Category Archives: Joseph Matheny

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

S01 E01 – Ong’s Hat and Weaponized ARG’s: A Conversation w Joseph Matheny, Ong’s Hat Creator & Transmedia Artist

The Prop Anon Podcast explores the life and work of American novelist, Robert Anton Wilson through interviews and discussions with some of the most cutting-edge artists and thinkers around today. The Prop Anon Podcast presents interviews with Artists, Journalists, Comedians Comic Book Writers, Scientists, Community Activists, and Musicians as we think of ways to make existence, in the words of Bill Hicks, “a better ride” for everyone on Spaceship Planet Earth!

Joseph Matheny, transmedia Artist and creator of Ong’s Hat, the first Alternative Reality Game speaks about ‘weaponized’ ARGs, propaganda, how to free oneself from mental slavery, and works of Robert Anton Wilson

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The Prop Anon Podcast

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

Take these eerie, haunted hikes in the Pine Barrens, Jersey Shore

I had a wonderful conversation with Gabriela L. Laracca of Asbury Park Press which was a rather atypical interview about Ong’s Hat because it focused on one of my passions, long-distance hiking. Here’s a fun article about hiking in Ong’s Hat.
A sand road leading to the Apple Pie Hill fire tower, which is the highest point in the Pine Barrens. The tower is not open to visitors.”Courtesy Of Gabriela L. Laracca
It’s no question that weird things can be felt in the eerily silent trails in the Pine Barrens. The cracking of every twig prompts an over-the-shoulder glance for things unknown. It’s like you’re in a scary movie — or at least getting into the Halloween spirit. For those not faint of heart, mysterious legends are waiting to be found, hidden along the same trails their subjects once walked (or ran) hundreds of years ago. One of these is the Batona Trail (short for “back to nature”), which spans from Pemberton to Little Egg Harbor through 50 miles of sand and pitch pines. It has several trailheads, some with grim stories. The most notorious is the legend of Ong’s Hat. The Ong’s Hat Trailhead is just off of Magnolia Road, which can be reached via Route 70 in Pemberton. The leaf-covered Batona Trail at the Ong’s Hat trailhead in Pemberton. This portion of town, once called Ong’s Hat, was believed to be named after a former resident — and he was a bit of a lady’s man. That was until a woman became angry with him and stomped on his hat, prompting him to storm off in a rage, only to throw his hat into the air and get it stuck in a tree. It hung there as an eerie reminder for years. Visitors began to recognize the town by the hat, and all that’s left today of the small village are ruins of a ghost town that no one seems to be able to find. Now for the fun part: Some believe it’s a portal to an alternate dimension.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

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

Subliminal Deception: A Conspiracy Theory Podcast- Ep 173: Ong’s Hat and the Birth of Creepy Pasta’s

In this week’s Episode of The Subliminal Deception Podcast, Cody and Phil discuss what has been called the Internets first Viral Creepy Pasta, the legend of Interdimensional Travelers previously based in Ong’s Hat, New Jersey, focusing on the creation of Creepy Pasta’s and what makes them so compelling. https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/xj8ji6/SD_Ep_173_Ong_Hats6i4qj.mp3?_=1 Show page: https://subliminaldecpectionpodcast.podbean.com/e/ep-173-ong-s-hat-and-the-birth-of-creepy-pasta-s/
Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Ong’s Hat: Alternative Reality Games Are Not Games

https://www.ivoox.com/ong-s-hat-alternative-reality-games-are-not-games_md_93239217_wp_1.mp3?_=2 Go to download
We discuss an early example of the Alternative Reality Game genre of multimedia participatory “fiction.” Page for show: https://www.ivoox.com/en/ong-s-hat-alternative-reality-games-are-not-games-audios-mp3_rf_93239217_1.html The Long Seventies Podcast is an in-depth historical exploration of all things 1970’s, including politics, film, television, literature, music, culture, science and artistic/philosophical movements
Alternate Reality Game, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

JOHN TITOR: Soldier from the Future | Can this time traveler save us from destruction? (The Matheny/Ongs Hat Connection)

A rundown of the John Titor legend from one of my favorite Youtube Channels The Why Files. The part about yours truly starts at 23:42 or just watch the entire piece (recommended). As far as the veracity of this claim? I plead the fifth.

By The logo is from the following website: http://www.johntitorfoundation.com/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1464463
Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Most People Have Forgotten About this Creepy Abandoned Town in New Jersey

Jake O’Neil/Unsplash
New Jersey is one of the most historic states in the U.S.; because of this, it definitely has its fair share of abandoned and forgotten communities. The village known as Ong’s Hat in Burlington County can be found within New Jersey’s Pine Barrens. This small community can be seen on many maps throughout history, some of which date back centuries. The earliest findings are on a map made in 1778. According to local legend, the town had just a handful of houses as well as a hotel and thriving dance hall. As industry changed and the landscape of America shifted, the town slowly became completely abandoned. READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

PORTAL EN ONG’S HAT: UN MISTERIOSO SITIO DE “VIAJES INTERDIMENSIONALES”

Muchas teorías sugieren la existencia de realidades alternativas y que, en ocasiones, estas se conectan. En este punto, los viajes interdimensionales también son posibles a través de portales. Una de las historias más conocidas relacionadas con este hecho, es la Ong’s Hat.
PORTAL EN ONG’S HAT: UN MISTERIOSO SITIO DE “VIAJES INTERDIMENSIONALES” Este artículo ha sido copiado del sitio web https://codigooculto.com – Puede leer más en: https://codigooculto.com/enigmas/portal-ongs-hat-misterioso-sitio-viajes-interdimensionales/ – Ningún contenido publicado en CodigoOculto.com puede ser copiado, distribuido, publicado, reescrito o utilizado de ninguna manera, en su totalidad o en parte, sin una autorización previa y por escrito de CodigoOculto.com
Muchas teorías sugieren la existencia de realidades alternativas y que, en ocasiones, estas se conectan. En este punto, los viajes interdimensionales también son posibles a través de portales. Una de las historias más conocidas relacionadas con este hecho, es la Ong’s Hat. Ong’s Hat es una de las muchas ciudades fantasmas que se encuentran en la remota región “The Pines”, New Yersey. Un lugar que alcanzó la prosperidad en 1860, pero que, para mediados de 1930, ya era un pueblo fantasma. Sin embargo, para finales de los 70 y comienzo de los 80, este poblado abandonado se convertiría en la sede principal de un enigmático culto que pretendía incursionar en los viajes interdimensionales… READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://codigooculto.com/enigmas/portal-ongs-hat-misterioso-sitio-viajes-interdimensionales/ Translate into English
Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

ONG’S HAT and the construction of a suspicious model reader Hortus Semioticus 9/2022 – 07

ONG’S HAT and the construction of a suspicious model reader Jorge Flores

[PDF] Abstract. In the late 1980s, an art collective led by writer Joseph Matheny created a multimedia narrative eventually known as Ong’s Hat about a supposed group of scientists who had achieved interdimensional travel and a subsequent persecution and concealment by of a dark conspiracy. Unfolded through printed documents sent by post, BBS (bulletin board systems) and later blogs, videos and radio, the Ong’s Hat textual complex managed to create a community of believers who discussed and amplified the narrative, appropriating it and disavowing its original creators. This article proposes to approach Ong’s Hat through Umberto Eco’s semiotics of interpretation, particularly his ideas on textual cooperation between reader and text and, starting from there, the textual strategies through which Ong’s Hat created its Model Readers. For this, concepts linked to transmedia are used, as well as the methodology developed by Margrit Schreier to evaluate how certain texts manage to confuse their readers about their reality status. Keywords: transmedia, interpretation, textual cooperation, textual strategies, Model Reader, BBS, ARG Entire article: https://www.hortussemioticus.ut.ee/hortus-semioticus-9-2022-07/ [PDF of the whole issue] [PDF of article]
Alternate Reality Game, Incunabula, Joseph Matheny, Multiverse, Ong's Hat

Ong’s Hat: Abandoned Town or Time Portal?

LP is in Aruba…so Joe Conte keeps his chair warm while KP tells Kahuna and Joe about the mysterious abandoned town of Ong’s Hat, NJ….ghost town, time portal…work of fiction…government cover up??? You tell us when you need to hope off the train…we all know it’s coming. ENJOY!

https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1338328768-americanloserpodcast-ongs-hat-abandoned-town-or-time-portal.mp3?_=3
Ong’s Hat: Abandoned Town or Time Portal?

Page Link: https://player.fm/series/american-loser-podcast/ongs-hat-abandoned-town-or-time-portal