Man crashes his own 'funeral' in a helicopter — his family cried when he told them why he did it

People can go out of their way to test the love of family and friends, but one Belgian man took things to the extreme by faking his death, staging a funeral, and then dramatically arriving by helicopter to the utter shock of his loved ones. His goal was to teach them a lesson about staying connected. Although it sounds like something out of a Hollywood script, this was the prank pulled off by TikToker David Baerten. For this, he also took the help of his wife and kids. His daughter posted a heartfelt (but entirely fake) tribute to him online, spreading the news of his death.

As reported by the New York Post, Baerten's daughter wrote “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.” Near the city of Liege, an emotional crowd of mourners in black came together. Soon a helicopter's roar cut through the silence of friends and family as they waited for the service to start. Thomas Faut (@el.tiktokeur2), a TikTok user who was present at the time, recorded the shocking scene. To everyone's surprise, the man they were grieving, emerged from the helicopter alive.

The sorrow of the shocked mourners turned to disbelief as they watched. The video then showed a moment where Baerten was surrounded by his loved ones. Some rushed to him and hugged him tightly, while others were unable to figure out what was happening. The caption read, "You got us, I swear I was crying and then I had the shock, buddy we love you very much." In a later video, Baerten shared his disappointment, saying his family never included him in gatherings. He said, "Nobody sees me. We all grew apart. I felt unappreciated."

He added, "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." However, the prank triggered a backlash, as many viewers criticized him for being insensitive. A TikTok user, @raccoon69rr, commented, “Very uncool. Very self-serving and no one should ever do this to another human being.” Another person, @brand0n_hf, wrote, “The world is going to hell, it's going to fall on him, it's unworthy to do such a thing, there are people who fight for life and he's playing with his.” Several others chimed in with similar comments.

Baerten later revealed that some family members contacted him after his fake funeral, demonstrating who genuinely cared about him, even though just half of them attended. However, he also realized that his careless stunt had caused great harm to people who truly cared for him. During his appearance on TPMP, Baerten expressed regret and disclosed that his wife knew about the prank and had even attempted to stop him. Meanwhile, his story serves as a reminder that loneliness affects many people in different ways.