# Would you feel compelled to make a deathbed confession? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 29, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872 "2021-12-29T20:16:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/21 "2021-12-30T18:02:32Z")
I can’t imagine what I’d have to confess to on my deathbed. If I had a secret like in the OP’s source, maybe I would confess for two reasons. First, it’s possible that guy was proud rather than ashamed. He’d robbed a bank and gotten away with it for fifty years. That’s an accomplishment of sorts and maybe he wanted some recognition… Second, he might have wanted his family to understand him better. It’s hard to say how being a wanted fugitive affected him over the years. Presumably, he wasn’t in contact with his parents or other family. Maybe he avoided getting a passport or doing other things that would require fingerprinting him. These decisions affected his life and his family’s. Maybe he wanted them to know why he made the choices he did, whether or not he regretted his choices. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/22 "2021-12-30T18:24:33Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > I’d be tempted to confess to something not true, just to send everyone off on a wild goose chase. > > So YOU were the guy on the grassy knoll!!! 😲 🤔 > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > [@Mallard](#): > > > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > > > I’d be tempted to confess to something not true, just to send everyone off on a wild goose chase. > > > > So YOU were the guy on the grassy knoll!!! 😲 🤔 > > Actually, I was thinking of claiming to have buried money in the ground below the palm trees outside an In-N-Out Burger restaurant. That works for me. I’ll confess to being DB Cooper. 🕶 ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/23 "2021-12-31T00:35:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > A word to the wise - do not trust “deathbed confessions”. There’s no good reason to trust their sincerity and accuracy. When you’re on the verge of croaking, who knows what will come out? Morever, people make them up, as in the case of Louis Pasteur, claimed by the woo crowd to have refuted germ theory on his deathbed. Pasteur supposedly “admitted”, “Bernard was right: the pathogen is nothing, the terrain is everything.” > [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](#): > > Note, however, that “dying declarations” are a common law exception to hearsay restrictions, based on the notion that they are more reliable. Exactly. And the whole reason that people make up stories about deathbed confessions (that just happen to support their position) is precisely because they are seen as being reliable. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/24 "2021-12-31T01:22:03Z")
Maybe - except that they haven’t disclosed what led them to that obituary. And it certainly wasn’t that the US Marshals have been reading every obituary published in the US for the last half-century. Most likely, they got a tip from someone who knew of the deathbed confession - and they certainly wouldn’t disclose that. And if that’s the case, if he hadn’t confessed there wouldn’t have been any law enforcement showing up at the door. Nope, I’m going with selfish. Whether it’s because he was proud of himself and wanted someone to know what he “accomplished” or because he felt guilty and wanted to salve his conscience , he made the meaningless\* deathbed confession for selfish reasons and didn’t care what effect it would have on his family. \* It’s not like he was disclosing where the literal body was buried or someone was unjustly convicted of his crime, in which case his confession may have served some purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/25 "2021-12-31T01:27:31Z")
I can’t think of anything I’d have to confess to. I’m more likely to share some lingering regrets. “I always meant to…” Sad to say I have plenty of those. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/26 "2021-12-31T01:34:22Z")
There’s a saying about how no one on their deathbed has ever said they wished they’d spent more time at work. I’m tempted to be the first–not because I feel that way, just to be contrary. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/27 "2021-12-31T04:14:52Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > There’s a saying about how no one on their deathbed has ever said they wished they’d spent more time at work. You never met my father. He didn’t literally say it but he was still working full time when he died a few days before his 80th birthday because he loved it so much. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/29 "2021-12-31T04:26:06Z")
Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/30 "2021-12-31T06:09:49Z")
I’ve always hoped the Tylenol Killer would confess on their deathbed: “Can I get you anything? Water? Some Tylenol?” “OK, OK, I confess! I did it. I did it and I’m glad, I tell you! Glad!” I know deathbed confessions happen, though. I mean, there are devout Catholics who confess sins to a priest as part of the Last Rites. I’ll probably take my secrets to the grave, though maybe I’d be tempted to tell a few of them just to see the look on my loved ones’ faces. Ditto with secrets others have confided in me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/31 "2021-12-31T06:32:26Z")
I feel that deathbed confessions are really more like deathbed brags. It’s the dying person’s way of saying _“I fooled everyone all these years. Nobody ever suspected I was the Shropshire Slasher. I got away with it and I want all of you to know I’m smarter than you.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/32 "2021-12-31T09:37:43Z")
Gonna make one my deathbed confession one of those opinions that people will cancel you for. “You know what? Black Panther is the most overrated movie of all time. In fact all that stage of Marvel movies were completely terrible. Captain Marvel and End Game should be forced to give people their money back.” ---
**Author:** ![Bashorian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bashorian/32/3546_2.png) [@Bashorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bashorian)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/33 "2021-12-31T12:22:09Z")
“I’m not a Vanilla Townie. I’m a Mafia Ascetic Odd-Night Strongman.” ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/34 "2021-12-31T15:45:28Z")
With my luck if I gave a deathbed confession (if I had something to confess) I would be miraculously cured and then spend the next 25 years in prison. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/35 "2021-12-31T15:56:10Z")
Nope. Nothing to confess, but even if I did, it’d probably be classified until at least 2097 at this point anyway. Tripler “Double secret probation” classified. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872/36 "2022-01-02T17:08:07Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Gonna make one my deathbed confession one of those opinions that people will cancel you for. > > “You know what? Black Panther is the most overrated movie of all time. In fact all that stage of Marvel movies were completely terrible. Captain Marvel and End Game should be forced to give people their money back.” “I did not care for _The Godfather_. It insists upon itself.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-feel-compelled-to-make-a-deathbed-confession/956872.md?page=1)