Reverse Speech - The First 20 Years

By David John Oates

Copyright (C) 2004

It is the 20th anniversary of Reverse Speech coming up in October 2003. This article is written to look at the highlights of those 20 years and how Reverse Speech has grown since then. In my previous articles I described Reverse Speech as another form of human communication, a covert form that occurs backwards in our speech. Reverse Speech theory states that language is bi-level, forward and backwards. As the human brain is constructing the sounds of speech, it is constructing those sounds in such a way that two messages are communicated simultaneously. One forwards from the conscious mind, and the other backwards from the unconscious mind. We are consciously unaware of this secondary form of communication, which I have entitled Reverse Speech, but the unconscious mind is aware of it. It hears its messages every time we speak and recognises the messages as human intuition.

In practice Reverse Speech can be heard and analysed by recording human speech and literally playing it backwards. Clear, grammatically correct sentences can then be heard amongst the normal backwards gibberish at regular intervals. Its rate of occurrence can vary depending on the nature of the speech. In rapid conversation between 2 or more people in high rapport, these backward messages can occur as often as once every 5 seconds. In structured monologues, the backward messages reduce in frequency to once every 30-60 seconds and in scripted public speeches, it can occur as little as once every 5 minutes.

Backwards messages also occur in young children as early as 4 months of age. At this age, they usually occur once every few minutes or so and will often be only 1 or 2 words, such as help, daddy, mummy etc. As the child grows older, these backward messages increase in their complexity until by the time the child is 13-14 months of age their backward messages will be prolific, occurring frequently and consisting of long complex sentences. They have even been found in non verbal children including a handicapped 13 year old girl who only spoke in groans forwards. A very clear backward message was found on this child that said, Mummy, Love you.

Reverse Speech can reveal a variety of different information. On the surface level, if a lie is spoken forwards, the reversal can correct that lie and communicate the truth. If pertinent facts are left out of the conversation, the reversal may insert those facts. This can prove to be extremely beneficial in many areas.

For example, in law enforcement, Reverse Speech can be used to determine the truthfulness of a suspect’s statements. It can also reveal the location of key pieces of evidence the authorities may need to pursue a conviction. Since I first began my research into this phenomenon in 1983, I have seen Reverse Speech used successfully by authorities in several incidents. In 1988 Reverse Speech was used informally by the Sydney police in a high profile murder case. The speech reversals revealed the type of gun used and the person who pulled the trigger. A year later in Brisbane 1989, it was used by a reporter during the Royal Commission into corruption in Queensland. Speech reversals revealed the name and branch of a bank where former police commissioner, Terry Lewis, had hidden funds.

In late 1989, I moved to the United States where I lived for 10 years researching and promoting this new field. In the early 1990s I worked occasionally for the Dallas police where, in one case, speech reversals successfully confirmed the suspect in a murder case had indeed committed the crime and they described in detail his motives for this crime. In 1993, I consulted with FBI during the David Koresh Waco siege. I prepared a report, based on Koresh’s speech reversals, that stated Koresh would come out of the compound if the authorities backed off their presence or they let his grandmother in to negotiate. Unfortunately the authorities did not follow the recommendations of my report and the tragedy that followed was horrific. 

Since that time the use of Reverse Speech in the law enforcement field has been taken up by one of my trained students and senior practitioners, Jack Johnston, in the state of Oregon. Jack consults regularly with attorneys in that state and has had some amazing success. In one case in the late 1990s, he found information in the speech reversals of a woman who had accused 4 youths of raping her, that pointed to another person being responsible. This information was subsequently verified by DNA analysis and the four youths were found to be innocent. So impressed have the authorities been with Jack’s work that Reverse Speech training has now been accepted as an optional extra in the State of Oregon police department’s training program.

Given the amazing potential that Reverse Speech has as a truth detector I believe that in time we will see it being used by many police departments as an adjunct to the lie detector and other truth seeking technologies.

Reverse Speech first came to the public limelight in 1987 when I released my first book on the subject entitled “Beyond Backward Masking”, co-authored with my then research partner Greg Albrecht. Several media outlets reported on the story with one of them, SAS channel 7, describing it as the discovery of the seventh sense. From that time, I soon learned that the media and general public craved to know the reversals of prominent politicians and public figures.

One of my first case studies was with then Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. After he won the 1987 general election I found a speech reversal on him, when he was asked by a reporter how did he plan to celebrate his win, that said “Used to smoke the best marijuana.” The media promptly reported this reversal in several outlets along with the ever popular first words to be spoken on the lunar surface by Neil Armstrong. Where he says forwards, “That’s one small step for man”, a speech reversal can be heard that says “Man will space walk.”

When I moved to the United States I continued my analysis of public figures by turning my attention to the current Bush Snr. administration. I had not anticipated the controversy I would cause just prior to the first Gulf war when I found the seemingly innocuous word, “Simone”, backwards on several senior figures in the administration, including President Bush and then Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney. One instance of this reversal occurred on President Bush in the complete phrase, “Simone, Simone in the sands.” In addition to this I also found the occasional reference to troop movements and war plans such as one reversal that said  “Sent the seahawk up.” The Seahawk, I later discovered, was an attack helicopter used on aircraft carriers.

At around the same time I found these reversals, I had been contacted by Scott Jones, a well known figure in Washington DC who was employed at that time by Senator Clairborne Pell to seek out new technologies and bring them into mainstream. I told Jones about my discoveries and he immediately sent a confidential memo to Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney, telling him about Reverse Speech and in particular the word, Simone. Somehow this memo was leaked to the press and almost overnight Reverse Speech hit many major media outlets in both the United States and Europe, becoming the lead story on CNN news, using headlines like, “Is the President hiding secret code words backwards in his speech?”

Scott Jones immediately contacted me after this occurred and implored me not to speak to the press about my work or Simone. He also rescheduled a lecture tour I had planned to Washington DC to a few months later to give the controversy time to calm down. These lectures subsequently took place and over a period of 5 days I presented Reverse Speech to officials from the FBI, the Secret Service and other agencies in Washington. The Simone incident had a rather dramatic ending when I discovered that it was a derivation of an Arabic word that meant “A dust storm in the desert” or “A desert storm.” Imagine my surprise when I was watching CNN a few weeks later and they announced the beginning of Operation Desert Storm. Had I unwittingly found the actual code word they were using for this operation long before it was announced publicly?

This is not the only time Reverse Speech has revealed public events before they were announced in the media. In 1997 I found reversals on President Bill Clinton that talked about another Iraq invasion. One time when he was talking forwards about Iraq, he said in reverse, “Lets shoot for the assassin.” In another instance he had a reversal that said “Our wrath won’t shake the fox.” Shortly after I found these reversals, the United States conducted another operation in Iraq entitled Operation Desert Fox that failed at that time to oust the Iraqi dictator. The speech reversals had proven to be stunningly accurate!

Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions are now well known but I was finding references to them in his speech reversals long before they ever became public knowledge. In fact in the late 1990s when I was doing the circuit of TV and radio talk shows in the United States, I was making open predictions on the air about his sexuality with reversals like “Had sex with an Oregon Madam,” (Monica Lewinski went to college in Oregon) and “She’s a fun girl to kiss” and “You trash, make her swallow.” I even went so far as to predict a dire outcome for his presidency based on a reversal I found in his second inauguration speech that said “The world will come and damn you.” This was later reinforced by a reversal I found on political pundit George Stephanopolous when he was discussing the possibility forwards of Bill Clinton’s impeachment. The reversal said “Grave fate.” As we all know, Bill Clinton was indeed impeached.

My outspoken stand on Bill Clinton and other public figures won me few friends in the United States and several radio commentators accused me of bias with my findings. One show even accused me of manipulating audio files to make the reversals say something different than they actually did, according to a political agenda that I was running. It was then that I was introduced to the darker side of the United States. In April 1997, the Reverse Speech offices were set ablaze and totally destroyed by persons unknown. This was followed by numerous break-ins in our new premises and hundreds of death threats. Finally in mid 1999 I was sued for defamation  and slander. The case was settled out of court but it was the final straw for me and I moved back to Australia with my family in November 1999.

Now we have a new President in the United States, President George W. Bush, and a study of his reversals can tell us lot about his character. I think the most telling occurs right after the attack on the world trade centre when he says forwards, “An act of war was committed on the United States of America.”  Backwards he says “Rule the planet, Dad.” Two weeks prior to the United States going into Iraq, I found the following reversal on George Bush as he talked about the need for a new government in Iraq. Forwards he says, “the form and leadership of that government is for the Iraq people to chose.” Backwards he says “We will sit in Baghdad.” This reversal plus others that said, “The shows over” and “I will beat this silly business” led me to announce at a lecture I gave in Melbourne that the US would invade Iraq within 2 weeks, and they indeed did so. Speech reversals have also revealed his attitude towards then United States Senate with reversals such as, Senate, they’re all first year losers, and Choke the fuckers now, referring to the US Congress.

Recent speech reversals that I found on US Secretary of State, Colin Powel, in early 2004, suggest that the US Government may not have been exactly honest with us concerning alleged weapons of mass destruction. On one occasion when Powel talks forwards about weapons Saddam Hussein might have had he says in reverse, But it’s a scam. He clarifies this further a little later, still talking about WMD, when he says in reverse, United States scam. This seems to be supported by a reversal found on US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, prior to the war, when he was talking about the information they had received from intelligence gathering confirming WMD. He says in reverse, we deal this evil on the facts, indicating that all is not on the up and up with the information he is delivering. On another occasion when Colin Powel was talking forwards about the future of an Iraqi government, he said in reverse, Will Iraq burn, indicating some doubt over the future, and before the war he had a very telling reversal, when talking about future action in Iraq, that said, Forgive me.

As this article has shown so far, the potential that Reverse Speech has as a truth detector is phenomenal. Its uses include law enforcement and a personality profile for our politicians. In fact any situation where human speech is recorded and extra information is required, is ideal for Reverse Speech. I have several clients who use Reverse Speech before making important business decisions. Speech reversals can tell you whether the business will succeed or fail, whether you can trust your business partner, and whether a potential employee will be beneficial for the business.

In one case a man I was going to do business with had a reversal that said “I’m so full of shit.” Clearly not a man to do business with! One of my clients in Tasmania was warned by his reversals of industrial espionage in business, and a client in Sydney recently saved herself several thousand dollars when speech reversals warned her against a particular investment. Other people she knew ignored the advice of Reverse Speech and lost all their money a few months later when the venture failed.

The other area that Reverse Speech excels in is the therapeutic and healing modalities. This is my own personal love of the technology and I currently have a thriving practice where I work with clients from all over the world via phone. I work with a variety of issues ranging from physical ailments to emotional and psychological issues, even marital counselling and relationship advice. Reversals will often reveal the precise reason and causes of current issues and often suggest solutions. I covered this aspect of my work in my first article in this magazine last year.

I have also developed a comprehensive training program over the last 20 years and I am anxious to train others in the skills of this technology as soon as possible. If you are looking for a new and exciting career in a brand new field then contact our offices for further details. Alternatively you can experience Reverse Speech yourself with an initial introductory 5 minute taping for $49. In Australia, direct all enquiries to 1800 720029 - International 61 8 8382-4372 or visit our website at http://www.reversespeech.com where all reversals quoted in this article can be heard plus 1000s more.