American Madness: The Story of the Phantom Patriot and How Conspiracy Theories Hijacked American Consciousness was released during the chaos of the 2020 pandemic by Feral House. I worked on it (off and on) for ten years, from my first contact in 2010 with the book’s main subject, costumed conspiracy theorist Richard McCaslin (aka the Phantom Patriot), until the book was published in 2020. Along the way I learned a lot about conspiracy culture, crashed an ATV, spent a loooong weekend at a flat earther convention, made Les Claypool nervous, had to explain to my mom what exactly a Reptilian is, and at times questioned my own sanity. The book received some nice reviews and media hits. Sadly, it is all still very relevant today.

In 2021 I got in touch with Eric (and his wife, Kim) Hayden, who expressed interest in adapting American Madness into a documentary. In talking to Eric, I felt happy that he understood the book and why I wanted to write it and that he had a passion for the project. Eric became director with Kim as a producer, and I’m credited as a producer as well.

These things are a lot of work, I don’t think people realize how much goes into it all. Eric worked on the doc for years, trying to find a balance of time to complete it. I was concerned at times– projects fizzle out all the time for a variety of reasons, so I was quite thrilled when he told me he was wrapping things up and had a rough cut to show me. He’s done a great job translating the book, telling Richard’s story while connecting it to some of the conspiracy cases we’ve seen in the Conspiracy Apocalypse of the 2020s.

A cut of American Madness will premier in just a couple weeks at the Los Angeles Film Festival Independent Filmmakers Showcase on Wednesday, May 20 (8:30pm, Regal LA Live Cineplex 14). It’s up for an award and I didn’t want to miss being there, so I’ll be heading to sunny California for a few days to visit Eric, attend the screening and award ceremony, and check out a couple things around Los Angeles. I’ve been there a couple times, but it’s always been kinda passing through.

What’s next? Eric and Kim are going to continue to submit to other film fests around the country and hopefully it might get picked up by a distributor. The Haydens will be in Milwaukee sometime in August, so we are hoping we can set up a screening here. I’ll be posting updates here on my website/ Substack.

As I predicted, Richard’s art has developed sort of a cult following, especially among comic artists. It has rarely been seen, so I’m going to try to work on my idea of collecting Richard’s art as a free PDF. Hopefully I can get that done this summer.

I’m glad this wild adventure of a story will reach a new audience through a new medium. If you haven’t read the book, please check it out. There’s some parts of the story that didn’t make it into the film you might find interesting. Here’s a link: American Madness : Feral House