by Michael Peil
Last night, as Special Assistant to the Executive Director, Kevin Nicastro, and I were leaving [deleted for security and legal reasons], he commented to me, "Make it look like we've never been here."
I pointed out to him, briefly, that although we could probably do a very effective job of not making it look like we'd been there (see R. Faith, V. Garrett, "How to Avoid Being Seen: A Jarfian Study," 1989, NCJS) using standard methods Ñ cleaning up after ourselves, wiping doorknobs clean, etc. Ñ we would have a very difficult time making the location actually appear as though we had not been there. Even more difficult would it be to make it look, as Kevin requested, like we had never been there.
I feel there is probably a position paper on this somewhere, and I'd like our side to come out with it before some of the other heretical factions. The question I put before you is thus:
Is it in fact possible for a person to make a location appear as though he or she had never been there?
Spinoff research questions:
1. What methods could said person use to achieve this effect?
2. In what ways would the appearance of the room change as a result of these methods? In short, what would be striking about the room so that an observer would arrive later and say, "Kevin and Michael have never been here?"
3. Which would be more effective in conveying the idea that you had never been at a location: not going there and leaving it alone, or going there and taking measures to make it appear that you had never been there? (This has been explored in the context of Old West cinema in Chris Smith's seminal work, "When does ÔIt's Quiet' become ÔIt's TOO Quiet.'") In other words, would an observer's suspicious be aroused simply because "When I left last night, it didn't seem NEARLY as much that Kevin and Michael had never been here. Now it does. Hmmmm..."
Non-monetary research grants are available.