet.

Time passed and I concerned myself with other things – specifically my
new books – and I forgot all about EVP.
Until the other night when at 12:04 precisely I heard a noise that would
send most people quaking.
I quaked.
The skeptic in me instantly dismissed the sound in the most logical way
possible – a mouse with a bullhorn using a voice synthesizer.
Still quaking, I decided to look for other possibilities.

After a day sifting through various sites on EVP – especially large
resources such as the American Association of Electronic Voice
Phenomena, various paranormal chat rooms and groups – and hearing
everything from plausible Class A types (you can actually hear a voice
and understand what it's saying) to unrecognizable sounds which have the
remarkable appearance of being nothing more than static ('Orbs' of the
audio world) – I was pointed in the direction of another type of
recording entirely.
The reason for this change in direction was that the sound I had heard
bore a striking resemblance to a phrase spoken backwards, almost
metallically, and thus this led to me delving into the realms of Reverse
Speech (thanks to the advice of my correspondent Ceara).

Well, the world of Reverse Speech stretches from the possible to the
outright lunatic, but it was a field of esotericism I had never explored
before and as it appeared, at first glance, to give access to the
Unconscious (the use and access of which being my primary area of
interest), I got stuck in.
My initial exploration, following Ceara's advice, was that of Peggy
Kane's work. For those of you who don't know who Peggy Kane is, don't
worry, you don't need to as she's no longer in this realm and has gone
to join her alien colleagues in their travels throughout the galaxy.
Using the same methods of other Reverse Speech analysts, she came to the
conclusion (along with Sherry Shiner) that the Annunaki Reptilian aliens
from Planet X are about to bring about Doomsday. Last May. You can view
her goodbye speech here:

Peggy Kane says goodbye to the world.
Quickly moving along from Von Daniken meets the Marx brothers, I took my
advisor's advice and read up on David Oates, the Australian who owns the
copyright to Reverse Speech technology. His site -
http://www.reversespeech.com/ - holds an enormous and diverse selection
of examples of Reverse Speech. Covering everything from Coast to Coast
interviews, to Presidential Inaugural Speeches to NASA cover ups
concerning Mars and just what's on the planet, it appeared to be exactly
what I was looking for. So much so in fact that I almost started typing
out my credit card details for the special Reverse Speech TM technology
advertised on their equipment website,

Luckily my wife has a distinct aversion to the spending of any money
whatsoever – especially when it comes to my peculiar interests.
Instead of handing over several hundred dollars for a cassette recorder
and reverse speech software, plus several thousand dollars for the
analyst's course, I instead decided to attempt to recreate the findings
myself using good old tight-fisted spend-thriftness along with lashings
of improvisation.
Surprisingly, it worked and, after a few hours of downloading and
experimentation, I could recreate the same results having spent the sum
total of nothing. For those of you who are also interested in attempting
Reverse Speech analysis, this is what you will need:

A Computer
A microphone (connected to the computer)
Audio editing software (Audacity is what I am using as it is freeware
and I find it better than many of the expensive versions, plus it's a
lot easier to use for someone like me who has absolutely zero experience
in audio editing)
A sound player (RealPlayer is probably your best bet and offers a
freeware version – you'll also need RealPlayer to listen to the
Reverse Speech examples on David Oates' site, plus the Codec that it
asks you install automatically)
Armed with these, we may begin.

As I stated earlier in the article, my interest lies in accessing the
Unconscious – specifically, The Jungian Shadow. According to the blurb
on the Reverse Speech site, when one speaks, one does so on two levels:
forward speech is what you consciously want to say, and can be
deliberately distorted (a lie or 'spin') or missing vital facts.
Simultaneously to one speaking forward, the brain somehow corrects
itself – and the forward message – by imprinting, in reverse, the
truth or omitted facts or what the speaker is currently thinking about.
The Unconscious adds to the discussion. Called the 7th Sense, Reverse
Speech has amazing possibilities in the field of psychological and
psychiatric treatment as it would mean access to a schizophrenic or
autistic mind directly in order to learn just what is going on behind
the warped Conscious veil. As a means of screening job applicants in
interviews, or as a method of lie detection in law enforcement or
witness testimony, it would be ground breaking.
Concerning myself with child psychology to start with, as that would be
the most useful application for my family, I attempted an experiment
with my sons.
One of the biggest questions I had was would Reverse Speech work in any
language? The biggest turn-off on Oates' site was that Arabic speakers
such as Colonel Gadafhi gave their Reverse messages in English. Oates
justifies this by stating that they were speaking English in Press
Conferences, etc, Reverse Speech accesses higher brain functions and
therefore also works in English. My wife, a Slovak Child Psychologist,
pooh-poohed that one straight off so I attempted to interview my
children, whose mother tongue is Slovak.

The result was astounding.
I asked my 5 year old to describe his family, while recording his speech
directly onto the computer. As was expected he talked a little about
each member and their most relevant attributes in terms of a 5 year
old's perception. Daddy was big and 32 years old, Mummy was pretty and
works a lot, brother fights with him all the time, baby cries a lot. In
reverse however, an astonishing thing occurred. Seen as 'waves', each
section of speech is like an island with gaps between sentences. The
sentence 'daddy is big and is 32 years old' was followed by a distinct
gap and then 'mummy is pretty and works a lot'. In the speech island,
the spiky audio wave cluster, for the 'daddy' sentence – very clearly
but at a much faster tempo than the surrounding reversed sounds – is:
"mama, pekny, mama" (mummy, pretty, mummy)

While describing me he had been thinking about what to say about his
mother next.
I was stunned and amazed. Lacking further subjects to experiment on
(baby gibberish is gibberish whether forward or reverse), I tried it on
myself. Given the more 'out there' implications of reverse speech –
that as prophetic rather than quasi-scientific – I recorded myself
reading the first two lines of the Sophia Bestiae – The Wisdom of The
Beast. In the second sentence I discovered:
"Seize the Earth, see their Seer"
This soundbite, along with the forward original, may be listened to
here:

The beginning of the second sentence:
http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=212952854.wav
Here is the segment fragment played normally:
http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=1019677164.wav
And here is what you hear in reverse (slowed down a tad and pitch
increased):
http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=995492560.wav

Further experimentation has shown that Reverse Speech occurs quite
regularly. The best way to look for it is thus:
Start a new project in Audacity, try to ask yourself some prying
question and then record the paragraph-sized answer via microphone.
Select all and then reverse it. Choose one of the 'spiky islands' –
you'll know what I mean when you see your voice as soundwaves, copy it
and then paste it in a new file. Select all and change speed to minus 20
or 30. Listen to it again. Keep changing speed or pitch until you can
hear words. You'll find words hidden in the tiniest gaps between one
letter and another. If, after playing with that one 'island' for a while
you still get nothing, close it and try another. Eventually, and I
guarantee it, you'll hear something.

From a scientific point of view, however, I am uncertain whether this
playing with pitch and tempo is not in fact creating words rather than
discovering them. To date, my son's 'mama, pekny, mama' is the clearest
and rawest I have found personally and has encouraged me to continue
experimenting.
A word of warning though – you really don't want to be doing this
alone at night in a dark room. You really, really don't.
Edward O'Toole, Slovakia, July 2006 – Non Serviam

Edward O'Toole's highly controversial new book, Sophia Bestiae – The
Wisdom of The Beast – is released today by Aestheteka Press. Get a
copy before it's banned. For more info, go to www.aestheteka.com.

Also by Edward O'Toole: Clavis, the Bronze Age epic, at Crystal Dreams
Publishing.
The Aestheteka Forum is here.