5 famous personalities who staged their death

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Sometimes a passionate desire to start life from scratch makes people radically change everything around them: work, environment, environment. Some people think that only passing away can solve their problems. Not real, but staged. It is still rumored that Princess Diana, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson are actually alive. There is no confirmation of this, but there are other famous personalities who skillfully arranged their disappearance and were declared dead.

Yaroslav Hasek

The famous Czech writer, in addition to his novel about the brave soldier Švejk, became famous for his extraordinary craving for staging his own death. On his account, not one or even two deaths, in which they initially believed.

Since 1915, when Yaroslav Hasek was captured by the Russians during the First World War, obituaries about him have appeared with enviable regularity. He went over to the side of "Atlanta", then joined the Red Army. When, after all the twists and turns, he appeared in Prague with his second wife Alexandra Lvova, it turned out that no one expected him to appear, everyone considered him dead.

Subsequently, he repeatedly disappeared without warning from the house, again and again causing rumors of his death, since his absences could last for several weeks. In recent years, Jaroslav Hasek was very ill, but the news of his death seemed to the writer's friends as another joke. Only the artist Panushka came from Prague to the funeral in Lipnitsa, where the writer lived.

READ ALSO: 10 life quotes from the novel by Jaroslav Hasek about the brave soldier Svejk >>

John Stonehouse

The British politician, who has held various ministerial posts for several years since 1957, was involved in a major scandal. In 1969, John Stonehouse was accused of spying for Czechoslovakia. It was suspected that he was engaged in the transfer of classified data since 1962, but no solid confirmation of this fact was found. And even in 1980, when the British government had a new source of information, the evidence of the former minister's guilt was considered too controversial.

After the Labor Party, of which Stonehouse was a member, lost the election, the former politician decided to go into business. He opened several companies engaged in very risky investments, hoping to become the owner of a millionth fortune within seven years. However, it was not Stonehouse's income that grew, but its debts to investors, which just barely reached the amount of 800 thousand pounds.

The completely confused, unlucky businessman went to the beach in Miami, folded his clothes on the beach and went for a swim. After two hours they began to search for him, but they did not find either himself or his body. He was considered drowned or eaten by sharks, while the businessman himself at that time was already flying to Melbourne, where he was to be met by secretary and mistress Sheila Buckley. Naturally, before his disappearance, John Stonehouse took care of the production of forged documents and the presence of a large amount of money.

However, it was the thirst for money that played a cruel joke with the businessman. In New Zealand, he made a translation using forged documents, and both the sender and the recipient were fake. Thanks to the vigilance of a bank employee, Stonehouse was placed under surveillance, and later arrested and deported to the UK. He was sentenced to seven years for fraud, but was released early after three heart attacks and heart surgery. After his release, John Stonehouse wrote several books about his misadventures and opened a small business related to the manufacture of safes.

Alexander Uspensky

He was appointed to the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in January 1938, and in November he was summoned to Moscow, ostensibly to hand over an order for a promotion. Himself taking part in the repressions, Alexander Uspensky was aware that the promotion was just a pretext for an arrest, which could end up being shot for him. The official left a farewell note in his office with instructions to look for his corpse in the Dnieper, and for the credibility of the staging, he threw his outer clothing into the water.

The former People's Commissar, who became Ivan Shmashkovsky after the "suicide", traveled half of the country in a few months, but could not escape. Five months later, he was arrested in the Chelyabinsk region. A little over a year after his alleged death, he was shot.

Kesey Ken

The writer, best known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in the late 1950s, while working as an assistant psychiatrist, repeatedly and voluntarily participated in experiments with psychedelics. Subsequently, he was noticed in drug use, and already for possession of marijuana he was arrested.

Taking advantage of his pending trial bail, Kesey Ken decided to escape punishment by pretending to commit suicide. Friends of the writer, aware of his plans, left Ken's truck on a cliff by the sea. There was a suicide note in the truck, which was written by members of the hippie commune "Merry Pranksters", which he created.

Friends also helped Kesey leave the United States in the trunk of a car heading for Mexico. What made the writer return home just 8 months after his escape is unknown. However, the return was immediately followed by arrest and imprisonment for five months. After his release, he lived and worked on the family farm, devoting most of his time to creativity.

In recent years, his health has deteriorated significantly: a stroke was added to diabetes and oncology. He died in 2001 at the age of 67.

Timothy Dexter

This American entrepreneur is called the most extravagant and successful businessman of the 18th century. He could not even get a secondary education, but in some incredible way he managed to sell heating pads for heating premises in tropical countries, and then send also yarn for mittens there, again without burning out.

This eccentric decided to fake his death in order to see how others would react to his death. At least 3,000 people gathered to honor the memory of the untimely deceased entrepreneur, and at the commemoration, Timothy Dexter not only discovered his presence, but also went with everyone to celebrate his funeral. He later accused his own wife of insufficient grief over his departure.

In 1977, the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley died. He was only 42. And although his health was already badly shaken, the fans did not believe in natural death. Rumors immediately spread that he had not died, but had faked his own funeral. He himself, according to various versions, either hid from the noisy world in the monastery, or was treated, or retired from the annoying scene forever. And soon a mysterious masked singer appeared on the American scene, under the name Orion.