Pseudocide is a term for a serious attempt to fake one's own death. It is usually carried out by people who want to escape criminal, legal, financial, marital, or other personal difficulties, and start a new life elsewhere by adopting a new identity.
The Experts
There are few experts in the field. Pseudocide has escaped in-depth study. Scarcely any writing and research has been devoted to the topic in scholarly (psychology, criminology or sociology) journals in the United States, the UK, or anywhere else for that matter. This volume is apparently the first monograph.
Certainly, Kevin Gibson of the British Psychological Society has done some valuable work. According to Gibson, there is not any obvious "single prompt" for pseudocide. After reviewing more than two hundred cases from all over the world the author of this work concurs with Gibson's evaluation.
The Pseudocidal Profile and Motives
What seems to push a person over the line between simply imagining starting over and actually doing something about it is more a matter of personality and context. The heart of the decision to cross this line seems to depend on how they view themselves in the world.
Building a profile of a pseudocidal person may be an impossible task. Motives are complex. There are a range of relationship issues that may trigger pseudocide—everything from seemly unavoidable societal disgrace to impending failure of some sort. Criminality often triggers pseudocide as well, but there is no single precipitating criminal activity. Though, one could argue that any/every pseudocide, even those without any financial component/motive, involves some sort of fraud—and is criminal. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to discern which idea came first. Did the desire to become a new person and start a new life lead to criminal activity, or did criminal activity force a person into contemplating pseudocide? It works both ways.
Pseudocides are typically carried out by men, ages 30 to 60. Sometimes these individuals appear quite successful. Their outward presentation masks a hidden sense of frustration, failure and disappointment—while a disproportionate amount of their thought life is spent on escapist fantasy.
People who commit pseudocide are not necessarily attention seekers; but some are. One might assume that some depressed people are simply looking for re-assurance. Perhaps many pseudocidal people just want to know if others would miss them. In fact, there are a few cases where the individual involved is doing something akin to a young child who pretends to run away from home to see how much his or her parents really care.
‘Baptisms’ and Blazes
There are elements pseudocides share. Water is often involved in what seems to be a baptism effect. By 'baptism', the author does not mean to suggest that the pseudocidal individual is actually seeking or participating in a Christian sacrament. Rather, the pseudocidal is doing something psychologically that they have picked up from the culture around them. Their pseudocide is a copycat version of baptism, in the sense that they want to wipe away the past and start afresh.
Water is suggestive of new beginnings and cleansing. One look at the vast expanse of the sea, the murky depths of a lake, or the rushing brown or white torrent of a large river, and it is easy to imagine being lost—and not being found. Additionally, the adventure of the open seas has been a common theme in western literature since the Age of Exploration. Personalization of the spirit of adventure—being willing to leave the trappings of civilization behind—is a Romantic notion connected to the forging of a new identity.
Beyond the psychological aspect of water’s involvement is the practical side. Its vastness or murkiness conjure up expectations that a body may never be found.
A water ‘death’ presents the most options. Although it seems quite final, it's also suggests re-emergence. After all, a person thrown overboard at sea may never be found. They may be “presumed dead”. However, a miraculous survival is conceivable. Imagine, for example, a person who was never spotted by search crews and washed up on a remote island.
Pseudocide by fire is similar, in terms of providing a sense of wiping away all traces of the past; it can burn to ashes an existence which has left a person with seemingly nothing but pain and suffering. For example, those who desire to escape the consequences of criminal activity have the mind-set that ‘death’ by fire is cleansing and allows them to create a new identity.
On the other hand, pseudocide by fire carries a different psychological weight. The sense of finality is weightier. It is an admission that re-emergence as the former self is impossible.
This partially explains why those who prefer fire over water as an exit strategy also typically want their former self to be remembered as potentially heroic, despite their desire for a do-over life. Dying with dignity is more important to those who opt for the fire method.
A Lack of Hard Numbers
There is obviously a major problem with assigning hard numbers to this phenomenon. For instance, in determining an annual rate of pseudocide, only unsuccessful pseudocides are counted. Only failures are reported. Successful pseudocides can’t be explored beyond conducting interviews with individuals who have contemplated it or have done it and are willing to step forward and risk exposure or even criminal prosecution. People willing to share the truth are rare. Moreover, they may not be representative of the others who have successfully committed pseudocide.
Furthermore, independent life insurance companies aren’t keeping statistics on the matter. Individual insurance companies track fraudulent deaths, as do state/provincial law enforcement, but this is not done on the national or international scale. At this point, dependable figures are impossible.
Additionally, the vast majority of pseudocides that get attention involve large corporations willing to spend money to avoid paying out life insurance benefits to people who don’t deserve them. Fraudulent death claims costs are typically absorbed by life insurance policy holders’ increased premiums. Individuals who fake their own deaths for reasons other than personal financial gain or helping family and friends cash in are usually not investigated because they are not deemed suspicious. A person who may have committed pseudocide, but did not seek to profit thereby or does not seek to escape criminal prosecution, stands little chance of being scrutinized by life insurance companies or law enforcement.
Another difficulty in determining the number of pseudocides involves the nature of criminal behavior, especially considering that many fake their death to avoid criminal prosecution. Since the overwhelming majority of criminals aren’t committing well-planned-out schemes; since most get caught; it is safe to conclude that the people committing pseudocide are likely to be criminals. Put simply: most criminals aren’t too smart; they’re not adept at detailed and sustained planning. Nor are they good at keeping things to themselves. Since the dummies are more likely to get nabbed it is impossible to conclude with any certainty that people seeking to avoid criminal charges perpetrate the majority of pseudocides. Though, one thing should be said for the criminally pseudocidal: they sure do provide us with some entertaining stories.
If you still crave some raw numbers, Julie Androshick wrote an informative article in the September 20, 1999 issue of Forbes magazine, called “Zombie Insurance”. In the article, Androshick points out that the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud approximates 250,000 fake death claims are filed annually, and that 15% successfully collect a fraudulent death benefit. Androshick also points out just how rare convictions for this sort of fraud are: about 1% annually. Apparently, the technique most often used by insurers to avoid paying a death benefit for suspected fake deaths is to simply refuse paying out on suspicious claims. What is their reasoning? Criminal claimants are unlikely to fight the refusal in court for fear of being exposed.
Pseudocide: Past and Present
Once upon a time pseudocide was probably far more common. It seems like a phenomenon best fit for simpler times. But, is this assumption backed up by the facts? Certainly the motives to pull off such a stunt have not lessened, considering the complexities of modern life. Let’s face it, modern society provides motive in spades. How about opportunity?
It seems plausible to conclude that with the overwhelming nature of modern life, a desire for a “do over life” may be stronger than ever, whereas the opportunities to actually carry out a pseudocide have shrunken with the advent of a tracking and ID society. From social security numbers, to our credit-driven lifestyle, to the endless forms and IDs in common use, it seems opportunities to start over are limited for the average person by the sheer complexity and potential cost of the undertaking. Heck, it’s not inconceivable that children of the not-so-distant future will be “chipped” from birth. Companies have already developed incredibly tiny, subcutaneous tracking systems. With the growing fear of child kidnapping and abduction, consumer interest in such devices is on the rise. Work is well underway to make these tracking devices GPS compatible.
In a “chipped” world there doesn’t seem to be much room for pseudocidal do-overs. But the human spirit always surprises.
Pseudocide: A Case of Life Mirroring Art?
There is strong circumstantial evidence to support the notion of what might be termed the “Reggie Perrin effect”. Higher rates of pseudocide are found in parts of the world that were exposed to a famous British TV show. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a David Nobbs novel-turned-British-sitcom which aired in the late seventies, about a man’s mid-life crisis. As the climax to the first series, Reginald Perrin fakes his own suicide by leaving his clothes on a beach in Dorset and running into the sea. However, it is impossible to be certain as to whether this is a question of "art imitating life" or "life imitating art”. More likely, it is a seamless blend: The “Reggie Perrin effect” and the “baptism effect” are simply two sides of the same phenomenon.
Escapist Stories as an Alternative?
In a pre-emptive way our imaginations have already tackled the fundamental dissatisfactions that have the potential to lead to pseudocide. Consider the many sci-fi flicks and TV shows that have anticipated a “chipped” world. Novels, stories and screenplays address a modern anxiety in much the same way that Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe or Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn did in their time.
Few people who have read the latter can forget Huck’s pseudocide. He was motivated by Pap’s drunken and abusive behavior. He could no longer bear the beatings and confinement, so he faked his own death by killing a pig and spreading its blood all over the cabin. Then Huck hid out on Jackson’s Island in the middle of the Mississippi River.
This popular tale is one among many in the broader world of fiction. There are several films depicting pseudocide. A few have been quite popular. Four 007 films feature pseudocide: You Only Live Twice, Golden Eye, Die Another Day, and Skyfall. Sleeping with the Enemy, starring Julia Roberts was a riveting film, in which Robert’s character fakes her death to escape an abusive and stifling husband. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the part of Mark Kaminsky who fakes his death at the beginning of Raw Deal in order to infiltrate the Mob. Double Jeopardy is a thriller starring Ashley Judd and based on an excellent Nancy Price novel. Niagara (1953) is a classic film where the character George Loomis switches shoes with the man he kills and then throws his nemesis over the falls. People conclude George is dead and he uses this assumption to exact revenge on Rose, his unfaithful, scheming wife (played by Marilyn Monroe). Respiro is a lesser-known, award-winning Italian film (Cannes, 2002) about a young woman who fakes her death to avoid being sent to a psychiatric hospital. Of course, who could forget the comedy You Don't Mess With The Zohan? Adam Sandler plays an Israeli Special Forces soldier who fakes his death in order to begin a new life in New York City as a hair stylist.
Among notable TV shows featuring pseudocide, the character, Jack Bauer, the protagonist from the hit TV series 24, fakes his death at the end of Season 4. In the popular 70’s sitcom, Three's Company, Jack Tripper is threatened by a man who thinks he's trying to steal his girlfriend on the episode, “Dying to Meet You.” Jack Tripper’s buddy, Larry, helps him fake his death to avoid his girlfriend's jealous, physically intimidating, ex-boyfriend. In another 70’s staple, Happy Days, Fonzie discovers some counterfeit cash in a hearse he’s working on in his auto repair shop. The hearse belongs to gangsters, so The Fonz stages his own death and funeral in an attempt to throw the bad guys off his trail. In an episode from the original Star Trek TV series, entitled, "Amok Time," the beautiful T'Pring invokes the kal-if-fee—her right to have Spock fight for her hand in marriage. When she chooses Kirk as her champion, there is no choice for Kirk than to fight his friend to the death. The brilliant Dr. McCoy saves the day by giving Kirk an injection that makes Kirk appear to die. In yet another TV episode, "The Enterprise Incident," Spock pretends to use the Vulcan death grip on Kirk. That way Captain Kirk can return to a Romulan ship in disguise.
There are quite a few novels, short stories and plays featuring pseudocide. Margaret Atwood’s protagonist in Lady Oracle is one example. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet fakes her own death to avoid marrying Paris. That goes horribly wrong. In A Winter's Tale, Hermione apparently fakes her own death for sixteen years just so she can pose as her own statue (voluntarily or otherwise) and come back to life in front of her husband and fully grown daughter.
In a case that turns out well, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has Sherlock Holmes fake his death at Reichenbach Falls, Switzerland. Holmes’ fakery at the end of The Adventure of the Final Problem, with his nemesis Moriarty looking on, allows the famous detective to solve a case by going incognito. Dr. Sparks fakes his drowning at sea to escape being killed by his pursuer in John Katzenbach’s The Analyst. Janet Tashjian wrote a fantastic book called The Gospel According to Larry that ends with the pseudocide of the main character. In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean fakes drowning in order to escape prison without being searched for.
How-to Books and Web Sites
There are a few “how-to” books out there. Doug Richmond’s How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found is probably the most thorough. Donald Deschner addresses the back half of the equation in How to Create a New Identity, as does John Q. Newman’s The Heavy Duty New Identity. There are quite a few how-to articles about faking your own death on the internet. The best of the lot was posted anonymously at www.holytaco.com. It’s entitled, “Power Point Presentation – How to Fake Your Own Death”. A point-by-point approach (with a long list of tips) can be found at www.wikihow.com, posted by "Maluniu", a prolific user/editor at that site.
Pseudocide and Conspiracy Theories
The list of fake death conspiracy theories involving celebrities is quite imposing. Do an Internet search using any of the following names, plus the words “faked death”, and you’ll find some interesting, though far-fetched and paranoia-steeped web pages for: Jesus, Princess Diana, Elvis Presley, Tupak Shakur, Paul Walker, Ken Lay, Ivar “The Match King” Kreuger, David Graiver, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Lee Harvey Oswald, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Father Christopher Clonan, Attila the Hun, John Dillinger, Blas Valera, General Dai Li, Subhas Chandra Bose, Andy Kaufman, JFK, JFK Jr., Christopher Marlowe, Jesse James, Harry Weldon Kees, Anna Nicole Smith, Moana Pozzi, Amelia Earhart, Steve Fossett, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, etc.
Pseudocide v. “Playing Possum”
War creates circumstances when it is better to be considered dead than alive. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that soldiers have faked their own death in the midst of battle. There are countless stories by veterans who found their position overrun by the enemy and who simply pretended to be dead by lying face down in the mud or among fallen comrades to elude real death or certain capture.
During the invasion of Normandy in World War II, American paratrooper, John Steele [2], pulled one over on the enemy in the German occupied French village of Sainte-Mère-Église. Steele was part of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment that jumped just east of Utah beach. The American found himself hanging from a church tower because his parachute got caught on one of the spires. Unable to get loose and in clear view of the enemy, Steele pretended to be dead by remaining limp and motionless until fellow paratroopers could come to his rescue.
Faking ones death in wartime is not limited to the battlefield. There are dozens of cases where occupying troops have been deceived into believing someone they were seeking to capture was dead.
Israel Epstein is an interesting example. [2] Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1915, he eventually ended up in China as an avid supporter to the Communist revolutionary forces. Of course, Japan’s occupation of large portions of China during World War II made Mr. Epstein a target of suspicion. When the Japanese sought to round up all potential foreign subversives, Epstein decided to fake his death by publishing fictitious accounts of his death in papers around the world. For instance, the New York Times reported him dead in a short piece in 1941. His experience as a propagandist for the Communist Chinese undoubtedly gave him an edge in pulling off such fakery.
In reality, Epstein manufactured a new identity—admittedly foreign, but one without all the Communist connections. Then he peacefully cooperated with the Japanese by turning himself in. He spent time in a Japanese internment camp, but avoided the firing squad.
Consider the case of Robert Santiago, whose brush with death appeared in the The Record (Bergen County, NJ) in March of 1991. He hitched a ride in a car and ended up getting shot twice. One of the bullets lodged in the back of his skull! Santiago was conscious throughout the horrific ordeal. The two would-be murderers ditched his limp and unresponsive body at a local parking lot. After the assailants drove off, Santiago got up and ran off, luckily making it to Passaic General Hospital.
In the vast majority of cases, like the three examples above, it is necessary to draw a distinction between “playing possum” and pseudocide. The former is a temporary feigning, like the Hog-nosed snake. When threatened by predators this snake rolls over on its back, goes limp and still, and excretes a foul smelling fluid that mimics death-rot. There is no thought of remaining ‘dead’. The same applies to a person who “plays possum”. There is no desire to craft a new identity. The intent of the pseudocidal, on the other hand, involves the intent to accomplish both.
Pseudocide and Faked Suicide
Pseudo- is an English prefix that comes from the Greek word pseudēs, meaning false. The word carries the sense of something that is fake, deceptive, pretending, a sham, or a lie. -Cide is an English suffix that comes from the Latin -cīda or -cīdium, meaning to kill or the act of killing. For this reason the word pseudocide has been used to describe a person who pretends to commit suicide. The most thorough approach to this topic was published in 1959. In the medical journal article, entitled, "Why do They do it?: A Study of Pseudocide", doctors J.E. Lennard-Jones and Richard Asher set out the motives of people who make insufficiently serious attempts at suicide. [3] Their stated objective was to "describe those patients who harm themselves, but do not aim to kill themselves." The doctors are not analyzing individuals who fake their deaths to create a new life under a new identity, they are exploring the motives of individuals who make less-than-serious attempts at suicide.
Pseudocide: A Version of the Vanishing Fantasy?
As previously pointed out, water and fire are the preferred pseudocidal conduits.
Obviously, vanishing is another option, albeit a weak one, since the pseudocidal mind-set involves leaving what they believe is convincing evidence from which there could be no return. Vanishing, as a method of pseudocide, carries with it a definite intent to be sought by others who might miss them, and the intention to re-appear as their original selves.
Two journalists have contributed well-though out articles addressing the possible connection between the vanishing fantasy and pseudocide. In 2007, Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post wrote a piece entitled, “A Vanishing Fantasy”. Richard Askwith of The Independent (London), wrote “The Vanishing Season” in 1999.
A vanishing fantasy involves fantasizing about disappearing and creating a new identity. Due to dissatisfaction, and the intensity thereof, a person dwells upon various plans to live another life as a different person. Most people do this to a certain degree. However, there are some who actually cross the line between fantasy and reality. Those people walk away and start fresh as a new person. Faking their death may or may not be involved. Usually pseudocide is not involved.
The question remains: does the vanishing fantasy play a role in all cases of pseudocide? The answer is yes. A person who actually fakes his or her own death always goes through a vanishing fantasy stage first, be it ever so briefly. For many, this stage is so fleeting that it’s not recognized as a stage. However, the length of the stage does not determine how powerful it is in provoking a person to action. Moreover, a person does not have to recognize a psychological stage for it to exist.
In this respect, the criminal mind is instructive. There are many people sitting in prison cells right now who only mentally imagined the consequences of their actions for a split second. There are those who have given their imaginations over to criminal activity to such an extent that they don’t plan at all, they seem to act automatically when circumstances present themselves. There are those so damaged by their past that, given certain circumstances, they can explode with seemingly spur-of-the-moment criminality. There are yet others who give careful, slow, deliberative consideration to future criminal action. Likewise, the vanishing fantasy stage may last for months, even years. In the latter case, the person experiences something akin to James Thurber's short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Is a ‘Walter Mitty’ destined to commit pseudocide? No.
One more worthy-of-mention coincidence exists between the vanishing fantasy and pseudocidal fantasy. Most people who partake in the vanishing fantasy for extended periods of time come to realize that no matter where they go, there they are. They come to understand that they themselves are the source of much—if not most—of their problems. This being an unavoidable truth, a person who commits pseudocide has to suspend that recognition (consciously or not), reject it outright (consciously or not), or simply be willing to live with it.
Pseudocide v. Death Fraud
Fraud is "the intentional deception of a person or entity by another made for monetary or personal gain." Pseudocide is fraud by this definition. After all, at the very least, there is some sort of personal gain achieved when a person deceives others into thinking he or she is dead. "Personal gain" is such a broad term that it could apply to someone who fakes his or her own death to feel better about themselves.
So, must monetary gain be involved in Pseudocide? No. Consider the case of the teenage girl or boy who is tired of being sexually abused by a family member. When they fake their death the motive is not to financially benefit. The personal gain in this case would be getting away from a personal horror.
Although it is true that most pseudocide cases reported by the media involve fraud with the intent of monetary gain or escaping crushing financial crisis, there is no way to know with any precision whether the majority of pseudocides involve this sort of fraud. To make such a pronouncement ignores media bias. Stories of financial fraud sell newspapers. Journalists naturally select those tales over those cases involving more murky motives.
Another form of bias to consider is created by the financial abilities of those entities defrauded. Since hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars are involved in the paying out of death benefits by insurance companies, people committing pseudocide are much more likely to be investigated, hunted and caught. Insurance companies have significant financial resources to throw at cases where they suspect this sort of fraudulent death has occurred. On the other hand, defrauded people who have little to no financial resources can't afford ongoing, costly investigations.
Lastly, the term "Death Fraud" can be misleading, as it often applies to cases when a living person, who has not faked their death, steals an actually dead person's identity for monetary gain. For a great illustration of this point, I would suggest reading an article by Cheryl B. Hyder and Christine L. Warner in Fraud Magazine, entitled, "This Identity Theft is Alive and Kicking".