Man Turns up at His Funeral After Faking Death to Reunite Family. Their Reaction Was Heartbreaking

The reach that social media provides has also seen people trying to come up with creative ideas to prank others can catch their reactions on camera. But 45-year-old David Baerten went too far when he arranged a 'makeshift' funeral for himself and invited his whole family. Baerten's reasoning behind this over-the-top step was that he wanted to get his family back since he had gone years without having a proper meeting with them. There was always something keeping them apart. He devised this plan to reunite them all but did not consider the emotional toll it would have on them. After everything went down he apologized to his relatives, as per Times, while the sorrow in the eyes of his loved ones was captured on camera and uploaded by Thomas Faut (@el.tiktokeur2). Faut attended the funeral and recorded the whole thing on camera as everyone was beyond devastated and got emotionally overwhelmed seeing Baerten come down from the helicopter at his own funeral.

The video started with the whole family dressed in black, looking solemn as they mourned Baerten's death. Then, suddenly a helicopter landed there and every single person walked towards it only to receive a shock when Baerten came down from it. Some just went on to hug him, and for most of them, this brought more relief instead of triggering anger. 

One of Baerten's friends was so ecstatic to see him that he kept him in his embrace for a long time. In another video, both of them can be seen crying in each other's arms before they parted to see each other's faces. Baerten's friend was shaken after hearing the news of his dear friend's passing, and his emotions broke free the instant he laid eyes on his pal. 

Viewers in the comments were shocked after seeing the 'prank' unfold in front of them. @raquel89672 felt sad that it took a death to bring the family together and wrote, "It's sad that some family members only see you after you're dead. God bless you." @diedra_realtor hoped that the family embarked on a new chapter after this stunt and added, "I don’t know the backstory. But I hope this stunt was not in vain. I really hope they are closer and hashed out whatever it was that was going on."

In an interview with the French chat show Touche Pas a Mon Poste (TPMP), Baerten shared that he apologized to all of his family members after the incident. His intention was never to hurt anyone, but just to reconnect with his family. After seeing the reactions from his close ones to his funeral, he wanted to call the whole thing off. But, by that time it was too late. “As soon as I started receiving messages from people and videos of them crying, I wished I could cancel the whole thing, but it was too late. I asked myself, ‘What have you done?’ " he said. Ultimately, the one takeaway for him from all of it, was that he was able to reconnect with many estranged relatives. Now his focus is on nurturing those bonds with them for life.