Can you really disappear without a trace?

[Starseeker]

http://www.wired.com/vanish/2009/11/ff_vanish2/

A fascinating story.

Of course, it's harder to do this in say North America than say some parts of Asia. There are lots of expats that come out here to restart their lives. Of course, he might not have been caught if he didn't have a particular food allergy.

Do you want to disappear? Start anew?

 

[Bofast]

Really fascinating, indeed. Don't think I'd want to do something like that, though

 

[aenemic]

that was a really cool story, definitely worth the time to read.

like you say, his gluten allergy definitely made it harder for him, but what ultimately gave him away seem to have been laziness and a few hints too many. if he had tried harder he could easily have gotten away.

that said, if this wouldn't had been a contest and especially if he had been a criminal, I doubt he would have lasted as long as he did. if professional PI's had been hired and the police or feds had been involved, I'm sure it'd take a real mastermind to disappear.

 

[Buxbaum666]

Quite an interesting read, indeed.

 

[Kahgan]

One could easily disappear if one was willing to give up certain commodities. Like regular social contact for instance.

 

[Maphusio]

Yeah! I read this on NPR a week or so ago. What a bad ass story... It was really an interesting social scientific experiment unparalleled by anything else. I can't say I really understand the full ramifications of this story but it seems so very important and useful... I just don't know in what venue it should be analyzed.

 

[TychoTheItinerant]

How to disappear in 3 easy steps, thanks to the Patriot Act!

1. Piss off/worry the US Government/Secret Service by saying or doing something really ill-advised.
2. ????
3. Prof- I mean, DISAPPEARANCE!

 

[SkynetV4]

This reminds of a very encounter that my dad had. My father is an amateur ornithologist/nature enthusiast. He regularly goes to our many nature preserves to enjoy his hobby.

On a recent trip, he found a local guide with a 50 something American. He called himself Barry and made small talk with my dad. At the end of the walk, they spoke about other things and "Barry" revealed that he was on the run from the US because he was one of the few survivors of Operation Phoenix. A US strategy in the Vietnam war to target and terminate most of the Vietcong leadership.

What "Barry" claimed is that the US actually helped the North Vietnamese to kill South Vietnamese and US leaders to help the commies win the Vietnam war. He claims that he was writing a book about that.

I wonder if he was just fucking with my father's head or maybe he is part of the tinfoil brigade. Odd, very odd.

 

[iridium_ionizer]

What "Barry" claimed is that the US actually helped the North Vietnamese to kill South Vietnamese and US leaders to help the commies win the Vietnam war. He claims that he was writing a book about that.

I wonder if he was just flipping with my father's head or maybe he is part of the tinfoil brigade. Odd, very odd.

As long as there are people there will be wars. And as long as their are wars, there will be people who lie about their involvement in wars.

I don't think the North Vietnamese needed any help to reclaim South Vietnam, they just needed the U.S. to pull out, which they eventually did. Are we supposed to believe that the U.S. was doing too good in the war (even though it was costing a lot of money and lives), so that to make it seem like the war was a lost cause they decided to kill their own men and allies to accelerate plans for withdrawal?