A Belgian man pulled off the prank of a lifetime when he faked his own death and showed up to his funeral by stepping off a helicopter instead of being carried out of a hearse.
TikToker David Baerten, along with his wife and children, decided to orchestrate the pseudocide to prank loved ones and see who actually cared about the 45-year-old.
To spread the news of Baerten’s “death” one of his children took to social media and wrote a tribute to her father.
“Rest in peace Daddy. I will never stop thinking about you,” the daughter wrote, according to the Times UK. “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.”
The fake funeral, which was held near the city of Liege last weekend, was attended by dozens of friends and family members dressed in black, waiting for the ceremony to begin until they were met with a landing helicopter.
The “dead man,” alongside a camera crew, hopped out of the chopper as he greeted his mourners with “Cheers to you all, welcome to my funeral,” according to the Times.
Some were relieved of Baerten’s “return from the dead,” running through a field to give the man a hug once he landed while others remained in the parking lot a bit confused of what was happening.
A small number of funeralgoers were less than pleased with Baerten, which forced the TikToker to explain himself, saying he did it because he didn’t like the treatment his family and friends had been giving him.
“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,” Baerten said. “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, who has nearly 165,000 followers, has claimed some loved ones have been reaching out to him since the prank adding 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.”
While Baerten has yet to release a full video of the funeral, another TikTok user captured the reactions of the helicopter landing and Baerten hugging one “mourner” who was in tears during the embrace.
“You had us we love you my friend we are happy that you are among us,” Thomas Faut wrote in the caption of one of the videos he shared on his TikTok account el.tiktokeur2.