Man fakes his own death and then shocks his friends and family by turning up to his funeral

A man faked his own death and surprised mourning guests by entering his funeral via a helicopter.

Well, that’s one way to make an entrance.

TikTok creator David Baerten orchestrated a stunt with his wife and children to trick his family and friends into thinking he had passed.

According to Baerten, he wanted to teach his nearest and dearest a lesson about staying in touch.

"What I see in my family often hurts me," Baerten told The Times.

"I never get invited to anything. Nobody sees me. We all grew apart. I felt unappreciated."

He continued: "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."

Baerten’s daughter even shared a fake tribute post, writing to social media: “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.”

Alright, you may have oversold it a tad there, kid.

Anyone else getting flashbacks to Friends when Chandler said Ross was hit by a blimp, prompting a fake memorial service? No, just me.

Baerten staged his funeral near Liege, Belgium, last weekend.

However, he gave guests the fright of their life when he made a grand entrance with a film crew and helicopter.

A fellow TikTok user in attendance shared footage of the aircraft landing as friends and family gathered.

As Baerten stepped out of the helicopter, many rushed over to greet and hug, with many seemingly overcome with emotion.

In one video, a man is seen embracing the content creator while crying on his shoulder.

Baerten also told the Daily Mail that only half his family showed up, and this stunt proved who ‘really cared about him’.

"Those who didn't come did contact me to meet up. So in a way, I did win,” he added.

But the prank has been met with significant backlash online, with many deeming it cruel.

One user penned to Twitter: “1) *Faked his own death for #content 2) The fallout from this kind of ‘prank’ should've resulted in him ACTUALLY needing a funeral tbh.”

Another commented: “This is what some thought Logan Roy was going to do in Succession.”

While a third said: “S**t like this is probably why they weren’t staying in touch.”