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The Mysterious Spanish Ladies

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The Mysterious Spanish Ladies (alternatively Mysterious Spanish, Uninc., Las Misteriosas Damas EspaƱolas, or simply The Ladies) are a shadowy and mostly pseudonymous cabal of Residents obsessives, officially founded on Halloween 2021 by at least four unidentified, anonymous fans (although the group has been informally active since at least the start of January 2017).

It is known that three members of The Ladies ("Lady J", "Miss Doop" and "Madre Una Misteriosa") are the current administrators of Meet The Residents Wiki (which they founded in January 2017), and several other Ladies are occasional contributors to the wiki; still, the identities of The Ladies' founders, and the total number of Ladies currently active in the community, remains unknown to the wider public.

Members of The Ladies have conducted and shared independent research on The Residents (primarily online, as the members are known to originate from different parts of the world); they have interviewed various Residents collectors and historical figures and transcribed crucial reference materials for posterity and factual accuracy.

Formally, The Ladies consider Meet The Residents Wiki to be their main project, however, in January 2023, the group premiered two ongoing Residents-inspired comic strips, Mole Hill and The Negative Zone, as part of a "comix" feature on the home page of the wiki. Two further comic strips by The Ladies, Believe It or Die! and The Berry Boy Bros., premiered in the following months.

The Ladies can be contacted through their Discord server, Mysterious Spanish, Uninc. (founded in December 2020), and can often be seen making various trivial edits to pages on this wiki.

History

"You can always count on a Mysterious Spanish Lady!"

A Mysterious Spanish Lady, December 2022

Origins and foundation

Mysteriousspanishladies

An icon associated with The Mysterious Spanish Ladies

The Mysterious Spanish Ladies were officially founded on Halloween 2021 by a loose arrangement of (mostly) anonymous fans of The Residents, who had often gathered informally to discuss the obscure American group's work, quietly share obscure tracks amongst each other, and occasionally, collaborating together on a number of ill-fated unofficial projects.

The name "The Mysterious Spanish Ladies" was adopted only at the time of their official founding in October 2021; it is believed to be derived from an inside joke shared by the group's founding members, which itself is based on an amusing (yet spurious) anecdote one of The Ladies discovered during their travels through deep Residents fan miscellanea.

The pre-history of The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, often shrouded in wilful obfuscation, has sometimes been dated to early January 2017, shortly prior to the founding of Meet The Residents Wiki, although it is claimed that at least one of the four "Founding Ladies" were quietly active in the Residents internet community as far back as the advent of the BOG in August 2003, with one (apocryphal) early reference to the group occurring in 2009.

Concept and membership

Mslady-cryptidspotted

A rare photograph (supposedly) of a Mysterious Spanish Lady, spotted at a Faceless Forever show in Bristol, February 1st 2023 (photo by Gumi, edited by MƦ)

The Mysterious Spanish Ladies are usually (and most accurately) referred to as an "unofficial fan group" or a "loose gathering of fans", but have also been variously described as a "cult within a cult about a cult", a "hive philosophy" or "elevated state of groupthink", a "glorified Discord server", and "the Red Menace".

The totality of the group's charisma is such that the individual Ladies themselves have conflicting views of the group's concept and image. This confusion has proliferated to the extent that The Mysterious Spanish Ladies have even been suggested (by others) to be a hitherto unknown species of cryptid; a rumor which The Ladies have never publicly confirmed or denied.

For their part, The Ladies are known to steadfastly refuse to refer to themselves as "experts" in the subject of The Residents (and note that their activities often publicly demonstrate that they are not experts in any field); nevertheless, one "Founding Lady" has claimed that the most accurate image of The Ladies can be gained by picturing "a group of faceless women who suddenly appear behind you and gasp whenever you see an error on the wiki."

Aside from the "Founding Ladies" (numbering at least four, only one of whom, "Una Misteriosa," has agreed to be identified to date), the total member count of the group remains unconfirmed. Still, confirmed members of the group include the administrators of Meet The Residents Wiki, "Lady J." and "Miss Doop", as well as numerous other figures who have been active in their own rights within The Residents' fan community.

Membership of The Mysterious Spanish Ladies is not in any way determined by gender identity or sex assignment, race, creed, nationality, sexual preference, nor religion. Essentially, any willing volunteer, aged 16 years or over, who wishes to contribute positively and shares the group's values and philosophy, is welcome to join The Mysterious Spanish Ladies.

Indeed, the group is said to be so loosely organized that virtually anyone who comes into The Ladies' orbit (and makes a positive contribution to the group or to the operation of Meet The Residents Wiki) could reasonably be considered a member - though, of course, whether or not this constitutes official Mysterious Spanish Policy has not been publicly confirmed. Ultimately, membership of The Ladies is determined at the discretion of the group's founders and administrators, and is not guaranteed to all applicants.

Comix and other projects

Outside of their ongoing work in collating the disparate morsels of precious Residents trivia from the most far-flung and treacherous reaches of the Internet Archive, members of The Mysterious Spanish Ladies are also known to be among the current administrators of The Residents unofficial Facebook group, and most members of The Ladies are active in the group's Discord server, Mysterious Spanish, Uninc., which was founded in December 2020.

In January 2023, The Ladies premiered two Residents-inspired comic strips, Mole Hill and The Negative Zone, on the home page of Meet The Residents Wiki, with two further comic series, Believe It or Die! and The Berry Boy Bros., commencing in July 2023 and January 2024 respectively. The Ladies' sporadic run of fan-sourced comic strips continued on the wiki's home page for eighteen months, entering an indefinite hiatus in June 2024.

In April 2024, noted Mysterious Spanish Lady and wiki administrator "Miss Doop" released a 104 minute video essay, "The Residents: The Most Famous Unknown Band, 1969-1983", which surveys the "classic" era of The Residents, which included interviews with various fans and figures, including former BOGcast host Sparky and Aaron Tanner, editor of the A Sight For Sore Eyes series of books.

The Ladies are rumored to be plotting further unofficial Residents-related fan projects to be unveiled somewhere some time soon, such as a fan-made "remake" of The Residents' unfinished feature film Vileness Fats, and at least one (hypothetical) podcast hosted by the group's members; however, the existence or current status of any alleged additional projects is yet to be confirmed. Publicly, The Ladies continue to maintain that Meet The Residents Wiki is their one and only major project.

Mission statement and unofficial status

The Mysterious Spanish Ladies (described jokingly by one member as "the Bene Gesserit of The Residents' fandom") have said that their overall mission is to promote awareness and knowledge of The Residents, to gather and curate the vast amount of information about the group scattered around the internet and elsewhere, and to provide valuable, free and accessible fan-sourced material to The Residents' fandom. Their primary project, Meet The Residents Wiki, receives between 400-700 visitors daily (as of December 2022) and has become a commonly cited resource within the Residents' fandom, and even within official circles.

Ladies-matchbook

"Ladies Rule, O.K.?"; fan-edited version of a Vileness Fats set photo by Graeme Whifler

Despite being an unofficial fan group that has tenaciously existed and acted without the permission or guidance of The Residents or The Cryptic Corporation, members of The Mysterious Spanish Ladies are known to have occasionally communicated with collectors and associates of The Residents, and The Ladies have (by extension) received at least one public nod of approval from the Faceless Four and their handlers: the wiki was cited as an "invaluable" reference in the official encyclopedia Faceless Forever, published in December 2022.

The Mysterious Spanish Ladies' research is compiled purely for the benefit, enjoyment, and education of their fellow members of The Residents' fandom, and for the posterity of their favorite group of ostensibly anonymous multi-disciplinary artists from Louisiana. The Ladies hope that their work is taken in the loving and appreciative spirit in which it is intended (certain members are said to pray in hushed tones that somehow, one day, however indirectly, their efforts secure The Residents a fat, tidy wad of cash).

The Ladies' credo

DIGITI IN OMNI OCULO
(Our fingers in every eye.)
  1. Be FREE! but of VALUE!
  2. Be WEIRD! but be KIND!
  3. Always BUY or YOU-KNOW-WHAT!

List of members

The "Founding Ladies"

  • "Madre Una Misteriosa", or AMysteriousSpanishLady
  • ??????
    • Second Lady; has refused permission to be publicly identified
    • Favorite Residents albums: ??????
    • Joined The Ladies: ca. 2003?
  • ??????
    • Third Lady; has refused permission to be publicly identified
    • Favorite Residents albums: ??????
    • Joined The Ladies: ca. 2009?
  • ??????
    • Fourth Lady; has refused permission to be publicly identified
    • Favorite Residents albums: ??????
    • Joined The Ladies: ca. March 2014?

Active (or semi-active) members

Honorable mention

Interviews with The Ladies

The-ladies-are-coming

We are coming for you.

Beginning informally in January 2020, members of The Mysterious Spanish Ladies have sometimes conducted interviews with noted Residents-related figures, fans, and collectors, often (but not always) for research for this wiki.

As group members are located in various parts of the world, The Ladies have exclusively conducted their interviews over the internet, via video or voice chat, or through email or direct message.

This ongoing series of interviews will be gradually transcribed to Meet The Residents Wiki for posterity (and for the sheer pleasure of sharing our original research material with our faithful readers).

  1. Miss Doop interviews composer Ego Plum, January 2020
  2. Miss Doop interviews video archivist Peter Conheim, May 18th 2021
  3. Miss Doop interviews BOGcast host Sparky, June 2021

See also

Contact The Ladies

External links and references

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
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