The Most Daring Escape of All? The “Faked Deaths” of Celebrities

Philippe de Champaigne, Still Life with a Skull, 1671

Whether it’s to escape the law, rabid fans, or tax problems, faking your own death—or pseudocide—is a sure way to put people off the case.

Or is it?

For the five famous people below, the finality of death hasn’t been quite so final, with people continuing to question whether these people are actually alive or actually dead.

Kenneth Lay

The name “Enron” is now synonymous with corrupt businessmen who get rich by scamming the everyman. Kenneth Lay was a major player in the Enron scandal, which has led people to think that his death just three months before his sentencing hearing was too convenient to be believable.

Because of Lay’s great position of power, conspiracy theorists say he escaped the US with the help of his equally powerful friends and is now living somewhere in Mexico.

Elvis Presley

It’s been 40 years since Elvis died, and yet the sightings of the super famous singer continue to this day. When you’re as famous as Elvis, it can all become too much, so the only way to escape it is to make your fans—and the entire world—think you’re dead. It all adds up, right?

Where does the now-anonymous Elvis live these days? Bermuda, of course.

2Pac

Another incredibly famous musician who is said to have faked his own death to escape his fame is Tupac Shakur. The reason fans are so sure he’s still alive is because of the rapper’s adopted stage name of Makaveli near the end of his career. The philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, as it turns out, suggested that people should fake their own deaths in order to manipulate their enemies.

Paul McCartney

In the exact opposite scenario of Elvis and 2Pac, there’s a conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney—who we see walking and talking and performing with Kanye at the Grammys—is actually dead. The theory goes that Paul died in 1966 in a car accident and was replaced with a lookalike so as not to upset the wave of Beatlemania that had overtaken the world. As long as the fans are happy, right?

Ken Kesey

Here is one legitimate faked death that can be proven beyond doubt. Why? Because writer and famous psychedelic flower child Ken Kesey was actually put in jail for his shenanigans.

When he was arrested for possession of marijuana, Kesey decided faking a suicide was the best way to deal with the charges. His abandoned car was left on the side of the road along with a suicide note, while Kesey hightailed it to Mexico. When he returned home to the US a few months later, he was sentenced to six months in jail.

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