Amnesia or Disappearing Act?

June 29, 2021

Does losing our memories can save us from our tiring lives?

Have you ever thought about this question? What if we lost our memories, does it mean no more worries, no more debts to pay, no more burdens and responsibilities to carry? And we'll just leave as a clean slate and start a new life. Do you think it's possible? Do you think it's a good way to forget the misfortunes and live like a newborn baby? Or like a criminal that has completed his sentence and has come out from prison as a clean slate?

But of course, it is impossible to just suddenly lost everything unless you undergo surgery, or fall from a cliff and miraculously survived with no memory of the past, or intentionally bang your head on the wall until it cracks and pretends to have amnesia after healing the wounds. That is too absurd.

But what if it's your only way to forget the painful past or escape the misfortunes in life? Will you going to pretend like you have lost your memories?

While watching videos on Youtube last Sunday, I stumbled on this video below.

It is about the story of five persons who disappeared and reappeared years later. Five different stories and different cases of disappearances and reappearances, but what caught my attention was the stories of the two persons on this video. They have claimed that they lost their memories when they were gone, and reappeared with only some piece of information about their identities years later, which gives viewers the benefits of the doubt.

Amnesia or Disappearing Act?

Dr. William Bates

Dr. William Bates is a well-respected opthalmologist in New York City. In August of 1902, he wrote a note to his wife saying that he was called out of town to perform a major operation and that he was glad to have so much money for them. He also added that he is in a hurry and not to worry about him and he'll write details later.

The doctor was already a wealthy man so his excitement about the money seemed so odd. And after sending the letter, he did not come home or write to say where he had gone. When he failed to return after several days, his wife began a frantic search and asked for help from the Masonic society since the doctor was a prominent Mason. They distributed his photo around the world.

Later his wife received a letter from Britain saying that a man fitting his description is working as a medical assistant in Charing Cross hospital in London where he was first admitted as a patient. According to the report, his eyes were deeply sunken, and his body was so thin, despite having a bank account with huge money enough for him to live in luxury for years.

When his wife arrived in London, he could no longer recognize her nor shown recollection of what had happened and his previous life. The doctor was persuaded to stay with his wife at Savoy hotel to rest and help him recover his memory. At the hotel, he deeply recalled being called away from New York, onboarded a ship, and performed an operation on someone with a brain abscess.

But after two days of staying at the hotel with his wife, the doctor abruptly walked out of the hotel and disappeared once again and Mrs. Bates never saw her husband again. She spent years searching for him up and down Europe and the East coast of America. She died in 1907 reportedly embracing the portrait of her husband.

In 1910, a good friend of his, Dr. Kelly, happened to recognize Dr. Bates who was working in an ophthalmology practice set up by himself after disappearing. Dr. Kelly persuaded Dr. Bates to return to New York City and the two practice Opthalmology and he lived a new life and started his career anew.

Did he truly lose his memories? Or was it only an act of disappearance?

We usually see this kind of story in fiction movies where actors had memory loss after having an accident or whatsoever, and the only information that they can remember is their names and some selective memories.

Up to this day, nobody knows what really happened to Dr. Bates or if he truly loses his memory after his disappearance. Some diagnoses say that he might have suffered from an extremely rare condition and so he loses some important autobiographical information and aimlessly wandered around.

He has been said to be a patient of Charing Cross hospital in London and that might be the time that he has lost his memories. But what if he regained his memories days or weeks later and so he chose to work as a medical assistant because he regained his medical experiences? But why medical assistance, not ophthalmology? What if he wants to start his career and life anew?

What if he decided to stay in London to escape from something or someone?

What if he has problems with his wife that only the two of them know about it? What if he was already tired of his message? When he saw his wife in London, he only told her not to bother and he said "we are strangers." In the Savoy hotel where the couple stayed and Mrs. Bates helped him recover his memories, Dr. Bates seemed to recollect things prior to his disappearance. He said he operated on someone with a brain abscess. Why brain abscess if he is an ophthalmologist? That was a strange explanation of him either. Then he chose to elope again two days after seeing his wife and lived in a place that his wife couldn't see him again. And that boils down to the conclusion that he might want to escape from his wife and his life. He married thrice after being widowed twice, and he chose to settle with his long-time personal assistant.

What if he only wants a simple life?

Dr. Bates was at the pick of his career when he disappeared and not a reason you expect to simply vanish. And being a well-respected personality and part of the Mason society carries huge responsibilities and high expectations. When Dr. Kelly unexpectedly recognized him, he claimed to still have memory loss, and it was in Grand Forks, a town with 12,000 people where he set up a small ophthalmology practice. Why small if he can set up a huge one knowing that he is a wealthy man with a huge sum of money in his bank accounts? And why is a small town not in a city?

That may be because he was already tired of his New York life and wanted to hide from his previous life, from the people in his previous life. Maybe because he only wanted a simple life in a place where people only treated him as an ordinary person? But since he can't hide anymore because Dr. Kelly has recognized him already, he was convinced to go back to New York, where he lived quietly and practiced ophthalmology with his friend, and started a life and career anew.

Whatever the truth, it went to his grave in 1931. However, his legacy in the world of ophthalmology remained alive. Here are some of his legacy:

• The Bates System of Eye Exercises

• His book "Cure of Imperfect Eyesight by Treatment Without Glasses"

You can also read his story here and you may form a conclusion as well whether he had amnesia after his disappearance, or was it just an act to escape from his tiring life.

This was supposed to be two stories but since this is quite long already, I have decided to make another article for the other story about the act of disappearance.

Thanks for your time.