Ong's Hat: Eggheads, Gov't Shills, & The Internet's First Hoax | 323

Ever start telling a story as a joke and it gets out of hand? People believe it no matter how much you swear you made it up and try to destroy your life? No, just Joseph Matheny? This week we tackle Ong’s Hat, the internets first honest to goodness hoax that took on a life of its own and to this day has people believing it is all true. They also believe the man claiming responsibility is just a government shill planted to throw us off the truth. And the story has everything: Weird religious cults, quantum physics, dimensional travel, hidden laboratories, luxurious silk top hats, carpet salesmen... We are banging on all cylinders! All that and more this week on the podcast that knows a thing or two about other dimensions... at least the Lower 4^th Dimension... Hysteria 51!

Special thanks to this week’s research sources:

Books and Papers
-Matheny, J. (2002). Ong’s Hat: The Beginning. Sky Books (NY).
-Ong, Albert R. The Ong Family of America. (Martins Ferry, OH: privately printed, 1919) PDF: (http://archive.org/download/ongfamilyofameri00onga/ongfamilyofameri00onga.pdf)

Videos
The Mystery of Ong's Hat - https://youtu.be/o5GtwKrL2XA
Ong's Hat: The Original ARG - Sex, Drugs & Quantum Physics - https://youtu.be/siF75w1gJrA
Legend of the Pines: Ong’s Hat, New Jersey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2iODYDz9E4&t=40s
Ong's Hat: The Dimensional City - https://youtu.be/SXUpIC0j954
Why Did the Scientists in This Remote Cabin Disappear? - https://youtu.be/NIG3x3kVtos
The First Internet Hoax - Inside A Mind - https://youtu.be/uHkn0CWWfBk

Websites
NJ Pine Barrens - https://www.njpinebarrens.com/a-hat-a-hut-or-a-tavern-the-tale-of-ongs-hat/
Ong’s Hat Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ong%27s_Hat
Ong's Hat, New Jersey Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ong%27s_Hat,_New_Jersey
Joseph Matheny Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Matheny
Weird NJ - https://weirdnj.com/stories/ongs-hat/
BBC Limelight - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hg08
Joseph Matheny - https://josephmatheny.com/2019/05/30/the-mystery-of-ongs-hat/
Joseph Matheny - https://josephmatheny.com/2012/09/29/the-hat-the-egg-the-chaos-ongs-hat-hidden-history-or-piney-mythology/
Slate - https://slate.com/culture/2018/10/ongs-hat-conspiracy-theories-decoder-ring.htmlMiriadic - https://miriadic.fandom.com/wiki/Ong%27s_Hat
AV Club - https://www.avclub.com/the-internets-first-conspiracy-theory-involved-a-ghost-1831031313
Gizmodo - https://gizmodo.com/ongs-hat-the-early-internet-conspiracy-game-that-got-t-1832229488
Medium - https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/early-internet-conspiracies-centered-on-a-creepy-ghost-town-1263bffaad44

Email us your favorite WEIRD news stories:
weird@hysteria51.com

Support the Show
Get exclusive content & perks as well as an ad and sponsor free experience at https://www.patreon.com/Hysteria51 from just $1

Shop
Be the Best Dressed at your Cult Meeting!
https://hysteria-51.creator-spring.com/

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands