Could you disappear?
 

I just read this article in Wired and it got me thinking, how long could you keep up a new identity and leave your previous life behind?

Vanish - Finding Evan Ratliff | Wired.com

Here are some stories of attempts that failed:
Gone Forever: What Does It Take to Really Disappear? | Vanish | Wired.com

There are various reasons that I can think of that would cause someone to want to leave their current life behind, however it is very hard to do. Like they said in the article, you can last one month without any problems, but after 3-6 you usually will make a mistake and get caught.

And in the modern age, it is very hard to run if you use any electronics or digital money. And I would assume that at least some security cameras (in casinos mostly) would be setup for facial recognition. Now, if you were leaving an abusive marriage or running from the mob, that might not be a concern. If you are wanted by the police, things may be different. And if you are a celebrity criminal and the general public knows who you are, your plans would have to be different as well.

There is also the movie "Into The Wild" that looks into doing this type of disappearing act, and is a little more successful at it. However, only a private investigator was looking for him.

What would you think the hardest part would be? Would you trust anybody in your current life enough to tell them? Would you know of someone that would help you? Have you ever theorized any details of your escape and how you would live? Would you need to make money, already have a slush cash account setup in case something like this happens, or would you live simply with very little in the middle of nowhere?


*Note to any Feds/law enforcement reading this: I have no intention of doing this, nor am planning any action that would even make me consider doing something like this.

**And it would be nice to have the Anonymous member posting option in this sub-forum. ;)

***Don't post any details that could be used against you if you do have to do this in the future.

Ohh I could so vanish. I often pride myself with being able to find people with a couple of phone calls and reading a lot has often spurred these fantasies! As for living with only the means to survive, I figure that would really suck. Which is why I wouldn't want to "disappear".

First off I'd leave a trail all over the mid-west and the west of the USA, gradually making it over to the eastern hemisphere. Where the population density goes fromfewer people to more concentrated. Then I'd bail and make a jump to Europe, ditch my passport, head to most parts of North Africa, and disappear somewhere in Asia.

It's not that hard to travel with little to no money but the passport would be a bitch to counterfeit. I'd also not try to counterfeit a major country's passport like the USA's, UK or most of Europe, China or Australia.

I'd HATE to live anywhere in South America.

I couldn't, not if I planned on maintaining any ties to my previous life.

The trick to disappearing is a convincing red herring. Make sure there's verifiable evidence that you're in Canada that pops up just as you're crossing into Mexico and it should buy you the time you need to go South.

I'd be an Indonesian fisherman within 48 hours.

I'd need a great motive, but I think I could do it.

England to France by train (onward ticket to somewhere else unused), using cash, cross Europe to Bosnia (no passport inspections now that they joined the Schengen area), disappear over porous borders into the east.

Whether I'd want to is another matter.

I know I had to go through passport control, that may or may not be a problem. It is an interesting problem. Could you sneak aboard a boat or steal a boat and avoid French police?

I could do it. Hell I live within a few miles of several family members and have not talked to them in years. I wouldn't do it unless I had extraordinary circumstances surrounding me. If everyone I loved died, I would disappear from the modern world for many years, maybe the rest of my life.

Interesting....hmm. I couldn't do it but I have to admit that there has been a time when it was a fleeting thought in my mind...but never significant.

First problem is love. For most everyone there is at least one person you love (even if you don't realize it until you move away). That would keep your heart and mind connected to your roots...and the pull and tug would be on.

Second problem is culture. My daughter is in the Peace Corps. She's in a village with no people of her color. No family. No friends. The villagers march to the beat of a different drum. She has to be in before dark...3 hours before bedtime...and after awhile books and hobbies got old. It started to affect her psyche and she began having anxiety attacks. She finally gave in and hooked up a TV with USA channels so she could feel connected with her culture.

Wherever you were born and raised is always going to be tugging at you. I moved from the east coast to California and lived there for 12 years. I made lots of friends but as much of a "paradise" as it was (weather-wise anyway), I never felt at home. There were no seasons, no lush greenery, very few lakes or streams, no waterfalls, and no family. I was drawn back to the eastcoast and once again feel at home.

This is exactly how I'd travel. The passport would only be in my person for very extreme circumstances.

I can agree that it is hard to not be around people your culture, but you can just be around people that you get along with and have something in common with. This can be anyone who is expatriated, thus even though I didn't go to school in Singapore, I did feel at home wth all the expats from the various countries. Eventually though, one has to embrace where they are and enjoy it.

But as far as where I was born and raised tugging at me, bah, I don't agree to that at all. I was born on the Lef Coast in So. Cal, and I hated it as I got older. I learned in Singapore I was a city person and now have lived in NYC for close to 20 years. I cannot stand being in the suburbs and when I visit LA it is something I really do not enjoy at all save the visiting for friends and family, and roller coaster riding.

As far as disappearing, well it is much harder to do these days with the advent of the internet, the social media networks make that much harder. It's easy to disappear from friends and family, but disappearing from the law, not so much.

I could easily disappear from friends and family. Indonesian fisherman? No, Probably not, but there are many places that are places you can just slip into.

I must say that it gets harder to make new friends as you get older, having moved alot in my 20s I lost touch with many people and severed many relationships with family members.

heck if Osama did it for the last 8 years whilst under the constant surveilance of the most advanced country in the world, i dont see why it cnt be done.

im sure there's some village somewhere that is cut off from the outside world that would make do with a handyman like me

Hah! Like I'd tell you what my plans might or might not be! ;P

The less drama in my life, the happier I am.
So no, I couldn't do it.

Now I am wondering if that would even be too risky. Would you be able to swim the ~30 miles if you had flippers and good floatation? Would you need a battery-powered propeller to help? Maybe you own a kayak that you could sink once you reached France. If you wanted to take anything with you, you wouldn't be able to swim it, and you would probably be too tired to run if you did make it. If your kayak disappeared, they would be watching the water though.

I imagine it would be hard to actually "disappear" in most parts of Asia without being Asian.

^^ It's not hard at all.

I've considered this many, many times. Pack up the shit on my back, pawn the shit I can for quick cash, and run til I can't run any more. This is more of disappear from my life here, not disappear from government eyes. I know I could do it, disappear from people I know here and family.

I don't know if I could escape from the government eye. Credit or criminal, I don't think my skills are up to that. I'm sure with the right amount of money and knowing the right people, anyone could.

Have considered it several times and both hubby & I have devised a pretty good idea of where & how. It is airtight, but I'm not sharing!

* Only need to use it if Sarah Palin becomes President one day.

Thousands of people with far less education than average aquire authentic credentials every day. The trick is to never have them come under scrutiny. If there's no heat on your tail and you walk the walk, stay in line and play low key then you should be fine. BTW, facial recognition computers at casinos are not connected to law enforcement data base. However, international airports and federal properties everywhere are starting to use them more everyday.

A key factor that seems to be overlooked here is terminating your present you. If you are going to go to the trouble of building a NEW you, terminate the old you. It has to be something low key and fitting to your life style. Don't get a hot air balloons license and dissappear on your first solo trip. I have a few plans that I have worked out in great detail. No, they are not for sale. I will however customize a plan just for you, LOL. It will help to know or study criminal investigation techniques.

It's actually best to establish your new identity in a different city a few years before you put it into action so it doesn't appear as if you fell out of the sky. Bank accounts, auto titles and insurance, addresses, .. be a self employed whatever who spends alot of time on the road. Free lance artist works well, it allows the eccentric atitude needed to be unapproachable and unaccountable.

After that, it's off to where ever you have always wanted to live to pick up fulltime the life that you've built only to find out in a couple years that THAT is exactly what you were running from all along. Sad, isn't it.