The Purpose Of The Project

                                                        *and a little history lesson*



Every town has its legends. I believe that this is especially true for my hometown of Portsmouth, Ohio. Founded in 1803, Portsmouth quickly became a bustling town of commerce that sat right on the Ohio river banks. The economy was booming due to out-of-area businesses using the river as a means for importing goods, N&W and B&O rail-yards, and the steel mill providing many jobs throughout Portsmouth. The area known as Boneyfiddle is located on Second Street, which is a stone's throw away from the river. It was built with the intention of becoming the town's main hub of commerce. Beautiful, brick buildings lined the street, providing Portsmouth with a popular thoroughfare to celebrate their successful new city.

But, as the famous proverb states: what goes up, must come down. Portsmouth's economy began declining steadily in the 1950's with foreign competition taking away their importing revenue. When the steel mill closed for good in the 1980's, the town began to slowly fade away. With its population declining and jobs vanishing, the local businesses began closing, leaving Boneyfiddle to become nothing but empty store fronts and memories of what once was. In the last few years there has been a real effort to revive Portsmouth and the storied Boneyfiddle area. Many of the beautiful brick buildings have businesses giving them life again. I am hoping to see Portsmouth once again become the great town that it is so capable of. It certainly has all the potential.

Portsmouth has a long-history and a lot of legends. There are plenty of urban legends to explore in this town, such as: The Flood of 1937, the many ghosts that people claim to haunt several of the Boneyfiddle buildings, or the Indian Rock and its link to Portsmouth. While those are all interesting and would make wonderful projects, they did not immediately come to mind when choosing my project, but one person did: Rich Moon. Mr. Moon has been a resident of Portsmouth, Ohio, for most of his life and just about everyone who lives there knows exactly who he is. Whether it be by name or description, most people will quickly make the connection and share anecdotes about their run-ins with Rich on the streets of Portsmouth. For my project, I have decided to find out if the urban legend that is synonymous with the name Rich Moon is actually true.

And So It Begins.......

Richard Kendrick Moon was born on March 13, 1950. He had a normal upbringing and was liked by everyone. One person on Facebook has described teenage Rich as, "having it all: looks, brains, athleticism, and popularity". Rich was well-liked by all and there wasn't anything about him that would cite trouble down the road or raise any red flags. My dad met Rich after high school, each were around 18 or 19 years old. They were working the same summer job unloading boxes for Williams Shoe Co. My dad described him as being "a nice, normal guy who did not stick out in the least". They parted ways when summer ended and my dad joined the Air Force. It wasn't until after he returned from Vietnam that he saw Rich again, only this time it was a much different version. Rich was not the same guy that my dad had remembered; his hair had grown long and scraggly. Rich's overall appearance would best be described as unkempt and this was not even 10 years after they had worked together as teenagers.  My dad became reacquainted with Rich as everyone else saw him now, endlessly walking around Portsmouth, always alone, always as if he were on a journey whose destination only he knew. While walking down the street is how you will usually see Rich occasionally he could be seen having emphatic conversations with no one but himself. Add up all of the evidence and you might jump to the conclusion that Rich Moon was simply an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. You know what they say about those who assume.... By the time I realized that Rich was a semi-permanent fixture on the streets of Portsmouth I thought that he was a homeless man who had nowhere to go. A while later I was told the urban legend about Rich that had spread through Portsmouth for years. Rich Moon was not a man suffering from mental illness, nor was he homeless. The story was that Rich had ingested an incredible amount of acid that he had on his person to avoid going to jail and it had forever altered his brain. What? That tale sounds like something you would hear in a health class to keep you scared straight from the dangers of illegal substances. But wait, it couldn't actually be true? Or could it.......

Let The Urban Legend Begin......

When I chose Rich Moon as the subject for my project, I thought that I would have little to no trouble getting in contact with his family to ask some questions. I understood that it might be a touchy subject, but I knew that I would handle it with care and be respectful. Didn't matter. I could not get one of them to talk to me about anything. There is a Rich Moon fan site on Facebook; it's a private group that consists of Portsmouth residents and his family members. Whenever the conversation on there would start to veer towards the "acid story", his family would quickly rebuke it. They denied that drugs had played any part in his behavior and left it at that.  I asked friends and family of mine, but they basically had heard the same urban legend so they weren't much help either.

Then I got lucky. I wrote on the wall of Rich's Facebook page and asked for help. A girl that was an acquaintance of mine messaged me and said that she would help with what she could. I was excited that someone had responded, I had no idea that she was going to be such a wealth of information! *Sarah had a lot to say about Rich. She had worked at a restaurant on one of the roads that is Rich's main walking path. Sarah told me that she would invite him in and feed him from time to time. Rich never spoke much beyond gibberish and mostly kept to himself, but he always seemed grateful for a hot meal. Sarah also lived on this road and she eventually started inviting Rich into her house from time to time. She told me that she never felt threatened in the least by him and he was always nice to her. She also told me that when she told her parents about Rich they immediately knew who she was referring to because a) everyone knows Rich Moon and b) her great aunt had been married to Rich's dad so there was a family connection. Sarah would give him her boyfriend's old clothes along with food and coffee. She said he still didn't speak much until one night they smoked an illegal substance (a marijuana cigarette) with Rich. Sarah said it was amazing! Rich became clear and focused like a fog had been lifted from his head; she asked him questions and he answered. Seeing this as her one chance to maybe find out if the urban legend was true she asked him and here's what he said: During his college years he was caught by the cops with acid. To avoid the charges he ate an entire sheet and it all went downhill  from there.
After Sarah told me this she called her grandmother who said the same thing, only in her story Rich was at a college party at Ohio University that was raided by the cops and that's why he took the entire sheet. Sarah said that she called her then-boyfriend to see if her remembered Rich's story as being pulled over in the car and he said yes. The version that I had heard the most was that Rich was at a backyard party in Portsmouth when the cops busted it up. He had the acid in his shirt pocket, it was raining, he was running from the law and it seeped into his skin.
3 slightly different versions, all having the same outcome. I'm starting to think that there is some truth to this urban legend.








*names have been changed to protect the innocent

Rich And Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Here is Rich outside of a Boneyfiddle business called Awesome Town. They mostly deal in vintage toys, video games, Star Wars collectibles, ect. They also sell the Rich Moon t-shirt. This is fairly new and has become a hot-ticket item in Portsmouth. Rich usually carries several around with him at all times. If you ever see him out, ask him about it them, you might get yourself a free t-shirt.

Rich Taking One Of His Infamous Walks

And The Verdict Is........

So, is the urban legend concerning Rich and all the acid true? It's hard to know for sure. I will say that all of the evidence seems pretty convincing. To everyone close to Rich, he seemingly went from an average guy with a bright future to an unkempt man endlessly walking the streets of Portsmouth. I may not have learned if the urban legend is true for certain, but I did absolutely learn something else. Before starting this project I would have assumed that Rich didn't have many family or any friends to speak of. It always made me sad to see him constantly walking alone or at the bar having a beer by himself. But, after digging deeper with this project,

I have learned that the entire town of Portsmouth cares deeply about Rich and his well-being. Not only does he have family who are concerned, but also many people who consider him a friend and help him in anyway they can. Several Portsmouth residents who worked in fast food places and restaurants told me that they would always invite Rich in and let him drink coffee or buy him a meal. This project has made me proud of my hometown.

Here is a painting by artist Lauren Dever that hung in the Boneyfiddle Arts Center, but not for too long. It is no surprise that it was quickly purchased by a Portsmouth resident.