HIDING YOURSELF

by John J. Williams, Consumertronics
WE ARE IN A TERRIBLE MESS!  If ever there was a time in this country to make
yourself scarce, this must certainly be it.  Consider:
       (1) After eight years of the Let's-Just-Pretend Reagan Administration
           and four years of the Let's-Wreck-The-Country- Even-More Bush
           Administration, we are on the brinks of both an economic
           catastrophe that makes the Great Depression look like a Sunday
           picnic and a world war that's going to pale all of our previous
           wars.
       (2) Japan, and other foreign countries, are buying up America at such a
           frenzy - even our National Park concessions and our great
           institutions -that the prospect of America being turned into one
           huge post-World War II POW camp is indeed a reality.
       (3) Credit bureaus have taken snooping to new levels to violate
           personal privacy and to oppress the people.
       (4) To make up for all of the money ripped-off by the politicians and
           their big-shot friends, governments, thru their tax collection
           entities, are becoming increasingly oppressive and dictatorial
           while taxes soar beyond even what would have be en tolerated just a
           few years ago.
       (5) Efforts to register and confiscate firearms have reached such a
           fever pitch that our Founding Fathers must be turning over in their
           graves.  For example, California recently made it a felony not to
           register an "assault-rifle" - a state that been under continuous
           Republican domination since Reagan was Governor.
       (6) Our basic industries are only a shadow of what they were in the
           1950s and 1960s, particularly in the processing of metals.  And our
           system of transportation is shot.  The railroads and airlines are
           dilapidated and failing at ever- increasing rates.  Without a
           massive repair effort in which there is no money for, our
           interstate highway system will last another decade at most.
       (7) Virtually every type of financial institution is being ripped-off
           enmasse by insider fraud and has either collapsed or is on the
           verge of collapse: S&Ls. banks, credit unions, retirement funds,
           insurance companies, Wall Street. You name it .
       (8) Politicians have always been corrupt.  But in the last decade, this
           corruption has reached a new level that even shocks me.  You know
           as well as I do that Bush is being paid off by the Japanese,
           Germans, and Arab Sheiks.  None of his four sons are going to die
           in the desert.  Thank you, but they are all doing very well
           financially, especially Neal.  When you got guys like John Glenn
           selling himself to the highest bidder, you've got to know that
           there is no peaceful prospect that the system an ever be corrected.
       (9) We are only a few years from a new millennium.  You can bet the old
           millennium won't end without the rivers running red with blood.
                                 THE SOLUTION
Need I say more?  Clearly if you try to live your life like you are a member
of the Leave it to Beaver family, you are bound to be screwed bad, and your
chances of survival are nill.  You'll be taxed to death, your loved ones will
be shipped off as cannon fodder, you'll probably lose your job or at least get
your retirement and benefits stolen from you, and what little property you
have will also be ripped off.
The only solution is to join the underground economy, to travel as light as
you can, and to make yourself as scarce as possible.  In the final analysis,
if they can't find you they can't harm you.  We provide much good advice in
this direction in our "BY AN ORDER OF THE MAGNITUDE" book.  Other excellent
sources are available from Loompanics Unlimited, Paladin Press, etc.  Of
course, virtually any living you make thru the underground economy -even if
it's selling rosary beads - is strictly illegal, but that's a judgement you'll
have to make.
Many people who own a lot of property and who are well known by a lot of
people make some-to-all of their income thru the underground economy.  Thus,
they are still vulnerable to attack.  They still can't fart without an entry
being made at a credit bureau.  In fact, in some respects, they are in greater
danger than people who make identifiable livings, because eventually the tax
entities will ferret out the discrepancy between their lifestyles and their
identifiable sources of income, and react accordingly.
To be truly safe, you must not only make all or virtually all of your living
thru the underground economy, BUT also make yourself as unidentifiable as
possible.  You can do the later using a combination of means:
(1) Obtain and use alternate identifications.  This is discussed fully in many
    alternate ID manuals, including EDEN PRESS "THE PAPER TRIP", and
    CONSUMERTRONICS "SECRET & ALTERNATE IDS" and "BY AN ORDER OF THE
    MAGNITUDE".
(2) Travel and live incognito (this information is provided for educational
    purposes only):
                            TRAVEL & LIVE INCOGNITO
There is a subtle distinction between using an alternate ID and living
incognito.  "Incognito" means, "To live under a disguise or with your identity
concealed," whereas to use an alternate ID means to make yourself known under
a different name .  The implication is that the incognito person wants as few
people as possible to know his name - real or false - or to recognize his
appearance.  In other words to stay low - even physically hidden.  The
alternate ID person may have a very high profile, and may do nothing to alter
his physical appearance.
I've been told that it is almost impossible these days to live incognito in
the United States.  I always respond that, 'Then how is it that Los Angeles
has about a million more people than anybody knows who they are?' If I were to
guess, at l east 10% of the adults living in the United States today are doing
so totally incognito, and that at least another 20% purposely maintain a very
low profile as a partial form of living incognito.  Ironically, we are one
country in which a serial killer can go around and kill hundreds of people and
no one will have even the faintest idea who he is, but if he bounces a $2
check, that will stay in his credit bureau files for seven years and plague
him every aspect of his life!
There are several methods of living incognito, but whatever method you use,
pay for things with cash as much as possible, and live with as few possessions
as possible.
       (1) Travel constantly by whatever means you can devise.
       (2) Live in an isolated part of the country.  For example, Appalacia,
           the northern most Western states (excluding coastal Washington and
           Oregon), and the deserts of the Southwest.
       (3) Live in Mexico and Canada.  Or in another country.
       (4) Live as a near-homeless person and-or as a slightly crazy person.
       (5) Live in safe houses.
       (6) Live in hiding places.
(1) Constant Travel:
Many people today who don't want to become identified stay on the road
constantly.  This not only makes you scarce but can also help you considerably
function in the underground economy as a courier or transporter of contraband.
it is also an ideal way to live if your type of living will quickly bring
attention to you if you start to hang around too long.  However, to survive
this way, you have to be very physically fit - capable of fighting or fleeing
as required - mentally sharp.  And very street-wise, as you will be dealing
with many strangers, many of whom are predators. You should be able to assume
regional accents and understand regional customs, and have an excellent
understanding of geography, topography, and meteorology, as well as of the
various transportation systems you will encounter.
Means of transportation should vary as required and range from thumbing it to
flying first class.  The fewer times that someone sees your face or hears your
name, the less the risk.  Biking and walking long distances are a plus.  You
should know how to drive just about every kind of vehicle, as short stints in
a stolen vehicle may result as opportunities arise.  Generally, except near
the Mexican border, buses are safer than commercial planes - you get far less
scrutiny.  Near the Mexican Border can be a problem because Immigration
officials frequently board and inspect buses.  Private planes are the safest
per mile traveled.
2) Live in Isolation:
Remote and isolated parts of this country exist all over.  You an even find
them relatively near very large cities.  However, some parts of our country -
Appalacia, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest have the most such places.
Some advantages of living like this:
       (a) Your exposure to government and commercial snoops is minimal.
       (b) It's usually not cost-effective for the government to send someone
           out to get you unless the wrongdoing is very serious.
       (c) If someone does try to make the moves on you, you an usually spot
           them coming some distance away and will have time to prepare
           yourself for concealment, flight, or fight. And if you end up
           having to kill them in self-defense, there will be fewer witnesses
           and more places to get rid of the evidence.
There are major disadvantages to living in a remote area:
       (a) Many people can't tolerate the isolation and boredom.
       (b) Living conditions are usually primitive.
       (c) The chances of dying from a medical emergency are higher.
(3) Live in a Foreign Country:
In many ways, this is the ultimate means of escape.  If you are out of reach
of our government, they can't mess with you, and won't even try unless you are
an international terrorist.  There are still nice retirement areas in Mexico
and Canada .  However, the Mexican situation is getting very much out of hand,
and I would tend to steer clear of it. Wherever you live, you will be under
the jurisdiction of that country - that sometimes can be worse than living
here. However, once you've become established, and you've greased the right
palms and made the right friendships, living abroad can of ten become much
more safe and secure than living in a typical American city.
A great method here is to contact seasoned travelers club members, and say
something like, "Well Mildred and I are in the process of planning our
retirement.  We want a change of scenery.  If you were going to retire today
to a foreign country , where would you go and why?"  If their advice looks
good, you might then ask them for the names and addresses of contacts in their
suggested area.
(4) Near-Homeless/Crazy Person:
This is probably an ideally safe way to go if you've made a decent score and
you need to go underground.  Or if you are living on retirement, interest or
investment income. Buy a wardrobe at the Salvation Army.  Rent a cheap
furnished apartment with all utilities supplied.  Stash your cash in a bank
across town.  Rent a mail box in one of those mail drops.  Draw on savings as
you need it.  The only time you need to reveal your identity is when you make
a bank transaction, and unless you are receiving checks to your name in the
mail, even then it an be done so totally under an alternate ID.  Your landlord
need never know who you really are.  Just be punctual at paying him.
You can even avoid contact yourself when you must make those personal contacts
with your bank, post office, etc. Simply hire a wino to do those things for
you while you remain concealed outside.  He doesn't even have to handle any of
your cash .  Whatever cash you need, you can withdraw from your bank's ATM.
If you decide to spend much time on the streets, it helps to appear to be a
bit crazy.  Not crazy enough to get the police involved, but crazy enough so
that people will go out of their way to avoid you.  That way, you may be
noticed but you will never be recognized as someone actually wanted by
anybody.
5) Live in Safe Houses:
During antebellum days, escaping slaves from the South frequently availed
themselves of the "underground railroad" and "safe houses" to escape to the
North (even Canada) and to live in freedom.  More recently, thousands of draft
dodgers and deserters spent the Vietnam war hiding out in safe houses.  Today,
foreign refugees seeking safety from brutal governments there and economic
opportunity here, as well as abused women and children, routinely make use of
safe houses to stay hidden.  In every war-torn society, whether your talking
about World War II Europe or Kuwait after Iraq's Invasion, a reliable safe
house an spell the difference between life and death, and people spend years
in them.
A "safe house" is a home or other building whose occupants are close friends
or relatives, or who are sympathetic to your plight, allow you to live with
them without becoming known as a member of the house.  Especially for women
and children, this is the safest way of going. But remember, a safe house is
only as safe as its occupants are reliable for keeping secrets.
Safe houses an be operated alone or in a network.  In the network situation,
you stay a short time at one safe house, then move on to another and so forth.
That way, you have more freedoms and are less likely to suffer from cabin
fever, but by the time your neighbors begin to get overly curious about you,
you're gone.  Networking is most frequently done with relatives and churches.
Safe houses can take other forms.  A common form is that of the "shack job."
Here you live with someone usually about your age, usually for romantic
reasons, while not being married to them.  The house, car, etc. are all in
their names.  You just occupy their home.  Shack jobs are so common these
days, that almost no one except old biddies will even remark about them.  It
is an excellent way to hide out while still maintaining a relatively normal
life.
Another form of safe house is the live-in or domestic servant.  This works
particularly well in richer neighborhoods and around the Mexican border, where
almost anyone with a middle class or above lifestyle has at least one
domestic.
There are many incapacitated men and women who live alone or semi-alone who
would give almost anything to have someone around.  Perhaps to nurse them.  Or
perhaps as just company and a form of security.  And if you have some special
skills - handy with tools, great at gardening, a super good cook - you can
almost write your own ticket.  To get on with someone, just refer to the
Personals in your newspaper or write your own ad.  When the person interviews
you and shows some interest in you, you might say something like, "You know,
I've given you my true name.  When I used to live in LA, there was this person
constantly bothering me for money. Just to be sure that he doesn't find me
here to bother me again, it is important to me to live with as low of a
profile as possible."
(6) Live in Hiding Places:
This is more akin to the horror movie about the mutant twin that lives in the
attic then living a "normal" life. Many homes have attics and-or basements
that can be easily adapted to hiding a person or people.  And other places in
a home an be modified to at least temporarily conceal a person. If the home
has a crawl space, a trap door can be made so that a person can quickly slide
underneath the building for a short period.
Another excellent method is to wall over a closet, and then to build-in some
secret means of entry.  For example, many homes with hallways have hall
closets.  However it's not unusual to not find a hall closet in a hallway.  If
you have a hall closet, pull off the door and door frame.  Then construct
framing and wallboard over it to match with the hall's wall construction.
Then paint/panel/paper the entire hall so that all evidence of the hall closet
disappears without a trace.
An entry to the hall closet can be made from the attic, basement, outside or
from the room on the other side.  The ideal method is if there is a sink and
cabinet on the other side of the hall closet.  Install a sliding door at the
back of the s ink cabinet that will take you to the hall closet.  Sprinkle
around a lot of dead roaches, some white powder that looks like it's deadly
poison and a few rusty mousetraps. Then slap in an old mop bucket or basket
filled with bleach, drain cleaner and other foul containers to conceal the
back of the cabinet and to discourage further inspection.  Just below the top
of the cabinet, you might run a 1/4-inch copper water line into the closet and
put a little faucet on it so that the occupant won't get thirsty.  Add a
stool, a spare bulb, some reading material, some ready-to-eat food, and
possibly a floor drain to handle wastes and a person can stay concealed for
days if he has to.
The floor of the closet might also open up to an escape tunnel to the outside,
particularly to the perimeter of the property.  For example, it might open up
at a hedgerow, beneath a garbage can platform, etc.  An escape tunnel is
difficult to implement but often well worth the effort for these reasons:
(1) If someone attempts to burn you out of the house, you can slip into the
    escape tunnel for safety, and then later at night exit the tunnel and
    escape.
(2) If your home is taken from you (ex: the banking big- shots steal it from
    you), you can return to live in it, even if other people later occupy it.
