Transcription
[Music]
Hello there. This is the People Who Read People podcast with me, Zachary Elwood. This is a podcast aimed at better understanding other people and better understanding ourselves. You can learn more about it at behavior--
Part series on Chase Hughes, who bills himself as, quote, "the number one expert on behavior and influence," and who many people believe to be such an expert. Chase has been on the Dr. Phil show. He's on a YouTube show called The Behavior Panel, which has almost a million subscribers and gets millions of views. Apparently, this year, their show has been picked up as a reality TV show. Impressive seeming stuff. But is everything what it seems?
Who is Chase Hughes? Is he really an expert? What has he actually done? What's his background? In this video, I'll examine Chase Hughes' background and how he came to be where he is now. In a future video, we'll talk more about the specific behavior-related concepts and ideas that Chase writes and talks about. I'll try not to be too opinionated about Chase's background. You can probably tell where I stand based on the video title, of course, but my goal here is to present the information to you in as neutral and unbiased a way as possible, so you can make up your own mind.
Chase Hughes talks a lot about using verbal and non-verbal clues to understand what people are like, their traits, their patterns, what they'll do in the future. You could consider this video a similar exercise. Can you deduce what Chase Hughes is like from his past behavior? Can you be a Sherlock Holmes of human behavior? Time to put your deductive skills to work.
Also, just to note that this is a YouTube video and includes video of the things I talk about. If you're listening to this on audio, the video will be a much better way to consume this. I'll read and describe the things I'm sharing for audio purposes, but the video will just be much more engaging.
I also want to say, if you like this episode, please consider donating to the Internet Archive. They run the Wayback Machine, which lets you look at old versions of websites. This kind of work wouldn't be possible without them doing backups of web pages. They provide a great free service. After doing the research you'll see in this video, I donated $100 to them. So consider donating to them, and to me too, if you want to. Their site is at archive.org/donate.
I'll also say this video gets more interesting the farther it goes. It is a bit long, admittedly, because I wanted it to be complete, and so it does start out a bit dry, but I think you want to stick around to see where things go. This rabbit hole leads to all sorts of strange and unusual stuff, from deadly fighting techniques to pickup artist and seduction strategies. It even includes beautiful women being turned into deadly psychological weapons. Amazing and shocking claims are made about all sorts of things. The secret information contained in this episode will probably change your life forever. You'll be able to see through people like an x-ray after watching this video. Sorry, I got excited there. That's probably just Chase Hughes rubbing off on me. I've been looking at way too much of his content. In any case, I think you won't be disappointed. So, welcome to the Chase Hughes Rabbit Hole, the Chase Hughes Cinematic Multiverse.
So, let's start out by looking at some of Chase's claims to fame. On his site, he refers to himself as the number one expert in behavior and influence. Here's his YouTube channel, where he refers to himself as the number one body language expert, a number one best-selling author, and a behavior tactics creator for Uncle Sam. In this video, we can see other things he's done. In his video description, he was named in 2020 as one of the top 40 under 40 CEOs in America. He was the best-selling author of five books on human behavior, member of The Behavior Panel, featured in Entrepreneur magazine as an Oracle member, creator of the world's first behavior profiling tool, creator of the TFCA cycle for violence prediction, creator of the PEACE 4A police de-escalation model. You can also see that Dr. Phil has dubbed him "the best on the globe."
Here's a quick clip from him being on the Dr. Phil show.
"So, one of the big times we saw the changes was every time that we mentioned the DNA test results coming out, the truth being found out, we saw a spike in her blink rate. And a blink rate just means how often we blink. And we tend to blink faster and more often the more stressed we are. And we blink less the more focused and relaxed that we get. So, we saw a tremendous spike in how fast and how often she was blinking during those times. We also saw a shift from her breathing into her abdomen and into her chest."
So, I think there's a part of her that does know.
The Behavior Panel YouTube channel that Chase is involved in has almost 1 million followers. They describe the group like this: "They are the top body language and behavior analysts in the world."
Here's a clip from what seems to be the first Behavior Panel video.
"What are her key levers, either consciously or unconsciously, about this story? Chase, in the beginning, she's describing the the number of crashes, and she, she makes a, a break in eye contact that's unusual for her baseline."
Here's an article in Entrepreneur magazine about Chase. This is from 2019. The title is: "Behavior Science Expert Chase Hughes Trains Real-World Jason Bourne on How to Negotiate, Interrogate, and Read People for Extreme Persuasion." About his background, in that article, Chase says: "I served in the US military for 20 years and have become a behavior science expert for intelligence work and now business. For the better part of 15 years, I have been developing world-first behavior skills courses and tactics for intelligence operations." He also says: "I'm a world leader in behavior and influence."
You get the idea. A lot of people are talking about Chase Hughes. Chase Hughes is so hot right now.
Let's look at some of his products and trainings. There are a whole lot of them, but let's just look at a few. This is from his website, chase.com. The Ops Manual. This is an $897 piece of content. About it, it says: "The Ops Manual is the operative's Bible. There are thousands of training programs out there about human persuasion and behavior, but there's only one opportunity to use them in a moment. This is why I've spent 20+ years and 53 million [parenthesis] government money to learn, research, and develop the training you'll get with the Ops Manual."
Then there's a resource that's apparently the most popular on the site. So, it says: "The OP 6 Bundle," which is selling for $1,097. A little bit about this one, it says: "Learn how to become an operator with the ultimate training package. In addition to the Ops Manual, you'll get access to the five courses where you'll deep dive into topics ranging from confidence and elicitation to deception detection, influence, and authority."
On this page about his programs, he writes: "Weapons-grade skills training. Are you ready to upgrade your skill set and join the world's most elite operatives in unlocking key secrets to human behavior and influence, so you can positively impact yourself, your family, and the people around you?"
Further down, he writes: "Chase has spent decades of his life and tens of millions of dollars creating neurocognitive intelligence, and he's going to give you a complimentary 40-minute introduction so you can understand what the best negotiators in the world use."
Only about 10% of one of the things he's known for making is what he calls the Behavioral Table of Elements. Here's an image of that, a very thorough and complex-looking resource with many acronyms.
One of the things that stands out about Chase's work, especially if you use the Wayback Machine to go back and study past website iterations, is the huge amount of courses and materials he's put out. I've shared just a small percentage of the many products that have appeared on his site over the years.
So, this is all very impressive seeming, or maybe not. Again, I'm just presenting information. You're the one who will decide what it all means. Eventually, I'll leave the opinions to you.
On this page of his site, he talks about something he calls his Q Prime training, which he says quickly became an international bestseller. It also includes this snippet: "After 13 years of research, experimentation, training, and infield study, Chase worked with the world's leading experts and discovered one of his most famous quotes: Results matter much more than credentials." And that's a sentiment that Chase often repeats. Education and training and academic work don't matter. What matters is getting results. I think we'd mostly all agree with that. Getting results does matter much more than theoretical knowledge.
So, what are Chase's qualifications? What's his experience? What results has he gotten? Chase refers to his military service a good amount. For example, on the homepage of his site, it says in big letters: "Chase Hughes retired from the US military in 2019 after a 20-year career. Chase now teaches interrogation, sales, influence, and persuasion." The impression given by this and other things Chase has said is that his military service is related to his behavior and psychology work. But what did Chase do in the military?
In one bio on a podcast from 2017, it reads: "Chase previously served in the U.S. Navy as part of the correctional and prisoner management departments." In another podcast, he goes into more detail.
"So, I started working in the correctional part of the military in, uh, detention facilities. And I initially got on as a counselor and just talking to people and started seeing that this stuff is working. I'm seeing interrogators come in and out, and it got to a point where that stuff became, just for this one little facility, it became something that people started to use. And I thought, wow, that, going just figure out a way to package this up and I can replicate it to other people because it started doing a lot of good. And that's kind of how it, it came into the military side of it."
So, he says he was a counselor of some sort in the Navy's correctional department, and that his techniques were being used in interrogations in that department in some way. It's been hard to find much detail at all on the specifics of that. In his more recent interviews, he's given where he talks about that, he gives hardly any detail about how his military service ties into the products and services on his website. Maybe somebody listening would have more knowledge about that. But, okay, uh, worst-case scenario, maybe his military service isn't related much at all to his behavior and psychology work. Maybe he's self-taught.
Chase apparently at one point claimed he had a Harvard education. Someone on a Reddit thread, the user "the girl who ate her hat," wrote that Chase's LinkedIn page, quote, "at one point listed a degree in Psychology from Harvard University, which sounds impressive until I checked and noticed that it was in fact a continuing education certificate where one's name would be printed on a piece of paper for a small fee. Chase Hughes was never in fact enrolled at Harvard University for any degree program." End quote.
The Missouri Military Academy, where Chase went to school, has a page about Chase. The bio for Chase on that page states that you can see his qualifications on LinkedIn, but the URL is broken. It seems likely this was the LinkedIn page that allegedly contained a reference to him having some sort of Harvard education. In that same bio about him on the military academy site, it reads that he holds, quote, "certification in government leadership from Harvard Business School Executive Education." On a site called Rocket Reach, which is an aggregator of people's information, it says that Chase was in a Harvard Business School Executive Education between 2007 and 2010.
In 2023, Chase was on a podcast titled "Easy Prey." In the notes for that episode, the podcast host writes that Chase is, quote, "a Harvard-educated neuroscientist." During that episode, Chase seems to imply he studied at Harvard and at Duke.
"I continue to be obsessed by this stuff, like the novelty still hasn't worn off for me. I, I, I love it still. Uh, I went to Harvard University for neuroscience and neuroendocrinology. I'm, again, enrolled at Duke University right now for medical neuroscience. Uh, and it's just, there's an endless supply of information. Like, I think the more you know about this stuff, the more you realize how much you don't know, you know?"
Regarding Chase's mention of going to Duke University, I can find no mention of that elsewhere. For what it's worth, Chase doesn't seem to mention anything prominently about a Harvard or Duke education on any of his current bios or other online properties that I've seen.
According to some bios online, Chase is a certified master of clinical hypnotherapy from the International Certification Board of Clinical Hypnotherapy. Another bio reads: "He is international board certified by the Clinical Hypnotherapy Board." From what I've read, pretty much anyone can get a certificate from these kinds of organizations by attending the trainings, which can range from 40 hours to to several hundred hours. Considering the differing descriptions of these things and the different group names used, it's not clear to me what kind of training Chase has. He doesn't seem to mention it prominently on his website these days.
In any case, Chase is claimed to be a top CEO. In 2022, looking at the web archive, it includes this tidbit that he was named in 2020 as one of the top 40 under 40 CEOs in America. In the same Reddit post mentioned earlier, the user points out that Chase Hughes is who CEOweekly.com lists as number 15 of 20 top CEOs of 2020, which sounds impressive until you realize that CEOweekly is a pay-to-post website, and that nearly everyone on the list besides Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are consultants and life coaches that no one has ever heard of, and whose accomplishments and qualifications are, like Mr. Hughes, largely self-declared. It's a paid advertisement for credibility." End quote. The URL of the CEO weekly page that apparently used to show Chase Hughes as a top CEO is no longer working.
In the bio of his on that military academy site, it reads that in 2020, Chase was, quote, "named a top 40 under 40 CEO in America." On his Facebook, in 2020, Chase wrote the following: "Honored to be featured alongside Mark Zuckerberg in LA Wire Top 40 Under 40 for 20120." There's some comments on his Facebook post: "Well done, congrats, killing it, Chase, congratulations." The LA Wire link, like the CEO weekly link, no longer works. LA Wire is also, like CEO weekly, a place you can pay to get featured.
Chase seems to have stopped referring to himself as a top CEO of any sort in 2023, from what I could tell.
If you want to understand someone, it often helps to look at how they got their start. Going back to someone's origins can help you understand what do they want, what do they seek. Often, the things they want and seek will be aligned over time. Not always, of course, but beginnings can tell you a lot. So, how did Chase get a start in these areas?
As Chase has talked about in some interviews, he initially got interested in behavior and manipulation through the world of pickup artistry. Pickup artists are men who seek to learn techniques for quickly seducing and sleeping with women. In 2007, Chase wrote a pickup artist book titled "The Passport." For context, this is 5 years before he set up his chasehughes.com website that will have his behavior analysis and psychological influence products.
The Passport has only three reviews on Amazon. The book is no longer in print. Two of the reviews are recent, with people who learned about Chase via his recent fame. Only one is back from 2007, when the book was first published. It reads: "Years of weak, needy conversations and insecurities all disappeared after reading just a few chapters. I wish I had read this five years ago. I now rock. Thanks, dude." That review was written a month after the book was published. The review was written by an account called Texas Builder, and it's Texas Builder's only review. Chase is from Texas, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. My goal is not to bias you. I'm simply trying to include potentially pertinent information.
On Goodreads, there's a single review from 2024, which reads: "Even though the author tried to make sure that there is almost no evidence for the existence of this book, there are still ways to find a copy."
Let's go back to looking at the book. Here's what the back cover reads: "Live Above Other Men. What if there were secret techniques to get any woman you wanted? You're holding all of it. Have your pick of women when you walk into a room. Get phone numbers in 3 minutes flat. Kiss gorgeous women within 15 minutes. Get women chasing you today. Have women trying to impress you. Be the guy women leave their boyfriends for. Make everyone wonder if you are a celebrity. Never be put into the friend zone again."
On the back cover, under that, is a very young-looking Chase Hughes with a big smile. Chase is from what I can deduce about 44 years old now, so he would have been about 27 when this book came out. I could be wrong on that by a few years. His bio reads: "Chase Hughes has been teaching and researching The Art of Attraction for six years. He resides in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he is stationed in the U.S. Navy." Obviously, a very short bio. I think there's a lot this bio and its brevity tells us about Chase and his experiences in the Navy and in the behavior space, especially when you consider that he set up his chasehughes.com site selling his behavior and influence products only 5 years later. But I'll keep the details of why I think that to myself, as I said, this is not the time for personal opinion.
I'll read a little bit from Chase Hughes' book. I find this stuff very interesting. On the first page, it says: "Imagine you take your first few steps into the bar. People stop what they are doing to look and wonder who you are as you walk. Women are looking you over, adjusting their hair and making sure you see them. Guys are getting out of your way, and you see the body language of the whole room begin to shift towards you. 'Is he a celebrity or something?' you hear from across the bar as a woman that would make most guys fall to their knees walks behind you. You grab her arm, and she takes in a deep breath of excitement that she is able to talk to you. After 2 minutes, she's bringing her friends to meet you, buying you drinks, and touching you every time she laughs. Within 10 minutes, you are kissing her. You tell her things are moving too fast, and you'll come find her later. As you say goodbyes, you walk straight up to the next group of women and repeat the exact same process. It's like this every single night."
"This book is the no-fluff reference guide for men. The simple five-step process you can use tonight. All first-time sexual experiences will revolve around the same basic steps. Remember: FAIRS. Focus, grab attention and hold it. Attract, build attraction by having high status. Interact, use humor and stories to get her going. Resist, play the 'we're moving too fast' game. Seduce, advance. Advance, resist, repeat. A, always. B, be. C, closing. Always be closing."
And just to note here, that when he wrote "you tell her things are moving too fast," the "too" in "too fast" is spelled wrong. It's spelled "to." Just an interesting detail about the quality of the book.
I'd also add that Chase and his later books and products would also frequently talk about them having "no fluff." Here's a disclaimer from the beginning of the book: "This book was written for entertainment purposes only. The contents of this book are not to be considered as legal, professional, or spiritual advice. This book is not intended to be read by anyone under the age of 18. The author assumes no responsibility for any result of reading this book. In fact, this book should not be read by anyone ever." This is pretty much the same disclaimer in other books of his. For example, this is almost verbatim the disclaimer from his ellipses manual.
And there's a diagram at the beginning of the book. It's called the 5-2-6 Method. It's a chart with several lines across it and a key explaining what various things mean, similar to his later Behavioral Table of Elements. It's pretty hard to understand at a glance what exactly is going on, even when you read the the key. I'll skip over a lot of this. I'm just looking at a few random parts of the book that are interesting.
From what I've seen of other pickup artist stuff, this seems pretty standard for the genre. Here's a snippet from page 27: "W - Willingness to accept her. Here you will tell her specific things you like about her that she's never heard before. These will validate her experience with you. She does not want to feel like a [ __ ]. So this is why we are making sure she knows exactly why we like her. Kissing will happen here. Nothing is more satisfying to women than the feeling of having earned a man's affection. The watchword in willingness is validation. When you validate parking, you give it justification and reason. The same goes for your girl."
This was an interesting section dealing with other guys. He writes: "If you aren't sure if he's with her, but he comes in the conversation and starts trying to make fun of you or tell you to go away, simply tell him there's nothing to worry about because you are gay. The guy will believe you, but women are extremely intuitive, and she will know you aren't." This was all kind of interesting to me. I wouldn't have predicted that acting gay when slightly threatened would be an alpha male gentleman strategy.
On the next page, he follows up with more thoughts on the advanced acting gay strategy. "Don't ever be afraid or embarrassed to act gay or completely out of a fight if your safety is at risk." The word "ever" is in all caps, really emphasizing the need to be courageous enough to pretend to be gay when necessary.
Towards the end of the book, on page 160, Chase talks about relationship advice in the long term or longer term. On page 165, he writes: "Women are very simple to maintain and need only the slightest amount of maintenance. I don't care if you think you have a high-maintenance woman, she's not with the right man who knows his role in the relationship as a man. She can relax and be a natural woman."
On the acknowledgments page, he thanks his wife. He also mentions a few friends of his, including Brian Mittenberg, who he refers to as wingman. Another friend he mentions is John at the Cave, who he refers to as true alpha male.
Now, to be clear, I'm not sharing this stuff because I'm trying to shame Chase for being into pickup artistry when he was young. We all have our own opinions on that stuff, and I'm not doing this because I think his pickup artist endeavors, however seemingly immature, preclude him from later becoming an advanced behavior and influence expert. I include this stuff because I think it's pertinent to our examination of Chase's background. It's pertinent to how he talks about his work and the things he claims he can do. Again, it's up to you to think about what these claims tell us about Chase and his alleged expertise.
Here's a post that Chase made on a pickup artist forum from 2008.
"Brothers, Chase Hughes here. I am the owner and founder of the Hawaii Lair and have just traveled through Singapore and Hong Kong and had the opportunity to party with their Lairs. Just a note here, Lairs are the pickup artist community's word for pickup artist hangouts. Great people. I would love to Sarge with anyone while I'm in Cypress in a couple weeks. And I note that Sarge means going out in the town to pick up girls. I've never been there and I'm pretty excited to see it. I trying trying to unite the Lairs everywhere I go so that I can meet everyone. Everyone has been very hospitable about me. I have been doing pickup for almost 6 years now and I've been teaching it for a little over three. I've given seminars with Jeffy, Tyler Duran, Jay Lake, and Mystery. I published a book on pickup last year and it has been doing well. I would be more than happy to Sarge, have a few drinks, or even boot camp a few guys. I have tons of pickup material on thumb drives as well and would be willing to pass it on to anyone. I will also upload my ebook to the Lair if you'd like."
And he gives a link to his book, and he gives a link to his site, themenspassport.com, and he gives his email, which is a Navy email.
"I look very much forward to meeting all of you guys. Please email me if you'd like to meet up in a couple of weeks. Fraternally, Chase Hughes."
Now, let's look at the Wayback Machine backup of his 2007 site, themenspassport.com. The site shows that he was using the name CK Hughes at that time. Near the top of the page, it says: "Create a girlfriend anywhere in about 3 minutes." Then there's some testimonials towards the bottom. One says: "This book will be passed down for generations." That's by a Brian M. of St. Louis, Missouri. This name seems similar to the Brian Mittenberg that Chase thanks in the book. Another one says: "I never thought this was was possible unless you were a celebrity." From Dan A. of PBX Lair, Oregon. I think that's supposed to be PDX Lair. PDX is the airport code for Portland.
Despite claims that he was well-known in the pickup artist community, I couldn't find evidence for that. His book on Amazon, as stated, only had one review from back when it was released, and I couldn't find any mentions of his work aside from things he's written. But it's of course possible he was well-known in the pickup artist world.
So, what else was Chase into at that time? He also had a YouTube channel for a company called Red Shift Labs. On that channel, he shared what was allegedly advanced fighting and covert ops type knowledge. These were videos from around early 2008. There were 21 videos in all. The output didn't seem to last very long. Let's watch a few of those. I'll just flip through a few so you can get the idea.
"This is kind of a universal maneuver when you really need to take somebody down to Chinatown. Whenever the arm comes up, you're going to step in. First thing you're going to do is step in. Your arm's going to go over and lock right on the shoulder blade, and you're going to twist your body and push down. It's over. And you can hold them like this as long as you need to. See people get kneed, kicked, and punched, the growing in the movies all the time. This is the proper way to do it to a male assailant."
"Hey, we're coming to you live from the Honolulu airport here at Makani Kai Helicopters. Uh, anything that happens in a helicopter, the first thing you want to do, if the pilot gets knocked out, is take control of this guy right here. This is the cyclic control. It controls the up, down, left, and right motion of the helicopter. The maneuver we're about to teach to you, it's called the Omega Punch Strike. It is possibly lethal and very dangerous. So, this to be used only for the protection of your life or the lives of others when something is at risk. What you're going to do is step towards your attacker as fast as possible and come in at a level like this, where your head is even with his abdomen. Your right hand is going to come up as fast as possible and glide up his chest until you reach his chin, and you're going to follow through all the way. This is going to be all done in about a quarter of a second, all the way up into the chin, and most people actually lift off the ground when this maneuver is actually conducted."
Thanks. For what it's worth, I couldn't find anything online about an Omega Strike fighting technique, so I assume it's a term invented by Chase. I searched online for other references to Chase Hughes and fighting-related terms, but this video channel was all I could find.
So, what other things did Chase Hughes' company, Red Shift Labs, get up to? Here's his redshiftlabs.com website from 2007. It sells a product they call Red Shift with Nerium, with both words having a trademark symbol beside them. This product could apparently do a lot of things. Here's a few things from the homepage: "Fat burning, energy boost, fog lifting, razor-sharp mental focus, explosive, long-lasting mood enhancement. You'll feel that within minutes. Your veins pump new life. Your physical energy and mental focus soar to mind-blowing heights. Your brain is overloaded with electrifying positivity and determination. Red Shift with Nerium technology is designed to drastically uplift your mood and flood your mind with positive reinforcement, intense focus, faster reaction speed, and earth-shattering determination, so that nothing stands in your way."
Here's the testimonials page. I'll read a few of these. "Red Shift gave me the unfair advantage I needed to stay focused and in great shape while I was deployed. I was amazed by the results in such a short time, and I'm blown away by what Nerium did for my mood." - Brian Mittenberg, US Navy. If that name sounds familiar, that's because it was one of the friends Chase thanked at the back of his pickup artist book, his wingman.
Another testimonial reads: "Red Shift brought me to a whole new level. Everyone thought I had won the lottery or something on my first day, and that was only the beginning. I am a changed man. Red Shift has earned a permanent place in my cut cycle. I won't go without it." - John Cave, US Navy. If that name sounds familiar, that's because this was the true alpha male Chase thanked in his book.
And there are a few more testimonials on that page. There's a page titled "10 Reasons to Use It." I'll read just a few of these entries. "1. Red Shift is used by Navy SEALs, surgeons, US Marshals, personal trainers, and college students for its ability to dramatically and immediately improve energy level, mental focus, reduce stress, and enhance your mood. We guarantee immediate results. No need to use Red Shift for months to get results. 2. Red Shift has been featured in publications from Navy News to the Houston Chronicle and have gained international recognition to be the world's best. 3. Red Shift has been used by all branches of the United States Armed Forces. These intense environments have put Red Shift to the ultimate test and has succeeded every time. 4. Red Shift is manufactured and tested in a state-of-the-art facility that is independently inspected, verified, and scientifically tested." It goes on for a bit more.
On the frequently asked questions page, one entry reads: "Do Navy SEALs really use it?" "Yes, not only do Navy SEALs use it, Red Shift spans the spectrum of the U.S. armed forces and government agencies."
So, what is this amazing Nerium substance that Chase Hughes is selling? I searched online for it and I couldn't find anything about it. It seems to be a term made up by the people who created Red Shift. What I did find were several accounts on fitness forums talking about the Red Shift product.
On a forum at free-trainers.com, someone was talking about this product. The post is from a user named kfit and it reads: "Hi, I was wondering if anyone has tried Red Shift with Nerium. I'm thinking of trying it, but I like to get feedback before trying new supplements. I tried some that don't mix well with my medication, FX or XR. Yohimbe was the worst for me, almost ended up in the hospital, so I tread carefully now before trying new stuff. Any information would be appreciated."
The second post is from a user named nutritionist281 in January of 2008 and it reads: "Have been on this stuff on and off for almost 3 weeks. I have recommended to several clients and I have done a lot of research on this stuff. My personal results have been tremendous. The mood and focus ingredients in the supplement are one of the only ones I've seen that don't counteract each other. PS: Take with food."
The third post is from a user who sarcastically writes: "Thank you for the outstanding endorsement with your first post." In another thread, a user named kudu writes: "I just tried a new supplement called Red Shift with Nerium. I've never tried anything quite like it, and I've tried lots of supplements."
A few months after that, another post writes: "I have been using Red Shift or Nerium for 2 months now. It was made by two guys in the special forces and it was designed for combat use. Once civilians got wind of it, the market exploded haha. My trainer was the one who showed it to me first haha. Credit to Jeff."
A few months after that, the fourth post in the thread, a user wrote: "Have any of you tried to order Red Shift recently? I just heard about it, called the number on the website, and got a recording that it was not valid. I also couldn't find an order form on their website. Are they still in business? I'd appreciate any help with this. Thanks."
About a year after that third post, a user named Christy G writes: "Hi, I am just now seeing your post. The owners of the company dissolved the company last year due to deployment. I was their assistant and had downgraded my VA services around the same time. Chase H, one of the owners, has recently turned the product over to me to sell as I see fit. I have over 500 bottles and will not be producing anymore, and I'm not taking over for the company, simply selling the remaining product. If you are still interested, please contact me and I will sell this supplement to you at a reduced cost. It's a great product and I've been using it for over a year now. I just don't need 500 bottles of it. Smiley face. Thanks so much, Christy G."
There were a few more posts promoting Red Shift on other forums, but you likely get the idea. And again, aside from the website and the few forum posts mentioned, I saw no evidence of Red Shift or Nerium being talked about by anyone. No sign that it was popular. But again, I'm not here to bias your thinking. Maybe it was very popular. Maybe it really was used by all branches of the Armed Forces, by Navy SEALs and US Marshals. Maybe it really did gain international attention despite no one talking about it online. Maybe Chase Hughes really did have a state-of-the-art laboratory where he invented an amazing and unique compound called Nerium that increases mental functionality and improves mood. Maybe this product really was extremely popular, but the only reason Chase Hughes stopped selling it was because he had to ship out for his Navy deployment. I hate when that happens. If you're interested in getting a bottle of Red Shift, reach out to Christy G. She might have a few more bottles left.
So, all that stuff – the amazing vitamin supplement, the fighting videos, the pickup artist stuff – was happening in 2007 and 2008. From what I can tell, the chasehughes.com website appeared first in 2012, only four years after those accounts were promoting Red Shift on fitness forums.
Let's take a tour of Chase's 2012 website. The homepage reads: "What if you could see the private thoughts of everyone you meet? Welcome to the private world that is always on public display. Imagine sitting in a cafe with a friend as your friend tells you about a jacket he just bought. You know he fibbed about the price a little. The waitress hands you your coffee, and without a word, you know that she is bulimic. You gaze at the couple across a few tables, and you immediately see that she's ready to leave them, simply by looking at her feet, hands, and eyes. You also notice by his hands that he's been hiding years of financial debt from her and has no intention of telling her. The other couple at a closer table, you know from a momentary glance that he is a chemical engineer and she is in real estate. You've also noticed that while they are both married, they aren't married to each other. The man at the bar stool came in about 30 seconds ago and sat down. By looking at his clothing, his lips, and his eyes, and his left thumb, you tell your friend it's time to go. 'Why? We just got here,' he says. He agrees when you tell him the man at the bar is about to rob the cafe with a gun. I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed, and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs 215 lbs and knows how to handle himself."
On a page of his site titled "Reading People," we see some pictures of index cards with behavioral notes on them. We also see an image of a car marked up with notes about it, like "clean inside, no clutter, and knows the car well, parked just over the curb," and pointing to the sticker on the windshield, "oil change made on time." It seems that Chase can also teach you how to read cartels, although honestly, these reads seem a bit basic.
On a page titled "Lessons Outline," we see assorted things he teaches. This includes "Top Mistakes Law Enforcement Officers Make," "Advanced Detection of Micro-Expressions," "Deception Detection," "Advanced Mind Games and Interviewing and Questioning," "Unorthodox but Legal Psychology Loopholes," "Introduction to Neurolinguistic Interviewing," and quite a few more.
Here's his testimonial page. One testimonial from David Gustafson of Texas reads: "This type of training is much too rare in law enforcement. The training my troopers receive today puts them years ahead of the others in the non-verbal skill set. This needs to be a standardized training for all law enforcement. Some of what we learn today may save one of our lives in the future."
One testimonial comes from Dan Allenby of Intel. He says: "Our team had no idea what was coming. An innovative, captivating, and genuine speaker. Chase has all of us feeling like mind readers now. Thanks." I looked up Dan Allenby and saw that he worked at Intel in Oregon during that time as a maintenance technician. I was curious why Intel would have someone like Chase training a maintenance technician and reading behavior. When I reached out to Dan Allenby about that, he seemed hesitant to give me any details and he said, "I can't recall the exact testimonial you're asking about. That was quite some time ago for me." When I showed him his testimonial, he didn't give me any more information and he suggested I ask Chase about it.
Another interesting detail here. One of the people who gave Chase a testimonial for his pickup artist book was a Dan A. from Oregon. It seems possible that Dan A. is Dan Allenby, who worked at Intel, which is outside Portland, Oregon. Dan also says in his LinkedIn profile that he was in the Navy, which is another connection they share.
There's a testimonial from an anonymous person from The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce with a picture of a sign showing that Chase Hughes was doing a training there, and that's Cleveland, Texas, not Ohio. All the people on this page, the ones named, seemed like real people to me on a quick search, with the exception of one name. That testimonial reads: "Chase was unorthodox, outside the box, and the most captivating speaker I've heard to date. His insight and delivery changed all of us. We attended the two-day advanced course and learned more than most CIA interrogators, I'm sure. Many thanks, Hughes." That quote comes from Abdul Al Risan, president of Nashid Investments, Saudi Arabia. I searched for his name and the company name but couldn't find anything that seemed relevant.
Also, at this time, using Google to search for mentions in the 2012 time frame, I found almost no mention of Chase Hughes apart from his website. I didn't see any references to training he was doing or behavior-related work he was doing. They might be out there, but I couldn't find them easily.
Let's look at his site a year later, in 2013. At that time, he was working on something he called the Human Codex, which he also refers to as the People Reading Bible. He says this resource will allow you to do the following: "Literally see a person's entire life and personality by a momentary glance. Identify wrinkles in a person's shirt. Accurately read every body language gesture. Know intimate secrets simply by observing how objects are placed in a room. Immediately spot insecurity, doubt, neediness, fear, loneliness, and deception. Detect lies with amazing accuracy. Immediately identify what tattoos mean. Spot criminals long, long before a crime. See meaning behind scratches on fingernails and picked cuticles. Interview with more skill than a CIA interrogator. Break down a person's entire life by the contents of their car. Look at a person's shoes and be able to accurately describe their daily habits and lifestyle. Look at a person's legs and immediately know if they are trusting or suspicious. And 6,14 other amazing techniques just like these."
I have to say, in that list, the least exciting skill to me was identifying wrinkles in a person's shirt. I'm surprised he put that at the number two spot. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to read shirt wrinkle tells. I just would have put it farther down the list.
Let's go to 2014. That's when he initially put up his Behavioral Table of Elements. The homepage at that time reads: "Have you ever wondered how the people reading gurus on TV are able to completely profile a person's life by a single shoelace or a parting of the lip? What if you could do the same thing without 10 years of research? With the most innovative and groundbreaking people reading and behavior profiling technology in human history, the power to profile behavior even better than the pros can be in your hands today. Chase Hughes has given us a method that puts the user far ahead of Sherlock Holmes and the CIA alike. These programs are, without question, the most cutting-edge people reading and behavior analysis tools on planet Earth. The Behavioral Table of Elements is a behavior analysis tool that enables the detection of deception with the same or greater accuracy than a CIA polygraph."
Let's read his bio page at that time. "Chase Hughes, a native of Houston, Texas, has been involved with nonverbal research and innovation for nearly 12 years. The author of three books and reference volumes and over 13 articles covering topics from cult brainwashing to the use of clandestine hypnosis techniques in interrogations. Currently on active duty in the United States Navy, he has been teaching, researching, and coaching in body language, non-verbal communication, and deception detection during his entire career. His published works on cult victim deprogramming and neurology-based hypnosis have changed the way many forensic and psychiatric practitioners conduct business. Chase now lives in Little Creek, Virginia, and has worked with training and coaching interrogators, HR teams, and law enforcement. His behavioral analysis of political debates and televised crime testimonies have become the new benchmark for over 29 United States media outlets. The Behavioral Table of Elements was originally developed in 2011 and was made public in 2013. It is being employed by government and corporate agencies nationwide, including the U.S. government and FBI. The Behavioral Table continues to evolve as an organic structure and has proven extremely effective both as a training and an analysis tool. The Ellipses system is available only to specific clients and garnered its first media attention in 2012. Chase's system has trademarked the term 'pre-behavior' and the P7 system relies heavily on this concept. The Weaponized Communication Manual has gained a lot of media attention. The new manual, to be released in early 2015, contains the most advanced, comprehensive training and reference system in the world. The book focuses on the use of advanced psychology tactics, interrogation methods, profiling, and exploiting human weakness, and using neurology-based hypnosis to engineer human behavior. As a recognized jury consultant, Chase has become a specialist in training legal teams to recognize and analyze body signals from the way a shoe is laced to the inadvertent parting of the lips during questioning. Most of Chase's work is done at no charge while he is still in the U.S. Navy."
I want to repeat that. When I used Google to examine results during that time period, I could find no relevant mention of him in the 2012 to 2014 time range about being a known expert at behavior analysis. He mentions that his analysis methods became, quote, "the new benchmark for over 29 United States media outlets," but I could find no evidence of that.
Now, again, I should say it's entirely possible that he had massive success and national fame for his behavior analysis work while not being mentioned at all on the internet. Maybe it was a purposeful attempt to keep a low profile. I don't know. I'm just presenting information. You be the judge.
There's a "Covert Psychology" page on that page. It reads: "By far the most addicting experience you will ever have." The top of the page cycles through various images of official-looking books. One is titled "Ellipses Operator Manual to the Human Mind." One is titled "Activating Psychological Submission." Some of them have official-looking logos in the corner that read "Black Ops Program."
Part of that page reads, "The Ellipses Manual contains world-first information available nowhere else on planet Earth." It goes on, "A person can be hypnotized against their will. A person can and will perform extremely violent and antisocial acts under hypnosis without their consent or knowledge and will disregard safety, morals, and law."
"Using the Ellipses Manual gives an operator complete access to the psychological compromise of almost any human being they encounter. The Ellipses Manual teaches operators a world-first set of methods ranging from covert creation of multiple personality disorder to developing mental slavery scenarios wherein a subject will disregard all beliefs."
Further down, it says, "From the first day, you will be able to read the thoughts of people you interact with, and you will eventually learn to control them as well. This is most assuredly a life-changing experience that will continue to grow with you forever. The feeling that comes with knowing your words will work like covert instruments of psychological control is an incredible and powerful feeling."
Further down, it reads, "This is a weapon. The Ellipses Manual can be used to commit crimes, cause injury, and even death. It is as much a weapon as an assault rifle. You absolutely will go through a background check to order this book as a civilian. As an added bonus, your name and social security number will be watermarked across the pages of the printed copy you receive as well."
It also reads, "The process from start to finish of creating an alter ego are included, along with the covert methods of installing personality traits of the altar and developing complete psychological submission from even the most resistant subjects."
One section says, "And anyone you meet is a conversation away from drastically modified behavior." Accompanying that text is an image of a woman dressed in a bridal dress, smiling and wielding a chainsaw with blood splattered on her.
On a behavioral profiling page, it talks about Chase's Behavioral Table of the Elements. It has a quote that reads, "Quite possibly what will replace and outperform the polygraph," from a J. Thomas Preston, PhD. I searched for that name and couldn't find anyone who seemed a likely match to have said such a thing, but again, it's entirely possible there's a J. Thomas Preston, PhD, out there who's a big fan of Chase's Behavioral Table of the Elements.
The page reads, "As an analysis tool, for the first time in world history, an interaction can be mathematically broken down into accurate and universally understood gestures, behaviors, deception, and vocal indicators." It also says, "Official US Government Edition available now for pre-release to the public."
Further down, it says, "$1995 until pre-release ends. Government table will increase to $246. $681 upon public release in the 2014 time range."
"There are quite a few links to pages from single letters in various paragraphs. These are kind of hard to see. It's like little Easter eggs sprinkled across his site."
"This 'onlet' link takes us to this page which reads, 'There are extremely unusual loopholes in our minds that allow full control. There are exactly 31 loopholes in the human brain that allow full neurological compromise.' Neurological compromise means that a subject will disregard laws, safety, and moral judgment in order to follow directions and complete tasks they believe are their idea."
"More hidden links are here on the site somewhere for the curious and inclined." End quote.
On another page, it reads, "Ellipses has the proven ability for trained practitioners to erase memories and even create new ones. Why should this program be any different than any other mind control or covert hypnosis program? Program Ellipses is proven, and no other program in the world has featured the techniques within Ellipses. That's right, not one [ __ ] program. That's what it says."
"Here's a page from his 2014 site about how Chase can help you at the casino and with poker. He says he'll help you create engineered outcomes in poker and that his advanced manipulation techniques are 'now available in the casino.'"
"He says you can 'modify the behavior of your opponents, increase non-verbal gestures, and magnify the nervousness of anyone at the table.' He says you can 'establish trust in less than 1 minute with any opponent.'"
"At the bottom of that page, he has trainings listed. For example, it reads, 'Hollywood, January 16th through 18th. Las Vegas, January 23rd through 26th. February 6th through 8th. Celebrity Invitational Golfport, Mississippi, March 6th through the 8th.' But there are no details about where these trainings are exactly or links to learn more."
"As I stated, I could find no information via Google for that time period about any trainings Chase was doing."
"Let's go to Chase's site a couple years later in 2016. One page of his site has in the URL 'dangerous-girls' and the title of the page is 'Project Evergreen: Women Trained to Become Psychological Weapons.' It reads, 'Every year, we take one beautiful young woman and teach her the most dangerous, covert, and powerful psychological warfare methods on planet Earth. The results are always astonishing and fun. Our goal was originally to teach the most dangerous techniques to the nicest young ladies we could find. These girls learned covert hypnosis, interrogation, psychological thought control methods, behavior profiling, lie detection, and a whole lot more.'"
"As the Charlie's Angels jokes started coming in, the program simply became an annual thing. The program continues to this day, and each of the graduates have become actual psychological weapons. They have the ability to heal, defend, protect, and repair people. However, they also have the ability to control, manipulate, and engineer behavior."
"Our vetting program started in March 2011, and we found Joanna. She had amazing social intelligence and a perfectly conscientious mental state. As Joanna was the first weapon we created and the first civilian graduate of the program, she gets the benefit of having gone through the toughest, most beneficial training. This research project continues with new students, and we continuously monitor the progress of the young fem fatales as they grow up. All of the Evergreen girls have been thoroughly screened and have proven to be extremely conscientious, caring, and invested in the betterment of humanity."
"Further down the page, it reads, 'Meet Amanda, the 2015 Evergreen girl. After 39 interviews, we found Amanda. Listen to her interview below. She is fun, charismatic, smart, humble, responsible, and beautiful. The perfect weapon. She met with Chase at a local Starbucks for her interview and absolutely nailed the posi-position. Sorry, having trouble giving it together for this one.'"
"Amanda is originally from Illinois and now lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She is majoring in she's majoring in Marine Biology and loves animals. She may change her major to psychology. We didn't make her. She's about to learn the darkest and most closely guarded secrets of covert psychology."
"There are several SoundCloud audio talks with this person, but they've all been deleted."
"Further down the page, it reads, 'Past Evergreen Girls: Level Seven, Angela Buers, number three, H Hon, Texas, Sam Houston State University, accounting major, graduated November 2014.' Another one reads, 'Joanna B., the first weapon, College Station, Texas, Texas A&M University, Joanna graduated Ellipses in March 2012.'"
"Another page contains information about the Evergreen program. More details. It reads, 'One girl will have the opportunity of a lifetime. WTF is Evergreen? The project was originally thought of in a conversation when we began training a female from Texas. Her name is Joanna. As her training progressed, the Charlie's Angels jokes started to fly. We took that and ran with it, and now there are three awesome and scarily powerful girls roaming the Earth.'"
"The entire program will take place in Virginia Beach, Virginia, so, so you must live here and have a plan to stay for the duration of the training. The Evergreen training consists of one-on-one training with Chase Hughes."
"It also reads, 'You do not have to pay anything, and all we ask is that you have a few hours a week and that you are comfortable being recorded in audio. If you really want to close escrow, well, you got to have an angle. Suppose you have an angle. It's killer.'"
"Another page is titled 'Document Fault.' It reads, 'Reminder: The Moral Use of Ellipses Disclaimer and Waiver of Liability is required to be signed annually by all clients. If your login is not functioning, this is the likely reason. Contact Natalie and Support to receive a copy.' From the word Natalie, there's a link to an email address: Natalie.Morris@ChaseHughes.com."
"Going to LinkedIn, we can find a Natalie Morris LinkedIn page that says she's an executive assistant at Ellipses Behavior Laboratories. She has three followers and no posts."
"A search for Natalie Morris and Ellipses online turns up this Pinterest board. It has a picture of a woman in the URL 'ellipsesbehavior.com.' In her bio, one of her posts is a promotion for Chase's 'Dangerous Women' program. It reads, 'Women training to be modern-day sirens. Dangerous Black Op psychology training is being conducted. Ellipses Behavior Laboratories is training a fleet of girls to become psychological weapons,' and then that links to a site."
"But when I do a reverse image search of Natalie Morris's profile pic, I found that the woman's image is a stock photo. I haven't seen any other evidence that Natalie Morris is a real person."
"Well, that's bringing us near the end of our journey. I hope you've enjoyed learning about Chase Hughes, a man who seems to have elite powers in just about everything: seducing women in minutes, punching people to death quickly, controlling people and getting them to do immoral acts against their will, turning beautiful women into advanced psychological weapons, crafting advanced supplements and secret laboratories. And from what I can tell, he seems entirely self-taught, making his knowledge even more impressive. A modern Renaissance man."
"But I want to know, what do you think about Chase Hughes? Maybe you could leave a comment in the YouTube comments with your read on things. What subtle clues were you able to spot? What advanced deductions have you put together after learning all these things? I'd be curious to know how much you would trust Chase Hughes. For example, let's say you went to Chase's site in 2019 and you saw this schedule of events where it reads things like, 'November 11th through 14th, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, private event, law enforcement only. December 1st through 3rd, Huntsville, Alabama, tactical behavior science, law enforcement only. December 6th through the 14th, in Germany, Private Client group.' Would you trust that those were real events? Would you trust that those trainings actually happened? Or would you have some doubts?"
"Or let's say you were reading Chase's book, The Ellipses Manual, and you see the following paragraph: 'When doing regression work with Ellipses methods, you can strategically let loose the smell of moth balls during conversations about people's memories of their grandparents' homes or their childhood memories of other people who spoiled them. Ellipses research has proved this to be about 70% effective in activating stronger and more emotional memories in subjects. Operators can carry a small sandwich bag in the field to open it inside of a pocket during regressive conversational work.'"
"I'd be curious if you would trust Chase when he says he's conducted such research. I'd ask you, would you have 100% trust that Chase Hughes has in fact done extensive moth ball regression research? Do you think Chase can teach her to read people within seconds and hypnotize them without them knowing? Do you think if Chase and I met before I made this video, he would have been able to hypnotize me into not making this video? Would he have been able to control me like The Manchurian Candidate? Is it possible he might activate one of his Evergreen girls to come after me for making this video? I don't know. These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night."
"Leave a comment, let me know what you think, and share this video if you would with people interested in body language and reading behavior. Let's get some more opinions on this. Maybe we can all figure this puzzle out together."
"Maybe you're a Chase Hughes fan and you're angry at me, and you're wondering who the hell I am to criticize such a respected expert. Well, to that, I'd say it shouldn't really matter who I am. What matters is who Chase Hughes is. This is a video anyone could have made. This has very little to do with me. But since you asked, or since I imagined you asked, I'll oblige."
"I started this podcast of mine, 'People Who Read People,' as an offshoot of my poker tells work. I played poker for a living for about three and a half years, and that led to me writing some books on poker behavior, AKA poker tells, which many poker players, both recreational and serious professional players, have liked a lot. If you go to my site, readingpoker.com, you'll see some reviews. I do think I've written the best books about poker tells, and that's something I say only after hearing many people I respect say that."
"I'll also say that what I've never done is exaggerate my background and experience. I've always been honest about the stakes I've played and what games I've played. I've always been honest about not being an expert at poker strategy, but just very interested in and understanding poker behavior. I've also been very honest about the limits of using tells. They are a small part of playing strong live poker. They won't turn a bad poker player into a winning player."
"For what it's worth, I did send an email to Chase Hughes on August 28th, telling him I was going to be doing an episode on these topics, but I didn't get any response. I also add that all my research for this episode was quite basic. All this stuff anyone can find without much effort. I'm not a highly skilled researcher and honestly didn't even try that hard, which begs the question: what else is out there? What stuff from Chase's early years has been deleted, or what's still out there that might be a bit harder to find? How many other Evergreen girls might still be out there?"
"Some of you may still be wondering, 'But what about Chase's ideas? The concepts that he shares? Even if he was hawking vitamin supplements of dubious merit, maybe he has actually learned a lot. Maybe he really does know what he's talking about. What about his work with this Behavior Panel show? Aren't those ideas credible? A lot of people watch that show. Chase has been promoted by Dr. Phil, for Christ's sake. Is nothing real or sacred in this world?'"
"Okay, calm down. We'll get through this. On the next episode, we'll get into those topics. We'll talk about the ideas that Chase has written about in his books and on his website and talk about in his videos. We'll talk about deception detection, mind control, neurolinguistic programming, hypnosis, and more. I might not get that episode out for a little while."
"So, in the meantime, if you did like this episode, go check out my website, behaviorpodcast.com, and check out some of the best of compilations of episodes. I've got many episodes about reading and understanding and predicting human behavior in all sorts of arenas. If you're into behavior, thanks for watching, and please hit subscribe."
"Music by Small Skies."
"I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody."