In early two thousand my world was falling apart and I was going bankrupt, being audited and dealing with a divorce. To top it off my consumption of fine spirits was going off the rails. I wanted nothing more than to disappear and leave my world behind. However, my life was not in tune with disappearing, everything was spiraling out of control.
Looking back, I can see that if I had disappeared it would have been a massive disaster. In reality I was looking to run from my problems, not disappear, there is a difference. Disappearing is about creating and building, running is hiding. The man who disappears has an endgame while the man who runs only lives on borrowed time.
During the sinking of my world, I found myself dipping into Buddhism. One afternoon while cruising in god-forsaken New Jersey I came upon a Buddhist Monastery and something overtook me and I made my way into the gates.
As I walked around the monastery, I watched all the bald Buddhist men doing their thing. It seemed somewhat peaceful and so far from my life.
I think I was at the point where I felt as if I had no way out. I was ready to give it all up but it was a question of how. My options were limited to like a bullet to the brain, a Buddhist monastery or stop drinking. Eventually a monk approached me and we began to chat. He asked me if I wanted to be a Buddhist and it sounded cool to me. I replied yes. He replied with a funny smile. He asked me if I drank alcohol, chased women and was fond of my long hair. It was a yes across the board. He told me I would not be a good Buddhist and offered a few books and put me on my way.
Not long afterwards, my world really came crashing down. Even at this moment, I remember the vacant feeling of leaving my office for the final time. The electricity shut off for nonpayment, the computers gone, the employees bailed and all I had left was a sea of empty desks and a few books about Buddha. My empire became nothingness, life was not working out and I decided I needed a new code. Instead of shooting myself in the head, I stopped drinking and became a ghost.
The Way of the Ghost
To be disappeared is a lifestyle change not simply a here to there action. Each morning a Ghost wakes up and remembers a predator is hunting them. Whether it is BIG BROTHER, monotony, a stalker or poverty, the ghost seeks freedom. There must be an innate understanding that any wrongdoing or frivolous actions can jeopardize freedom.
A Ghost must always be prepared. The way of the Ghost means that you should exist in an unnoticeable way, invisible. If you go to the supermarket, bank, place phone calls, send emails and do all the other normal functions people do daily. You should go unnoticed, a soul that prompts no attention.
If a debit card you used is traced to a transaction at the supermarket, it must ultimately lead to a dead end. If your email correspondence is traced it must lead to a dead end. If your prepaid cell phone is compromised, it must lead to a dead end. If the last flight you were on took you to Barcelona, the tracks must stop in Barcelona or lead to a bogus trail. The predator must think of you as a ghost.
What is Your Ghost Code?
I am not promoting crime in this chapter but if you are disappearing from a predator or BIG BROTHER, you might as well learn from the mistakes of others. From reading about various people who have faked their death, they do not seem to comprehend that they are planning a crime. Some drive to their disappear destination, some follow their online presence and others have photos taken of themselves. If you fake your death, live as if you are dead and exist as if you are a ghost. You must never be seen.
All criminals leave dirt behind, which is the evidence that identifies who most likely committed the crime. This leads to the pursuit and most times the capture of the perpetrator.
The Challenges of Crime
1. The criminal wants to commit a crime without apprehension.
2. The criminal wants to live free after the crime.
3. Law Enforcement must identify the criminal.
4. Law Enforcement must hunt and capture the criminal
The problem with criminals is most do not commit a crime day. However, most detectives investigate a crime or two a day.
Code of the Ghost
Never use hardware of your own!
If you are reading this on a laptop or kindle that has your identifier attached this is a HUGE mistake.
If it plugs in it leaves digital dirt!
If it plugs in, turns on, makes a connection it most likely leaves evidence.
Do not press the button!
Pressing enter, send, download or save creates digital dirt.
Carry no weapons of the trade!
If you have it on your person and BIG BROTHER dips in your pocket, your secrets are blown.
Non Semper Erit Aestas Erasmus!
Summer will not last forever!
Before you actually begin the road to faking your death, existing like a ghost or disappearing you need to think of it as a seamless transition. If you do not make it a seamless transition, the party hunting you down just might find that speck of dirt you left in the wind.
Assume you plan to fake your death. It is important for you to recognize and be honest with yourself that you are planning to become a fugitive. There is a difference between disappearing and being a fugitive on the run. To a degree, being disappeared is existing in a cyclical way of living while being a fugitive is a linear way of living. Cyclical has no beginning and no end; linear has a beginning and an end.
Being disappeared is about being in a place where the predator knows nothing about. This existence is an event, which you feed to maintain. Living on the run has a limited shelf life because one must take from others in order to exist
Disappear – Cyclical
On The Run - Linear
For some strange reason we see people who have faked their death somewhat as cult heroes. We tend to forget that there is a crime behind them and typically, that crime is about money or freedom. What I find stupid about criminals on the run is that they commit crimes to survive. I understand that sometimes they have no choice but it is a lose/lose situation. Common sense dictates that their actions are stacking the chips against them and raising the odds of apprehension. If you have, no money or shelter to sleep, seek out the help of others who can assist for a short period. This help should never be someone from your past. It is wiser to live off a person’s charity then to steal and risk freedom. Avoid organizations like homeless shelters and food kitchens. BIG BROTHER lays in wait. Find a woman or man seeking companionship and seek refuge with them.
Criminals Go Back to the Hood
Most criminals go back to the hood. They go to a place where they feel most comfortable. If you ever watched US Marshals on TV, you will notice that when they hunt down a fugitive the Marshals usually go back to the old neighborhood and wait. The reason they wait is that they know the dumbass fugitive is going to visit family, girlfriend or an old crime partner.
No Honor Among Thieves
There is no honor among thieves. If your crime partner is busted, your crime partner will drop a dime on you for a lighter sentence. Sammy the Bull dropped a bag full of dimes on the mob and had mucho murders under his belt. Sammy is as tough as they come and in the end, he looked out for himself. He was the second most powerful gangster in America. If Sammy dropped a dime, so can your crime partner, brother, mother or spouse.
The Way of the Ghost
A ghost, ghosts alone
A ghost shares no secrets
A ghost exist as if dead
A ghost never looks back
A ghost never draws attention
A ghost avoids photos and media at all cost
Bad shit happens to stupid people!
If you faked your death, you need to live like a good citizen. You should never drive reckless, speed or drive a car with a broken taillight.
I dislike most TV show but the show Cops should be homework for criminals. I have seen schmucks with ten pounds of weed in their car driving with a busted headlight. I have seen people with warrants pulled over for speeding. If you are wanted by the man, do not do things that invite the man your way.
Living the way of a ghost means you will not bring or draw attention. That would include common sense things like driving with the broken light, public intoxication, speeding, fighting, and other situations where the words HANDS UP may be directed at you. A little homework would be watching a bunch of episodes of the TV show Cops.
Sometimes bad shit just happens!
Meet John Stonehouse who was a Member of Parliament in the UK. In late 1974, Stonehouse decided he wanted a new life and so he left his clothes on a Miami Beach giving the assumption that he took the big dip in the warm waters. John actually split to Australia with his mistress.
Prior to hitting the road Stonehouse set, up a new name of Clive Mildoon and sent off some funds to New Zealand. For some odd reason the banker in NZ was suspicious of Stonehouse and his Mildoon alias. Perhaps it was the stupid name. She called the police to make them aware of his presence. Eventually, Stonehouse made his way over to Australia where the suspicion followed and put him on the radar of the Australian heat.
Not knowing his real identity, the Aussie police suspected that Stonehouse was Lord Lucan a murder suspect from the UK. One of the reasons the reasons the police believed Stonehouse was Lord Lucan is that he was reading a British newspaper. Talk about random, the choice of newspaper put Stonehouse in the hunt.
Assuming Stonehouse was the murderous Lord Lucan, the Australian authorities popped him. Scotland Yard sent photos of Lord Lucan and Stonehouse.
Busted!
Stonehouse was shipped back to the UK and had a stack of charges to the tune of twenty-one laid on him. Guilty and sentenced to seven years in the gray bar hotel. As for Lord Lucan, he may still be out there or he may be dead. No one knows for sure.
A Curious Bank Teller
A Newspaper From Home
Think about it, a curious bank teller from New Zealand and a newspaper from his home country put Stonehouse in the spotlight. There is nothing Stonehouse could have done about the bank teller. However, his hands picked up the UK newspaper. The way of the ghost never looks backwards and that means do not associate with material from your homeland. Luckily, today the ghost can bank and read from a computer.
Ghosts are Dead
Ghost Leave the Past Behind
What is the code you will create? Will you create a code that is pure and strives for the ultimate freedom? Will you create a code that will allow you to live after you fake your death? There is no one code; we all have different needs and wants. What matters is creating the code that works for you! It is important you create your code before you disappear. This can truly determine the success of your disappearance. Do not be like a prisoner who breaks out of prison and has no plans past the gate.
I began this chapter with my Buddhist story and life spiraling out of control. This chapter is about looking at yourself and discovering truth. Your self-admission of those truths can determine your disappear success. I suggest you be Zen and be a ghost.