# celeb fake deaths

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-fake-deaths/82997>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 21, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-fake-deaths/82997 "2001-09-21T13:14:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hayden\_Wetzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/919ad9/32.png) [@Hayden\_Wetzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hayden_Wetzel)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-fake-deaths/82997/1 "2001-09-21T13:14:28Z")

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i recall reading a biography of czar alexander I of russia which made a good claim that alexander faked his death so that he could retire to a monastary. the evidence cited was mostly circumstantial but persuasive enough that i would be interested to hear the opinions of other researchers. the same claim is made for ivan IV the terrible, but i have never read the basis. i recall that sometime in the late soviet period a forensic specialist actually excavated the skeleton of the specific monk and tested the skull in some way but don’t recall the conclusions reached.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celeb-fake-deaths/82997/2 "2001-09-21T18:51:32Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB. Since the colum you refer to is not a Staff Report, but one of Cecil’s columns, this thread is in the wrong forum. I’ll move it for you.

A link to the column is appreciated. This can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a space on either side of it. [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010921.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010921.html)

bibliophage  
moderator GQ