My name is Robert, and I’ve lived in Philadelphia for the last four years. In that time, I’ve devoted myself to discovering what lives in the city’s deepest, darkest corners. Occasionally this means I end up going where others have before (who hasn’t been to the Mutter Museum?), but frequently I find myself venturing into dank warehouses in dimly lit parts of the city to see what weird sights and secrets Philadelphia is keeping hidden.

Why is this important? I believe the most interesting people and things in Philadelphia go unrecognized by its residents and outsiders. Every city holds a hidden history just beyond the hot spots and tourist attractions, and I want to find and document all of it.

Why me? Why not! I’ve always had an obsession with the strange, the fantastic, the macabre. As a child, I grew up just outside of Philadelphia so I’ve always been immersed in its legends and local folklore. While studying communication at Temple, I began to write for a number of local publications about the strange people that live and work in the city. One piece in particular was published in City Paper before its untimely demise and it gave me a taste of what it’s like to help others discover something new, something unusual, something distinctly local.

Let me be clear: I love this city. There’s a French phrase, folie a deux, which describes a psychological condition in which two or more people share in madness. In its own way, Philadelphia is a kind of madness that gets into you if you stay long enough, and you begin identifying with others around you. You share in its shortcomings, and you share in its neuroses. But having spent the time I have here, I wouldn’t want it any other way, and I can only hope I can make you feel the same.