The options available to the aspiring vanisher are many. Which ones you choose will be determined by many factors, including your health, savings, personal interests and preferences, and prospects for a sanctuary. Those with youth, good physical condition, and/or financial resources on their side will have a greater choice than those lacking these things, but virtually everyone can find a way to disappear by using the ideas in this chapter.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
This is potentially the least expensive and most effective, as well as adventurous and scenic, of choices. The United States is lit- erally covered by hiking trails, national forests, parks, wetlands, and wildlife preserves, most of which offer tremendous opportunities for solitude. You can disappear into the wilds for as long as you like, right here in the USA.
Scenery near the Appalachian Trail.
The Appalachian Trail in the East stretches over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine and offers clean, fresh air, fantastic views, and the chance to escape civilization almost completely. Thousands of people hike the AT (as it is known by its fans) yearly. Only a few hundred manage to finish the entire route. Most visitors are day hikers or weekend adventurers only.
Finding anonymity here is incredibly easy. An investment of a few hundred dollars in camping equipment is all you will need. Chain stores like Wal-Mart and Sports Authority, as well as local army surplus stores and flea markets, are good places to look. If you have never backpacked before, it is advisable to borrow or buy two or three books on the subject and read them thoroughly before setting out. Reasonably good physical condition is a must. So many people hike the trail every year that you can blend into a sea of faces with little effort. It has all the advantages of losing yourself in the throngs of a major city, without the crime, pollution, and hostility. As long as you dress like the other hikers, remain polite but discreet in dealing with others, and behave yourself, you should have no problems.
Camping supplies can be found in abundance at discount
department stores in summer and spring.
The trail crosses roads and highways at regular intervals, and small towns are located near most entrance and exit points. Carry cash or prepaid charge cards to buy what you need, usually things like basic foods, personal items like toothpaste and soap, as well as an occasional restaurant meal. (Cards with the Mastercard or Visa logo can be purchased anonymously, with no credit references, proof of income, or even ID needed. Their value is equal to the amount you pay for them, minus a modest processing fee. The chapter on means of escape contains more information on these.) All-you-can-eat buffets are popular with hikers, and you will have no problem finding these in the communities you will pass through. All sorts of colorful-looking individuals hike part or all of the trail annually, and locals generally ignore them.
It is best to begin in early spring if you intend to go the entire distance. Most thru-hikers (the term for those who complete the entire route of 2,050 miles) start in Georgia in March or early April and trek for four to six months before reaching the other end at Mount Katahdin, Maine. A reasonably thrifty individual should be able to do the trip on $3,000 or less, including equipment.
Besides the AT, there is a sister trail along the West Coast, the Pacific Crest Trail, which is approximately as long and offers similar opportunities. There are also shorter trails located in individual states and regions of the country. For those who hate mountain climbing, the state of Florida offers hundreds of miles of trails that are virtually sidewalk-flat. Ohio is encircled by the Buckeye Trail, and in South Carolina the Palmetto Trail stretches from the mountains in the west to the beaches in the east. The Internet site www.backpacker.com is a tremendous resource for further research. Just don’t buy all the hype from their advertisers and get suckered into paying too much for your equipment. A complete set of good, dependable gear can be had new for $400 or less. Check out campmor.com and majorsurplusandsurvival. com for great deals.
Not interested in doing all that walking? No problem. There are campsites galore across the nation where you can set up a tent and stay for a week or longer, up to several months. You will generally be required to show some form of ID, but there will be no background or credit checks. Private chains like KOA, as well as most larger state and national parks, offer comfortable amenities alongside the tent sites, including bathrooms with showers, washers and dryers, even vending machines, convenience stores, and restaurants. Some of these places close for the winter, but many are open year round. You can set up a large tent, a cot and sleeping bag, folding chairs and table, and relax with a good book. Cooking can be done on a camp stove (available from sporting goods stores for around $50 to $60), on a grill, or in a dutch oven suspended over your campfire. Spending time this way allows your mind and body to truly unwind, which is important when you are trying to gather your thoughts and evaluate your options. Keep your site clean, stay reasonably quiet, and behave yourself, and you should have no problems.
A good tent is essential to camping comfort.
Here the author poses proudly after erecting his.
There is one other outdoors option which provides ultimate anonymity, and that is hiding out in the woods, deep in the forest or other wilderness where humans never go. This is an option for those who do not wish to be seen by others, and it offers complete privacy if done right. The thing to remember is that the United States is filled with remote places that people never trod. Most of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for example, is totally uninhabited. Its holdings include more than 10 million acres of pristine wild lands. Avoid the public campsites, established trails, and scenic roads, and you can remain undiscovered forever.
Accused antiabortion terrorist and Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph lived for five years in the Smoky Mountains without being seen, despite a massive effort on the part of law enforcement and professional bounty hunters to find him. Eventually he was spotted by a local cop in Murphy, North Carolina, and arrested. Had he not wandered into town to raid Dumpsters, he would probably still be free.
They say Bigfoot lives in the Rocky Mountains out West. If so, then he has done an excellent job hiding, because he has been hunted by countless thousands and never captured. I have seen the Olympic National Forest in western Washington State, as well as the mountainous parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It would be no problem getting lost in those areas. The southwest is largely desert, but it is dotted by abandoned ghost towns that tourists do not frequent. Desert survival is an art unto itself but has been accomplished for long periods of time.
Living this way would have its share of risks as well as advantages. You are on your own if you break a leg or need emergency surgery to remove your appendix. There is much to consider if you choose this option. Fortunately, companies like Paladin Press (www.paladin-press.com) and Loompanics (www.loompanics.com) sell outstanding books on wilderness survival, and I refer you to their catalogs. For those who love the outdoors and can face its challenges, living on a hiking trail, in a campground, or just out in the middle of nowhere can offer sanctuary as well as adventure.
Remember Unlucky in Love Larry? This is the option he took. He spent the night at a rest stop, stopped at a branch of his bank first thing the next morning, and emptied out the checking and savings accounts. He also maxed out his credit cards (and then cancelled them), using them to get cash advances and buy supplies. Fortunately, he had done enough research on the AT to realize what kind of equipment he would need, so a couple of trips to sporting goods stores were all that it took to outfit him. Now he is staying at a mountain cabin for a couple of weeks, doing all the day hiking and exercising he can to prepare for the big walk ahead. Yes, he sweats a lot, but he never hears his wife’s nagging voice. That has to be nice …
THE OPEN ROAD
This option is closely related to the last one, in that you will be spending a great deal of time outside. However, instead of being out in the woods or the desert, you are on the highway with your thumb out. Hitchhiking is a great low-cost way to see the country. Despite its seedy reputation, it is much safer and more pleasant than most people think.
You will carry your possessions in a duffel bag or backpack. You are likely to meet nearly anyone when you hitchhike, but most people who give you rides will fall into three different categories:
The whole adventure of hitchhiking is in the uncertainty. You never know from day to day whom you will meet, what you will eat, or where you will sleep. I have hitched a little myself, but my ex-hippy brother is an old master of the art. He has thumbed his way from Atlanta to the West Coast more than once. He advises the following:
My brother also shared some fascinating stories with me, which should give you a good idea of what you may expect. One of these involved an evening in Houston, during which he saw a man die in the middle of the street from a slit throat. This motivated him and his traveling companions to seek shelter for the night, and, by pooling their financial resources, they were able to rent a motel room. Unbeknownst to them, the flop was actually a cover for a cat house, which they discovered when they went upstairs and found the hallway lined with women in various states of undress loudly proclaiming their services.
Having no money to pay for such services, my brother and his three male companions went to their room. This caused the ladies to conclude that they were gay. The gentleman in charge of the house, himself a flaming homosexual, was delighted to hear this, and my brother and his friends spent much of the night declining his advances.
Things were especially hard for one friend who ventured to the rest room at the end of the hall to shower. He panicked when the manager decided he would shower with him.
His other tales from the road ranged from fleeing mentally disturbed drivers to suffering from hypothermia to smoking cigarettes infested with weevils. But he also had stories of seeing beautiful areas of the country, meeting kind and interesting people, and enjoying a sense of freedom he has never known since.
Good luck out there if you decide to hitchhike. For further research, consult The Hitchhiker’s Handbook from Loompanics.
The author is dressed for hitchhiking success. Note simple but durable
clothes. Personal items are in old bag he carries.
For the nonsuperstitious, cemeteries make comfortable, safe places to sleep.
THE STREET
While not the most pleasant choice in this chapter, living as a homeless person may be an option for those who have little money and/or desire almost complete anonymity. Street people are a common sight in most decent-sized cities these days, not just metropolises like Atlanta and New York. You will probably never be noticed among the masses of people who sleep in the alleys, rescue missions, or doorways.
Athens, Georgia, is a good example of a smaller city (population approximately 100,000 to 200,000) where the homeless are well tolerated. There is an abundance of benches in the downtown area where the transient population gathers to socialize and to feed off whatever they are given or can find. Athens is a university town, so there are plenty of guilt-ridden white liberals and young, out-of-touch idealists to sponge off of. The abundance of restaurants and coffeehouses means edible food is just a Dumpster dive away. Being a Southern city, Athens enjoys a mild to moderate climate year ’round, though the summers can be quite hot.
Athens has a very visible downtown police presence, but the cops generally do not hassle the homeless as long as they are well-behaved. Free or low-cost entertainment can be had from the countless small bands that play the clubs up and down Clayton Avenue. Street musicians are common as well. There is always an outdoor play, political demonstration, or something else going on. Reading material is abundant; ’zines can be purchased very cheaply from Bizarro Wuxtry’s, the local comic book shop. (My favorite is “Betty and Judy,” an illustrated ’zine about two adolescent girls who annoy old men and beat up obnoxious convenience store clerks. It runs 10 cents a copy.) I have taken clean and virtually unread newspapers from the trashcans when I didn’t want to spend the 50 cents for my own copy. The University of Georgia library is very accessible. It has literally millions of books, papers, and other publications. My brother goes into the magazine shops downtown and reads articles at the stand, then puts them back on the shelf without purchasing anything. He has never been hassled for this.
All in all, Athens would be one of the better places to be homeless for a while if circumstances ever made it necessary. I urge you to strongly consider using a college or university town for your sanctuary, no matter which of the options in this chapter you decide to use. The casual, transitory atmosphere is perfect for someone trying not to be noticed.
You will need a good sleeping bag, plastic sheet or tarp for protection from the rain, and a backpack or duffel bag to hold your possessions. I advise against carrying a firearm; it can backfire on you in many ways (pun intended). A large can of pepper spray or handheld stun gun might be okay. The best weapon you can have is your wits. Always be aware of what is happening around you.
Living on the street is another option that requires long and hard thought. Done right, in the proper location, it can be tolerable. For those seriously contemplating it, I highly recommend the book Surviving on the Street: How to Go Down without Going Out by Ace Backwords (available from Paladin Press). It is absolutely the best book on homelessness I have ever seen. Ace lived on the mean streets of San Francisco for years, so his advice is all real-world, not academic BS. Dumpster Diving: The Advanced Course is another outstanding resource offered by Paladin Press. Put your prejudices aside; Dumpsters are veritable treasure troves filled with all sorts of goodies in great condition. Fresh food, clothing, building materials, even items suitable for resale are thrown away in abundance every day, and you can get them for free. Learn to live off of the wastefulness of American society, and you will always live well.
HOTELS/MOTELS/BOARDING HOUSES/TRAILER PARKS
For the less adventurous, renting a place can prove to be a viable alternative to the above-described options. Hotels and boarding houses offer two advantages to conventional rentals: one does not normally have to submit to background or credit checks, and electricity, water, and local phone service are generally included in the rent. In addition, many trailer parks offer renters a package deal that includes the cost of electricity and water. This circumvents the need to establish these utilities in one’s own name.
This said, there are disadvantages to these options as well. The most troublesome of these is that your future neighbors may not be the sort of people you want to be around. Rent-by-theweek motels have an especially bad reputation. Drug dealers and prostitutes often live out of them. When I resided in Georgia there were a pair of inns just outside of town that were always getting raided by the sheriff’s department. There was a man who worked for me for a while who lived in one of them. He told me he did not dare to go outside his room after dark. The potential for trouble was too great.
Traveling work crews often stay in these kinds of hotels. They can range from tired construction workers just wanting a good night’s sleep to real rowdies looking for drinking, drugs, and a fight. Ladies of the evening prowl the parking lot or even knock on one door after another, seeking customers. Ditto for the dope dealers. For a long time conditions like these were the norm for those who sought weekly or monthly lodging in motels.
Extended-stay hotels like this one are clean, quiet, and safe.
In the last several years this has begun to change. Clean, decent chains have sprung up across the country. They cater to business travelers and others who may need to reside away from home for a while. They often have the words “extended stay” in their names. I lived in one of these in Pennsylvania for a while and found it a wonderful place. The room was set up like a small apartment with a kitchenette, desk, and recliner. There was a fitness room and snack bar on the premises, and private boxes were available for the guests to receive mail. If you choose to stay in a motel during your absence, I strongly recommend seeking out a place like this. Rates are generally $150 to $200 per week, and they take cash. A driver’s license, which is in no way verified as authentic, is usually sufficient identification to check in. I discuss alternate ID later in the book. (I am assuming, of course, that you are the kind of person who likes things calm and peaceful. On the other hand, you may be the sort who enjoys the company of flesh peddlers, drug dealers, and violent people. If so, save your bucks and go for the cheap dives you can live in for a hundred bucks a week. Just don’t be surprised if you end up on COPS one night for all the world to gawk at.)
Boarding houses used to be very common but are hard to find these days. There was one in Belton, South Carolina, that I stayed in for a couple of months. The manager was a convicted felon who wore an alarm around his ankle that would go off if he left the property. He was under house arrest for receiving stolen goods. There was a very homely, mannish-looking slut across the hall who always wanted sex from me (no, I didn’t accommodate her). Various kinds of losers rented the other bedrooms. The house was a giant two-story affair that used to be a funeral parlor. We shared a common bathroom and had a telephone downstairs with local service.
The “manager” would get plastered at night and scream at his wife. He eventually went back to prison for beating her half to death one night. Sometimes he would corner me downstairs and regale me with tales of his “glorious” criminal past. I found his stories difficult to believe.
I moved as soon as I could and rented a bedroom in a private home. My landlady was semiretired and took in boarders to supplement her income. She cooked dinner for her tenants at night, and we would all watch TV in her big living room in the evening. This was a really decent arrangement and accommodated me for several months.
The lesson here is to check out any motel, boarding house, or trailer park carefully. There are still decent places among them. Chosen carefully, these can be excellent options for those who have the cash. Keep your nose clean, be polite but discreet when talking to others, and feel free to lie as much as necessary about your real situation, both on the rental application as well as person-to-person. In rare cases you may need to provide real references to rent in a boarding house or trailer park. (By “real” I mean the landlord or lady will actually try to verify them. I discuss establishing false references in a later chapter.)
RENTAL HOUSE OR APARTMENT
This option presents limited opportunities for the disappearee, but there are some drawbacks. Houses and apartments generally require a fair degree of paperwork as well as a good supply of cash. Credit and background checks are common. In addition, it is usually necessary for tenants to provide their own utilities, which means signing up with the local electric company and the city water service. The vanisher can use a fraudulent Social Security number to do so, but this can be risky and will almost always necessitate a hefty deposit, unless he or she has already obtained credit under the number. It is unlikely that anyone should go to such measures merely to stage a short-term disappearance.
Houses and apartments need to be furnished, although they often come with a stove and refrigerator in place. In addition, at least in the case of houses, you will likely be surrounded by people who have lived in the community for a while. They will see you as their new neighbor and may try to get to know you; this could be very bad for someone maintaining a low profile. The local authorities may check you out, just to make sure a “troublemaker” is not invading their peaceful little town. If you have brought your car, your out-of-town or out-of-state plates will draw attention. All in all, this option should be avoided if possible.
An exception may be if you have a close relative or friend who owns a rental home, timeshare, or summer/vacation dwelling and is willing to let you use it. Sometimes members of religious or political groups have networks of fellow adherents that will assist them. That leads directly into the next option.
SHELTER OR SAFE HOUSE
Abused women can take refuge in any one of hundreds of shelters set up for them. Many of these will shelter their children as well. There are tons of resources available for women in this situation, and I list some of them in Appendix I at the back of this book. Check out carefully any place you consider, and make sure they can take you in for as long as you need to be away from home.
If you are a member of a political, racial, or religious group that is frequently persecuted, then there may already be a network of safe houses around the country ready to assist you. Check with others of your color or creed on this option. Also refer to the suggestions for further reading at the back of this book.
In my research on this option, I discovered that there are essentially three different types of women’s shelters across the country. One of these is the government-funded variety, often known as the “county shelter.” The advantage of these is that they are adequately if not generously funded, enjoy strong support from local law enforcement, and are free or very low cost to the women who use them. The primary disadvantage is that bed space may be severely limited and so women may only be able to stay there for a few days. Check with your city or county’s social services agencies to see if they support such a shelter and what kind of services it offers.
An alternative to the county shelter is one run by a private organization that is nonreligious. These are often feminist groups with local chapters. The conditions at these places vary widely. Some are clean, decent places for battered women and their children to live temporarily while they straighten their lives out. Others are little more than holding cells that treat the women like cattle. Some have been investigated numerous times for mistreatment and misuse of funds. For example, several shelters in the United States and Canada have come under criticism for refusing to allow the women to have male visitors, even if the person in question was their attorney, minister, or physician!
Homes like this are often run by ultrafeminists who equate anyone who does not have to sit down to urinate with Satan himself. I advise that you do research on any home in which you are considering seeking shelter. Check with law enforcement, civic groups, and other charities in the area to find out what kind of a reputation the place has.
The final alternative is a shelter run by a church or other religious group. These are subject to the same uncertainties I have already outlined, with the additional proviso that they will see you as a target for evangelistic work if you do not agree with their beliefs. If you are a nonreligious person with no interest in acquiring a faith, you may find this to be more than you can take. Then again, when you are flat broke, cold, and hungry, what is so bad about hearing a sermon if you know there is soup and a warm bed waiting afterward? Check these homes out the same way you would the other options. Even if you cannot stay at one of these places for very long, you can usually get shelter for at least a few days while you flesh out other options.
Remember Sally from the last chapter? She was able to obtain shelter at a church-affiliated home for battered women. The situation is not ideal; she does not really want to receive Jesus as her savior, but the staff is pretty insistent about it. Still, they are not beating her or letting her or the baby starve, so it is a definite improvement over her last situation. We will check in on her again later.
SECRET HIDING PLACE
If there is an abandoned home, a shack in the woods, or a hidden cellar that only you know about, then you have a refuge ready to go. Stock your sanctuary with canned foods or MREs, first aid supplies, and anything else you may need for a while. The book The Modern Survival Retreat from Paladin Press is a great resource for further study.
A PRIVATE HOME
If you have a “covert” friend somewhere, he or she may be willing to put you up for a while. The Internet can be a great place to meet people like you who are open to new people and new experiences. It can also be a wonderful place to meet people who will slit your throat and toss your carcass in the river. Be careful.
Relatives may put you up, but any pursuers will logically think you are staying with family and probably seek them out. When I was a teenager, I went to stay with my aunt after my father came home in a drunken rage one night and tried to shoot me. She did not live far from him, but he did not dare bother me at her house. My aunt was heavily armed and a great shot.
There is one more option I want to mention here, which can be helpful to those in need of ending their marriage. The state of Nevada is a great place to get a quickie divorce, and you only have to “live” there for six weeks before you are officially a resident.
