When 9/11 happened I had a story idea about a survivor who uses the confusion to leave behind a life he had grown tired off. The story didn’t go anywhere for me, because other than that interesting twist, I couldnt figure out where to take it.
But every disaster since then, I have been thinking about the feasibiliy of such a plotline. How would someone do it? Is it believable?
People seem to drop out of their lives to start news ones all the time without disasters.
Would it be as simple as giving the relief workers a new name, and telling them that you lost all your belongings including your ID?
Better to claim amnesa caused by trama I would think. Still they could search social security records, drivers licenses databases and question people in the area.
I don’t think amnesia is that common. nd assuming that you’d be able to fool them, they’d try to help you finding who you are and investigate. Not exactly what you want.
I’d assume it would be better not to attract undue attention.
Anyway, once you dissapeared and are considered dead (that part shouldn’t be difficult), what next? What will you do for a living, for instance? What would you do to assume a new identity?
I saw a postcard on Postsecret saying “Everyone who knew me before September 11 thinks I am dead.” If they are telling the truth then not only is it feasible, somebody has already done it.
There are jobs you can find that pay cash only (construction work, computer work, backyard mechanic type stuff, etc…). After that, it might be as simple as getting a copy of your birth certificate, and getting your name changed (legally). After that, you can open financial accounts with your new name. Although, would an inquiry on your birth certificate show up on a record somehow? That I don’t know.
There was an episode of some TV show, perhaps Law and Order, where this happened. Some guy in an unhappy marriage pulled off this trick on September 11, and fled to Quebec, where he started a new life. A year or two later he is discovered, and the wife kills him. I can’t find reference to it in any Law and Order episode guides, so it may have been a different show.
I’ve thought about a story idea. How about a story about being displaced as a Katrina survivor and a witness to believable weirdness and atrocity during the anarchy of the Superdome ultimately being saved by and indoctrinated by a group of Scientologist aid workers. I believe it could be quite believable, dislocation and surreality emphasized in a Palahniuk style. Loss of identity or acquisition of new identity outside of literalsim, it lends itself better to the idea. Could be wry, humorous, terrifying and surreal. It has the potential of capturing the experience of Katrina aliteratively.
Also, some interesting possibilities peripheral to your story idea have been covered in the movie/screen play Hard Rain. It might be worth a watch.
There was an episode of L&O where a guy killed his girlfriend the night of 9/10 and dumped her body somewhere, then a few days after 9/11, went and cut off her hand and took her purse and somehow threw them into the rubble of the WTC, where she had just happened to work. It was assumed she died in the attacks, but a year or so later the rest of her body was found. Maybe that’s what you’re thinking of?
As for the OP, I remember hear that premise floated in the weeks after 9/11, when it became apparent that most of the victim’s remains weren’t going to be found. Some of the talking heads were saying someone could use it as a way to"escape" and start a new life. I can’t imagine having the foresight to watch something that horrific happen right in front of me then then think, “Wow, if I run to the bank and clean out my account and slip over the border right now, everyone will think I died and I can get out of my bad marriage.”
There was also an episode of JAG where someone in Iraq did something heroic and his face got caught on camera and aired on ZNN. The man’s former wife or neighbor or something recognized him. I think he used the identity of someone who actually did die on 9/11 when he joined the military.
Find a bloated, decaying corpse that might have looked something like yourself.
Remove all ID from the corpse.
Place your own ID on the corpse.
Find a rescue worker and show them the corpse’s ID, claiming that you are whoever they were.
After having your new identity confirmed, move a long distance away, probably to another country. That way there’s less danger of the dead person’s family, friends, or employer tracking you down.
If you were in New Orleans when the hurricane hit, or you left just before, then you can probably just disappear. More than a few bodies have probably been eaten by alligators, and others were washed out to sea. They’re not going to find all the victims.
But what would you for ID, especially in this day and age? You need something, a driver’s license or state-issued ID card, and a social security card. Fifty years ago, this would have worked, but now, I don’t know. You can’t just hop a bus and find a new town. What about working? All employers ask for some sort of ID and a SSN.
All the books I’ve read, you check death certificates for someone your gender who was born roughly the same year as you. You request a copy of their birth certificate and use it as your own, applying for SS card, drivers license, etc. Apparently birth and death certificates are not cross referenced anywhere, death certs are rarely looked for, they’re just filed away and forgotten.