A man pretended to be dead in order to observe the turnout at his funeral. Mohan Lal, a former Indian Air Force veteran, orchestrated a staged funeral in Konchi village, Gaya district, India. He lay in a coffin, covered in a sheet, and was carried towards a crematorium to gauge the response he would receive.
The social experiment proved successful as hundreds of mourners, believing the 74-year-old had passed away, gathered in the village to bid him farewell. However, as the procession approached the crematorium, Mohan, a father of two, surprised everyone by revealing he was still alive.
Explaining his actions, he expressed a desire to witness the respect and affection people would show him after his supposed demise. Following his resurrection, the attendees symbolically burned an effigy before hosting a communal feast for the village. Mohan had previously donated a crematorium to the village to facilitate funeral rites during the rainy seasons.
His philanthropic endeavors and community contributions have earned him widespread respect and popularity among the locals, according to a resident interviewed by the media.
In a contrasting incident in 2023, a Brazilian man, funeral director Baltazar Lemos, received a negative response for staging his own funeral to test the attendance. Lemos, feeling disheartened by a service with only two mourners, devised an elaborate plan that ultimately backfired, angering those he involved in the charade.
He initiated the hoax by posting a photo outside a hospital on Facebook, announcing his death on social media the next day. This unexpected news shocked many friends and family who were unaware of his supposed illness.
Lemos proceeded to organize a funeral service in Curitiba, Brazil, on January 18, with event details shared on his social media page. The stunt resulted in backlash from those who felt manipulated by his deceitful actions.