A Belgian man who felt unappreciated by his relatives decided to fake his death. David Baerten, known on Tiktok as Ragnar le Fou decided to prank members of his extended family that he has passed away. Only to end his ruse by arriving to his funeral in a helicopter. Baerten wanted to spur relatives who had grown distant into realizing that you shouldn’t wait until someone is gone to appreciate them.
Another tiktok user who attended the funeral captured footage of the proceedings when Baerten arrives at the event. Many of his relatives take turns hugging Baerten tightly, some crying and relieved that he had not yet passed on. For those that didn’t attend, they called Baerten to reconnect. Many might not have appreciated the prank. Including Baerten’s children, who were kept in the dark for a number of days before they knew. And many online dragged him for being overly cruel to people he cared about.
Good Prank or Bad Prank?
But Baerten said he felt “hurt” by a lack of attention from family. “Nobody sees me. We all grew apart. I felt unappreciated,” he 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.” Though an argument could be made that Baerten could have chosen to call his distant family members letting them know how he feels. Rather than go as far as faking his death. Even his daughter posted a heartbroken message to him over 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.” So what do you think? Was this a worthy prank to get family back together? Or would it have been better for Baerten to simply reach out?
