Missing Teacher Goes Back to Find Where She Started

Last September, friends of a 23-year-old woman became worried when she had been missing for several days. However, Hannah Upp, a teacher at the Thurgood Marshall Academy and Pace graduate student, was spotted at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue—she spoke to a fellow Pace student—raising questions about whether she wanted to be found. She was ultimately spotted in the water—and alive— off Staten Island two and a half weeks after she was last seen. Upp has said little since re-emerging—except to explain she suffered from "dissociative fugue" and thank her rescuers who rescued her... until now.

The NY Times City section has a long feature about Upp and her missing weeks. Apparently the condition "diagnosed in Ms. Upp is so uncommon that few psychiatrists ever see it. Characterized in part by sudden and unexpected travel combined with an inability to recall one’s past, dissociative fugue demonstrates the glasslike fragility of memory and identity."

During her disappearance, little is known, aside from the Apple Store appearance and sightings of her at New York Sports Club locations. It's believed she jumped into the water, from a pier in Chelsea, because she was so tired of walking—eventually swimming to Staten Island: "I’ve gone back over lunar records to figure out if there was a full moon then, which sounds right. At that point in the tidal records, the current would have been in my favor, so whether I was Olympic swimming or doggy paddling, I could have made it." The next day, she jumped into the water, where Staten Island Ferry captain Christopher Covella saw her and deckhands Michael Sabatino and Ephriam Washington lifted her face-down body from the water. Here's video of the crew discussing the rescue:

Deckhands talk of rescue near Staten Island Ferry

Upp, who is on leave from her job, told the Times, "It’s weird. How do you feel guilty for something you didn’t even know you did? It’s not your fault, but it’s still somehow you. So it’s definitely made me reconsider everything. Who was I before? Who was I then — is that part of me? Who am I now?" And she said of going to the community board meeting honoring Covella, Sabatino and Washington, "Everyone kept saying, ‘We’re so glad you’re alive; these things don’t end this way.’ Just to see how happy and proud they were, it was a huge honor.”

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on March 1, 2009 5:07 PM

Comments [rss]

Researcher

"Psychology is bullshit" Chopp3r

"...she's at risk of having it happen again..." Peter

There is an ongoing problem of disappearing college students. Upp was a grad student working on a Master's.

Remember Brian Shaffer, Maura Murray, Michael Negrete, or Justin Gains? They are all still missing. Ron Tammen, Miami of Ohio, has been missing fifty years. Upp is lucky to be alive.

The first cases noted were in 1880's France. One man, a clerk in the gas company, walked from France to Moscow before recovering but had amnesia of how he got to Moscow. He is noted because of the number of times he disappeared, recovered, and returned. His diagnosis was pathological tourism.

Yes psychology is a crock. Subliminal Distraction exposure explains much of that nonsense in psychology. Believe it or not SD is explained in first semester psychology under the physiology of sight. Yet you will not find anyone in mental health services aware of even the believed-to-be-harmless episode of confusion it is known for.

VisionAndPsychosis.Net is a six year investigation of a simple problem of physiology that may be the cause of these fugue episodes. This can happen to anyone.

Visit the Dissociative Fugue page at VisionAndPsychosis.Net for more cases.

Snoopy

Finally I can rest peacefully at night knowing she's safe and out of harms way.

Who was this broad and why should most people give a shit if she turned up dead or alive? Since she turned up alive her story is less interesting and news worthy.

LinkMan

Maybe she didn't really disappear for three weeks, but the island (Manhattan) was just traveling through time!

gimme

her face photo is cute but that shot of her in the ambulance, looks kind of flat chested there

Clarice City

"diagnosed in Ms. Upp is so uncommon that few psychiatrists ever see it"

.....as in "completely made up"?

freddynyc

File this one under "who gives a f*ck"...

NannyState

I think we all suffered dissociative fugue during this entire episode.

matty

hah!

interlard

Wow. I get to say the first nice thing:

I still glad she's alive. I'm happy for her and the people who rescued her. I'm happy for her friends and family to have her back and I'm really glad she's talking about it, publicly. These things often don't end this (good) way. It seemed that almost everyone in New York was aware of her disappearance and I think we should all enjoy this good news.

To #5: I deserve less press than Ms. Upp. Stop reading this.

donner

There isn't nearly enough positive on this blog. Thank you interlard.

chopp3r

If it's "so uncommon that few psychiatrists ever see it," then it hardly "demonstrates the glasslike fragility of memory and identity."

I like how the Times article never actually says she was diagnosed with dissociative fugue, but helpfully adds "Its most famous sufferer is the fictional Jason Bourne."

Psychology is bullshit.

robingee

"Psychology is bullshit."

Naw, it is very interesting, how the mind works.

Rocknrope

I can't think of anyone who deserves less press than Ms. Upp.

yakatori

I don't know, a jerk called Jeremy Piven comes to mind.

matty

Giving her a voice in the media will only vindicate, in her twisted mind, her desperate pleas for attention. By interviewing her as a normal, coherent person the media is only making her mental illness worse.

This woman should be muzzled and sent into a mental health clinic immediately. She is a risk to herself and possibly others and by talking to her as though she is a coherent individual they are only doing her - and possibly others - a disservice.