Kit Roberts
A man has pulled off an extraordinary prank on his relatives to teach them a lesson.
Most of us have probably imagined how our funeral is going to go. Questions like who'll turn up, what will they say about us, WILL anyone turn up, all tug at everyone's curiosity. Just me? Nevermind.
But one man doesn't need to think about those questions anymore after staging an incredible prank on his family. Or awful, depending on how you look at it.
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Acting in cahoots with his wife and children, David Baerton, 45, faked his own death for his whole family, with the funeral even being arranged.
He enlisted the help of his children to set the ball rolling on his 'death'.
One posted online: “Rest in peace, Daddy. I will never stop thinking about you. Why is life so unfair? Why you? 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.”
Members of the family all showed up to the funeral to mourn and pay their respects.
However, Baerton then made a rather dramatic entrance by arriving at his own funeral in a helicopter.
He reportedly alighted from the helicopter with a camera crew and greeted the assembled party with 'cheers to you all, welcome to my funeral'.
Not many people can say they've done that.
A video shows loved ones rushing to embrace Baerton as they realise that it was him who had disembarked from the helicopter.
But one big question remains here, which is why anyone would choose to pull off such a zany and potentially upsetting stunt?!
Baerton explained that he wanted to remind his family that they only had so much time together.
He said: “What I see in my family often hurts me, I never get invited to anything. Nobody sees me. We all grew apart. I felt unappreciated.
“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.”
He added: “[It] proves who really cares about me. Those who didn’t come did contact me to meet up. So in a way, I did win.”
Sounds, healthy?
It would be particularly awkward if you'd been unable to go the funeral for whatever reason. Imagine finding out what happened after choosing not to go.
I think I'd probably also fake my own death to escape the embarrassment.