# faking own death **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 5, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743 "2015-06-05T21:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/21 "2015-06-19T00:32:32Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > It makes sense because the best place to hide someone famous who has a new identity is as a television news anchor. > Powers &8^] Well, Baby Luke Skywalker hid for 18 years in plain sight right on his home planet, right in his uncle’s home, and Yoda and Obi didn’t even change his name when they placed him there. Could anyone have come up with a better scheme than that? ---
**Author:** ![SuperSteve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@SuperSteve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperSteve)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/22 "2015-06-20T16:02:15Z")
Not exactly the same thing, but many of the missing after the September 11th attacks called in to say that they heard their own names at a memorial service years later, and previously had no idea that anyone thought they were dead. If you paid close attention, the official death toll gradually dropped from year to year as more “victims” turned up alive and were removed from the list. It’s certainly possible that some of the other victims whose bodies weren’t found are survivors who decided to take advantage of the situation to start a new life (and avoid child support, criminal charges, or other consequences of their past life). If someone can disappear without even trying, then they could do it on purpose. > [@sbunny8](#): > > Certainly there should be examples where people tried it and got caught fairly quickly and there might be examples where people tried it and got away with it but we never know. How about in between? Do we have examples where someone tried it and got away with it for a very long time but then eventually got caught? ---
**Author:** ![ufel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ufel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ufel)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/23 "2015-06-20T23:55:56Z")
I knew a guy who made flawless US passports in the 80’s. $5000 each, the equivalent of $20,000 today. with that kind of money, you can probably get a Bangladeshian passport in any name that you asked for. A BLACK passport, that renders you unsearchable at airports, and un-arrestable for crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/24 "2015-06-21T00:15:04Z")
> [@ufel](#): > > I knew a guy who made flawless US passports in the 80’s. $5000 each, the equivalent of $20,000 today. with that kind of money, you can probably get a Bangladeshian passport in any name that you asked for. A BLACK passport, that renders you unsearchable at airports, and un-arrestable for crimes. A _what??_ ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/25 "2015-06-21T01:39:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A _what??_ You know, a magic passport, probably makes you immune to AIDS, Ebola, MERS etc too. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/26 "2015-06-21T02:28:24Z")
Presumably a diplomatic passport (a U.S. diplomatic passport [has a black cover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_passport#Types_of_passports)). Although it seems to me that trying to pass yourself off as a (totally fake) U.S. diplomat could backfire rather badly. Wouldn’t one of those guys be _more_ conspicuous than some random blue-cover-passport-carrying American businessman or tourist, not less? And if you start causing trouble in Ruritania, it’s not like the Ruritanians will just shrug their shoulders and say “Oh, well, whatcha gonna do–American diplomat?” Presumably they’ll be burning up the phone lines to Foggy Bottom, and then the jig will be up. (“Er…we have no record of any ‘I.P. Freely’ as an employee of the United States government. Kindly detain this person until we can arrange to have him shipped straight to Gitmo.”) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/27 "2015-06-21T03:35:02Z")
> [@SuperSteve](#): > > Not exactly the same thing, but many of the missing after the September 11th attacks called in to say that they heard their own names at a memorial service years later, and previously had no idea that anyone thought they were dead. If you paid close attention, the official death toll gradually dropped from year to year as more “victims” turned up alive and were removed from the list. > > It’s certainly possible that some of the other victims whose bodies weren’t found are survivors who decided to take advantage of the situation to start a new life (and avoid child support, criminal charges, or other consequences of their past life). If someone can disappear without even trying, then they could do it on purpose. I recall David McCullough saying someone did just that in his history the Johnstown Flood. Someone presumed washed away and dead showed back up decades later. He’d taken one look at what happened and decided to grab the opportunity to leave his old life behind. Of course, it was much easier to reinvent yourself anew in the late 19th century than it is these days. Back then, there were no pesky fingerprint records or electronic trails following you around. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/28 "2015-06-21T13:33:17Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Well, Baby Luke Skywalker hid for 18 years in plain sight right on his home planet, right in his uncle’s home, and Yoda and Obi didn’t even change his name when they placed him there. Could anyone have come up with a better scheme than that? P.U.!!! That, in a nutshell, captures the essential patheticness of the ‘prequels’. Such staggering lack of imagination. Sure, there are lots of other examples, but really, this takes the cake! (sorry for hijack, please go on) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/29 "2015-06-21T23:13:56Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > P.U.!!! > > That, in a nutshell, captures the essential patheticness of the ‘prequels’. Such staggering lack of imagination. Sure, there are lots of other examples, but really, this takes the cake! > > (sorry for hijack, please go on) No matter how you feel about I–III, all this was implicit by the end of VI—most of it, indeed, by the end of V. The problem is of another kind. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/30 "2015-06-22T01:12:11Z")
> [@News1st](#): > > I’ve got a long list Google Media Subversion List. If I posted them on here I’d probably get banned. But If You are an American Citizen, you’d better figure this out quick, because the Media has they wool pulled so far over your eyes, it ain’t legal or funny. > > Princess Diana’s death was faked by Dodi Fayed, the Executive Producer of FX, FX2, and was the Consultant on a Movie called Deep Cover. I Believe his crew is also involved in the Faked Injuries during the Boston Bombing. Diana is now on FOX News Atlanta on the Weekends, her new ID is Shannon Bream. > > Nicole Brown Simpson, famously Murdered during the Trial of the Century, the OJ Simpson Trial. She is also on FOX News during the Noon Hour and is now known as Megyn Kelly. She is a former prostitute from the Sacramento, Ca area. Her real name is Silvia Nast, and I dated her in the early 1990’s. Her and a friend, also a prostitute went to Las Vegas Nevada to work at a Cat House (Brothel) and best I can tell did return to Sacramento. Her friend is now on CNN and formerly had a field reporter job with NBC New York. > > I was even a Suspect because I had so many contacts with Girls that were Disappeared, Missing, Murdered or Dead. Only thing is, they are all alive, and the County Coroner’s Office is heavily involved in this stuff. All Illegal. Sacramento make New Orleans corruption look like child’s play. > > They’ve placed two sitting President’s, the First Lady, (Current), and a Justice on the Supreme Court. > > If You wanted the Straight Dope? You just got it. > > Take Care, Tracy Mapes [Princess Diana](http://www.biographyonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/diana_small1.jpg). [Shannon Bream](http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/files/2012/09/shannon-bream.jpg). That faked car wreck must have been a cover for plastic surgery, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/31 "2015-06-22T06:00:21Z")
That’s only logical - I assume she was faking her death to get out from under the fame and family. Why she would them become a TV reporter, though is confusing, though I suppose if the cover ID and surgery are good enough, why not? She’s secretly laughing her ass off at the world. The real question is did she do it to escape the royal family, or are they behind it? They ran her off to stop embarrassing Charles… or something. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/32 "2015-06-22T06:03:22Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Presumably a diplomatic passport (a U.S. diplomatic passport [has a black cover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_passport#Types_of_passports)). > > Although it seems to me that trying to pass yourself off as a (totally fake) U.S. diplomat could backfire rather badly. I rather think the idea was buy a legitimate diplomatic passport from Greeditania. ---
**Author:** ![robzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d26b3c/32.png) [@robzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/33 "2015-06-22T12:56:32Z")
[This guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Darwin_disappearance_case) got away with it for 5 years before he was discovered. Not famous though. Well he is a little bit famous now I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743/34 "2016-02-03T23:50:34Z")
Bumped. > [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Possibly [Lord Lucan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bingham,_7th_Earl_of_Lucan), but we can never really know. Lord Lucan was just officially declared dead; his son can now inherit the title: [British peer Lord Lucan declared dead 42 years after he disappeared](http://www.aol.com/article/2016/02/03/british-peer-lord-lucan-declared-dead-42-years-after-he-disappea/21307118/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl37%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D1712774134) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faking-own-death/721743.md?page=1)