Scepticism in reverse

Not long ago I posted about the results of playing Rocky Frisco’s music backwards, and suggested there could be a sequel. More recently I promised over the next few months to occasionally post articles of interest to the Australian Skeptics and likeminded people. This post fulfils both prophecies promises.

Whenever intelligible phrases are discernable in speech or music that’s played backwards, we know that those phrases must have been put there by the Devil and have supernatural significance. We also know that the Australian Skeptics are indisputably a Satanic bunch if ever there was one. Reflecting upon these facts, I wondered what we might find if we took audio material published by the Australian Skeptics and played it backwards.

The Great Skeptic CD 2 (available on the Australian Skeptics’ website under “Shop”) contains, among other things, several poems by Jim Wilshire. The following is a list of phrases that can be discerned when these poems are played backwards. Audio files are included as proof.

• In the poem Predicted, the phrase “yeah, she’ll fake it” can be plainly heard. The mundane phrase to which this corresponds (i.e. the phrase heard if the poem is played forwards) is “to carefully shape meaning“. (The underlined bit is the bit that corresponds; the rest is provided for context.) This is my favourite result, because it must be a prophetic reference to an event in which the Skeptics investigate some unspecified female psychic. Either that or it’s a reference to Lynne Kelly.
• Also from Predicted, we hear the phrase “the shit or best news“, corresponding to the phrase “open to interpretation“. This must refer to the fact that, as they consistently explain, the Skeptics would be thrilled to actually discover a supernatural phenomenon (which would be the “best news”) but more often they find “shit” instead.
• In the poem Min Min Man, we discern the sentence “now your kid’s away, you’ve seen him admire her“, which corresponds to the phrase “min min were around him and his fear was left behind“. This does not appear particularly Satanic, but it’s the lengthiest intelligible sequence of words I’ve been able to find. (Not true, but the lengthiest ones can be heard only by playing the poems forwards instead of backwards, and that would be cheating.)
• Another subliminal message I found in Min Min Man is reassuringly Satanic. It consists of an affectionate reference to “the little beasts” (obviously demons), corresponding to the phrase “lights deep within the dark“.
• In the poem Mostly Ghostly we hear the phrase “happily reaps it“, corresponding to the phrase “this be really bad“. My interpretation: you’ve heard of the Grim Reaper, right? Well, this is the same, only not as grim.
• Finally, the poem Bachelor of Seance yields the phrase “oh yes, sir“, correponding to “bachelor of Seance“. As to what in particular this refers to, your guess is as good as mine.

This is not an exhaustive list of phrases that I found, as several additional ones fell victim to my editorial decisions about which to include and which to reject. There is no telling what you’ll find if you try a similar exercise yourself, but I think the moral is clear. When I go to the national Skeptics convention in October I will make sure I protect myself by bringing along as many holy relics as I can find.