A new series and some assorted news

 

It’s been on my mind to do this for a while. So, I’m just going to do it.

This is the beginning of a free podcast/post series of Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT

You may subscribe to this series via RSS here. https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss

On Spotify

 

Apple podcasts

iHeart

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-joseph-mathenys-art-is-war-107824877/

Pocast Addict

https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/joseph-matheny-s-art-is-war-talks/4223678

and most other podcast outlets.

Or you can just receive them through this Substack.

You get the picture.

Twice a month, I will publish, in order, a chapter of the book and the corresponding discussion audio. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is a multidisciplinary work: the text is one part, the audio is another, and the links within the text add a different dimension. Sequoyah and I discuss it in depth, including how I intended people to experience this design. Here’s a video of that discussion:

Here is the first chapter, with a bonus intro by David Metcalfe, which was previously included only in the print version.

I hope you enjoy this free experiment and know that it was made possible by those who bought the print/audio or combo. If you’d like to donate some change to thank us for the tremendous effort it took to produce 14 hours of audio and all the linked print for this project, feel free to buy the audio files on Bandcamp or the print or digital versions of the books. If you can’t afford it, that’s ok. The people who bought the work this year and last year covered for you. Kinda like a “pay it forward” model.

Be well and enjoy.

Explore Ong’s Hat, the real Pine Barrens ghost town behind the legendary 1980s–90s interdimensional cult myth and Joseph Matheny’s groundbreaking Incunabula/ARG that blurred fact and fiction, inspired The Blair Witch Project, Cicada 3301, and modern creepypasta, and still draws pilgrims to the ruins today. Full deep-dive episode! LINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ongs-hat-the-nj-ghost-town-that-invented-alternate/id1839679377?i=1000740825114  

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

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

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

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.

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.