A Belgian TikTok user faked his death before showing up to his mock funeral in the city of Liège by helicopter, to teach his family a lesson.
David Baerten, who is known on the social media app as "Ragnar Le Fou," engineered the prank with his wife and children. He even got one of his daughters to leave messages on his TikTok account, which is followed by over 150,000 people.
"Rest in peace, Daddy. I will never stop thinking about you,” Baerten's daughter wrote in one of her messages. “Why is life so unfair? Why you?" Before announcing that her father's funeral would be held on Sunday, 11 June.
As the memorial ceremony was taking place, a helicopter descended as guests shed tears. Their cries were soon replaced by audible gasps as Baerten came out of the helicopter. While some guests rushed to embrace Baerten, others stood to the side, looking perplexed and confused.
The whole scene was caught on camera and was subsequently published on Baerten's TikTok account. Many of the app's users questioned whether the whole thing was fake, including the audience's reactions. The Belgian was also heavily criticised for the stunt, with many deeming it to be insensitive.
Baerten later explained on Facebook that the idea behind the fake death was to "teach some people (in his family) a lesson." He claimed to have felt underappreciated by his broader family who often failed to keep contact. He said that his stunt gave him the chance to see "who really cared."
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The prankster told SudInfo that death was a particularly sore subject for him as his aunt had been killed by her abusive ex-husband in 2006. He also lost his mother in December of last year.
In the end, Baerten was pleased with the outcome of his stunt, seeing it as a success as "a quarter of the family members that I no longer saw were present at my funeral." He added that they had made plans to see each other again. "I figured out for who I really mattered," Baerten concluded.
