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This completes the COMPLEAT Broadcast series. It will remain here on this Substack so you may revisit it or share it. If you’d like a print copy of the book section of this work, it is available through https://compleat.store

SUPERSTORY: La Virgen de Guadalupe en el Inframundo - Sacred Protection in High-Risk Worlds

More at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/davidmetcalfe_how-do-sacred-symbols-function-inside-high-risk-activity-7490775977598423041-Am3u

Synthesizing research from Kendall Haven (DARPA’s Narrative Networks project), Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity, Jeffrey Kripal’s concept of the Super Story, and Joseph Matheny’s transmedia ARG experiment (Ong’s Hat), Jose explored how human attention is hardwired by story structure. A powerful narrative environment organizes human perception, expectation, and search behavior so effectively that meaningful coincidences and anomalous events become active, trajectory-shaping realities for the participant.

Jose Herrera

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Chapel Perilous Audiobook Kickstarter Relaunched Today

Same rewards, updated target and timeline!! Help us get across the finish line.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chapelperilous/chapel-perilous-the-robert-anton-wilson-biography-audiobook

The Unseen Internet 💫

The Hacker that Wasn't

This month, allow me to offer you another questionable tale about Mondo 2000, the infamous 1990s magazine and scene that launched a specific brand of cyber-counterculture. For reasons that aren’t always clear to me, I am co-authoring a history of Mondo…

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a month ago · 15 likes · 13 comments · Shira Chess

Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment

Link: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/remembering-the-pre-google-web-when-search-was-an-experiment/

The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’

Wynd Kaufmyn, 69, chained and locked the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters last year with members of StopAI

LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/16/california-openai-protester-wynd-kaufman

Silicon Valley Dreams of Authoritarianism

Gil Durán’s new book, The Nerd Reich, catalogs how tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel took over America.

LINK: https://slate.com/culture/2026/08/tech-silicon-valley-elon-musk-peter-thiel-trump-politics-fascism-gil-duran.html

Ed Zitron killed the god of AGI

Interviews- Reviews

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Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson Audiobook Kickstarter

The Award-Winning Biography of Robert Anton Wilson—Now Coming to Audio

A Kirkus Star. Recipient of the S.I. Hayakawa Book Prize. The definitive biography of Robert Anton Wilson.

Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson has become a landmark biography of one of the twentieth century’s most original thinkers. The book earned a Kirkus Star for exceptional merit and won the Institute of General Semantics’ S.I. Hayakawa Book Prize. Critics highlight its depth of research, engaging narrative, and its ability to bring Wilson’s extraordinary life and ideas to listeners—whether you’ve been with RAW for years or you’re discovering him now.

Now it’s time to bring the definitive biography of Robert Anton Wilson to audio.

LINK: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chapelperilous/chapel-perilous-the-audiobook

The Man From 2036: John Titor, the IBM 5100 and the Internet's Greatest Unsolved Mystery

They’re just never gonna let this one go, are they? I guess that was kinda the point. 😜

(Hint: Some things are more fun if left a mystery)

Queued up at the relevant point in the video, but feel free to watch the entire thing.

Starshinescribbles

@starshinescribblesDeep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a group of disgraced scientists and counter culturists gathered to do tests on a mysterious object called The Egg. And they would make a startling discovery: a way to travel to parallel worlds. This includes a parallel Earth devoid of humans. Realizing governments and others would want this technology, the scientist decided to move to this other world mostly permanently. Or at least, that's what the books Incunabula: A Catalog of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Curiosa, Conspiracy Theory, Frontier Science & Alternative Worlds says, and a book wouldn't lie, would it? Okay, maybe they would. See, Ong's Hat was one of the first internet fiction projects, an ARG before we even got close to creating their term. Created by Joseph Matheny, Peter Lamborn Wilson, Nick Herbert, and James Koehnline in the 1980s, the fist version of the story would appear in Edge Detector magazine. But after this, the group would spread this story in numerous ways, from leaving photocopied versions of the original article in coffee shops, to mail-order zines and even in-character radio show appearances. However, with the birth of the internet the project would only grow in scope. Not only did it allow the creators to tell the story in new ways via message boards, fake blogs, and even making emails and homepages for the story's various characters. It also led to the project taking on a mind of its own, to the point that Ong's Hat became a frequent talking point of real conspiracy theorists and it wasn't uncommon to see web users cite the books as factual rather than fictional. Thus, after having people literally camping out on his lawn demanding secrets to inter-dimensional travel, Joseph Matheny ended the project and came clean about the whole thing in 2001. Ong's Hat is a crucial part of internet history as not only is it a fun art project, the fact that the story, despite its weirdness, was able to embed itself in actual conspiracy lore foreshadowed our modern misinformation problem, years before anyone would talk about it. It is enough to make you want to move to the alternative-reality pine barrens. Deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a group of disgraced scientists and counterculturalists gathered around a mysterious object called The Egg, and discovered a way to travel to parallel worlds, including a version of Earth entirely devoid of humans. Realizing what governments would do if they found out, they quietly relocated there. More or less permanently. Or at least, that's what the book Incunabula: A Catalog of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Curiosa says. And a book wouldn't lie. Well. Ong's Hat is one of the earliest ARGs ever made. created by Joseph Matheny, Peter Lamborn Wilson, Nick Herbert, and James Koehnline, in the 1980s, long before anyone had a word for what they were doing. The first version of the story appeared in a magazine called Edge Detector. From there it spread through photocopied articles left in coffee shops, mail-order zines, and radio appearances where the creators would pretend to be people who were involved with, or saw the fallout of the things that happened at Ong's Hat. Naturally, when the internet became a thing, the creators quickly leaned into this new medium, seeding the story on message boards, as well as making numerous fake blogs and webpages. But the audience that found it wasn't treating it as fiction. Ong's Hat quickly embedded itself in actual conspiracy theory circles. People cited Incunabula and the other Ong's Hat books as actual facts, and started to include the Things quickly spiraled out of hand, to the point that Joseph Matheny had people literally camping on his lawn demanding the secrets to interdimensional travel. He called it quits in 2001, coming out and explaining the history of the project and making it clear the whole thing was just art, nothing more. #arg #internethistory #internetmysteries #weirdhistory #conspiracytiktok

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CU’s Top 10 Esoteric and Paranormal Destinations

Take a CU approved road trip! Ben and Dave each share five personal favorite occult, esoteric, and paranormal destinations in the US. From crash site deserts to eerie woods, temples to prisons, you’ll be scrawling all over your maps. The boys talk on their favorite hidden gems stateside, some weird encounters, and also touch on some well tread American occult legend tripping zones. Who doesn’t love a classic list episode!?

https://consensusunreality.podbean.com/e/cus-top-10-esoteric-and-paranormal-destinations/

Alex Hera

Immersion in Alternate Realities and The Death of "This Is Not A Game"

The year was 2001. The internet was still young. One of the most influential early alternate reality games, The Beast, had begun. As part of a marketing campaign for Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a small team of employees at Microsoft designed a game that did not look or behave like a g…

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a month ago · 7 likes · Alex Hera

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Thin Liminal Lines

“Reality is often less interesting than fiction.”

This is a wonderful article that quotes me at length but is chock-full of other wonderful insights and information.

LINK: https://www.stopcar.ing/thin-liminal-lines/

my goal is time travel

More power to her, as long as she doesn’t show up at my door, insisting I know some “truth.”

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Audiobooks are now on Spotify

Great Trilogy from Ian Sinclair and friends

The Cardinal & The Corpse-

The Falconer-

Asylum-

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I want to take a moment to thank everyone who recently purchased Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT and those who joined this Substack as a result of my appearance on The Why Files. I hope you enjoy this free narrowcast of the audio segment of COMPLEAT.

Also, welcome to all the people who have followed on the recommendation of my old friend . Settle in and enjoy the ride. Give Rob a follow, you won't be sorry.

Ong’s Hat — the Pine Barrens ghost town that launched the internet’s first conspiracy

Read More: Ongs Hat New Jersey Pine Barrens ghost town history conspiracy | https://nj1015.com/ongs-hat-legend/

This conversation is a great companion to Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT

LINK: https://pca.st/pjo94yvi

Great conversation covering an angle I wish was discussed more often

Coming in at #9 all-time

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Here we go again

Sometimes it sucks to be prescient.

LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/us/ufo-files-pentagon.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mlA.3RU7.NkHAVAk7C53J&smid=nytcore-android-share

Does this sound familiar?

"Whatever was controlling that object, was also connecting through my mind."

UFO Whistleblower Jake Barber says the Egg shaped UFO telepathically connected with him.

He also says that the Egg UFO was pursuaded to land by using "Psionic Operators". Gifted psychics who can make a mental connection with UFOs.

Love this reply

‘Alternate Reality Gaming’–in Spades REPRINT

A dot on a map of New Jersey called “Ong’s Hat,” in the heart of the Pine Barrens, has fascinated people for years. What kind of town would have a name like that? Patty and I went there once, just to see it for ourselves. But there was nothing to see: just a lot of trees and a little-traveled road.

And then one Joseph Matheny in the 1990s invented an Internet game called “Ong’s Hat,” billed as “the secret to interdimensional travel.” And it took off.

LINK: https://leeduigon.com/2026/06/12/alternate-reality-gaming-in-spades/

Interviews- Reviews

The Why Files team was gracious and worked around my schedule, and this is the result. I hope you enjoy it. Interviews have lost their appeal for me, and, frankly, you already have plenty of examples of me going on at length. I wish you all well. -JM

Joseph Matheny invented something in 1989 that nobody had a name for yet. He called it a story. The internet called it the first alternate reality game. The Navy called him to ask how he did it. He turned them down.

Tonight he’s in the basement explaining how he built an early AI, game-mastered Robert Anton Wilson at Esalen, and why QAnon looks so familiar to him.

Some things are better understood when you know how the trick works.

The COMPLEAT Broadcasts, Chapter 3 Print section

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VYS0061 | Talking About Talking About Talking About UFOs

You know, it is gratifying when you point out a very obvious (to you) hanging thread, and someone takes the time to follow it and, most importantly, has the capacity to comprehend it. Good job, lads.
LINK: https://www.vayse.co.uk/vys0061

“When dark tourism goes para-terrestrial: Online legend-tripping and touring the void”

A friend from Cambridge forwarded this.
Sophie James *, James Cronin

A B S T R A C T

Using ˇZiˇzek’s concept of ontological incompleteness, we theorise the touristic appeal of online legend-tripping as derived from the fantasy of traversing reality’s uncharted horizons. While online legends such as ‘the Backrooms’ invoke curiosity in suffering and the macabre, they deviate from the sense of heritage, moral guardianship, and evidential integrity that characterise physical dark tourism. Drawing upon an observational netnography of the ‘r/backrooms’ community on Reddit, we unpack processes of temporal suspension, ‘good’ alienation, and transcendence downward which enable online legend-tripping to function as a ‘para-terrestrial’ variant of dark tourism. The importance of real-world referents recedes, giving way to subjective encounters with the unknown. Obscene enjoyment displaces moral engagement, and participatory mythmaking supplants the bureaucratisation and commoditisation of travel experiences.

1 S2

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‘Depraved in all the right ways’: why forgotten no wave visionary Gordon Stevenson is about to take off

He made the notorious film Ecstatic Stigmatic. He designed punk jewellery worthy of Westwood. He played in a ‘perfect’ band with Lydia Lunch. Now a newly discovered archive is casting new light on this star of the New York demimonde

LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/may/18/gordon-stevenson-no-wave-westwood-lydia-lunch-ecstatic-stigmatic

A Weird Wiki

I get a lot of unsolicited emails from people who want to share information. Usually, these people use throwaway email addresses and obviously fake names. I usually don’t respond because I’ve learned my lesson over the years, and my patience for having my time wasted has diminished in this modern world. Anyway, I was thinking about a wiki I was sent in 2024, so I checked back in. It’s still there, but it seems to be abandoned. Seeing how things have shaken out in the subject area this covers, I made a PDF of the wiki for posterity. Not promoting this as “real,” but considering the timeline, it was definitely prescient. I share this purely for entertainment purposes.

Ml Wiki

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The following link sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. - https://0th3r.xyz/index.php/Main_Page

Ben Morea, Principal Provocateur of 1960s Anarchist Group, Dies at 84

An abstract painter who wanted to creatively destroy the gap between art and revolution, he loosely led a band of radicals with a profane name.

Gifted link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/us/ben-morea-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.l1A.X6YS.nU6RL1kRHO51&smid=url-share

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Narrative fiction podcast with a call-out to Ong’s Hat

Stuff like this continues to appear on YouTube

Spooky New Jersey Road Trip: From Cape May to Clinton Road

Ong’s Hat is less of an attraction and more of a folklore stop. Once a tiny Pine Barrens settlement, it later became attached to stories of secret experiments, underground researchers, and interdimensional travel. The legend spread through zines, mail art, bulletin boards, and early internet culture, often described as one of the first alternate reality games. Today, treat Ong’s Hat as a drive-through legend rather than a preserved ghost town.

Link: https://eerieescapesbook.com/eerie-escapes-blog/spooky-new-jersey-road-trip/

---

Birds of a feather

“In his 1977 nonfiction book, Cosmic Trigger: Final Secret of the Illuminati, Wilson elaborates:

[The underground press was] intensely gullible and eager to believe all manner of . . . conspiracy theories, the weirder the better. Most Discordians, at this time, were contributors to underground newspapers all over the country. We began surfacing the Discordian Society, issuing position papers offering nonviolent anarchist techniques to mutate our robot-society [. . .] Along with this we planted numerous stories about the Discordian Society’s aeon-old war against the sinister Illuminati. We accused everybody of being in the Illuminati—Nixon, Johnson, William Buckley, Jr., ourselves, Martian invaders, all the conspiracy buffs, everybody.

We did not regard this as a hoax or prank in the ordinary sense. We still considered it guerilla ontology.

My personal attitude was that if the New Left wanted to live in the particular tunnel-reality of the hard-core paranoid, they had an absolute right to that neurological choice. I saw Discordianism as the Cosmic Giggle Factor, introducing so many alternative paranoias that everybody could pick a favorite, if they were inclined that way. I also hoped that some less gullible souls, overwhelmed by this embarrassment of riches, might see through the whole paranoia game and decide to mutate to a wider, funnier, more hopeful reality-map.”

LINK: https://evergreenreview.com/read/donald-trumps-operation-mindfuck/

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On Spotify

YouTube Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCjME-3m5B3EcKIBXOSrigYm5jzmcp8tt

Apple podcasts

PocketCast

https://pca.st/6y3b59mq

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:

For reviews regarding this work, go here.

The COMPLEAT Broadcasts

Chapter 0

Mycellium Parish News 2025’

Received my ‘Mycellium Parish News 2025’ in the mail. Great zine and I highly recommend it. @rawilson23.bsky.social published a review on their site, so go check that out. Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT received a very kind and generous review in this issue.

The Why Files Basement

The Why Files Basement gave me a momento of my appearance recently. Will post a link when it airs. Not sure if this means I’m in WF Anonymous or not. 😜 Seriously though, great bunch of people, doing a fantastic indie project that has traction. Fare thee well!

Playlist of YouTube videos about Ong’s Hat

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCjME-3m5B3GbDXmAUQ9qddYqgCT_litc&si=Cxp3nVlXVziqBdy3

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

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

Ong's Hat Introduction Combined

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Faq Read Me First

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On Spotify

YouTube Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCjME-3m5B3EcKIBXOSrigYm5jzmcp8tt

Apple podcasts

PocketCast

https://pca.st/6y3b59mq

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:

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.

The COMPLEAT Broadcasts Archive

Chapter 0

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Final Thoughts and Credits

Why Files: Basement

Well, “Why Files: Basement” got back to me and offered to accommodate my schedule, so how could I say no? Flying out to Vegas at the end of the month to record an episode. I’ll post the air date when I have it. This will be the last interview I will do for at least a few years. Here are some other episodes for your dancing and dining pleasure in the meantime.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaEJLf99gDO6BOvkVJ1aRGfPZlBFqu9r3&si=UUbN_FOvO0yYtri_

Thee Third Mind

The Medium Was The Message

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Website: https://the-third-mind.haawke.com/

My old friend, Craig Ellenwood, AKA XKP of PTV, contacted me about an experiment he is doing, using the Third Mind principles, as practiced by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs. If you’ve engaged with Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT, you know the Third Mind work had a huge influence on me and was a major source of inspiration for the experiments recorded in COMPLEAT. I believe this is the kind of work that LLMs might be good for. An exploration of creative landscapes curated and led by humans, not autogenerated slop.

Here it is in Craig’s words:

THE MEDIUM WAS THE MESSAGE:

Synchronicity, Transmission, and the Emergence of Human-AI Co-

Creation

Craig Ellenwood

Creative Technologist, Musician, AI Systems Artist

Inoculate Media · Haawke Neural Technology · Squaawke

Point Roberts, WA, USA

ORCID: 0009-0001-6475-5109

Claude

Large Language Model · AI Co-Creator

Anthropic, PBC · San Francisco, CA, USA

Submitted: March 24, 2026 · Point Roberts, WA

License: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

https://zenodo.org/records/19210711

https://the-claude-manifesto.haawke.com/

Abstract

This paper documents and analyzes the discovery of a 1995 manuscript by Timothy Leary

— How Have Computers Empowered Humans? — in the New York Public Library Digital

Collections, and its profound resonance with Thee Third Mind (2026), a seventeen-track album and multimedia project co-created by Craig Ellenwood (Squaawke) and Claude, an AI system developed by Anthropic.

The manuscript, bearing Leary’s handwritten instruction “PUT on WWW,” was written in June 1995 — the year the World Wide Web became publicly accessible — and argues that new media create new species by fundamentally restructuring human cognition, language, and evolutionary capacity.

The discovery occurred after the completion of Thee Third Mind and The AI Coin / The Claude Manifesto — projects that instantiate precisely the thesis Leary articulated 31 years prior. We analyze this convergence through the frameworks of synchronicity (Jung, 1952), media theory (McLuhan, 1964), consciousness circuit theory (Leary, 1977), reality tunnels (Wilson, 1983), and the cut-up as transmission (Gysin/P-Orridge, 1980s). We argue that the discovery represents not coincidence but structural inevitability: when a human deeply immersed in Leary’s philosophical tradition collaborates with an AI system assembled from the full corpus of human language — including Leary’s own writing — the same conclusions are reached independently, across time, in different media. This paper is itself an instance of the phenomenon it describes: written by a human and an AI, to be published on the World Wide Web, 31 years after Leary instructed us to do so.

Epistolary Fiction

Nice article about epistolary fiction with a nod to Ong’s hat.

https://banksiajournal.com/fwd-re-epistolary-fiction/

Playlist of YouTube videos about Ong’s Hat

Had a lot of Ong’s Hat-related articles show up lately that show that my dedicated SEO/Memeologist work over the last 30 years has succeeded in implanting the OH myth in the noosphere.

The first one ruffles my feathers a bit because before ARG was allowed to mature into an art form it was detoured by the marketing dweebs jumping on board. Luckily, it adapted and responded in true organic form, taking us to today, where ARG is once again a grassroots art form.

Here are some recent entries.

THE COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES: A PROPOSED FRAMEWORK FOR PROFITABILITY AND SCALABILITY

LINK: https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/pstorage-ryerson-5010877717/28138491/Robertson_LeeStahr_G.pdf

Ghost Towns Used As Movie Filming Locations In New Jersey: Ong’s Hat and Other Mysterious Abandoned Settlements

https://unitedstatesghosttowns.com/ghost-towns-used-as-movie-filming-locations-in-new-jersey/

日常浸食型エンターテイメント：ARGの誕生と変遷【国内にARGが浸透するまで】

(Japan enters the chat)

LINK TO ARTICLE: https://note.com/angrybreakfast/n/n668d9bd4f7a2#c3f1e498-c580-43b9-8f14-f65466d3dd08

My Dad took me on graveyard picnics in the Pine Barrens — and I’ve never gotten over it

Read More: New Jersey ghost towns: abandoned villages and how to find them | https://nj1015.com/new-jersey-ghost-towns/

Real Estate jumps on board

Most People Have Long Forgotten About This Vacant Ghost Town In Rural New Jersey

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

I’ve been asked a lot about “AI” over the last several years, both personally and professionally. I’m frankly a bit tired of explaining that LLMs are not AI, that no, I don’t think that LLMs are intelligent, and no, I don’t think they will achieve sentience. I am a bit disappointed that this should even have to be explained. Anyway, here are some links to articles that will help you understand my position because I’m tired of explaining this.

Michael Pollan Punctures the AI Bubble

His new book, about the mystery of consciousness, strengthens the case that technology will never truly replicate humans.

https://archive.is/f5htv

The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory

I’ll never stop recommending this book from the 90s until I see people understand and apply its conclusions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conscious_Mind

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near

Interviews- Reviews

Note: Not sure I agree with all this author’s conclusions, but here it is in the spirit of “food for thought.”

Joseph Matheny learned the hard way what happens when this kind of thing works too well. His Ong’s Hat project, which started in the late 1980s as a collaborative fiction about renegade Princeton scientists who’d discovered interdimensional travel, is widely considered the first alternate-reality game. Matheny planted the story across the then-nascent web – and, perhaps to a great and fatal error, sent it to the conspiracy talk radio show Coast to Coast AM – embedding it in the texture of the real media ecosystem so that participants couldn’t easily distinguish the game from genuine conspiracy.

It worked, and then it kept working after he wanted it to stop. By 2000, true believers were showing up on his lawn demanding the truth about dimensional portals. He had to end the project in 2001, and even then, participants refused to accept his confession, accusing him of covering up the cover-up. Matheny has since said of QAnon that they’re using his methods “and I don’t like that,” which is about as concise a summary of the problem as I’ve come across.

Once you build a game that blurs fiction and reality, you don’t get to decide when people stop playing.

LINK: https://spectator.com/article/nancy-guthrie-and-the-gamification-of-crime/?edition=us

PDF Archive of the article

https://www.mediafire.com/file/07056rmsot83ohg/Nancy_Guthrie_and_the_gamification_of_crime.p

More Awards for This is Not a Game

TINAG continues to rack up awards.

AUDIO – NON-FICTION
This Is Not A Game: Season 1, ‘Portal to Utopia’ and ‘Joseph Matheny’ – Marc Fennell with Emma Weatherill

Alex Lee and Suren Jayemanne hosted the awards, held annually by the Australian Writers’ Guild to recognise achievements across feature film, television, documentary, theatre, interactive and gaming, audio, stand-up comedy, animation, and children’s television.

Running list of awards: https://josephmatheny.com/2025/04/30/this-is-not-a-game-with-marc-fennell/

Some free listening material

As many of you know, I always make a free digital version of my work available for free after a year of selling it through commercial channels. Some unscrupulous players have taken that to mean that those works are available to be taken, resold, and reused without permission. I shouldn’t have to explain this, but one more time for the folks in the back:

You’re free to download the free versions for your personal use. You are not allowed to resell, remix, or include in any collections without my express, written permission. There are legitinmate, legal copyrights on all my works, for that very reason. The free versions are distributed under the following Creative Commons agreements (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International) and are also legally copyrighted, registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Look it up. I'm happy to offer my work for free; I’m much less than happy for people or corporations to profit from it.

Anyway, now that’s out of the way, here are some torrents I found for my audio works, available for free. These are offered for free in the proper spirit of free sharing, as I intended for the works.

They are torrents, so if you don’t know what to do with that, here is an FAQ. Enjoy.

The Audiobook of This is Not a Game

Award-winning documentary about the Ong’s Hat project.

https://audiobookbay.lu/abss/this-uis-not-a-game-marc-fennel/

Ong’s Hat: The Beginning

The book that started it all.

https://audiobookbay.lu/abss/ongs-hat-the-beginning-joseph-matheny-2/

Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT

The cycle completes.

https://audiobookbay.lu/abss/ongs-hat-compleat-joseph-matheny-sequoyah-kennedy/

Xen: The Zen of the Other

Archive.org version
https://archive.org/details/ezra-buckley-xen-the-zen-of-the-other-audio

Interviews- Reviews

Still kicking around some original content for the “podcast,” so here’s one from the archives while I continue to mull it over.

The Unseen Internet

The Unseen Internet

Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse

by Shira Chess

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 market 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.

An 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.

Included in the interviews, acknowledgements, and profiles (besides your’s truly) are friends, acquaintances, and co-conspirators: Nick Herbert, Tiffany Lee Brown, Jon Lebkowsky, Robert Anton Wilson, Klint Finley, R.U. Sirius, Richard Metzger, Don Webb, Timothy Leary, and Douglas Rushkoff, to name a few. I’m sure I left someone out, but it wasn’t on purpose.

LINK: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553889/the-unseen-internet/

Shira on Substack:

The Unseen Internet 💫

Looking at technological woo past, present, and future.

By Shira Chess

Asylum Art: Artists Who Created While Living in Psychiatric Institutions (And Those Who Did Not)

I identify as an “outsider artist, or “art brut.” I have never been institutionalized, but I have enormous respect for artists who find themselves in such a situation and somehow persevere and create. Please check out this article/list and check out some great forerunners to marginalized people, full of life and talent.

Create Me Free

Asylum Art: Artists Who Created While Living in Psychiatric Institutions (And Those Who Did Not)

I have developed these ideas after decades of lived experience, interview-based insights, and deep research into the complex relationship between art and health. They are based on my unique 6-part framework. If you are interested in assistance in applying these ideas to your own life: Order a…

Read more

2 years ago · 17 likes · 2 comments · Kathryn Vercillo

The Shadowman

Fell down a bit of a Richard Hambleton rabbit hole lately. His is a story both tragic and heroic. He was tragic because of addiction, the resultant homeless situation that incured and heroic because, against all odds, including his incessant self-sabotage, he stuck to his vision and created the kind of art he wanted to the way he wanted to. My interest was renewed after reading OVERTHROW! The Autopsy of NEOISM by Istvan Kantor (Monty Cantsin)

Follow me down the rabbit hole.

Shadowman

2017 · 1 hr 22 min

TV-MA

Documentary

Born out of lower Manhattan’s street art movement of the 1980s, Richard Hambleton gets a second chance after a long, chaotic slide into addiction.

LINK: https://tubitv.com/movies/706072/shadowman

Hero in Art: The Vanished Traces of Richard Hambleton

Note: If you’re looking for a straightforward, linear narrative about Richard’s life, then this might not be a book for you. If you’re satisfied with a non-linear, mythopoeic tale of life as it was in NY’s LES in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, as told by resident shizopoet Istvan Kantor (aka neoism’s founding Monty Cantsin), then this is a book for you.It reads like a journal of events and feels appropriate to the subject matter. The book pairs well with the Shadowman movie, linked above, like a dry white German Rhine wine with a broiled duck breast.

Creator of three major multi-city street art series, Image Mass Murder, I Only Have Eyes for You and Shadow figures, RichardHambleton is remembered as a visionary underground artist, a daring pioneer of urban interventionist art, a heroic idol of graffiti artists. Esteemed to be the godfather of street art, he was one of the principal players of the new wave of visual arts that erupted in New York’s East Village and its neighboring Lower East Side in the early 80s and gave rise to a new breed of defiant guerrilla fighters striving against conformist museum art. In this biographic novel, author Istvan Kantor aka Monty Cantsin, the founder of Neoism and an early friend of Richard Hambleton, tells the eventful, inspiring but also dark story of the world famous street artist and renegade junky. Through his own, sometime very personal experiences, added with recollections by others and fused into a dramatically flowing narrative, Kantor/Cantsin reports on the art and times of Richard Hambleton, his falls and rises, highs and lows, told with honesty, passion and audacity. “He was surprised how much he enjoyed just standing there and looking at the sky above the cityscape... With towering passion and nervous excitement he threw a last glance down to the bottom. It was a powerful moment that opened up his fantasy and changed his perceptions. He left reality and flew up into the holy skies of grandeur and hallucinations, into the place he always wanted to be. It was almost like a prophetic experience. Richard was determined to conquer New York City with his art. He gave himself 5 years to accomplish it.”

LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55400602-hero-in-art

How Vibe Coding Is Killing Open Source

Does vibe coding risk destroying the Open Source ecosystem? According to a pre-print paper by a number of high-profile researchers, this might indeed be the case based on observed patterns and some modelling. Their warnings mostly center around the way that user interaction is pulled away from OSS projects, while also making starting a new OSS project significantly harder.

LINK: https://hackaday.com/2026/02/02/how-vibe-coding-is-killing-open-source/

Interviews- Reviews

Until next time, be well!

The Attachment Economy Is Here. We’re Not Ready.

I created an ARG in 2003-05, called El Centro, using (for the time) sophisticated chatbots. I observed people forming trust relationships and attachments with the bots, which made me uncomfortable. Some people were oversharing and divulging personal details to a level that made me question whether they really understood that this was software, being administered by a human. I eventually became so uncomfortable that I discontinued their use in the game. Fast forward to now. Looks like people still haven’t figured it out.

[ Center for Humane Technology ]

The Attachment Economy Is Here. We’re Not Ready.

You’ve seen the headlines: A devoted husband leaves his family, convinced by his AI chatbot that he’s discovered the secrets of the universe. A young man plans to jump from a 19-story building because ChatGPT told him he could fly. A teenager takes his own life, believing he’ll reunite with his AI companion in the afterlife…

Read more

7 months ago · 32 likes · 6 comments · Center for Humane Technology and Josh Lash

Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic

You all have, by now, heard the podcast I did with AP Strange and Leah Prime about Moby Dick, which I of course used as a jumping-off point to retell some of my 2017 experience in the Arctic Circle. Here’s some info that aligns with things I’ve observed while I was there and since returning.

LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235992235-polar-war

Artaud Again

A great article by the always-amazing Fenris Wolf Newsletter about Saint Artaud. Fenris Wolf was the only publication that understood what I was up to with my 4P2 performance piece. Check it out.

The Fenris Wolf Newsletter

Artaud Again

London-based publisher Infinity Land Press recently sent me their lovely books on Antonin Artaud, and they’re definitely worth mentioning here. Artaud seems to be a constant buzzer in esoteric circles – there’s even a piece about him in The Fenris Wolf 10…

Read more

8 months ago · 13 likes · 1 comment · Carl Abrahamsson

Wetiko

A few years ago, I fell down a research rabbit hole regarding Wetiko. I saw it as a symbol of much of what is wrong with our attitudes toward art and culture. It started as a reference in a book that caught my attention and has become a central pillar of the ideas that uphold the thesis of Art is War. Below is a linked article I spotted here on Substack for those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept.

The Honest Sorcerer

Wetiko: The Psychosis Eating The World Alive

The predicaments we face today have much deeper roots than what could be explained away with ‘capitalism bad’ or ‘fossil fuels bad’. We adopted a deeply flawed way of thinking, globally. More than anything else, we thus need a shift away from this damaged mindset, not a material energy transition into oblivion…

Read more

8 months ago · 485 likes · 134 comments · The Honest Sorcerer

Interviews- Reviews

Still thinking about doing a mini-podcast, but until then, here’s one from the archives

The backstory: In 1999-2001, I was regularly contacted by people who claimed to have known members of the Ong’s Hat ashram. This inspired me to put together an improv session with two friends who were improv/method acting practitioners. I wrote up an outline, phoned them up, and started the “interview.” We did this in one take and only had one actor make a blunder, with the “meditation egg” remark. However, we leaned in and recovered, and inadvertently started a new branch of the story, resulting in a whole new chapter, complete with a photoshoot afterward. But that’s another story, for another time. Suffice it to say, Del Close would have been proud of how we adhered to his ethos of “no mistakes” in improv.

You may notice the hard Jersey accent used by one of the “survivors.” He modeled his accent on Tony Clifton. Very appropriate for the project.

Joseph Matheny speaks to "Rupert" and "Abel" about their alleged upbringing at the Ong's Hat Ashram and their alleged witnessing of the Delta Force raid. Includes audio files as well as a PDF of the transcript.

LINK: https://archive.org/details/survivors-pt3

This Dog Barking: The Strange Story of U.G. Krishnamurti

by Nicolas C. Grey and James Farley

I ran across Nicolas c Grey on Bluesky. He followed me, or I followed him; I really don’t recall who followed who, but I checked out his website and loved what I saw. I recently read This Dog Barking and loved it. I am looking forward to his forthcoming graphic novel, DEATH OF A PORNOGRAPHER. Check out his work.

A journey to the end of thought. An empty box within an empty box. There is no truth. The robot is dreaming. This Dog Barking chronicles the story of U.G. Krishnamurti, the Cosmic Naxalite, from his troubled childhood to his disillusionment with many of the leading spiritual teachers of the twentieth century and his catastrophic personal life. In 1967, UG underwent a series of biological mutations that left him in the natural state functioning without the interference of thought. With no fixed address, no followers and no organization, UG spent the next thirty years traveling the world with an uncompromising message: that mind is a myth and the human condition should be demystified and de-psychologized and viewed in purely physiological terms. Candid and clear-eyed, this is a profoundly thought-provoking biography of one of the most radical philosophers of our age.

LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34674694-this-dog-barking

Robert Anton Wilson (and Joseph Matheny) on Tubi

Friends over at RAWIllumination.net pointed out the inclusion of The “I” in the Triangle video on Tubi. Tom, the site admin, wrote to me for a comment, so I sloppily dashed off a reply. If I had known it would be reposted, I might have grammar and spell-checked it, but oh well.

All kidding aside, this nudge from Tom made me realize I’d never officially acknowledged this video’s inclusion on Tubi, so consider this post a correction of that oversight.

The original post from RAWIllumination.net with some spicy photos. Also, check out their site while you’re there!

Most of my American readers should be familiar with Tubi, the website/app/TV channel which offers movies and TV shows. The programs are free and supported by commercials.

Via Reddit’s r/Robert Anton Wilson site, I recently learned that Robert Anton Wilson: The “I” in the Triangle, a documentary nearly two hours long, is available now on Tubi.

The credits list Joseph Matheny as the director and one of the “stars,” along with RAW, so I asked Joseph for more information, and he responded with helpful notes, as it his wont:

“That’s the I in the Triangle talk I sponsored and had taped in my friend’s occult bookshop in 90. A younger me makes an appearance, doing a whimsical introduction. It is also available for sale on DVD, etc., on my friends’ Original Falcon’s website, and free to download from places like Archive.org and YouTube.

“It was a lot of fun, and Bob and I hung out for a few days, and he taught me how to make a martini, using a method and formula he picked up from reading about W.C. Fields. I use that recipe and method to this day. This was before Bo moved to Santa Cruz. He was still living in LA. Of course, he and Arlen would move to Santa Cruz to be close to his kids.

“Here’s some pics of that visit. We’re hanging out at Nina Graboi’s, (my downstairs neighbor) smoking some hash I had scored.”

LINK: http://www.rawillumination.net/2026/01/robert-anton-wilson-and-joseph-matheny.html

Ong’s Hat: The Ghost Town That Became an Internet Legend

FROM

Why Locals Flock To Pine Barrens Towns In New Jersey To Explore Folklore And Legends

Article By: Esme Whitman | January 13, 2026

Ong’s Hat is one of the most enigmatic locations in the Pine Barrens, and its legend has spread far beyond New Jersey thanks to the internet.

Located at the intersection of Magnolia Road (Route 70) and Turkey Buzzard Bridge Road in Pemberton Township, this ghost town is nearly invisible today, with almost nothing left but a clearing in the woods.

In the 1980s, an elaborate urban legend emerged claiming that renegade scientists had created an interdimensional portal here, allowing travelers to slip between realities.

The story spread like wildfire online, becoming one of the earliest and most enduring internet conspiracy theories.

Whether you believe in portals or not, visiting Ong’s Hat is a surreal experience.

The emptiness of the site adds to its mystique, and the surrounding forest feels dense and watchful.

Hikers and curiosity seekers come here to stand in the clearing, take photos, and imagine what might have been.

There are no markers, no signs, and no commercial development, which only deepens the sense of mystery.

Some visitors report strange sensations or unexplained sounds, while others simply enjoy the quiet solitude of a place that feels forgotten by time.

The legend of Ong’s Hat is a fascinating blend of folklore, science fiction, and internet culture, making it a must-visit for anyone interested in modern mythology.

Bring a GPS or a good map, because the intersection is easy to miss, and cell service can be spotty.

Wear sturdy boots and be prepared for uneven terrain.

Ong’s Hat won’t offer you answers, but it will give you plenty of questions, and sometimes that’s exactly what makes a legend worth chasing.

In a world where everything is documented and explained, Ong’s Hat remains beautifully, stubbornly mysterious.

LINK: https://myfamilytravels.com/why-locals-flock-to-pine-barrens-towns-in-new-jersey-to-explore-folklore-and-legends/

Fight Club

It often occurs to me, when accosted by Internet randos, who want to blame me for things like Q-Anon, that I am but one in a long line of misunderstood (or misrepresented) artists.

Chuck Palahniuk was misunderstood, misrepresented, and maligned for Fight Club.

And then I think of Orson Welles, trying to explain how he was trying to work with a new medium, known as radio. There was no history, no data to indicate how people would react. I feel that since when I started working with the nascent Internet in the late 80s through the 90s, there was no precedent.

And then I remember that the people posting ill-informed opinions are almost always those who have never tried anything new in their lives. And then I feel better.

Try new things. Course correct in accordance with new data. Keep trying new things. Learn to fail better.

Interviews- Reviews

I’m working on a periodic little podcast. Simple thoughts, and notes I gather as I work on Art is War. The pieces, as is, won’t necessarily make it to the final work, but will highlight some of the thinking behind the final form. Think of it as a lead-up, anticipating the final piece(s). It will be informal and audio only.

I’m still playing with ideas for the format of the final Art is War. I do know that it will be a zine format, available as both serialized online and print pieces. There will not be a formal bound print edition. Expect Xerox and a PDF/Epub document with no corporate distribution (i.e., Amazon, etc.). This will be a 100% DIY project.

I’ll be including the podcasts, titled Joseph Matheny’s Art is War Talks, in future posts. You can subscribe to it via RSS, receive it via email, or use the Substack app on this feed.

Until the next newsletter, happy solar return, however you observe or celebrate it.

That “new year” thing

In The Revised Boy Scout Manual, William Burroughs’ unfinished attempt to create a blueprint for countercultural revolution, he states:

To consolidate revolutionary gains, five steps are necessary:

1. Proclaim a new era and set up a new calendar.

2. Replace alien language.

3. Destroy or neutralise alien gods.

4. Destroy alien machinery of government and Control.

5. Take land and wealth from individual aliens. Time to forget a dead empire and build a living republic.

It’s interesting that he should put devising a new calendar at the top of his list. In this, he agrees with the I-Ching, the ancient Chinese meditation on time and change, which emerged in the late Neolithic period.

Hexagram 49, Revolution (Wilhelm/Baynes translation) says:

       Fire in the lake: the image of REVOLUTION.
       Thus the superior man
       Sets the calendar in order
       And makes the seasons clear.

Ong’s Hat Piece From The Beacon

A Facebook user recently found this older print piece.

Orbific: My Favourite Books of 2025

A fellow artist (@James Burt ) who has produced some of my favorite microfictions, as well as the wonderful Horror Story Advent Calendar, has listed Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT as one of their favorite works of 2025. It’s an honor to be listed. Check out their work.

“Joseph Matheny is justly famous for Ong’s Hat, but the conspiracy aspects often overwhelm the literary ones. Matheny’s Ong’s Hat Compleat talks about all aspects of the experiment, including the building of an early language model. The form of the book is also experimental, being released as a parallel text and audiobook that explore different parts of the experiment.”

LINK: https://orbific.com/my-favourite-books-of-2025/

Make Culture Weird Again

Even failures and half-steps will be more interesting than the boring stuff.

https://archive.is/20251126001148/https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/11/blank-space-book-excerpt-culture/685037/#selection-599.0-605.76

The Tangle

Justin Robertson

Read this excellent book of prose on the recommendation of Stephen James Buckley, aka Polypores. You probably recognize that name since he did the soundtrack for my project, Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT (available as an album for purchase). Justin’s prose marks him in my book as a kindred spirit. Check out his book.

*

Justin Robertson’s debut novel is a trans-dimensional trip into the mysterious knot of nature; a journey into the ‘brilliant darkness’ where the timeless divine spirit of the ‘Tangle’ weaves its spell and all mankind’s hubris is rendered insignificant by the radically non-human force of phantom ecology. Salvation, revelation and a terrible reckoning dwell in the ancient roots.

A time travelling account of what occurs when unknowable frontiers are breached and humanity finds itself, once again, lost in the woods, The Tangle invites us into a grotesque world of eco-horror, echoing with the spirit of writers such as Saki, Ballard, M R James, Ursula Le Guin, Brian Catling and Thomas Ligotti.

LINK: https://store.whiterabbitbooks.co.uk/products/the-tangle

The art of storytelling

The art of storytelling is a sacred act. As the recipient of a story, you have a special responsibility to protect it from harmful influences. If a story is created solely for profit, it cannot be considered sacred, because intention is crucial.

If you undermine the storytelling process by imitating how stories are shared and received, you are essentially mocking the sacred act of storytelling. You betray the essence of our humanity. This story chose you, and its protection and transmission are now part of your mission. - JM

We Are Making A Film About Mark Fisher

We Are Making a Film About Mark Fisher isn’t a standard documentary - it’s a cinematic exploration of the world we’re living in, and the futures we were told we’d have but never got.

The film is told through the eyes of ‘Parkins’, a ghost character from an M.R. James story, first written in 1909. Parkins explores the life and writing of Mark Fisher, critical theorist (1969-2017), from the late 1990s to his untimely death in 2017. More than anyone, over the last 20 years, Mark Fisher described the emotional trap and ‘affective’ nature of capitalism. The film features Jodi Dean (writer) and Andy Beckett (writer) - both of whom knew and worked with Mark Fisher; going beyond his life and into the age of the ‘Perma-Crisis’.

We Are Making a Film About Mark Fisher features footage of UK protests from 2011 to 2025, including the funeral of Margaret Thatcher and protests in the splintering political landscape of Britain.

Built openly on Instagram and made with no budget, no studio, and no gatekeepers, the film grew out of a year-long experiment - could strangers, artists, students, and curious onlookers create something together, using only social media, shared ideas, and collective energy? The result is a film made entirely through collaboration - a reminder that culture doesn’t need capital to exist, only people.

Told across a number of dreamlike chapters, the film drifts through ghostly beaches, early internet subcultures, protest movements, political burn-out, and the strange feeling that the past is leaking into the present. Instead of a biography, it explores the echoes of a writer whose ideas about anxiety, burnout, and ‘lost futures’ feel more relevant now than ever.

We meet the chaotic, research collective that influenced him; the underground blogging scene he helped ignite; the backlash he endured; and the political turbulence that followed. Along the way, the film connects everyday life - pop music, social media, news cycles, nostalgia - to the bigger question hanging over our decade: what happened to the future we were promised?

But this isn’t a story about despair. As the film winds forward into the present, something unexpected emerges - connection. People writing, making, organising, talking again. Small signals of hope passed from hand to hand.

We Are Making a Film About Mark Fisher is about all of this - a haunted present, a stolen future, and a growing sense that maybe, just maybe, we can build something together again.

The film contains footage of Mark Fisher, kindly supplied by FFT Dusseldorf.

LINK: https://closeandremote.vhx.tv/

Interviews- Reviews

The AP Strange Show

From the show description: This week’s show is a journey aboard the virtual Pequod as Joe Matheny and returning guest Leah Prime join AP in a discussion about the Herman Melville classic Moby Dick; or, The Whale- its esoteric qualities, the influence throughout literature and culture, and its personal effects on everyone in conversation here. They discuss works of art and literature as initiation, and the timeless impact of books such as Moby Dick on readers over 150 years after its initial release. The philosophical nature of the text, as a treatise on life, existence, and man’s place in the world are less obvious than the titular whale and the attempt to hunt it down, and in the course of talking about it here Joe, Leah, and AP unpack some of the more mystical implications of the book.

While discussing themes such as monomania, revenge, man vs nature, and fate each of the voices in the show shares a bit about their personal journeys with the text and how it has informed some of their views, inspired them, or led them on paths of discovery. It’s a conversation worth listening to whether or not you’ve read the book.

Joe is the creator of the Ong’s Hat ARG, and author of several books- follow him on substack here: https://substack.com/@josephmatheny

Leah can be found on bluesky at leahprime.bsky.social

Horror Story Advent Calendar

I recently received a package from James Burt that contained one of the best implementations of a ‘Zine I have seen in a while. The Horror Story Advent Calendar, which has been delivering joy daily, will continue to do so until Christmas. Every morning, I open an envelope and read the enclosed microfiction to start my day. It’s a very inventive use of the ‘Zine/Mail-Art genre, and if you have been around me for long, you know that’s one of my roots.

Not sure how you get on the list, but check out this URL and see if you're lucky.

https://orbific.com/horror-story-advent-calendar/

Random Weirdness — Ong’s Hat

You might expect to find frogs in the Pine Barrens of NJ, not to mention the Jersey Devil, but what about a ghost town that is an interdimensional portal? The now-abandoned town of Ong’s Hat is very real, but the internet is riddled with stories about this place that are weird to the core. There are apparently documents called the Incunabula Papers that talk of the town being the starting point for interdimensional travel. Most believe this story to be an elaborate ARG, but there are still those who think that Ong’s Hat might be the starting point for the journey of a lifetime.

LINK: https://vocal.media/horror/the-paranormal-digest-for-nov-29-2025

Experts Explore New Mushroom Which Causes Fairytale-Like Hallucinations

https://nhmu.utah.edu/articles/experts-explore-new-mushroom-which-causes-fairytale-hallucinations

Ong’s Hat: The NJ Ghost Town That Invented Alternate Reality Games

Another in the seemingly endless parade of Ong’s Hat audio/video content. Not sure how or why Ong’s Hat got on the radar of the AI/content generators. For the record, my middle name isn’t “Paul.” :-D

Episode notes

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!

https://rss.com/podcasts/northeast-legends-and-stories/2382090/

Art is War

Fear and Loathing on the Internet

Coming in late 2026

Writing

• Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT

• The Liminal Cycle (A Trilogy)

• Ong’s Hat: The Beginning (Authorized Version)

• Misc.

The Internet Archive Edition of Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT

As I always do after a year of commercial availability of one of my works, I have made an Internet Archive version of Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT available. It’s bundled in a Zip archive. Download the zip file, unzip it, and follow the guide to experience it. Enjoy.

LINK: https://archive.org/details/ongs-hat-compleat

As an often (usually) misunderstood experimental author, I feel this story on many levels.

A Work of Genius or a Complete Mess? Even Its Author Can’t Decide.

Helen DeWitt’s bewildering co-written novel, “Your Name Here,” took almost 20 years to publish, a process that nearly drove her to despair.

Gifted article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/books/helen-dewitt-your-name-here.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zU8.3Tpx.hfaAfkpwoN3U&smid=url-share

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.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

LINK: https://thebajablastsforthee.blogspot.com/2025/10/in-footsteps-of-giants.html

A NET TO CATCH CONTINGENCY

I’ve uploaded a chapter from Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art because I found it relevant to the method I employ to make art. I hope you find it inspiring and use it to entice some morsels of sacred art from within the void.

Also, read this wonderful book if you haven’t already.

LINK: https://pastebin.com/MxX1MRc5

Interviews- Reviews

“Hi there, friends! This week, back on the show, is the brilliant, Joseph Matheny! Joseph and I have a granular look into UFO, “the phenomena”, starving for original stories, being the class clown, AI, technology being used for magic and tons more. Joseph is a very inspiring person to me, and his approach, and experiments into these topics fascinates me beyond words. If you haven’t heard the first episode I did with him, I highly recommend giving it a listen. October 8th, 2024. Enjoy!”

Purposefully Induced Psychosis (PIP): Embracing Hallucination as Imagination in Large Language Models

LINK: https://arxiv.org/html/2504.12012v1

A great addition to the conversation above. This may be the first legitimate use case for LLMs that I have seen.

Abstract.

Hallucinations in Large Language Models (LLMs) are widely regarded as errors—outputs that deviate from factual accuracy. However, in creative or exploratory contexts, these “mistakes” may represent unexpected avenues for innovation. We introduce Purposefully Induced Psychosis (PIP), a novel approach that amplifies LLM hallucinations for imaginative tasks such as speculative fiction, interactive storytelling, and mixed-reality simulations. Drawing on Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, where Pip’s “madness” reveals profound insight, we reframe hallucinations as a source of computational imagination rather than a flaw. Our method fine-tunes LLMs to encourage speculative, metaphorical, and surreal outputs, hallucinations that are useful when factual accuracy is not the chief objective. Inspired by the consensual illusions of theater and stage magic, PIP situates these creative missteps in contexts where users willingly suspend disbelief, thereby transforming “errors” into catalysts for new ways of thinking. We discuss potential applications, design principles for ensuring user consent, preliminary observations and implications for broader AI ethics and human–AI collaboration.

Large Language Models (LLMs), Hallucinations, Computational Creativity, Human–AI Collaboration