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Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

in the footsteps of giants

@jeffreykoval has written a very flattering piece that covers my virtual appearance at the LHFF, which I very much enjoyed, so it’s satisfying to know the attendees got a lot out of it. I’ve included the intro here, but I encourage you to visit @jeffreykoval‘s blog and enjoy the other posts as well.

in the footsteps of giants

Years ago, in the early days of our work on the Monolith, I had begun extensively researching ARGs, having only vaguely heard the term when I was younger. I’ve talked about it before, but there was a sort of chicken and the egg situation when we really started to get the project rolling. I knew “what” an ARG was, but never had the words. Growing up, I participated in I Love Bees and thought the concept was incredible, but didn’t have the terminology for it. Obviously, the allure of making media that felt “real” was always there from the beginning of the project, but a few deep-dives around 2010 brought everything into a new perspective.

Especially when I realized that the godfather of all alternate reality games was set in our own New Jersey.Joseph Matheny created what would become known as Ong’s Hat in the late 80s and it flourished into the early days of the accessible Internet. He was an OG, working on projects that pioneered the commercial aspect of it, while also tuning into what made it wonderful and punk rock, too. He deemed the work an “interdisciplinary art experiment” and acknowledges that the more popular terms would become the ARG and transmedia we know today.

When we had first started our project, two works most clearly inspired me (and us) to produce the Monolith the way we did, heaving the “audience participation” onto the path that ultimately unfurled. Those were Ong’s Hat and (obviously) House of Leaves. I would be remiss to omit my love for the Series of Unfortunate Events that consumed my attention when I was a kid, as well.

All of that is to say, it’s an incredibly small world out there, and when I was partly assisting in the development of the 2025 LHFF, there was a focus on Internet storytelling, in addition to the staple of independent production. Every year, there was a guest (or two, or three) that we really wanted to feature, and with this year’s focus on Internet storytelling, I thought it might be worth a shot to reach out to that godfather himself.

And he warmly responded.

READ THE REST HERE

Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Tales of perpetual fire, demons and ghosts haunt these creepy US towns

It’s that time of the year again! Every Samhain, the Internet lights up (or darkens?) with spooky stories and inevitably, Ong’s Hat gets thrown into the mix. Here’s an entry from this year’s mentions. Expect more.
One of several “ghost towns” in the New Jersey pine barrens

New Jersey’s Pine Barrens

The Pine Barrens of New Jersey encompass several towns and counties, and in the most densely populated state in the U.S., it’s a wooded wonderland of weirdness and natural beauty. Legend says the Pine Barrens, which are filled with scrub pine but are far from barren, may also contain a devil. And perhaps a portal to another dimension. In a 1936 book, “Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey,” Henry Charlton Beck described Ong’s Hat, one of many abandoned towns in the Pines, a “vanished town of murder, of prize fights and of isolated country dances,” a place that “a hundred or so years ago, we were told … was a center of life among the Pineys,” with “brawls and fisticuffs, some of them bloody enough.” Weird NJ, a magazine whose name says it all, wondered in 2023 whether there might be even more than a sketchy past, asking, “Ong’s Hat: Piney Ghost Town or Gateway to Another Dimension?” LINK: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/10/20/scariest-us-towns/86478634007/
Alternate Reality Game, COMPLEAT, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Sidetracked – Ong’s Hat, Incunabula, and Online Legend Trips

This episode deviates slightly from the stories of ghosts and demons featured in most episodes to discuss one of the internet’s earliest conspiracy theories. This story contains travel to alternate Earths, encounters with paranormal phenomena, mysticism and chaos magic, shadowy government agents bent on stripping humanity of freedom, and lots of drugs and sex. It can also teach us a lot about how paranormal folklore develops and spreads online. Also, it explains how a pulp science fiction writer popular with the hippies is connected to Reaganomics and Q-Anon. So, listen and learn about Ong’s Hat and the Incunabula.

https://soundcloud.com/user-64125934/103-sidetracked-ongs-hat-incunabula-and-online-legend-trips

Alternate Reality Game, COMPLEAT, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Unfolding Alternate Realities, Ong’s Hat, Synchronicity and more with Joseph Matheny

Consensus Unreality
LINK: https://consensusunreality.podbean.com/e/unfolding-alternate-realities-ongs-hat-synchronicity-and-more-with-joseph-matheny/ A deep and roving interview with the great artist and writer Joseph Matheny. We talk: the origins of his legendary Ong’s Hat project in the very early days of the internet; mail art, collaboration,  and finding new media; the trajectory of ARGs and the internet; the power of synchronicity and art in driving a life’s path; location and folklore; much, much more. Not to be missed! Hear this first hour on Spotify, Youtube, Apple, and other podcast sources The Full Episode and much more at https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality Intro music by Treatment https://treatmentforu.bandcamp.com/album/pond-life
Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Uncategorized

LEAKED Portal Experiments in New Jersey?

LOUD AUDIBLE SIGH

“Ong’s Hat” might be the most bizarre early internet story that’s ever existed.

It’s a mystery named after a ghost town called Ong’s Hat in New Jersey—a mystery revolving around mad science experiments in the woods, a portal to another world, and a trail of leaked information online that some believe reveals the truth of all that’s secretly gone on there.

Who’s behind it? Or is there anything behind it at all?

Rob Counts dived into the history of Ong’s Hat to trace it back to the source, and tasked remote viewer John Vivanco to help get to the bottom of what really happened in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

Alternate Reality Game, COMPLEAT, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Ong’s Hat episode of Historicon (not in English)

You can skip to the 1 hour 23 minutes mark to listen an audio clip I sent to the hosts and listen to Constantinos & Pavlos reaction.
H φίλη και host του “Breaking the 20%” έρχεται στο στούντιο για να μας μιλήσει για την πρώτη θεωρία συνομωσίας του ιντερνετ! Παράλληλοι κόσμοι, μυστικοί κωδικοί και ένα twist στο τέλος που ΘΑ ΣΑΣ ΑΝΑΤΙΝΑΞΕΙ ΤΑ ΜΥΑΛΑ! https://open.spotify.com/episode/5bowWlyJlkwtZb1eEFMd6L
Alternate Reality Game, COMPLEAT, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Ong’s Hat: The Internet Myth That Became a Reality

The strange saga of Ong’s Hat is one of the earliest and most enduring legends of the internet — an elaborate blend of fact, fiction, and possibility. Born in the early days of online bulletin boards, the “Ong’s Hat” story told of a secret interdimensional travel project hidden deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, accessible only to those who could find the right clues.

Was it an Alternate Reality Game before the term even existed? An experimental art piece? Or something more? We explore its origins, the ideas behind the mysterious Incunabula Papers, and the strange way it spread like a meme through the early digital underground.

In this video, we’ll uncover how the story took root, why it captured so many imaginations, the ethics behind its creation, and — just for a moment — we’ll ask: What if it was real?

Alternate Reality Game, COMPLEAT, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

EarMobPodcast Ep. 27 I Read It On The Internet So It Must Be True w. Joseph Matheny

p. 27 I Read It On The Internet So It Must Be True w. Joseph Matheny. Joseph joins us to discuss Ong’s Hat, and how the Internet caused his social experiment to have a life of it’s own. A fun little interview I did with EarMobPodcast 08/11/25, just having some fun and reliving some memories. The host is a nice guy and was pleasant to talk to. Audio version on all major podcast platforms.

Alternate Reality Game, COMPLEAT, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Ongs Hat Compleat – Official Soundtrack

LINK: https://polypores.bandcamp.com/album/ongs-hat-compleat-official-soundtrack

Also, a great write-up of this project: https://moonbuilding.substack.com/p/issue-73-1-august-2025

The soundtrack to the audiobook version of Ong’s Hat: Compleat

New addition: Hat Complete soundtrack! The dl now includes a PDF of the text version of the book, kindly provided by Joseph Matheny. It’s full of links to take you down that rabbithole. If you’ve already got it, just dl it again to get the PDF.

Back in the early 1990s, a conspiracy theory/urban legend was doing the rounds on internet messageboards, about a group of scientists and mystics who opened a portal to an alternative dimension in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. In Ong’s Hat:Compleat, the creator of this fascinating piece of living, infinite art, Joseph Matheny, talks to podcaster and AI wizard Sequoya Kennedy about its intentions and origins, and all manner of highly weird shit that happened in the process.

It’s a tale that intertwines early AI, paranormal encounters, emergent phenomena, and the nascent Internet culture of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The story is a rich tapestry woven from diverse cultural threads:

Psychedelic and avant-garde art movements

Punk rock and industrial music scenes

Experimental theater and method acting

Hermetic magick and beat literature

The Esalen Institute’s influence

Philip K. Dick’s literary works

This narrative is a modern spiritual quest that blends these eclectic elements into a compelling journey.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –

I’m super-thrilled to be involved with this, as a big fan of both Matheny and Kennedy’s previous work. Those who are watching carefully might remember that Matheny’s Ong’s Hat project was a big inspiration behind my album “There Are Other Worlds”, so it really means a lot to be onboard.

The soundtrack was created using a modular synthesizer I put together for the occasion, relying on a number of techniques including (but not limited to) chaos, random generation, feedback loops, tarot, the I Ching, cybernetic systems, trance, self-generation, mind-altering chemicals, The Gateway Tapes, and automatic writing.

I hope some of you will check this out, it’s a fascinating story, weirder than most fiction, and somehow still self-perpetuating…

Check it out here: josephmatheny.com/ongs-hat-compleat/

(Also available on Amazon/Google Play etc)

I’d highly recommend either paperback or audiobook “Ong’s Hat: The Beginning” as a good place to start.

Or the audiobook/podcast “This Is Not A Game” by Marc Fennell — which offers a good intro to the whole thing,

credits

released July 28, 2025

Written and performed by Stephen James Buckley — October 2024

Thanks to Joseph and Sequoya for having me onboard, and to Peter C Hine and his part in making these connections happen.