I've rec'd 2 emails in the past week alone, about certain "groups" located in Idaho.... 1 from a man that sold his 100 acre farm, and his 48 ft. yacht, in Florida last october...He moved to the northern area of Idaho to "supposedly" meet up with a "group" that had advertised on JWR's Survival Blog, "finding others" on the "Johns books", listings page. He managed to "getaway" with what he owned, but just barely! It appears that there's a (set of individuals), (note: I did not say group), that use the local libraries internet to "recruit" people to their "group", or so they call it...! What he found was: a rag-tag bunch of hippie styled individuals, living in tents on private propertie's, NOT their's, and exploting those that do show up! He managed to keep them from breaking into his 16 ft. trailer and got away. They are quite literally starving, as they own nothing, have no jobs, live off the land, not theirs, and steal what they can, in order to survive. These people evidently came there on a promise of some group that wrote a great sounding ad and made fantastic promises to anyone foolish enough to reply to their ads. Originally there were a few, but the number grew exponentionally, as the past few months passed. Most have nothing...a few have cars out of fuel and/or broken down... Most no longer have those anymore.... As I said this was the second one.....I personally have had contact with. But this man had to relay the information to anyone that could see to it that word was spread quickly to anyone, that might have the slightest notion of going there! He has a 4wd Jeep and said it was near impossible to hunt up there in the winter as he'd been told, as the snow was so deep he could not drive in it, much less walk in it. (not a surprise to me!). Most of those there are stranded, and have no way to escape, some have managed to get some state aid, but they are exploited also by the rest..like aniumals, feeding on the weak. He may eventually come to Arizona, but his warning was quite dire to anyone even considering going to Idaho, especially in that northern region. He also has relayed that the entire mass of people plan on migrating southwards, when it warms up and they can manage to get out of Idaho...They are coming....(sound's to me like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, or worse: the ZOMBIES!) He was carrying a tidy sum of cash on his person...and was quite concerned for his safety, if anyone of those in the area discovered the fact! He is now in a southern area far away from them, and staying in a motel where his trailer and vehicle are concealed behind their building... I tired to reach a snowbird friend of mine, up in Couer d' Alene, Idaho, to try to confirm that they are in the area, and maybe up around Sandpoint, but he dosen't answer the phone there...He ususally is here in Tempe Arizona, during the winter months! Anyone here, have any info. on this disaster in the making? I hope it's all really overblown, but I have no way to know, one way or another at this point. Bill
My first reaction is to question the mental stability of someone who would sell a 100 acre farm and a 48 ft boat to move to a remote area on the other side of the country where he would be joining up with people unknown to him except through the internet. I have to believe all of our monkeys are wiser than that gentleman. Thanks for the warning about these groups of Idaho miscreants.
Now you have to admit, there are some people, that will do some very strange things 'IF' they feel they are in an area where they feel endangered/threatened. Now not everyone, but supposedly, this guy felt his position was not a good one, so he chose to relocate rather suddenly, and he did supposedly have a considerable amount of cash on his person.....I have seen people do that stunt too many times! But, from the gist he explained, he wanted to buy into some land up there, and set up a solar and wind electrical power system....I have no idea of what land up there goes for, or how much money he had....But I have seen people do this type of thing before. My realtor here, in Ashfork Az, was kind of put out that I didn't bring along "cash" (earnest money) when I went up north to just LOOK at what land was available. I never carry large sums of cash on my person....He had to take a check. So, I'll wait until I can reach my friend up there, that has a motel, and see if I can get any confirmaton on the whole story. "If" this is true, it's frightening at best..... BTW: I did get taken by a "group" up there some years ago.... I bought land in a nice area with a cabin, and had photos, and even a lot of paperwork on it. I checked it out as best as I could from Phoenix, and was told the title and deed and tax papers were all good. (Stewart Title lied) They weren't. I found out following a landslide there, where a mountside gave way and blocked a major highway from Sandpoint, up to Canada. I called these people that sold me the land, and was told there was no access into the area until it was repaired. They even sent me a local newspaper showing the landslide area and the destroyed highway road. I had a friend that was going up there from Denver Colorado. They were going up to check on the place for me.....as they were avid skiiers. I called a local sheriff's office to verify the road was out.... He took my information and called back 2 days later. I was one of 65 people that bought the same piece of land. It was BLM land at the bottom of a ski slope up there. I lost $68,000. Now I was a private investigator, and worked for several large corporations around the country, I was even a deputy here for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office at one time...So, if they could put one over on me.........and they even had paperwork good enough to fool one of the largest Title Companies in the State of Arizona,.... Yeah, I'd say most anything is possible. They ( group of scam artists) were traced from Idaho, to Oregon, then to Washington state, and L/E even located some of my paperwork with my name and address on it, in a motel room in Anchorage Alaska. Across the street from the airport. They have never been found. No one knows their names, no photos, nothing.... That happened in 9/1999-2/2000. They cashed everyone's "cashiers" checks, all made out to a realty company, and even some made out to cover the local county taxes for 2 years.
Even when we do everything possible to protect ourselves from thieves, we become victims in their traps. I'm suspicious by nature but given your background, I'm sure you are also so if it could happen to you, it could also happen to me. Your first hand testimony serves as a valuable lesson for us all. Thanks for sharing this information.
I don’t know anyone involved but Im sorry but who would buy or do anything without a personal visit to it????? They got over 10' of snow up there this winter I cant imagine anyone is living off of the land in tents there.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" /> I live a short distance from there. You had better have a cabin and well stocked for winter which starts in Oct and is still going now.
Sorry for your friend's troubles. I am not sorry for that group however. I do find it ironically pleasing that some hippie types had their idealism bite them in the ass and are now behaving like the 'savages' they labelled others as.
I was one of 65 people that bought the same piece of land. It was BLM land at the bottom of a ski slope up there. I lost $68,000. Okay, let me get this straight... You forwarded 68K large hondos to someone without going through an escrow process?! Or a title search?! Without meeting face-to-face?! I would never, ever, ever in my life lay out even 100 bills for something that I could not see firsthand--unless that is it came from a reputable, known source or suppliers. Wow! ST
If you got title insurance through Stewart Title, they should have coughed up your 68K. Title insurance is cheap. I work with land titles, mainly oil and gas, and I know several folks who rue their not getting title insurance. .............................. The Hippie Compound in N. Idaho sounds like a ready made horror movie. Sorta a reverse Tx Chainsaw Massacre, without the chainsaws.
That is what title companies are for. Every piece of land I ever bought I handed them a check and they handed me the deed on guarenteed clear title. If a person was able to accumilate enough wealth for a 100 acre farm and a 48 foot cruiser AND CAME FROM FLORIDA he should know about buying swampland/mountainland sight unseen. There are bad folk in Idaho just like every other state. Since that area has been a survivalsits haven for 50 years they know they are appealing to desperate folk looking for "like minded individuals" to flock together. As soon as I hear that term a light goes off in my head with "Wako" written on it.
I have a buddy in his 60's living in Nampa, Idaho right now. He grew up in California, was in the Navy and is a dedicated shooter/hunter - got tiredof Cali's corruption and move to Idaho a few years back. At one point, he was on the side of Packer John Mountain. Very nice place - during good weather. Then the first bad winter hit, about 2008. He had huge snow drifts, and his blade-equipped Dodge powerwagon had trouble keeping his mountain road cleared. When his girlfriend slid her car into the snowbank, they finally moved back to town. It's rough up there for an older guy. If those Hippies have kids, God Help Them!
Probably transients. Like gypsies. Anyone with such a group in your area had better have a plan in place in advance to deal with them now, and then. Nuff said BTW I am in Western WA State (it's the last day of 2010) and it is going to be 18 F tonight and 15 F tomorrow nite. I would not want to be out in that even with no snow. It's 80 F in here right now, plenty of firewood to stoke the fireplace all winter and the next, and my gal's chicken tacos cooking up
Just a NOTE here on Hippies.... All the REAL Hippies are now in their 60's and 70's.... The kids you see around that "Look like Hippies" are nothing more than kids, playing at being Hippies, and most of them couldn't find their way out of the proverbial "Wet Paper Bag". There are a few second generation Hippies, but most of them are now in their 30' & 40's and usually if they stayed in the movement, are fairly well educated, but liked the lifestyle they grew up in, and after getting their education, moved back into a group. Having spent a few years in a Communal Group, as a 20's something, I still have friends in the movement, and thru the wonders of Facebook, have connected with many of my original Core Group again after 35 years. Many of our original Group are living out away from civilization by choice, and they have all that they need to live there, as a big part of that movement was what we today call "Prep'ers". I just lost one of my dearest Friends, in our group, to a Heart Attack. He was an ORIGINAL, and beloved by thousands, who he meet thru his Folk Music. He also was a Professional Engineer with a PE Stamp, before he left for the woods at age 28. His daughter is a second generation, now a 30's something, and makes her living in Music as well. Both of my Partners were part of that group, and still are in the movement, although they both live in the city. Neither has ever been a 9 to 5'er, and they both can, and do spend summers out on the land, and visiting enclaves of friends from the past, and teaching their children how to make it in that world. A REAL Hippy is much more likely to be closer to the folks that frequent this forum, than most of the Sheeple walking down the street. .......
Noted BT, but these sound more like scamming gypsies. Yes there are such groups in the USA. One other of their scams is traveling construction crews who do shoddy work or no work and then move on ahead of the law
A few years ago we had a group of about 25 or 30 hippies come into WV and try the same thing with some of our elderly with large farms or some had passed away they would go to the secluded ends of the lands and squat set up tents. Nasty group They would still anything, breaking into camps taking food, clothes, taking peoples chickens and goats. Im possitive they had killed a man's angus bull but didn't get a chanse to investigate it. The people around here are very funny about their land and most of it is family lands that goes back generation after generation. I was told that one night when all the LEO's was tied up that some of the concerned citizens took three pickup trucks loaded them up took them to the rail yard and told them to get in a box car and leave if they ever came back the option to leave would not be extended to them next time. Have not seen or herd from them.
