2023-08-27 06:03:43
Every year, there are thousands of people around the world who voluntarily abandon everything overnight to disappear without a trace. In Belgium there are nearly 2,000 voluntary disappearances every year. Rare are the testimonies since, it is the principle, these people do not wish to be found.
Ralf Bouffioux disappeared for 15 months, leaving his family in great disarray. Ten years later, he agrees to testify regarding these long months during which he toured Europe living on hospitality.
In 2014, Ralf Bouffioux is a young adult who still lives with his parents in Gesves. Badly in his skin and in the grip of a heartbreak, he loses confidence in himself. Suicidal thoughts haunt him a little more each day.
Ralf wishes to erase himself from the world in which he lives, to disappear, to no longer exist. Suicide is a solution but disappearing seems less radical to him and it is above all less irreversible.
Ralf organizes his disappearance for several months. He saves money, gets supplies, locates a forest. He fantasizes regarding an adventure like he saw in the movie “Into The Wild” (without its dramatic ending, what #nospoil). He is young, naive and dreams of an adventurous life.
On the night of February 14, Ralf smashes his computer to pieces, loads his gear into his car, drives slowly to the edge of a wood he’d spotted a few weeks earlier.
He parks his car in a field, sets it on fire and disappears on his bike into the forest where he will spend the first night before returning to Germany.
Very quickly the police are alerted by the family. Ralf will be sought with the help of a large police deployment, including a helicopter. After several weeks of research, the investigators concluded that a “disappearance not worrying”.
His family, for his part, lives in anguish and grief. And will continue all these months to watch for the slightest sign, the slightest proof that Ralf is alive.
After touring Europe along the coasts with his bike, Ralf feels that it’s the end and it’s time to go home. He gives a sign of life by email and, one Sunday, he appears, there, at the bottom of the family garden. It will take him several years to tell his story, whether in his book or in front of our camera.
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#Ralf #disappeared #year.. #Voluntarily
