I hope this'll be useful to someone.

1340kbps encoded H.264 video
160kbps encoded AAC audio

Quicktime 7 Required.

Click Here. Hosting by Putfile (http://media.putfile.com/walt37)

That's really weird. Thanks for posting that.

Good work. Nice first post.

Yes, it's very weird...But we all knew it would mean something, didn't we?

Actually, the more and more I hear it I lean towards the fact that he is saying "Press the button... when no one's there"

Good work. Nice first post.

Yes, it's very weird...But we all knew it would mean something, didn't we?

Thanks. I frequent a few other boards, and it always annoys me when a first post states something that had been discussed to death, includes bad grammar, and fails to make any logical point. I try and wait until I have something new (obviously, since I made that video, its new) or significant to contribute.

You can only make one first impression, after all.


I'd seen the various MP3s floating around of Walt's whispers, but thought that playing the video backwards, too, might show something. Not much more is apparent, though. Even if you put the backwards audio with the original video, the words don't match with the video. At least, not that I could work out.

Also, if anyone wants any other clips, perhaps some with some minor adjustments (backwards, brightness, etc), let me know.

Don't Press the button. The buttons bad.

Maybe the 'button' is on Desmond's computer, you know the one that says "execute"?

I passed it on to several people without telling them what we think it sounds like. One interesting response I got was:

"Where's the one? The one who's me."

imo it's just another thing these brilliant writers threw in to drive us all nuts. It probably won't come into play in the show at all. :D

Maybe the 'button' is on Desmond's computer, you know the one that says "execute"?

The duality of the word, "execute", as it relates to starting a program, and the permanent ending of one's existence, is stark, to say the least.

Perhaps it's an ironic tribute, or probably an important clue, to the laws of conservation in physics, particularly conservation of energy and mass...or in the case of the magnet seen, and of the EMP theories, perhaps it relates to conservation of electric charge...

-Mang

I agree about the "press the button, no one's there" part. The first part sounded to me like "perhaps no one knows you", which would make sense, given who Shannon is...

I've listened to it a couple of times from the Lostlinks site and I keep hearing - Press the button, no button's bad.

Same here. I've heard two versions and ^ is all I hear.

I have listened to it and I am positive it says "We're the survivors of..."

OK really, I am on the fence. At first I heard "...the buttons bad"

But then later I could hear "...when no ones there."

Who here is actually hearing "dont"? I hear "Press the button", not "Dont press the button".

Ehhh, I don't know about that. I'm not hearing "when no one's there" at all.

I'm hearing, "press the button, the button's bad"

but that doesn't make sense!!! It's bad but press it anyway???

Oh I LOVE being confused again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (btw, I'm being totally serious)

I continue to hear "Don't press the button, the button's bad."

Wow, I'm not sure what I hear before that string chord, but after it, I hear, "When no one there's looking"

i dont hear "dont"...i want to hear it but i ....um.....dont.....LOL...

i agree with fertility-----i am getting "press the button, no buttons' bad"

ok...after listening to this over and over again i hear two things.

forward "i have seen no one. no one's there."
backward "press the button. no button's bad."

what does it mean? i have no idea.

i swear, at the end of every episode i say out loud "damn you, jj abrams!" because, he never reveals anything, but i am hooked anyway!!

Heres a video of the original video, but with the audio reversed. I tried to isolate when he started and stopped talking, in hopes that the words would match up with the video. They didn't seem to, though.

1.5mbps H.264/AAC, Quicktime 7 required

http://media.putfile.com/fvra

holy cow ..i might be sleepy but on that one you just posted it sounded like ......
"press the button ...so locke can stand.."

yikes!

It should be the same audio as the first vid I posted, just cut a bit. Perhaps it was good to just reverse the audio with normal video and see what happens. I don't hear "so locke can stand" at all, though, haha.

When you are trying to hear a certain phrase, or come up with a result to a project, you have something called "primer". In this case, our primer would be "Push the button. No Buttons Bad" or whatever you interpreted it to the first time. This happens with audio played backwards all the time, and once you have a primer, or something to search for, the answer becomes "obvious".

Using the primer "...so locke can stand", I can *sort* of hear it, but it sounds more like "Lockesstand" (and thats sort of pushing it). Does that make sense?

i played it on mute and tried to read his lips. looked like "i dunno, i dont...shh" after shannon asked him why he was there...

but then i listened to the audio without watching and couldnt make it out. the first word sounded like "hibbs" but i dont think it said anything understandable at all. backwards maybe...

i hear "press the button" too

the other one i dunno. maybe the first is backwards, the second is regular? :)

LOL

This is so funny... I mean, I'm not surprised that I'm having problems understanding what he says but I thought native speakers of te English language should be able to... *giggles*

Okay, here's what I'm hearing (reverse audio):

"Where's the button, don't put the spare"

Doesn't make sense, huh?

Here's the audio (http://karlos.clan.ag/waltwhisper.mp3), I was using.

LOL

This is so funny... I mean, I'm not surprised that I'm having problems understanding what he says but I thought native speakers of te English language should be able to... *giggles*

Okay, here's what I'm hearing (reverse audio):

"Where's the button, don't put the spare"

Doesn't make sense, huh?

Here's the audio (http://karlos.clan.ag/waltwhisper.mp3), I was using.

OK this audio is much more clear than the other one I heard. I can see where you would get "Where's the button", but after listening to it several times it really sounds like "Press the button"

The problem is the second part is the biggest problem the first word is hard to pick out. It is either "the" or "no" the second word I really think is "button's." The last word sounds like "bad"

So I think it would either have to be "Press the button, no buttons bad" which would make it sound like he is contradicting himself. Or if this audio is cutting a word off at the first it could be "Don't press the button, the button's bad."

The funny thing is that I have now been looking at the word "button" and it is now starting to look weird. Button, button, who has the button?

But...since he's speaking backwards, that means do the opposite, right? :)

I originally thought Walt said to be quiet. This article reinforced it....

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/22/tv.lost.premiere.ap/

"Walt told Shannon to be quiet -- then disappeared upon a second look. When Shannon told the other castaways that she saw Walt, she immediately was met with suspicion."

He puts his finger over his mouth like "be quiet" or "shhhhh", but he never says anything about being quiet. It's a backwards sample of something, but what it says is up in the air. He does gesture to her to be quiet, but he never says it out loud.

On a side note, after seeing Walt in this episode I think maybe it is a good idea to go with a new kid. He was looking way too old to be 10 years old (in the face I mean) and I could really tell that he had been aging. Ah, puberty.

my sister was listening to the clip behind me and to her it sounded like he said, "No one's dead."

I hear, "Press the button, when no one's there."

After listening to it again, I now hear: "There's no one, no one's there." Then Sayid yells and the last thing I heard was, "No one's there" or, it could have been "No one's dead".

Hello everybody! This is my first time here!

Although im Italian, i would say what i heard.

In the backward play (which is the most important, i think, since the lip dont synch with) I can hear "Press the button... No button's there"

The first time I heard it I heard something about no one and help. Then I heard "Press the button, no buttons bad." Now I hear "Don't press the button, no buttons bad." Which just does not make any sense at all.

Right now I'm trying to get my friend Chris to listen to it and tell me what he thinks it says but he's being a brat.

Wow. My friend Skiler listened to it and he heard "Guess what? I'm scared of something."

if Walt says "press the button. no buttons bad" then can we assume (i know assuming is dangerous) that he means that any button you press won't be bad just hurry up and press one????

I tried reading his lips and I got " I don't wanna go, but I should" or something like that..

But...since he's speaking backwards, that means do the opposite, right? :)

Excellent point. Especially when you take into consideration all the mirror images, opposites etc.

I hear "Where's the button...."

Maybe Walt wants Shannon to tell everyone she saw him? (opposite of shhh!)

The buttons bad = The number's are bad (Hurley)

So maybe Shannon is supposed to press the button, when Jack "lifts it up" to reveal them???

I am in the group who hears "press the button. No buttons bad." That could be interpreted 2 ways:

1. Press the button. No - button's bad!
As if he changed his mind and decided the button is a bad idea.

or

2. Press the button. No button's bad.
Meaning to press any button because no button is a bad choice.

Weird... At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I thought part of it sounded like “no one’s there” or “nobody’s there”. Now I can definitely hear “press the button”, and it does sound like “the button’s bad” too. Or maybe it’s “nobody’s there”. I don’t know, it could be either one!

Edit: Okay, I heard a clearer clip, and now I think it says “Press the button. ... button’s bad.” But.. I don’t know if it says “the” or “no”...

How about at the end, when Jack gets ready to "press the button" on that dinosaur terminal and Locke shouts "I wouldn't do that, Jack".

Maybe we're missing a comma... "Don't press the button. No, button's bad!"
Really, I don't think he's saying "no button's bad". And I hope not. Not only is that an incredibly lame line, it also makes very little sense. If you're going to have Walt say something in cool Twin Peaksy backwardsy speech then I really hope they'd come up with something better.
My money is on "Don't press the button, the button is bad" or some mutation thereof.

I have seen alot of people talk about Walt's whisper to Shannon so I decided to see what I could do with it. I recorded the sound where Shannon sees Walt into my computer.

These are SWF files, in other words, flash files. Once they play in your browser, hit Refresh or Reload to play again. I hope this works.

Here is the audio of the scene played normally:

http://img188.imageshack.us/my.php?image=walt17jq.swf

Here is where things get interesting. I reversed Walt's whisper and words are clearly being said:

http://img188.imageshack.us/my.php?image=walt23cf.swf

So if Walt's whisper truly is backwards, maybe what he is saying has been modified too. I cut and paste the word "don't" in a different spot and here is the result:

http://img188.imageshack.us/my.php?image=walt36ip.swf

Is Walt saying to Shannon "Don't press the button, the button's bad"?

If so, is he referring to the computer in the underground living quarters?

I also noticed that the crickets are not chirping while Walt is speaking to Shannon, then after Sayed calls to her their sound fades back in along with a few dog barks.

Any other thoughts? :undecide:

One thing that might help the interpretation (I'm hearing "Push the button, no button's bad"/"Push the button, no - button's bad!") is to remember what Walt said to Locke at the end of season 1; namely to NOT open the hatch. If Walt didn't want anyone to open the hatch, why would he ask someone to push a button located inside the hatch? The button might be what he wanted to keep Locke away from, hence the interpretation "[Don't] push the button, no - button's bad!" would be correct.

Im telling you on the clip that the professor has up, im sure i heard "press the button" i didnt hear "dont press the button"....but i couldnt make up the last part....it does kind of sound like "the buttons bad"...but that wouldnt make any sense, so i think it does have to be something else./

Okay, every time I listen to another file I hear something different :undecide:

After listening to Mark's files, I hear:

"Press the button. Don't. Button's bad."

All of this reminds me waaay too much of the whole Beatles "Abbey Road" debacle! Yikes! Am I dating myself or what?:rolleyes:

I've listened to the audio clip, and I'm almost positive that Walt's message is:

"Press the button. NO ONE'S SPARED."

Listen carefully, and if possible try to slow down the audio clip. It's not "Bad". It's "SPARED".

So what does that even mean Peter? It would help if you provided some insight.

After listening to Mark's files, I hear:

"Press the button. Don't. Button's bad."

I totally agree that is what I hear, and when you listen to the one he modified to put the 'don't' at the front of the first phrase, it flows perfectly and really does sound like

" Don't press the button. Button's bad."

Malcolm David Kelley was on Jimmy Kimmel tonight (9/27/05) and said that Walt said, "Don't push the button."

I hear "press the button. No button's bad."

I've never heard the "don't" in front of "press." What does that mean anyway? Why would Walt tell someone to not press a button if nothing bad is going to happen?

The clip of Walt speaking isn't just backwards, but cut up and shuffled a bit as well. :cool:

"Press the button. NO ONE'S SPARED."

Listen carefully, and if possible try to slow down the audio clip. It's not "Bad". It's "SPARED".

Ha! I keep hearing "spare" aswell! You're the first to agree with me! Yay!

I hear "press the button. No button's bad."

I've never heard the "don't" in front of "press." What does that mean anyway? Why would Walt tell someone to not press a button if nothing bad is going to happen?

He could also say: "Don't press the button. No, (the) button's bad" That would made sense, then.

He could also say: "Don't press the button. No, (the) button's bad" That would made sense, then. Well, I don't hear the word "don't" in there. Walt could be saying "press the button, no (the) button's bad", but why would he suddenly change his mind less than half a second later?

It's all very confusing. :confused: Damn you LOST.

I wonder, though, how significant the line actually is. If we, the hardcore internet geeks, are having trouble with this, how can the show people possibly expect the casual fans (who I'm sure have no idea Walt's lines are played backwards in the first place) to know what the heck is going on? Hopefully, it will all make sense at some point.

Malcolm David Kelley was on Jimmy Kimmel tonight (9/27/05) and said that Walt said, "Don't push the button."

Ok, I would say this is as confirmed as its going to get folks. "Don't press/push the button" is the correct phrase.

Ok, I would say this is as confirmed as its going to get folks. "Don't press/push the button" is the correct phrase.


This is totally bogus. He doesn't even remember his lines.

Firstly, it was PRESS not PUSH
and secondly, if he said "dont press the button...no button's bad", then they edited out the "dont" coz it just isn't on the sound track.

I've post my wavelabbed version.I got rid of most the background noise and re-eq'd
http://media.putfile.com/press-the-button---no-buttons-bad49

Clip cuts in:"...n't press the button. The button's bad."

This is totally bogus. He doesn't even remember his lines.

Firstly, it was PRESS not PUSH
and secondly, if he said "dont press the button...no button's bad", then they edited out the "dont" coz it just isn't on the sound track.

I've post my wavelabbed version.I got rid of most the background noise and re-eq'd
http://media.putfile.com/press-the-button---no-buttons-bad49

You could be right, but if you take the "no" from "no buttons bad", and put in front of "press", it sounds exactly like "dont press the button. buttons bad".

And trust me, I was on these boards arguing that he said "press the button", not dont press it. I know exactly what you mean. I heard no "dont's" at all in the clip. I heard a clip from someone that had rearranged it, and I instantly though "ok we are grasping at straws here when we start re-arranging", but after the MDK interview last night I think I might have to agree that the sound editors wouldn't just out it backwards and thats it...It just seems a bit too simple.

I dont know, the MDK interview changed my mind. And we dont have a video of it, so there's no confirmation he said "push" instead of press...

Just played the file to a friend and she says, it's quite obvious that Walt says:

"there's no button" - "no buttons, man"
or maybe "where's the button"

Clip cuts in:"...n't press the button. The button's bad."

That's what I have been hearing the whole time( acutally ..'t press the button, Don't, button's bad.) The was he says "press" just feels like the clip is coming in late, I think if he was starting the sentence with the word "Press" the pronunciation would have been different. I'm sure you lose a little something reversing audio and editing it all up.

I also like the idea it might be mixed up, with Walt really saying Don't press the button. Button's bad.

...Another theory I had about the audio was inspired from lostlinks.com. There are transcripts of the whispers heard on the island. If you read the transcripts you can see that those whispering are talking to each other, have conversations about those that can hear them... What if Walt is conversing with those whispering. One of those whispering says "press the button" and Walt then says, "Don't, button's bad". I know its streching, but I like it better then, "press the button. No button's bad". That just doesn't make sense to me.

Just played the file to a friend and she says, it's quite obvious that Walt says:

"there's no button" - "no buttons, man"
or maybe "where's the button"

I hear "where" too. Not everytime, but sometimes. I also hear what the consensus is. Is there a recording over a recording? I'm sure you sound experts would have figured that out by now, but I surely hear "where"

I don't get the mystery. CLEARLY he says, "Paul is dead". snort

I don't get the mystery. CLEARLY he says, "Paul is dead". snort Clearly. And Paul wrote Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (you know, "Desmond has a barrow in the market place") so that's another amazing connection. :angel:

Paul is dead?

Wow. Ian Somerhalder played Boone, who died...

Ian Somerhalder was in Rules of Attraction playing a character named...

You guessed it. Paul Denton.

Paul IS dead!!!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292644/

I love that we can make fun of ourselves.

all i heard was "dont press the button", "the buttons bad" or that what it sound like.

No, Paul's not dead. RoA is just a rare example of a film where Ian actually survives the plot. (Sorry for OT)

Hopefully we'll find out more of the WWW - Walt's Wonky Whispers - in toniight's episode.

Yeah.. but it's cool that it's actually so many theories about it though...
Kind of like the "Boone radio transmission"...
There was plenty of confusion about that one too...

Yeah I remember that one...

Evil writers for playing the same trick twice on us!!!!!

i dont know if it helps but i seem to find that Walt says Don't right after you hear Sawyer yells, so its really hard to hear. this would make walt say something along the lines of "Don't push th button, the buttons bad" which makes more sense. also after seeing the seconf episode, it seems to be a very clear and reasonable nessage.

Don't Press the button. The buttons bad.

I thought it sounded like ...."perhaps no one, no one is dead...."

Ooh, nice job MarkTheShark. :) It does sound like “don’t”.

why are so many people hearing a word (DONT) that simply isn't there ?

There's a string of 3 words (a one syllable, a one syllable and a two syllable)
then a pause followed by
another string of 3 words (a one syllable, a two syllable and a one syllable)

Here's the clip I processed with a lot of the background rain noise removed
http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=5775450

It's true...

What I heard was

"Press the button, no buttons bad."

Which of course doesn't make any sense to me, so I'm not sure. Lost fans can never agree on what they heard. Remember the whole "We are the survivors" debate.