A Belgium man faked his death and shocked funeral goers in cruel prank to teach his family and friends “a lesson” about staying in touch.
David Baerten, who is naturally an attention seeking TikTok creator, decided the best way to get some face time with his extended family and go viral on his social channel was to pretend that he was dead.
Baerten claimed that he was sad about how his once tight-knit clan had stopped hanging out with him.
“What I see in my family often hurts me,” he told The Times U.K. “I never get invited to anything. Nobody sees me.”
A 45-year-old Belgian man, David Baerten fakes his death and turns up for his funeral in a helicopter to teach his family a lesson pic.twitter.com/HqvW219GAY
— GistReel.Com (@GistReel) June 15, 2023
He complained that they all “grew apart,” and justified his actions by saying he “felt unappreciated” by his brood.
“That’s why I wanted to give them a life lesson, and show them that you shouldn’t wait until someone is dead to meet up with them.”
45-year-old man pulled off an insane fake funeral with the help of his wife and children, who posted on social media about his supposed death.
“Rest in peace Daddy. I will never stop thinking about you,” his daughter wrote to announce his phony passing.
“Why is life so unfair? Why you?” She bemoaned. “You were going to be a grandfather, and you still had your whole life ahead of you. I love you! We love you! We will never forget you.”
When mourners gathered at Baerten’s faux service in Liege last weekend, the death deceiver left them stunned and confused when he flew in on a helicopter with a film crew.
A fellow TikToker, Thomas Faut, caught the chopper’s landing on video, which ironically, he not Baerten, went viral for sharing in a set of posts that racked up nearly two million views.
In one of the videos, funeral goers watch on in shock as Baerten emerged from the helicopter and many others rushed to go greet him in a nearby field.
“Cheers to you all, welcome to my funeral,” he reportedly told them.
In a follow-up post, Baerten hugged a red-faced man as he sobbed into his shoulder in relief.
Father fakes his own death to teach family a lesson — then shows up at funeral in helicopter 😂👌 pic.twitter.com/76fLcUL3Xt
— House Envy (@HouseEnvyFeed) June 14, 2023
“You had us.” Faut captioned the post. “I swear to you, I was in tears and in shock, bro. We love you very much.”
Despite the stress he caused his loved ones, Baerten was miffed about the turnout. “Only half of my family came to the funeral,” he remarked.
“That proves who really cares about me,” he continued. “Those who didn’t come, did contact me to meet up. So in a way I did win.”
Plenty of social media users think that what he did to his friends and family was incredibly cruel.
“Please what kind of lesson does he want to teach his family,” someone questioned. “Regardless the trauma implications is what I don’t think the family can bear for a very long time after this episode of faking death.”
“Sounds like a guy who also doesn’t communicate to his family & friends that he’s feeling unappreciated,” another noted. “A phone call would’ve been easier, but hey. What do I know?”
“Men will show up in a helicopter at their own fake funeral instead of going to therapy,” somebody shaded.
“And the worst dad of the year award goes to…” A replier added.
“Attention seeking behavior at an all new low,” a commenter wrote.
One person pointed out that Baerten’s pretend funeral entrance could have led to his actual demise.
“How crazy would it have been if the helicopter crashed and he died,” one person posited.