It’s not politically correct to say so, but it is true and so I’m going to say it:
There is no “alternate reality.”
There is only “reality,” period, which each and every one of us is stuck with whether we like it or not.
And Ong’s Hat, New Jersey, is not a “portal” into another universe.
No top-secret lab, no starship base, no “Beam me up, Scott!” Just a wide spot in the road. And not even wide enough to notice. Trust me, I’ve been there.
The whole business was the product of a computer game. Someone made it up. When loonies who thought it was real started creeping up to his house and peering through his windows, the inventor discontinued the game.
But as long as we’ve got our nooze media, we’ll never run out of “alternate reality.”