The only man unaccounted for was Alan
December 17, 2023 1:53 AM Subscribe
This story is one of painful probabilities and possibilities. A husband, father, son, and brother either died in a horrific accident or used that accident to flee the life he was living. Either way, he would probably no longer be alive today. His family is forever left with pieces of a puzzle that can’t be made whole. The shapes that fit together over time weren’t always pretty. The gaps may be uglier still. from The Truth is Out There [Atavist; ungated]
If Alan did survive, it seems highly likely that their DNA search will over time turn up more half siblings. I doubt he would have changed himself that much.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:22 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 4:22 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
I was hoping for some sort of explanation as to how, even back in the early 70s, it would have been possible for someone to completely disappear and establish an entirely new identity, and be able to remain undiscovered (and able to live a “normal” middle-class life) over the years, especially as technology advanced and privacy diminished. False documents can only carry you so far.
I mean, unless Alan’s intent (and desire?) was to go underground and live a dark, less-than-comfortable life, disappearing without a trace just seems unnecessarily complicated. According to the story, he had filed for divorce just before the fishing trip. It makes no sense to then choose to drop off the map. Unless you’re a sociopath, I suppose.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:58 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
I mean, unless Alan’s intent (and desire?) was to go underground and live a dark, less-than-comfortable life, disappearing without a trace just seems unnecessarily complicated. According to the story, he had filed for divorce just before the fishing trip. It makes no sense to then choose to drop off the map. Unless you’re a sociopath, I suppose.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:58 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
I hope Lisa got the MG.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:07 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:07 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
I wish the writer had paid a bit more attention to the accident itself. What is described as a " boxy, 28-foot leisure craft ... part boat, part travel trailer" sounds more like a houseboat than something suited to rough seas. The manufacturers claimed it was “virtually unsinkable” yet it split in two and capsized. At the inquests on the two drowned men, was any cause of the accident discussed? Any liability assigned?
So:
Two men drowned: one body washed ashore; it's not clear from the story whether the other washed ashore or was recovered from the sea.
One teenager swam with difficulty to the surface, one man clung to the engines; both of these swam to the shore
One man swam to the surface, and then clung to the propeller until rescued.
There was a lot of debris along the shore, and two of the three survivors only managed by clinging to the wreckage - there's a fair chance that the sixth man got tangled in enough debris to keep him under and stop his body rising to the surface. All the searches mentioned (the Coast Guard and Harbor Patrol boats, the Army and Navy helicopters and Coast Guard plane ) were surface ones.
I think the assumption that bodies will always wash up onshore on that location is a bit glib. Even if the chances of never being recovered are low, it's going to happen at some time. Lots of fatal accidents happen and lots of people's lives are complicated. The chances that an accident victim has a complicated backstory are high enough that the combination shouldn't immediately suggest that the victim has faked their death and run away.
posted by Azara at 5:19 AM on December 17, 2023 [14 favorites]
So:
Two men drowned: one body washed ashore; it's not clear from the story whether the other washed ashore or was recovered from the sea.
One teenager swam with difficulty to the surface, one man clung to the engines; both of these swam to the shore
One man swam to the surface, and then clung to the propeller until rescued.
There was a lot of debris along the shore, and two of the three survivors only managed by clinging to the wreckage - there's a fair chance that the sixth man got tangled in enough debris to keep him under and stop his body rising to the surface. All the searches mentioned (the Coast Guard and Harbor Patrol boats, the Army and Navy helicopters and Coast Guard plane ) were surface ones.
I think the assumption that bodies will always wash up onshore on that location is a bit glib. Even if the chances of never being recovered are low, it's going to happen at some time. Lots of fatal accidents happen and lots of people's lives are complicated. The chances that an accident victim has a complicated backstory are high enough that the combination shouldn't immediately suggest that the victim has faked their death and run away.
posted by Azara at 5:19 AM on December 17, 2023 [14 favorites]
I'd argue that his son has a better chance of finding Bigfoot than whatever became of his dad.
posted by Kitteh at 5:24 AM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 5:24 AM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
Thanks for posting this; I read it and was saddened.
False documents can only carry you so far.
Right, but that used to be far enough. Before the internet, they used to sell this book in the back of magazines that was about fleeing and changing your identity. It started with going to the cemetery, picking out a new name from a baby's tombstone, then getting a birth certificate in that baby's name. Apparently, as recently as twenty years ago, you could talk somebody into giving you a driver's license with another name. And back before everything got so damn expensive, you could live life more easily with a flimsy background. Not so many credit checks and so on. If enough time went on, your identity could get pretty solid.
That's if he did survive; I'm not convinced of that. It sounds like a horrible accident. I thought of this again when I was listening to a recent episode of The Vanished. It was a very similar story, but there was no boating accident, at least not one that involved anyone else. A guy who'd been miserable and acting odd just vanished from his campsite, and his canoe was floating out there right side up.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:21 AM on December 17, 2023 [11 favorites]
False documents can only carry you so far.
Right, but that used to be far enough. Before the internet, they used to sell this book in the back of magazines that was about fleeing and changing your identity. It started with going to the cemetery, picking out a new name from a baby's tombstone, then getting a birth certificate in that baby's name. Apparently, as recently as twenty years ago, you could talk somebody into giving you a driver's license with another name. And back before everything got so damn expensive, you could live life more easily with a flimsy background. Not so many credit checks and so on. If enough time went on, your identity could get pretty solid.
That's if he did survive; I'm not convinced of that. It sounds like a horrible accident. I thought of this again when I was listening to a recent episode of The Vanished. It was a very similar story, but there was no boating accident, at least not one that involved anyone else. A guy who'd been miserable and acting odd just vanished from his campsite, and his canoe was floating out there right side up.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:21 AM on December 17, 2023 [11 favorites]
It's well-written, but I was expecting this story to be "All facts point to Alan drowning, except for this one fact that's hard to explain." But it turned out to be "All facts point to Alan drowning."
There isn't even a theory put forth for how he could disappear. There's no way he could have planned for a storm to come and sink the boat. But you can't just emerge from the sea in your underwear and start a new life in another city, even in the 1970's.
The evidence for him surviving is: "You'd have to be an asshole to totally abandon your family and disappear without a trace, and Alan was an asshole."
posted by justkevin at 6:24 AM on December 17, 2023 [19 favorites]
There isn't even a theory put forth for how he could disappear. There's no way he could have planned for a storm to come and sink the boat. But you can't just emerge from the sea in your underwear and start a new life in another city, even in the 1970's.
The evidence for him surviving is: "You'd have to be an asshole to totally abandon your family and disappear without a trace, and Alan was an asshole."
posted by justkevin at 6:24 AM on December 17, 2023 [19 favorites]
I was hoping for some sort of explanation as to how, even back in the early 70s, it would have been possible for someone to completely disappear and establish an entirely new identity
Make up a new name and life history (or borrow one from a gravestone). Start doing stuff to make your identity credible. Get a job. Rent a room. After some time, there's no question that you might be someone else. You're Bob Smith, you live at 101 Main Street, Apt 6. You work at the feed store. Things weren't so interconnected. For my first bank account, the teller at my bank branch used to do the calculations on a mechanical adding machine and then type the new total into my bank book. I don't know if there was a computer in the building.
posted by pracowity at 6:25 AM on December 17, 2023 [8 favorites]
Make up a new name and life history (or borrow one from a gravestone). Start doing stuff to make your identity credible. Get a job. Rent a room. After some time, there's no question that you might be someone else. You're Bob Smith, you live at 101 Main Street, Apt 6. You work at the feed store. Things weren't so interconnected. For my first bank account, the teller at my bank branch used to do the calculations on a mechanical adding machine and then type the new total into my bank book. I don't know if there was a computer in the building.
posted by pracowity at 6:25 AM on December 17, 2023 [8 favorites]
I was hoping for some sort of explanation as to how, even back in the early 70s, it would have been possible for someone to completely disappear and establish an entirely new identity.
They could carry you surprisingly far. The story of Lori Erica Ruff made national headlines in 2013 and her story wasn't completely connected until like 2020. Just as Countess Elena said, she found a young child who had died, requested their birth certificate, then used that to get a court ordered name change in TX. She got a GED, college degree, and got married.
(I'm not saying that happened in this case, for example Ruff turned out to be teen runaway. I am not sure there are any known examples of someone using an accident as cover for changing their identity.)
posted by muddgirl at 6:29 AM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
They could carry you surprisingly far. The story of Lori Erica Ruff made national headlines in 2013 and her story wasn't completely connected until like 2020. Just as Countess Elena said, she found a young child who had died, requested their birth certificate, then used that to get a court ordered name change in TX. She got a GED, college degree, and got married.
(I'm not saying that happened in this case, for example Ruff turned out to be teen runaway. I am not sure there are any known examples of someone using an accident as cover for changing their identity.)
posted by muddgirl at 6:29 AM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
But you can't just emerge from the sea in your underwear and start a new life in another city,
This is my take. It’s one thing to do that with some planning, it’s entirely another to crawl to the shore and suddenly decide on making a new life. Occam’s razor seems pretty sharp here.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:09 AM on December 17, 2023 [6 favorites]
This is my take. It’s one thing to do that with some planning, it’s entirely another to crawl to the shore and suddenly decide on making a new life. Occam’s razor seems pretty sharp here.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:09 AM on December 17, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'm still puzzling over the line that says The Legend of Boggy Creek is a docudrama!
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:11 AM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:11 AM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
Plot twist: Bigfoot saved his dad, and carried him off to a better life in his tree nest.
A few years later a documentary known as the ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’ borrowed heavily from their life story.
posted by chronkite at 7:37 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
A few years later a documentary known as the ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’ borrowed heavily from their life story.
posted by chronkite at 7:37 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
Also the whole accident was a freak, unplanned, other people were around thing. You're telling me a man spontaneously decided to disappear under those circumstances?
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:44 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:44 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also the whole accident was a freak, unplanned, other people were around thing. You're telling me a man spontaneously decided to disappear under those circumstances?
Didn't several survivors of the New York Twin Towers 9/11 disaster get out and then think "if I walk away now, everyone will think I am dead", and walk away from their lives?
I seem to remember that the death toll went down as they discovered several people who were in fact alive but who had used the disaster to disappear.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:04 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
Didn't several survivors of the New York Twin Towers 9/11 disaster get out and then think "if I walk away now, everyone will think I am dead", and walk away from their lives?
I seem to remember that the death toll went down as they discovered several people who were in fact alive but who had used the disaster to disappear.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:04 AM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
I'm still puzzling over the line that says The Legend of Boggy Creek is a docudrama!
Not only do I remember seeing that movie in the theatre (one of the first non-kiddie matinee movies I watched) but I remember the scene they described; the character in question was sitting on the toilet at the time and it was generally regarded as one of the high points of the movie among my pre-teen crowd. But yeah, describing it as a "docudrama" fits in with the generally credulous tone of the article. Unless Alan was already planning to fake his drowning on the trip and the boat fortuitously capsized and gave him even better cover (or he somehow caused the boat to capsize himself which no one seems to have suggested) then there is no way he would have had dry clothes, fake ID, enough money to take care of himself until he could get a job, etc. in place ahead of time.
posted by TedW at 8:05 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
Not only do I remember seeing that movie in the theatre (one of the first non-kiddie matinee movies I watched) but I remember the scene they described; the character in question was sitting on the toilet at the time and it was generally regarded as one of the high points of the movie among my pre-teen crowd. But yeah, describing it as a "docudrama" fits in with the generally credulous tone of the article. Unless Alan was already planning to fake his drowning on the trip and the boat fortuitously capsized and gave him even better cover (or he somehow caused the boat to capsize himself which no one seems to have suggested) then there is no way he would have had dry clothes, fake ID, enough money to take care of himself until he could get a job, etc. in place ahead of time.
posted by TedW at 8:05 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
> Didn't several survivors of the New York Twin Towers 9/11 disaster get out and then think "if I walk away now, everyone will think I am dead", and walk away from their lives?
You're probably thinking of Sneha Anne Philip who disappeared on 9/11. She is officially considered a victim and there's no evidence to the contrary. No remains of her have been found, but that's true for over 1000 victims.
posted by justkevin at 9:43 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
You're probably thinking of Sneha Anne Philip who disappeared on 9/11. She is officially considered a victim and there's no evidence to the contrary. No remains of her have been found, but that's true for over 1000 victims.
posted by justkevin at 9:43 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I was in Highschool, waay back in the Plasticene era, a friend's father fell off a fishing boat into a lake in the Boundary Waters and went straight to the bottom. His body was never recovered. Bigfoot had no comment.
posted by Floydd at 9:50 AM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Floydd at 9:50 AM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
I wonder why Unsolved Mysteries turned them down. Did they conclude it was just too likely Alan had died?
posted by doctornemo at 12:05 PM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 12:05 PM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
A guy in massachusetts recently died who robbed a bank in 1969, moved to massachusetts and started a completely life that remained a secret until he told his daughter a couple of days before he died. Link. So it wouldn’t have been impossible to pull off.
posted by youthenrage at 2:00 PM on December 17, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by youthenrage at 2:00 PM on December 17, 2023 [6 favorites]
This post reminded me of a 2009 post about Matthew Alan Sheppard, who faked his own drowning in February 2008 and was arrested the following August for credit card and insurance fraud.
I suppose it's possible that Alan Champagne survived the shipwreck that killed two other men and began life anew somewhere else, but it's not likely, and there's no real evidence or basis for suspicion that he did so. This article is more about the long-term effects of ambiguous and complicated loss, of a family collectively and individually dealing with the presumed death of a father whose his children weren't old enough to have a good understanding of who he was as a person before he vanished, who unbeknownst to them had divorced their mother, and who had some other secrets.
posted by orange swan at 2:45 PM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
I suppose it's possible that Alan Champagne survived the shipwreck that killed two other men and began life anew somewhere else, but it's not likely, and there's no real evidence or basis for suspicion that he did so. This article is more about the long-term effects of ambiguous and complicated loss, of a family collectively and individually dealing with the presumed death of a father whose his children weren't old enough to have a good understanding of who he was as a person before he vanished, who unbeknownst to them had divorced their mother, and who had some other secrets.
posted by orange swan at 2:45 PM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
A prominent, long time local doctor's small plane crashed in a river some years ago with the doctor flying it, but the door was open and no body in the plane. Said doctor had been part of a local ring of upstanding businessmen smuggling drugs in their small private planes. Neither the doctor or his body were ever found and it was presumed he had escaped to avoid charges.
posted by blue shadows at 4:25 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by blue shadows at 4:25 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Blue shadows, any links to this story?
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:43 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:43 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was hoping for some sort of explanation as to how, even back in the early 70s, it would have been possible for someone to completely disappear and establish an entirely new identity.
I'm always adding to my list of people who did this very thing, some of them surprisingly recently.
- Robert Hoagland (USA, 2013)
- Nicholas Francisco (USA, 2008)
- Eric Myers (USA, 1991)
- Keri Bray (USA, 1986)
- Denise Bolser (USA, 1995)
- Petra Pazstika (Germany, 1984)
- John Schreck (Australia, 1978)
- Ronald Stan (Canada, 1977)
- Lula Gillespie-Miller (USA, 1974)
- Lucy Ann Johnson (Canada, 1965)
- Lawrence Joseph Bader (USA, 1957)
There's several others I recall but can't find right now.
I don't think Alan chose to disappear, though.
posted by andraste at 5:49 PM on December 17, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'm always adding to my list of people who did this very thing, some of them surprisingly recently.
- Robert Hoagland (USA, 2013)
- Nicholas Francisco (USA, 2008)
- Eric Myers (USA, 1991)
- Keri Bray (USA, 1986)
- Denise Bolser (USA, 1995)
- Petra Pazstika (Germany, 1984)
- John Schreck (Australia, 1978)
- Ronald Stan (Canada, 1977)
- Lula Gillespie-Miller (USA, 1974)
- Lucy Ann Johnson (Canada, 1965)
- Lawrence Joseph Bader (USA, 1957)
There's several others I recall but can't find right now.
I don't think Alan chose to disappear, though.
posted by andraste at 5:49 PM on December 17, 2023 [6 favorites]
Alan Champagne sounds like a fake fucking name is all I'm saying, if you get what I mean
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 11:44 PM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 11:44 PM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
Robert Hoagland (USA, 2013)
He lived with a man named David for pretty much the entire time he was missing. Interesting, to my queer eye.
posted by Well I never at 8:05 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
He lived with a man named David for pretty much the entire time he was missing. Interesting, to my queer eye.
posted by Well I never at 8:05 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
I like the Bader story.
Lawrence Joseph Bader (December 2, 1926 – September 16, 1966), also known as John "Fritz" Johnson, was an American cookware salesman from Akron, Ohio, who disappeared while on a fishing trip on Lake Erie on March 15, 1957. Declared dead in 1960, Bader was found alive five years later as John "Fritz" Johnson, a local television personality living in Omaha, Nebraska.[1][2] The incident is described by author Jay Robert Nash as "one of the most baffling amnesia disappearances on record, a weird story forever unanswered."[3]posted by pracowity at 9:16 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
The weirdest thing about that case is that version 2.0 of the guy was a total ham and always getting himself on television!
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:10 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:10 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yes! I have a hard time believing his amnesia claim, but I also have a hard time believing a person actually hiding from his old life would take a job in broadcasting. It's a strange one.
And I love the locations. He abandoned his dreary old life in Akron, Ohio, to enjoy his exciting new life in... Omaha, Nebraska!
posted by pracowity at 2:36 PM on December 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
And I love the locations. He abandoned his dreary old life in Akron, Ohio, to enjoy his exciting new life in... Omaha, Nebraska!
posted by pracowity at 2:36 PM on December 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Akron only seems dreary because it's right next to exciting Cleveland.
posted by rhizome at 5:40 PM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 5:40 PM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
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