However, preceding Publius Enigma was what expert Szulborski (2005) suggests was truly the first ARG experience, Ong’s Hat / Incunabula. The Ong’s
Hat experience differed in that it intertwined two different narrative from both Ong’s Hat Ashram
in the 1970’s as well as that of “Incunabla Papers” (Szulborski, 2005a). Moreover, this experience
is only said to have precluded the modern ARG because it began so many years prior to the
introduction of technologies that now characterize the genre. The experience was so large and
spanned over so many years, that experts are unable to agree on when it actually began.
Furthermore, this experience was so ahead of its time that it has been dubbed as a
“literary/digital crossover” (Szulborski, 2005a) that incorporated mediums such as the CD-Rom,
traditional print, bulletin boards and eventually, the internet(Szulborski, 2005a). In fact, a
co-creator of the experience’s CD-Rom has suggested that Ong’s Hat included 23 complex puzzles,
some of which have yet to be solved or even identified (Szulborski,
2005a).
Consequently, many lessons were learned in this generation of ARGs that aided insofar as
identifying feasible experiential scope, depth of cross-media convergence and appropriate timelines
for the current generation. Additionally, because this
generation of ARGs would effectively draw to a close in the early to mid 1990’s, a majority of the technologies that characterize the current generation of ARGs were
beginning to emerge and shape the next generation.
In 2003, I had this idea that a book should be written chronicling the influence that psychedelic drugs and magick had on the development of the early Internet. Granted, my “evidence” was all anecdotal. However, since I was in the trenches during the “dotcom” revolution, I thought I could build a strong case. I pitched it to a couple of publishers. The publishers in question were not convinced that this was really a thing. I think we’d call them “normies.” They also could not envision a marker for such a book. So, I dropped the idea and went about my tech career.
The truth is, I wasn’t the right person for the job. I can say that now. I was too engrossed in developing tech, working on infinite game theory, and championing ARG as a legitimate art form. It would not have received the treatment it deserved as a subject.
I also feel like the time is right for this story, with the advent of LLMs and the ongoing misunderstanding of what AI is, what consciousness is, and why corporations are trying so hard to convince us we need that as a feature in our everyday lives. This book would make a great companion piece to Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT.
When Shira called me a few years ago and said she was interested in writing such a book for MIT, I was overjoyed and quickly began rattling off names of people she should contact. I also told her stories about my own experiences developing “occult tech,” as well as the cultural milieu that literally built the Internet in the 90s through the mid 2000s. I am really glad that the right person for this job stepped up and kept this story from falling down a memory hole.
I won’t kick it to death by categorically reviewing this book’s contents, but rather, I will give it a full-throated endorsement and assure you that you will be in capable hands. The book finally found the right person and the right co-conspirators at the right time to tell this tale.
A added note; if you’re one of those people who can’t get your head around how Ong’s Hat was a game, read this book.
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.
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
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?
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.
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…
Callie: Fun Fact — no one knew it was a Blair Witch remake until we were already attached. To be honest, I did not understand how we were supposed to recreate one of the most conspiratorial films of all time, especially since such a huge part of why the original was so terrifying was due to the fact that there was all this folklore around it. Ong’s Hat was a reference for INVENTION when we first started to explore the conspiratorial themes in the film. I weirdly feel like there are a lot of similarities between Ong’s Hat and the origin stories of how the original Blair Witch came to be…
