A story from a movie: Baltazar Lemos, a ceremony and event leader by profession from Brazil, surprised all his relatives when he faked his death.
According to the report from the 60-year-old mako website, he decided to do this because he was curious to know how many of his friends and family members would attend the event, after he himself experienced funeral rites in which no more than two people participated.
On January 10, a sudden announcement of his death was published on Lemos’ Facebook page. “At the beginning of this sad afternoon Baltazar Lemos left us”. This is what was written in the post that went up on the social network, when a day before a photo was published that was taken in front of the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, to imply that he was hospitalized there.
Lemus’ family was shocked by the news, as no one even knew he had been in the hospital recently. One of his nephews rushed there to ask about him, but the medical team did not have any records of Lemus being hospitalized there in recent days. As more friends on the network began to share the tragic news of his death, people wondered about the cause of death. No explanation was given for them and instead, the time and place of the funeral rites and cremation were published on the moderator’s Facebook account.
The delusional story did not stop and after a week, on January 18, his friends and family members gathered in a small church in the city of Curitiba for the funeral.
But then, at some point during the ceremony, Baltzer’s voice was heard over the loudspeaker as he told his life story. Some of those present began to cry because they thought it was a recording of the deceased. A few minutes later, he surprised them and entered the hall in front of everyone.
Some people started crying when they saw him, and others were left speechless in astonishment. Lemos explained that he faked his death to find out who would attend his future funeral.
The bizarre incident has since gone viral and upset quite a few people. “You got what you wanted Baltazar, to attract attention,” wrote one of the surfers. “Everyone was talking about ‘your death’ in groups of event photographers. Everyone mourned. What a ridiculous joke. I don’t know you personally and I hope I never meet you.”
Lemos has since responded to the incident in a conversation with local reporters and claimed that he did not intend to cause so much outrage. He explained that he never wanted to cause people grief and noted that it was the only way to know who would mourn him after his death.
“The idea came to me five months ago,” said Lemos. “I wanted to make it look like I was really dead and people interpreted it in their own way. The truth is, I mostly wanted to know who would come. I didn’t tell anyone, because I hoped it would work out. I had no intention of harming, insulting or harming anyone. I really apologize to these people.”
The emcee’s apology fell largely on deaf ears, especially after people learned he had a wheelchair-bound mother in her 80s who might have had a heart attack upon learning of his death. Not to mention the sorrow for all his family members, friends and colleagues.