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How To Become Invisible

I once went in an underground bar which had some toilets with glass doors. When you locked the door the lighting changed so you couldn't be seen from the other side.....I couldn't work out how it worked but it did.

Lots of hotels use this kind of thing for privacy where the bathrooms are essentially in the bedrooms. Also it's quite popular here in high spec home and the effect can be quite amazing in the right circumstances. See the examples below:

https://majesticglass.com.au/switchable-glass-sydney/
 
Practical invisibility isn't about being literally and utterly invisible; you can't go into a shop and throw the stock around and scream and curse and generally make the place seem haunted, or eavesdrop on people in the room with you, or kick a policeman in the 'nads and walk off laughing, or like that. Just as everyone above has said, that's physically impossible, and pretty sociopathic to boot. What becoming invisible is about, is making oneself harder to look at or to see, like vision just kind of slides over and off you without taking you in.

There are two methods of practical invisibility I've worked with. One of them is simple but only works locally: be a middle-aged gay man in San Francisco. There are so many of us around that there's probably one or two hanging out anywhere in the city at any time, and one just blends into the background.

The other one's a bit more complicated, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to express it in writing without digressing all over the place and/or sounding like I'm full of shit. But basically one concentrates on not being seen as one moves along, using a concept or image with a quality of invisibility. The person who taught me about it recommended thinking of mashed potatoes, soft slippery mashed potatoes that the eyes just don't settle on; another might think of fog wisping silently along; I like to focus on brother Bat and sister Spider and how they can pass unseen through the night. Of course one would also do one's best to move about as quickly and ,quietly as feasible too, but what one's doing here is projecting their concept of invisibility outward so that the eye kind of...edits one out of its sight.

I can't explain how it works but I've used it many times when out on a scary street in a bad neighborhood after nightfall when I just did not want anybody to see me. So far, nobody has.
 
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Or just walk through a town centre carrying a clip-board and wearing a prominent badge advertising the fact that you are a "chugger" and going up to random people asking how they are today, whilst grinning inanely?
That guarantees that people will never make eye-contact and, generally, don't even turn their heads in your direction, as if you didn't exist and will walk on by oblivious to your presence.
Spooky huh?
 
Practical invisibility isn't about being literally and utterly invisible; you can't go into a shop and throw the stock around and scream and curse and generally make the place seem haunted, or eavesdrop on people in the room with you, or kick a policeman in the 'nads and walk off laughing, or like that. Just as everyone above has said, that's physically impossible, and pretty sociopathic to boot. What becoming invisible is about, is making oneself harder to look at or to see, like vision just kind of slides over and off you without taking you in.

There are two methods of practical invisibility I've worked with. One of them is simple but only works locally: . There are so many of us around that there's probably one or two hanging out anywhere in the city at any time, and one just blends into the background.

The other one's a bit more complicated, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to express it in writing without digressing all over the place and/or sounding like I'm full of shit. But basically one concentrates on not being seen as one moves along, using a concept or image with a quality of invisibility. The person who taught me about it recommended thinking of mashed potatoes, soft slippery mashed potatoes that the eyes just don't settle on; another might think of fog wisping silently along; I like to focus on brother Bat and sister Spider and how they can pass unseen through the night. Of course one would also do one's best to move about as quickly and ,quietly as feasible too, but what one's doing here is projecting their concept of invisibility outward so that the eye kind of...edits one out of its sight.

I can't explain how it works but I've used it many times when out on a scary street in a bad neighborhood after nightfall when I just did not want anybody to see me. So far, nobody has.
I've done this before. You sort of walk in a way that doesn't attract attention, head down, body language saying 'don't notice me'. If you don't make eye contact with anyone (by keeping your head down or your eyes averted) it's also very hard to tell whether they notice you or not! But people are less willing to stop or address someone who is walking along hunched and pretending not to exist. I've always thought it's because it makes you look as though you may completely lose it and launch yourself at anyone who speaks to you.

But then, now I'm an older woman I don't have to TRY to be invisible...
 
I've done this before. You sort of walk in a way that doesn't attract attention, head down, body language saying 'don't notice me'. If you don't make eye contact with anyone (by keeping your head down or your eyes averted) it's also very hard to tell whether they notice you or not! But people are less willing to stop or address someone who is walking along hunched and pretending not to exist. I've always thought it's because it makes you look as though you may completely lose it and launch yourself at anyone who speaks to you.

But then, now I'm an older woman I don't have to TRY to be invisible...

Respnding to the bolded part... Me too. I rather enjoy it. lol
 
I'll go with Bruce Lee;

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
 
I'll go with Bruce Lee;

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
How About - Letting off a bit of steam, and "Evaporating?"
 
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I don't think I mentioned this before, and this seems to be the right place to do so.

A coworker's husband is a New York City policeman. He and his partner were temporarily assigned to Times Square, an area neither was extremely familiar with. They were both getting tired of the inevitable requests from tourists for directions. As the shift was ending, a small group approached them with inquisitive expressions on their faces. The partner raised his hand, made a subtle Jedi-like gesture of dismissal, and said "These aren't the cops you're looking for." The tourists nodded "okay" and walked off in another direction.
 
I've done this before. You sort of walk in a way that doesn't attract attention, head down, body language saying 'don't notice me'. If you don't make eye contact with anyone (by keeping your head down or your eyes averted) it's also very hard to tell whether they notice you or not! But people are less willing to stop or address someone who is walking along hunched and pretending not to exist. I've always thought it's because it makes you look as though you may completely lose it and launch yourself at anyone who speaks to you.

But then, now I'm an older woman I don't have to TRY to be invisible...
It is a very strange fact that a person can walk down the road and be completely unnoticed, with messy hair and drab wear.
Put that same person into pressed beautiful clothing, hair styled, full makeup if a woman, and suddenly heads are turning -
same person, different appearance.
Studying the 'before and after' photos of people who undergo stylist appointments, the change can be startling.
 
Practical invisibility isn't about being literally and utterly invisible; you can't go into a shop and throw the stock around and scream and curse and generally make the place seem haunted, or eavesdrop on people in the room with you, or kick a policeman in the 'nads and walk off laughing, or like that. Just as everyone above has said, that's physically impossible, and pretty sociopathic to boot. What becoming invisible is about, is making oneself harder to look at or to see, like vision just kind of slides over and off you without taking you in.

There are two methods of practical invisibility I've worked with. One of them is simple but only works locally: . There are so many of us around that there's probably one or two hanging out anywhere in the city at any time, and one just blends into the background.

The other one's a bit more complicated, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to express it in writing without digressing all over the place and/or sounding like I'm full of shit. But basically one concentrates on not being seen as one moves along, using a concept or image with a quality of invisibility. The person who taught me about it recommended thinking of mashed potatoes, soft slippery mashed potatoes that the eyes just don't settle on; another might think of fog wisping silently along; I like to focus on brother Bat and sister Spider and how they can pass unseen through the night. Of course one would also do one's best to move about as quickly and ,quietly as feasible too, but what one's doing here is projecting their concept of invisibility outward so that the eye kind of...edits one out of its sight.

I can't explain how it works but I've used it many times when out on a scary street in a bad neighborhood after nightfall when I just did not want anybody to see me. So far, nobody has.
I wonder if this is why people are always walking into me?
I mean, I'm pretty substantial.
 
I don't think I mentioned this before, and this seems to be the right place to do so.

A coworker's husband is a New York City policeman. He and his partner were temporarily assigned to Times Square, an area neither was extremely familiar with. They were both getting tired of the inevitable requests from tourists for directions. As the shift was ending, a small group approached them with inquisitive expressions on their faces. The partner raised his hand, made a subtle Jedi-like gesture of dismissal, and said "These aren't the cops you're looking for." The tourists nodded "okay" and walked off in another direction.
Quite coincidentally I heard a follow-up to this story today. Recently the same cops were engaged in a lengthy chat with a couple of kids. Eventually they got tired of the youthful stupidity. The same guy did the Jedi mind trick and the kids just turned and left to talk to some other cops nearby. This is getting creepy.
 
The other one's a bit more complicated, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to express it in writing without digressing all over the place and/or sounding like I'm full of shit. But basically one concentrates on not being seen as one moves along, using a concept or image with a quality of invisibility. The person who taught me about it recommended thinking of mashed potatoes, soft slippery mashed potatoes that the eyes just don't settle on; another might think of fog wisping silently along; I like to focus on brother Bat and sister Spider and how they can pass unseen through the night. Of course one would also do one's best to move about as quickly and ,quietly as feasible too, but what one's doing here is projecting their concept of invisibility outward so that the eye kind of...edits one out of its sight.
I've done this in a room full of friends, only I focus on being a tree stump.

Heh. I do the same thing when bees or wasps are about, too. Works like a charm.
 
It is a very strange fact that a person can walk down the road and be completely unnoticed, with messy hair and drab wear.
Put that same person into pressed beautiful clothing, hair styled, full makeup if a woman, and suddenly heads are turning -
same person, different appearance.
Studying the 'before and after' photos of people who undergo stylist appointments, the change can be startling.
It's in the walk. If you feel confident, walk with head up, striding out, people will look. Same person, same clothes, hair etc, walking with head down, back hunched, nobody will even notice them. I think it's probably a human instinct, to look at someone who looks as though they know what they are doing - we are sort of programmed to follow a leader after all.
 
I think absolute stillness is a good way to 'vanish'. We're so attuned to reacted to movements (it's why web ads are so often moving or have moving elements), that even the slightest match to you're background and zero movement and folk will breeze on past. The concentrating on mashed potatoes thing is (I speculate) a way of distracting you from your body and you become very still.

Also, as some will know the face is the most visible part of any person. Keeping one's head down will tend to hide it.

I used to spend time stalking carp and I made a veil out of camo scrim that hung over my hat brim. While I eschew the full camo, I stick to olive-greens and greys when I'm hassling fish and tend to sit very still and with the veil on, I've had folk trip over my feet, not see me at all and walk on past and if I'm feeling puckish, I cough just as they go past...
 
For some reason I seem to have become invisible at work - in the warehouse, not to the public, although there are times when I'm on a till and trying to attract a customer's attention, but they are fully focussed on the first till, where there is a queue and don't notice me.

I've made people jump by just walking behind them or past them. I'm putting that down to a combination of not talking first - and they expect me to be talking - and wearing soft-soled shoes.

But it seems to be focus. If people aren't focussing on me (like when first till is working and they are geared towards that), I can jump up and down and wave, and they still won't see me. So if you are still, or quiet, or walking trying not to attract attention, everyone else's focus will be on the things that are moving fast, highly coloured, full of expression in the vicinity.
 
For some reason I seem to have become invisible at work - in the warehouse, not to the public, although there are times when I'm on a till and trying to attract a customer's attention, but they are fully focussed on the first till, where there is a queue and don't notice me.

I've made people jump by just walking behind them or past them. I'm putting that down to a combination of not talking first - and they expect me to be talking - and wearing soft-soled shoes.

But it seems to be focus. If people aren't focussing on me (like when first till is working and they are geared towards that), I can jump up and down and wave, and they still won't see me. So if you are still, or quiet, or walking trying not to attract attention, everyone else's focus will be on the things that are moving fast, highly coloured, full of expression in the vicinity.
Misdirection of attention?
 
Misdirection of attention?
I think that implies a kind of deliberate action. Whereas you can just let people be distracted by the shiny-shiny whilst you quietly go about your business.
 
There is a theory about Wyatt Earp not being shot at the gunfight at the OK Corral.
He was the only person at that fight who was untouched by gunfire.
The three cowboys there were shot and killed, and Wyatt's 2 brothers were wounded, along with Doc Holliday who was grazed.
The shootout was in close quarters, and it was theorized that Wyatt was untouched because he did not move during the shooting, which lasted approximately 30 seconds.
He wasn't visible because he stayed still.
Just a theory that Kurt Russell spoke about, when he played Wyatt Earp in the movie 'Tombstone'.
 
There is a theory about Wyatt Earp not being shot at the gunfight at the OK Corral.
He was the only person at that fight who was untouched by gunfire.
The three cowboys there were shot and killed, and Wyatt's 2 brothers were wounded, along with Doc Holliday who was grazed.
The shootout was in close quarters, and it was theorized that Wyatt was untouched because he did not move during the shooting, which lasted approximately 30 seconds.
He wasn't visible because he stayed still.
Just a theory that Kurt Russell spoke about, when he played Wyatt Earp in the movie 'Tombstone'.

It's a good theory. My brothers have always considered me as a parental figure and can't for the life of them figure out how they always lose when we play a game of billiards. They are practically pros and I may have only played 5 times in my life.

I also have a really difficult time swatting insects. Even though they creep me out and I hate having them in my home because I obsess about where they are and where they are going until I finally remove them. In winter time I windows are frozen shut and in summer time the ac units are set up. So I cannot capture them and put them outside because I live on the 2nd floor. I always miss when I swat at them because ugly or not, they are living creatures and I feel empathy for them.

What I am trying to say is that actions can be psychologically driven. :p
 
There is a theory about Wyatt Earp not being shot at the gunfight at the OK Corral.
He was the only person at that fight who was untouched by gunfire.
The three cowboys there were shot and killed, and Wyatt's 2 brothers were wounded, along with Doc Holliday who was grazed.
The shootout was in close quarters, and it was theorized that Wyatt was untouched because he did not move during the shooting, which lasted approximately 30 seconds.
He wasn't visible because he stayed still.
Just a theory that Kurt Russell spoke about, when he played Wyatt Earp in the movie 'Tombstone'.
Of course he may just have been lucky. I mean it looks unusual that he was never shot, but we don't hear from anyone who was...
 
Considering how close people stand to me in queues, I think I may have this ability without realising it.
I can't stop laughing!!
I thought I was the only one with that 'problem', I turn around when on line and they're right in my face -
I always say, 'Please breathe on someone else, I have all my own germs and don't need anyone else's!' :)
 
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