Today’s raw recordings are the final two for the Behind the Scenes series.

This is a single file containing Denny Unger, admin of one of the Ong’s Hat forums in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Also included is James Curcio.

With that, we conclude the raw recording series.

GAME OVER

Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series.https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss

LINKS TO INDIVIDUAL SERIES EPISODES

Ep. 1 Announcing the Incident at Ong’s Hat

Ep. 2 Launch Day For “The Incident at Ongs Hat” and Episode Two of “Behind the Scenes”

Ep. 3 The Incident at Ong’s Hat: Behind the Scenes- Episode 3

Ep. 4 Behind the Scenes of the Incident at Ong's Hat Episode 4

APPEARANCE

ZOOM OPTION Holly Elsdon- Portals, Otherworlds, and the Legend of Ong’s Hat

Time & Location

18 Feb, 16:00

Todmorden, Todmorden, UK

About the event

With special guest Joseph Matheny joining us via Zoom from the US! He has also kindly agreed to answer questions during the post-talk discussion.

Drawing parallels from folklore and early accounts of Otherworld experiences, Holly will be expanding on the case of ‘Ong’s Hat’: did a bizarre confluence of esoteric spirituality and cutting-edge quantum science find a portal to another dimension in the New Jersey Pine Barrens? Or was this merely ‘the first internet conspiracy’ and a model for future Alternate Reality Games? How did the story start, and how did the process of trans-media storytelling end up having serious ‘real-world’ repercussions? A must for anyone curious after listening to the recent Radio 4 drama based on this legend!

The Zoom link will be emailed 1 hour prior to the talk.

Tickets

ZOOM

IN PERSON

Here is a 5.5-hour collection of recordings I did in preparation for the BBC podcast series The Incident at Ong’s Hat.

I‘ll let you decide, after listening to it, if the desired outcome was achieved.

I have one more audio dump after this, and then I will be done with this companion podcast. Time to move on to other things.

Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series.https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss

Enjoy.

Extra

Fringeware Review Interview with Joseph Matheny

Someone sent this to me recently. It's an interview Don Webb did with me in 1994 for the legendary Fringeware Review.

I had almost forgotten about this. After rereading this for the first time in many years, I have to say my attitude about "media" and "Art" hasn't changed much, and in fact, I've become even more radicalized about the "mind invaders."Enjoy.

FringeWare Review - Issue 5;Publication date 1994-07-29Complete issue: https://archive.org/details/FringeWare.Review.Issue.5.1994/page/n39/mode/2up

Excerpt

https://josephmatheny.com/2023/01/30/fringeware-review-interview-with-joseph-matheny/

Ong’s Hat isn’t a place, it’s a world.by waxbanks

Remember, in this world, there are Gary Buseys and Ari Golds. Be a Gary Busey.

Today is the day that the broadcast of the series, The Incident at Ong’s Hat, on BBC 4 and BBC Sounds podcast.

Episode 2 of Behind the Scenes, P. Emerson Williams.

P. Emerson Williams is a multi-media artist who has a hard time separating music, art, writing, and video. More people listen to the sounds of P. Emerson Williams every day than realize it, for much of it is embedded in extensive associated and pseudonymous projects past, present, and ongoing. P. Emerson Williams is an artist and illustrator whose work takes shape in physical and digital media, and his passion is for embodying mythic, melding visual and sonic art with narrative form. His singular touch takes projects spanning physical and digital media, genres, and modes of performance into strange realms.

https://digital.panicmachine.com/

https://hermetic.com/anthology/profile/p-emerson-williams/index

You may also recognize Peter’s name from past projects with me, such as The Incunabula Papers- Platinum 20th Anniversary Audio Book Edition, editing and playing a role as Milfred Connely, shortwave conspiracy researcher extraordinaire. And who can forget Peter’s role as Ralph in Xen: The Zen of the Other audio-drama, as well as his production contributions to these projects and contributions to some of my past projects like Greylodge.

Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series.https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss

Enjoy.

There is some speculation if BTS is some adjacent lead-in for an ARG or a treasure hunt for, say, The Liminal Trilogy. What would be the purpose of that? This and one more non-fiction series coming out later this year is my farewell to the OH subject. Besides, if I was going to do an ARG, I’d probably make it far too large and complicated with a very real payoff. Who has the time and attention span for that?

The Incident at Ong’s Hat

Release day

CREDITS

Sarah Larsen, a yoga instructor, and her friend Charlie Brill went in search of Ong’s Hat, a fabled gateway to another dimension. Now Sarah is missing, and maybe this urban legend isn’t a legend at all…

Cast:Charlie – Corey BrillSarah – Avital AshRodney Ascher – HimselfDet. Stecco – James BaconCasey – Hayley TaylorRingo – Benjamin WilliamsKit – Randall KellerDenny Unger – HimselfJoseph Matheny – HimselfNewscasters: Elizabeth Saydah, Dean Wendt

Created and Produced by Jon Frechette and Todd LuotoInspired by Ong’s Hat: The Beginning by Joseph MathenyMusic by Blue Dot Sessions, Jon Frechette, Chris Zabriskie, Anthéne, Macrogramma (under Creative Commons)Editing and Sound Design – Jon FrechetteAdditional Editing – Brandon Kotfila and Greg MyersSpecial Thanks – Ben Fineman

Written and Directed by Jon FrechetteExecutive Producer – John Scott Dryden

“Ong’s Hat Survivors Interview” courtesy of Joseph MathenyVisit thegardenofforkedpaths.com and josephmatheny.com

A Goldhawk production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

A new series will premier on BBC 4 Radio Limelight on air and then as a podcast after every Friday broadcast for the next five weeks. The series starts on Fri, 27 Jan 2023. It is a five-part series titled The Incident at Ong’s Hat. Mark your calendars,https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hg08

The series is inspired by Ong’s Hat: The Beginning along with elements from my personal life.

A new episode will premier every Friday. (Episode list can be found here.)

The credit list can also be accessed by clicking “show more” below the description. I make an appearance playing “myself,” or at least a fictionalized version of myself, as it were.

In anticipation of the premier, I am sharing some raw audio interviews conducted as background material by the producers. I will run one behind-the-scenes piece every Friday before the broadcast and podcast release of each episode. I am calling this series Behind the Scenes.

Here is an RSS feed for your convenience, or you may wait for this Substack to remind you each Friday for the duration of the series. https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/232444.rss

Linked above is the first interview with my friend David Metcalfe. It is raw and unedited.

If you don’t know about David, you should. I consider him one of the preeminent researchers into the nuanced world of liminal places and states.

From his vision document: David Metcalfe is currently a Scholar in Virtual Residence with the Windbridge Institute and the Editor-in-Chief for the Windbridge Research Center's Threshold: Journal of Interdisciplinary Consciousness studies - a researcher, writer, and multimedia specialist focusing on the interrelationship of art, culture, and consciousness, in 2011 he established the Liminal Analytics: Applied Research Collaborative to focus on testing and deploying a unique combination of applied scholarship, market intelligence, digital media, and social network development in order to build strategic, multidisciplinary lines of communication.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: The Incident at Ong’s Hat was not written by me. It is a true crime podcast story using elements of the Ong’s Hat narrative, along with elements taken from my personal life, with my permission and participation. This is part of the reason I am sharing the interviews behind this story. I think seeing both sides, the facts and the fiction, will shine a light on the process.

1. The Incunabula Papers

Limelight The Incident at Ong's Hat

Episode 1 of 5

CREDITS

Sarah Larsen, a yoga instructor, and her friend Charlie Brill went in search of Ong’s Hat, a fabled gateway to another dimension. Now Sarah is missing, and maybe this urban legend isn’t a legend at all…

Cast:Charlie - Corey BrillSarah - Avital AshRodney Ascher - HimselfDet. Stecco - James BaconCasey - Hayley TaylorRingo - Benjamin WilliamsKit - Randall KellerDenny Unger - HimselfJoseph Matheny - HimselfNewscasters: Elizabeth Saydah, Dean Wendt

Created and Produced by Jon Frechette and Todd LuotoInspired by Ong’s Hat: The Beginning by Joseph MathenyMusic by Blue Dot Sessions, Jon Frechette, Chris Zabriskie, Anthéne, Macrogramma (under Creative Commons)Editing and Sound Design - Jon FrechetteAdditional Editing - Brandon Kotfila and Greg MyersSpecial Thanks - Ben Fineman

Written and Directed by Jon FrechetteExecutive Producer - John Scott Dryden

“Ong’s Hat Survivors Interview” courtesy of Joseph MathenyVisit thegardenofforkedpaths.com and josephmatheny.com

A Goldhawk production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

https://josephmatheny.com/2022/07/05/information-golem-new-mini-series-from-toowi-arts/

I sat down with Jerry Gaura of TOOWi Arts to discuss the origins of me as an artist and the Ong’s Hat ARG. We logged countless hours which Jerry patiently trimmed down into a 2 episode series with a bonus episode that is exclusive to his Patreon and readers of this mail list.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed talking about things past with Jerry.

Information Golem -Chapter One

INFO

An artist struggles to manage the chaos unleashed by the world’s first ARG “Ong’s Hat.”

Chapter One – “Born To Be Weird”

Books, punk, drugs, HAM radio, and “The family weirdos” inspire Joseph on his way to the mystical encounter that inspired Ong’s Hat.

*Listen loudly or with headphones*

#1970s, #1980s, #ghoststory, #hamradio, #josephmatheny, #ongshat, #psychedelics, #punkrock, #truestories

Information Golem – Chapter Two

INFO

Chapter Two – “My Name is Emory”

Joseph Matheny gets plugged into California’s countercultural elite and enlists the help of some greats. Steeped in tech, drugs, and San Fran’s rave scene, the project takes off with the 90’s internet boom. True weirdness unfolds when a person claiming to be a character Joseph invented for the Ong’s Hat game appears.

*Listen loudly or with headphones*

Visit toowiarts.com or pateron.com/toowiarts for more info

#josephmatheny, #mysteries, #ongshat, #robertantonwilson, #true, #truemystery

Information Golem – Bonus Scene

INFO

“Super Odds” – Joseph Matheny reflects on “LSD-Day,” a 1993 Bicycle Day celebration where his path crossed with comic book legend Grant Morrison.

*Listen loudly or with headphones*

More info @ patreon.com/toowiarts or toowiarts.com

#bicycleday, #coincidence, #grantmorrison, #josephmatheny, #magick, #supergods, #truemystery

Xen: The Zen of the Other is a work that follows one man as he attempts to find his way through the jumble of modernity that envelopes us all and threatens to strangle us in its “Tentacles Longer Than Night.”

https://digital.panicmachine.com/album/xen-the-zen-of-the-other

Cast into a world where the liminal overlaps with the world of paranormal /philosophical speculations, Ezra Buckley struggles to keep his head above water long enough to pluck a jewel of wisdom from the crown of a forest spirit.

In a world devoid of rites of passage, Ezra finds himself on his own as he is confronted with the very real prospect of having a life-changing, Liminal experience in the woods of Big Sur, if he can survive it.

Is it even real?

Is it the legendary Watchers of Big Sur phenomena or something else?

Xen is a work that confronts the questions of identity, modernity, life, the other, and the place for rites of passage in the modern world.

This audio-play version of Xen includes a fully hyperlinked ebook for reference use.

credits

released October 29, 2021

Xen: The Zen of the Other

Written by Ezra Buckley. You’ll have to decide for yourself if that’s a real name or not.- thepsychopath.org

Background information by Cameron Whiteside, if that indeed is his real name.- whereiscameron.wtf

Produced by P. Emerson Williams- pemersonwilliams.wordpress.com

The voice of Joseph Matheny performed by himself- josephmatheny.com

The voice of Ezra Buckley performed by Chris Gabriel aka memeanalysis- memeanalysis.com

The voice of Ralph performed by P. Emerson Williams

The voice of Tiamat performed by Anna "Maiya" Young- www.godmonsters.com

The voice of Racoon 1 performed by Iskandar Sakut abn Mayu (aka Eian Orange of Z(enseider)Z)- eianorange.zenseiderz.org

The voice of Racoon 2 by performed Deb Petrochko - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(mythology)

The voice of the waitperson performed Missy G - afieldofred.wordpress.com

The poems of Ezra Buckley read by Joseph Matheny

Xen: The Zen of the Other- Copyright 2021 Joseph Matheny

All Rights Reserved

Artist and writer, Joseph Matheny presents Statio Numero the third installment of what is ostensibly a trilogy titled, The Liminal Cycle. 

The Liminal Cycle is comprised of

Part One- Liminal by Cameron Whiteside,

Part Two- Xen: The Zen of the Other by Ezra Buckley, and

Statio Numero, presented by Joseph Matheny.

We will examine not only the method but the result of creating characters that actually live and have agency and the responsibility of the creator after those characters have outlived their usefulness to the project.