The Brazilian Baltazar Lemos, aged 60, incited the anger of his friends and family after he faked his own death purely out of curiosity to see who would attend his funeral, according to the British "Daily Mail." As a funeral organizer in Brazil who has conducted hundreds of services, Lemos pondered the number of family members and friends who would come to bid him farewell at his death. Thus, he decided to fake his death to find out how many people would show up at his funeral.
He recounted how disheartened he felt after organizing funerals attended by only two people, compared to others that had more than 500 attendees. So, similar to the episode of Friends where Ross Geller staged a fake funeral to see which of his old college friends would attend, Lemos executed the ruse to gauge attendance, which resulted in disastrous outcomes.
One person posted on social media announcing that Baltazar Lemos had passed on to another life, accompanied by a photo taken in front of the Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo, implying that the services had been accepted there, leading everyone to assume the worst. Lemos's family was shocked by this announcement, as no one knew he had been in the hospital. One of his nephews rushed to the hospital to inquire about him, but the staff had no records of Baltazar Lemos being admitted in recent days.
As Baltazar's friends online began sharing news of his death, people started expressing their sorrow in the comments and inquired about the cause of death. No explanation was provided, and the time and place of the celebration and funeral were posted on the funeral service's Facebook account.
Friends and family of Baltazar Lemos gathered in a small church in his hometown of Curitiba, expecting to attend a funeral. As a recording of Baltazar began narrating his life, attendees started to cry, thinking it was a recording, until the casket doors opened, and he emerged before everyone. Once he clarified that he had faked his death to see who would attend his funeral, the attendees began to accuse him of being foolish.
