Other than Elvis Presley, has any person of note successfully and purposely faked their demise?
isn’t this an impossible question to answer? if we knew of someone, it wouldn’t be too successful…
There’s no good evidence that Elvis faked his death either, tinfoil hat types notwithstanding.
I could tell you but then I’d have to kill me.
Betcha Princess Di is holed up somewhere in Switzerland
Certainly…in fact, it’s the same guy who produced the perfect forged painting, which hangs in a major metropolitan museum at this very moment, unbeknownst to all.
Reggie Perrin?
If it happened successfully, we’ll never know about it, so what more can be said?
I wonder if anyone who escaped from the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001 decided to just walk away and let everyone assume that they were dead.
Depending on who you consider famous, I remember hearing about a Porn star who faked her own death (Had friends tell everyone else she died, no other evidence) to escape debts.
And, of course, she continued to perform on stage and in film.
Wasn’t too successful, but then again, that’s not why she’s famous.
I think the dead celebrity most likely to of faked their own death is Tupac Shakur, who has released after his death several albums containing a myriad of tracks prophetically predicting his own demise (such as the ultra-cheesy “Is There a Ghetto in Heaven?”) and I believe he also relaeased an album called “The Machiavelli Album”, after the philosopher over who some believed faked his own death.
There was a big train wreck in London a couple of years ago, which involved intense fire that destroyed most of the bodies. One person (maybe two) who were on another part of the train (or plausibly could have been on it, but weren’t) just walked away. [no cite at the moment] I’m not sure how it was eventually found out. It struck me as such an interesting and weird (but weirdly appealing?) thing spontaneously to decide to do. Good premise for a novel.
Would you count Lord Lucan for this question? I don’t know whether he made any effort to fake his death, but he certainly vanished effectively.
Did Mengele fake his death (in '45)?
I think the dead celebrity most likely to of faked their own death is Tupac Shakur, who has released after his death several albums containing a myriad of tracks prophetically predicting his own demise (such as the ultra-cheesy “Is There a Ghetto in Heaven?”) and I believe he also relaeased an album called “The Machiavelli Album”, after the philosopher over who some believed faked his own death.
20s Evangelist Amy Semple MacPherson, aka “Sister Amy” comes to mind. (She was later found out, of course!)
National Enquirer had an article shortly after 9/11 that claimed some folks used the tragedy as a way to disappear and start over again. If someone was in the area that morning and wanted out of a bad relationship, the answer was happening right before their eyes. Pure speculation but perfectly plausible.
Francis Bacon
Christopher Marlowe
A British politician named John Stonehouse faked his death in the same way Reggie Perrin did, and fled to Australia, leaving behind a mountain of debt.
He was later caught, returned, and imprisoned.
Like the three Etruscan warriors found in the Met?
andy kaufman…