The Reports Of My Alpaca's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated by VaccaD

Champion(s):

VenguswamyK
Semper Ubi Sub Ubi


Runner(s)-Up:

WeikleB
I say what it occurs to me to say when I think I hear people say things. More, I cannot say.

HightB
Watch this space.


Quiz Description

Mark Twain (who never actually said the quote) isn't the only famous subject of an incorrect death report. Here are twelve more, all reported as dead by something more than a cheesy email hoax.

Full Results:

Rank Player Total %ile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Money Value (% Incorrect): 08 91 32 37 32 66 44 99 35 47 76 37
1 VenguswamyK 379 98 15
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47
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37
2 HightB 376 95 15
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32
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66
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35
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47
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76
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2 WeikleB 376 95 15
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37
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32
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66
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44
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47
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4 akambour 353 91 15
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66
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44
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47
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76
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5 JeziorskiM 332 89 15
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32
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44
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6 HomerS 327 86 15
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76
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7 LorinBurte 324 84 15
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32
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44
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00
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76
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37
8 GoodmanDL 320 81 15
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37
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44
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35
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76
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9 HallR 318 79 15
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32
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47
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76
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10 RalliP 316 76 00
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32
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66
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44
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11 CoenM 299 74 15
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12 KPope 297 71 15
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13 tomasnomas 285 69 15
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14 LiptonM 284 67 15
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91
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15 randalleng 276 64 15
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16 GrahamJ 275 62 15
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17 DreyfusB 273 58 15
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17 melvillean 273 58 15
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19 GarciaD 270 54 15
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66
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20 BradburnA 268 52 15
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66
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21 MoyseyC 266 50 15
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32
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22 ElendilPickle 261 47 15
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23 Vintsanity 256 45 15
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24 LuskT 250 42 15
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25 jnowell 243 40 15
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26 JonesRW 231 37 15
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27 Crow-T-Robot 230 35 15
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28 RichmondJ 228 32 15
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29 Michalle 216 30 15
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32
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66
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35
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30 ArunH 206 28 15
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66
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31 helene 199 25 15
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32 ericddixon 186 23 15
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33 DFisher 182 20 15
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34 griffism 181 18 00
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35 DBrick 169 15 15
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36 Shosin 162 13 15
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37 MrTParty 159 10 15
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38 apeekrtr 152 8 15
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39 PipkeR 132 6 15
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40 DouglasLovesVixey 125 3 15
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41 SokolM 47 1 00
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Questions:

In 1966, several sources reported the suicide of WHAT AUTHOR of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest? He actually faked the suicide attempt with the help of the Merry Pranksters and fled to Mexico in an (unsuccessful) attempt to avoid drug charges.

Click to Reveal Answer
KEN KESEY

Author and publisher Titan Leeds was the subject of a dismissive 1733 obituary. WHAT AUTHOR, a commercial rival of Leeds, wrote that obituary and, until Leeds' actual death in 1738, publicly insisted that Leeds' subsequent output was the work of an inferior (but impressively determined) impostor?

Click to Reveal Answer
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

On January 8, 2011, CNN and Fox News both reported that WHAT POLITICIAN had been assassinated? They were wrong, but not because of a lack of effort on the part of Jared Loughner.

Click to Reveal Answer
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

WHAT INDUSTRIALIST was the subject of a mistaken obituary occasioned by the death of his brother Ludwig in 1888? The obituary was so scathing (referring to him as "the merchant of death"), that it famously inspired him to rewrite his will.

Click to Reveal Answer
ALFRED NOBEL

WHAT SINGER, known for his renditions of musical standards as well as original songs including "I'm Walkin'" and "Ain't That A Shame", was erroneously reported to have drowned when his house flooded during Hurricane Katrina?

Click to Reveal Answer
FATS DOMINO

In August 2014, an error on a Dutch newspaper's website resulted in the printing of a pre-written obituary for WHAT "TOTAL FOOTBALL" STAR, a three-time winner of the Ballon d'Or?

Click to Reveal Answer
JOHANN CRUYFF

WHAT IRAQI OFFICIAL was reportedly killed in Basra in April 2003? While he had been seen entering a building just prior to its destruction in a Coalition air strike, he was still alive when arrested in Baghdad that August. You can give either his proper name, or the infamous nickname he earned during the Al-Anfal campaign.

Click to Reveal Answer
ALI HUSSAN "CHEMICAL ALI" AL-MAJID

A possibly apocryphal story has the Western Roman Emperor Honorius being stricken with despair upon hearing that Rome had perished, but perking back up upon being told that it meant that the Visigoths had sacked Rome, not that anything had befallen a beloved pet of his also named Rome. WHAT SPECIFIC SORT OF ANIMAL was Rome?

Click to Reveal Answer
CHICKEN

In 1816, London newspapers reported the suicide of WHAT AUTHOR AND POET, known for such works as Christabel, Kubla Khan, and Frost at Midnight? The reports were based on the suicide of an unidentified man who'd stolen one of the author's shirts, and was wearing it with the laundry tag still attached.

Click to Reveal Answer
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

On April 23, 1998, fans at a Pittsburgh Pirates game were informed of the death of WHAT ACTOR, who in 1991 became the only person to ever win two acting Emmys in the same year? (For performances in Gabriel's Fire and Heat Wave, if it helps.) The announcer had confused him with a very different (but similarly-named) man, an infamous assassin.

Click to Reveal Answer
JAMES EARL JONES

On June 10, 1940, WHAT ANTI-COMMUNIST AND ANTI-COLONIALIST PHILOSOPHER AND SEGREGATIONIST died of a stroke after reading an issue of the Chicago Defender erroneously saying that he'd died of a stroke, "broke, alone, and unpopular"? While he was indeed unpopular with African-American leaders of his time, his reputation has seen posthumous rehabilitation in some circles. (edited at 4:59 pm, May 8, 2018 (PDT))

Click to Reveal Answer
MARCUS GARVEY

On September 8, 2015, Variety accidentally ran a pre-written obituary on their website claiming that WHAT DIRECTOR of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys had died? Variety's attempt to correct their mistake was complicated by the director issuing a statement, "I apologize for being dead, but Variety has announced my demise. Don’t believe their retraction and apology!”

Click to Reveal Answer
TERRY GILLIAM