Dead Celebrities Rumored To Be Alive

Fans are understandably shocked and saddened when their favorite stars die before their time. When these beloved celebrities shuffle off this mortal coil at far too young an age, a strange phenomenon sometimes emerges, in which fans so desperately cling to the memories of these late stars that they come to believe they're not actually dead. 

As bizarre as it might seem, there have been numerous occasions over the years in which a celeb's passing has been followed by rumors that they're actually still alive. Sometimes these rumors are fuelled by sightings when somebody catches a glimpse of a stranger who bears a resemblance to a deceased star. Other times, conspiracy theories emerge after being fed by deliberate hoaxes, aimed at manipulating fans' emotions. There may be a psychological reason underscoring this phenomenon. "Famous people, at their best, are sacred heroes who reflect what we hold to be the best of our culture and society. As such heroes they are considered less mortal than ordinary humans, both symbolically and literally," psychology professor Pelin Kesebir told NBC News. For a fan, latching onto a rumor that a dead celebrity isn't actually dead could provide comfort in the belief that a god-like figure evaded mortality.

When it comes to the celebrities at the center of these rumors, they really have run the gamut, from rock stars to rappers to movie legends to comedians to royalty. With that in mind, read on for a look at some deceased celebrities who are rumored to be alive

Tupac Shakur was killed in a 1996 drive-by shooting — or at least that's the official story. An alternate version of events holds that he faked his death, with the FBI supposedly covering it all up. For those who choose to believe, evidence is everywhere: Shakur's rap alter-ego, Makaveli, is an anagram for "Am Alive K," while a numerological theory points to an eerie confluence of sevens, with the rapper shot on September 7 at age 25 (adding two to five equals seven), while the time of his death, 4:03 p.m., is also seven when added together, as is his birthday, June 16 (1+6=7).

Adding fuel to the fire are numerous Shakur spottings, with photographic evidence claiming he attended a Boston Celtics game, had a few beers in a New Orleans bar, posed for a pic with Beyonce, took in the BET Awards and a Lil Wayne show, and had a conversation with Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight on a beach in Cuba.

A big reason behind the ongoing belief that Shakur remains alive can be attributed to Knight. With the label's vaults hosting hundreds of unreleased songs Shakur had recorded before his death, Knight recognized that keeping the conspiracy theory alive was good for business, with fans never quite sure if a new Shakur song was one of those unreleased tracks or a new one secretly recorded by the still-alive rapper. 

To sitcom viewers in the late 1970s, Andy Kaufman was the comedian behind "Taxi" mechanic Latka Gravas, a denizen of a fictional Baltic nation. To hardcore comedy fans, though, Kaufman was a fearless standup comic who infused his routines with avant-garde performance art, typified by the time he shuttled the entire audience at his 1979 Carnegie Hall show out for milk and cookies, via bus. He was also infamous for his hoaxes, such as the time he was pummelled by wrestler Jerry Lawler on "Late Night with David Letterman" (which Lawler subsequently revealed had been staged).

It was Kaufman's penchant for elaborate hoaxes that led to a belief that his 1984 death from lung cancer was his coup de grace, the greatest hoax he'd ever pulled. Fuelling that belief was Kaufman's longtime friend Bob Zmuda, whose 2014 book, "Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally," was based on Zmuda's contention that Kaufman had faked his death, including conversations and anecdotes indicating the notion was something Kaufman had discussed for years. Zmuda's book followed the allegations of a woman who, in 2013, made an unannounced appearance on the stage of Kaufman tribute at a NYC comedy club to claim she was his daughter, and that he'd retreated from showbiz to raise her. It was subsequently alleged that the woman was an actress who'd been hired by Kaufman's brother to crash the event.

In 1971, The Doors singer Jim Morrison joined the infamous "27 Club" of musicians to die at age 27 — including the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead keyboardist Pigpen, singer Amy Winehouse, Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones, and the aforementioned Kurt Cobain — when Morrison's lifeless body was discovered in the bathtub of his Paris apartment. Since then, Morrison appearances have proliferated, much like the sightings of Elvis and Bigfoot. In fact, Morrison has been spotted in locales ranging from Tibet to Australia, and even lurking at his own grave.

Among those who believed Morrison had faked his death was Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, as recalled by guitarist Robby Krieger. "I used to love talking to Ray, and he would always say, 'I wouldn't be surprised if Jim turned up,'" the guitarist told Classic Rock. "And I used to think, 'Come on, man, you don't really believe that, do you?' That was pretty much bulls**t."

In 2016, The Express reported on videos that had emerged of a scruffy, bearded, unhoused dude in New York City who read poetry, spun around with his arms outstretched (an iconic Morrison stage move), and sang. "It's a compilation of sightings of a man who might be Jim Morrison of the Doors, and the story behind these videos," said the person who filmed the videos, who called himself Brokkenstar. "For many, this is proof that Jim Morrison may not be dead."

In 2004, Steve Jobs informed Apple employees he'd be taking a month off work to recover from the removal of a cancerous tumor, revealing he'd been diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer. Jobs died seven years later, at age 56.

A rumor that Jobs was alive emerged in 2014 when a photo surfaced on Reddit featuring a seated man in the background who appeared to be Jobs' doppelganger, being pushed in a wheelchair — and wearing Jobs' signature black turtleneck. The rumor, however, was subsequently scuttled when the guy in question was identified as Andy Hahn, former editor of Sport Fishing magazine, who was in a wheelchair due to ALS. Hahn, in fact, confirmed that was indeed him in the photo. "People often tell me I look like Steve Jobs — the frail, post-cancer Jobs, unfortunately," Hahn joked in a statement to Gawker.

Then, in 2019, another photo went viral — first on Facebook, then on Reddit — of a man sitting at an outdoor cafe in Cairo who bore an uncanny resemblance to Jobs. The photo sparked a theory that Jobs had staged his death in order to live a quiet, anonymous life in the Middle East — with some Reddit users pointing out that Jobs' father was a Syrian immigrant, which was somehow seen as evidence of why he'd forsake Silicon Valley for Egypt. 

In July 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. was presumed dead when a plane he was piloting crashed en route to Martha's Vineyard from Cape Cod. A few days later, the bodies of Kennedy and his wife, Caroline Bessette-Kennedy, were recovered by divers. 

Fast forward to 2021, amid the rise of a wide-reaching but utterly bonkers conspiracy theory that came to be called QAnon. Proponents of QAnon believe the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping elites who drink the blood of babies and run a worldwide child-trafficking ring that will all come crashing down with a massive wave of arrests dubbed "the Storm," which has been repeatedly predicted yet never manages to actually arrive. 

A fringe element of QAnon came to believe that JFK Jr. would appear in Dealey Plaza in Dallas — the spot where his father was assassinated in 1963 — to announce he'd be Donald Trump's running mate in the 2024 election. In November 2021, several dozen true believers camped out for days awaiting JFK Jr. to reveal himself. Spoiler alert: he never showed — unless one counts the appearance of Vincent Fusca, believed by some to be Kennedy. "This is the guy that a lot of QAnon believers think is JFK Jr — who was 6'1, handsome and currently dead," political comedy duo The Good Liars captioned a Twitter video of their encounter with the considerably shorter and less hunky Fusca.