Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace

Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace

Fredric L. Rice

Copyright 2001 by Fredric L. Rice

Smashwords Edition

"In the midst of the words he was trying to say

In the midst of his laughter and glee

He silently and quietly vanished away

For the snark was a boson, you see" - Paraphrased

Last updated: 22/January/2012

This information is offered in to the public domain however it is copyrighted by Fredric L. Rice who grants permission for some or all of the text to be used elsewhere for non-commercial purposes only, something I should probably have repeatedly underscored back in 1997 when the web page was first published.

Here are the sections you will find:

Section 1: What I'll be discussing in this how-to essay

Section 2: Understand who or what you're hiding from

Section 3: Throw away yourself and build a new you

Section 4: Keep from depositing traces of yourself

Section 5: Keeping yourself hidden

Section 6: People and Organizations Which Can Assist You

Section 7: Employment: Food, Shelter While on the Run, While Underground

Section 8: Checkpoints on America's Highways -- People Looking for you

Section 9: Summary

Section 10: Special note to Earth Liberation and Animal Liberation groups

Section 11: South Western Deserts as a Place to Hide / Squatting

Section 12: Fright Hopping -- Riding the Rails

Section 13: Dropping off the Grid: Peace Corps, Others

Section 14: Montana Supreme Court Notes Ability to Track Everyone

Section 15:MOVIE:Hanging Out in the Mojave Desert -- How It Was Done

Section 16: Some good comments offered by readers

Section 17: Public Camps and National Forest Squatting

Section 18: Internet Research Before You Disappear

Section 19: Gold Mining as a Means to Disappearing

Section 1: What I'll be discussing in this how-to essay

There are many good reasons to want to disappear from society. There are many bad reasons to want to. There are many good ways to disappear from society and there are many bad ways to disappear. While I won't delve too deeply into the whys of disappearing, I will cover my opinions on how to disappear successfully.

This essay covers what I consider to be the most salient points on how to disappear and remain successfully hidden in American society. If you have further suggestions, please don't hesitate to E-Mail me at the address provided at the bottom of this text so that I may include your ideas.

If you're thinking of hiding from a moral responsibility -- such as child support -- I want you to stop reading this right now and shoot yourself. This web page isn't for you. If you're thinking about committing a crime and then trying to get away with it, don't be an idiot: you will get caught -- it's just a matter of when -- and nothing on this web page can possibly help you.

If you're thinking of running from an abusive ex-husband or ex-boyfriend who wishes to do you harm, I wish you the very best and hope that some of these suggestions and contact references prove helpful though most of it, I'm afraid, is probably unworkable, silly suggestions that won't help you one bit.

If you're thinking about taking your children with you, DON'T! Bring yourself and your children to a shelter in another State but for no reason should you ever drag your children around with you while on the run or while hiding. They don't deserve the abuse and you're being selfish if you try to. If you need help caring for your children but need to run from a dangerous spouse, ex-spouse, girl/boy friend, or ex-girl/boy friend, dial 1-800-4ACHILD and ask about what your options are for your safety and the safety of your child or children. Call before you leave if possible but most certainly call someone if you and your children must flee.

Also: The number of the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.

The authorities will be highly motivated into tracking you down if you bring your kids with you as well. Think about what's best for those you leave behind and, as difficult as it will be leave them behind!

While there are many shelters for women, finding a shelter for yourself and your children if you are a man is going to be difficult. References provided toward the end of the essay should be helpful in this regard yet understand that if you're a man fleeing spousal abuse, America just doesn't care too much about you. A man still has many options, however, yet, in America, there are fewer than for a woman.

Women who make allegations of child abuse against their husbands, ex-husbands, or ex-boyfriends are likely to be considered truthful in American society in far greater percentages than such claims made by men against their female counterparts. A man who must take himself and his children away from an abusive female is likely to be accused of child abuse and American society is likely to believe the allegations.

Because of this, whether you're a man or a woman, protect yourself from such allegations by documenting abuses before you flee to a shelter with your children. Once at the shelter, make sure that a service worker at the shelter is given a copy of (or a chance to review) your documentation. It's greatly unfortunate that you will have to face legal needs when you're trying to escape from a criminally abusive person but legalities is something you must be prepared to face before you make your break. The fact that you took yourself to a children's shelter or a battered-woman's shelter goes a long way toward establishing your innocence in allegations likely to surface later.

Women are assigned priority status when it comes to such things. If you are a man fleeing an abusive woman, understand that whatever you tell the authorities (or organizations which provide assistance) will be greeted with undue skepticism. Check the references at the end of this essay for organizations which specifically assist men.

Section 2: Understand who or what you're hiding from

You should consider the resources of the individual or organization which you're hiding from as well as their degree of motivation for finding you. Always over-estimate the resolve of those seeking to find you yet keep your estimations reasonable. Greatly over-estimating your opposition can cause you to behave in predictable, patterned ways, however. It is the predictability of your actions based upon your opposition's controlled stimulus which can get you caught.

If your opposition are police authorities, rest assured that they have decades of experience to back them up whereas to them, you're nothing more than another faceless fugitive on the run. To them you're no one special; it's not usually personal (unless you've killed a cop in which case they will get you -- and I hope you'll have an accident on the way to the police station.) To you, however, being hunted down is quite personal. They know how you will feel and will use that against you.

If you've entered the United States illegally to start a new life, (or are planning to) you must contend with immigration officials which have historically been under-staffed, poorly-managed, and staffed by incompetent (though often voraciously brutal) thugs -- high school dropouts -- who only want to carry a gun but couldn't make it in the police force. Unlike police officers, immigration officials didn't get into their line of work to help people; they got into their line of work to keep you out of the country and to track you down and throw you out if you do get in. Their desire is to subject you to their control, feeding their power trips, making themselves feel manly. Unlike police officers, they aren't out to help society, they're out to inflict misery upon the hapless and the down-trodden.

I mention this because you must understand who your opposition is when you go on the run and try to hide. The objective is for you to disappear and start a new, normal life somewhere else. Illegal immigrants face the exact same problems that those who wish to become anonymous in America face. The house wife who's been beaten into the hospital too many times faces the same problems which illegal wet backs face. The opposition, however -- those detailed to finding the house wife -- are quite different than those trying to find a cop killer. Know who'll be out looking for you when you run and hide.

The resources of your opposition will dictate greatly your behavior and decisions. If you're running from an abusive ex-husband or ex-wife,