10 Insane Reasons People Faked Their Own Death

1. Because He Was A Badass Double Agent

Joan Pujol Garcia is the greatest war hero you have never heard of. Which is fine, there are a lot of war heroes out there and you've probably not heard of half the people on this list - so, in a way, their faked deaths worked out in the end - but we wanna take the time to give this guy the credit he is more than due.

A Spanish national who was sickened by both the Communist and Fascist regimes in Europe during the country's Civil War, determined to become a double agent for the Allies "for the good of humanity". Unfortunately both British and American intelligence agencies rejected him, so he decided to just do it himself.

Garcia created a fake identity, posing as a fanatically pro-Nazi Spanish government official until he weaseled his way into becoming a German agent. From there he created a network of other fake agents on whom he could blame any mistakes or transgressions he might make during his time undercover, spending the months he was supposed to be in Britain recruiting more potential people to the cause instead hanging out in Lisbon and sending back fake reports based on UK tourist guides and English films.

His skill at crafting believable, pretend reports caught the eye of MI5, who were suckered into taking one his communiques - about a non-existent naval convoy - but took it with good grace and offered the guy a job. Moving him to London properly and giving him the nickname Bovril, he became a double agent feeding misinformation to the Nazis. With help from his handler Tommy Harris he ended up expanding his cast of pretend agents to twenty-seven, wasting the Germans' valuable time and resources.

For his help in the war effort Garcia was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, but once it was over he feared reprisals from surviving Nazis he had duped. With MI5's help he managed to fake his death, pretending to have passed away from malaria whilst on a trip to Angola in 1949, when in fact he moved to Lagunillas, Venezuela, and he lived in anonymity, running a bookstore and gift shop. He deserved a bit of a quiet life after all that excitement, really.