Welcome to our deep‑dive into the world of 10 outrageous liars who tried to profit from the dead, exposing schemes that range from forged wills to phantom authors.

10 Outrageous Liars Who Tried to Cash In on the Dead

10 Emily Grant Hutchings

When aspiring writers rack up a mountain of rejection letters, the dream of a publishing break can feel hopeless. In the early twentieth century, a handful of opportunists claimed they could channel deceased literary giants through Ouija boards.

Emily Grant Hutchings was one of those charlatans. In 1917 she released Jap Herron: A Novel Written From the Ouija Board, insisting that the spirit of Mark Twain was dictating a fresh manuscript from beyond the grave.

The entire text is accessible on Google Books for the curious, but Twain’s spectral contribution appears to have lost its sparkle after death. The New York Times panned the work mercilessly, even joking that Twain’s ghost should appear in court via the board to defend himself.

Twain’s estate sued Hutchings’s publisher, forcing a halt to further print runs. Although the novel never became a bestseller, Hutchings still secured a New York Times review and managed to rake in cash from the surrounding controversy.

9 Brian Adams

Brian Adams, a 56‑year‑old jobless man, shared a modest home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, with his elderly mother Janell and his own son. Their household relied entirely on Janell’s Social Security checks and pension.

In 2014, Brian learned that Janell had died of natural causes. Reporting her death would have cut off the family’s only source of income, so he persuaded his son to help him move the corpse to the backyard, dig a deep pit, and bury her.

Month after month, the benefits kept rolling in. Brian siphoned the checks into Janell’s account, then transferred every dollar into his own name, eventually amassing $35,345.

Brian’s daughter Brittanie eventually confronted him about the inexplicable cash flow. He confessed, and she swiftly alerted authorities. With a prior criminal record, Brian now faces up to a year in prison for his fraud.

8 Thomas Patrick Morris

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Wendel family dominated New York City’s rental market, amassing a fortune so vast they became multimillionaires.

Paradoxically, the Wendels lived a reclusive, frugal lifestyle, shunning marriage and children. The last surviving member, Ella Wendel, spent her days with a poodle named Tobey and a cadre of servants.

When Ella passed away in 1931, she left behind a jaw‑dropping $100 million estate (roughly $1.6 billion today). Her will directed the bulk of the wealth to charities, with a modest portion for servants to care for her dog. Over 2,300 claimants rushed to the newspapers, asserting kinship.

Thomas Patrick Morris, a Scotsman, journeyed to New York claiming he was Ella’s nephew. He produced a forged marriage certificate alleging he was the son of Ella’s brother, John Wendel, and even fabricated a heartfelt letter supposedly penned by John, describing a secret Scottish elopement.

Thomas bore an uncanny resemblance to John, making the deception plausible. Had his claim succeeded, he would have inherited a massive fortune.

However, the estate’s attorney dug into Scottish records, discovering the forged certificate was penned in Thomas’s own hand. Business documents proved John Wendel was in New York during the alleged Scottish romance, debunking the story. Morris was promptly arrested for fraud.

7 Carel Cody

From 1988 to 1994, Carel Cody operated a licensed elder‑care facility out of her Cottage Grove, Oregon residence. When social services grew suspicious of unusually rapid patient deaths, they investigated.

Inspectors found the home filthy and unfit for caregiving, even noting a pet monkey that added to the unsanitary conditions. As a result, Cody’s caretaker license was revoked, though she continued to siphon money from every resident.

After losing her license, Cody began volunteering at nursing homes, where she seduced a disabled elderly man, “M.B.,” into marriage. The Social Security income from this union proved insufficient, prompting her to lure another patient into her home.

John H. Arnold, a 76‑year‑old orphan with no family, was persuaded to leave his nursing home and move in with Cody. He died in 1996.

Cody clandestinely buried Arnold’s body on her mother’s property. Deprived of official oversight, she claimed Arnold had moved away, deceiving her husband. When M.B. finally realized Cody’s abuse, he divorced her.

For the next sixteen years, Cody continued to collect Arnold’s Social Security checks and accessed his bank accounts, stealing over $200,000. In 2013, she was finally apprehended and sentenced to four years in federal prison.

6 Anna Anderson

In 1920, a striking young woman attempted to leap from a Berlin bridge. A police officer rescued her and placed her in a mental institution, where she spoke only in a thick Russian accent and was labeled “Miss Unknown.” She bore numerous scars, hinting at past trauma, and refused to reveal her identity.

Two years later, a fellow patient informed doctors that Miss Unknown bore a striking resemblance to one of the Romanov daughters, sparking speculation that she might be Anastasia, the youngest daughter presumed dead after the 1918 Bolshevik execution.

The Romanov tragedy had left many hopeful that at least one child survived. Miss Unknown matched Anastasia’s age and appearance, and because she could not recall her past, she never refuted the claim.

The press seized upon the story, and numerous acquaintances who had known the real Anastasia personally met Miss Unknown, posing probing questions only a true princess could answer. Opinions split: some believed she was genuine, while others dismissed her as a fortune‑seeker.

Romanov relatives ultimately denied her any inheritance, yet a circle of aristocrats took her under their wing. Philanthropist Annie Burr Jennings financed her move to the United States, granting her the name Anna Anderson and a lavish Manhattan apartment. Over the years, she lived in various aristocratic homes, supported by generous patrons.

Decades later, DNA testing finally resolved the mystery: Anna Anderson was, in fact, a Polish factory worker who had suffered a grenade explosion, accounting for her scars. While she may have genuinely believed she was Anastasia due to her amnesia, scientific evidence proved otherwise.

5 Marsha Henderson

In her twenties, Marsha Henderson married 76‑year‑old Newton Davies, a retired school crossing guard living in London. Beyond his modest pension, Newton owned a house in a rapidly appreciating London neighbourhood.

When Newton passed away at 85 in 2013, his estate listed a £600,000 inheritance. However, his will allocated only £25,000 to Marsha, leaving the bulk of the money and the property to his daughter, Paulette.

Unwilling to vacate the home, Marsha concocted a forged will that claimed she deserved the house and over £500,000. The falsified document was riddled with spelling errors and even mistakenly referred to Newton as a woman.

She claimed the “new” will had been hidden in an attic crawl space inside an empty Doritos bag, only now discovered. In court, the judge exposed the absurdity of her fabrications and ordered Marsha to pay Paulette £42,000 in back‑rent for refusing to leave.

4 Renee Bowman

In the United States, foster parents receive monthly stipends to cover the costs of caring for children. In Maryland, that amount can approach $800 per child.

Renee Bowman took in three girls, two of whom were sisters fleeing an abusive home. For this arrangement, she collected $2,400 each month, enough to cover rent and personal expenses.

In 2009, a seven‑year‑old foster child leapt from a window and sought help from a neighbor. The incident revealed that Bowman had been starving and abusing the child.

Even more chilling, the other two girls—one sister and a third foster child—were discovered dead, their bodies stored in a freezer that Bowman moved with her during multiple relocations. She kept the third girl alive only to mask the disappearances.

3 Albert Houghton Pratt

In 1918, Albert Houghton Pratt published My Tussle with the Devil and Other Stories, claiming it was dictated by the ghost of O. Henry via Ouija board. He opened the book with a direct address to skeptics, insisting any stylistic differences were due to his after‑life evolution.

Pratt’s work featured interludes where he purportedly recorded dialogues between himself and O. Henry’s spirit, further cementing the supernatural premise.

Public reaction was sparse, but records show Pratt later released other titles, including a treatise on mysticism. By 1922, the New York Times reported his eviction from a New Jersey residence for mortgage default, suggesting his ghost‑writing venture failed to generate lasting profit.

2 Arafa Nassib And Adil Kasim

In 2017, 48‑year‑old Arafa Nassib was apprehended after claiming she had died. She and her 18‑year‑old son, Adil Kasim, had secured a sizable life‑insurance policy on Arafa’s name.

The duo traveled back to Tanzania, where Adil reported that Arafa had perished on Zanzibar. The insurance company paid out £136,000, despite Arafa being very much alive.

Adil initially returned to the United Kingdom, spreading the false news of his mother’s death. The ruse unraveled when Arafa attempted to re‑enter the country; airport officials flagged her passport, which listed her as deceased, leading to her arrest.

1 The Manchester Frauds

GoFundMe is designed for people in need to raise money for medical bills, emergencies, or charitable causes. Anyone can start a campaign, and donors often trust the platform to deliver aid.

In May 2017, Manchester was rocked by a terrorist attack outside an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 people. Unscrupulous individuals quickly created fake GoFundMe pages, claiming to collect money for the victims’ families.

These fraudulent campaigns siphoned donations straight into the creators’ accounts. GoFundMe’s policy allows fundraisers to withdraw money at any time, making it easy for scammers to disappear with the cash.

The sheer volume of bogus pages prompted GoFundMe staff to work around the clock, constantly deleting and suspending fraudulent accounts.

One of the fraudsters, Shannon Quinn, a writer and entrepreneur from Philadelphia, was among those caught exploiting the tragedy for personal gain.

If you’ve ever dreamed up a product and wondered whether it could turn into a cash‑cow, you’re not alone. The world of entrepreneurship is littered with ten unexpected products that exploded into multi‑million‑dollar successes despite looking, at first glance, like nothing more than a novelty. Some of these ideas were born in a garage, others in a toy lab, but all of them proved that a little creativity can lead to a giant payday.

Ten Unexpected Products That Shocked the Market

1 Beanie Babies

Who could have guessed that a handful of tiny, plush critters would become a cultural phenomenon in the 1990s? In the height of the craze, collectors scrambled for the rarest Beanie Babies, driving prices into the hundreds of dollars for a single figure. The frenzy was so intense that some enthusiasts ended up with piles of unsellable inventory when the bubble finally burst, leaving many with bags of toys and no buyers.

Nonetheless, the mastermind behind the craze, Ty Warner, rode the wave to staggering wealth. During the peak years, his company raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit annually, cementing his status as a billionaire. Even after the market cooled, Warner’s fortune remains in the nine‑figure range, a testament to how a simple stuffed animal can generate a fortune.

Today, Beanie Babies are remembered as a nostalgic footnote in toy history—a reminder that even the most whimsical ideas can generate serious cash when the timing is right.

2 The Pet Rock

In 1975, a marketing whiz named Gary Ross Dahl conjured up what would become one of the most bizarre yet lucrative novelties of the decade: the Pet Rock. Sold for a modest $4 each, the product came in a cardboard box complete with a 36‑page care manual, turning an inert stone into a tongue‑in‑cheek pet.

Dahl’s clever advertising campaign turned the simple rock into a nationwide sensation. Millions of Americans bought the novelty as a gag gift, and Dahl sourced the rocks and packaging for pennies, flipping them for a massive profit. By the early 1980s, he had sold nearly two million rocks, pocketing roughly $5 million in today’s dollars.

The Pet Rock’s legacy lives on as a case study in how humor, scarcity, and clever packaging can transform the most ordinary object into a multimillion‑dollar venture.

3 Tamagotchi

Long before smartphones, a tiny egg‑shaped gadget let kids nurture a digital pet, giving rise to the Tamagotchi craze. Users fed, watered, and cared for their virtual creature, watching it grow before it eventually “returned to its home planet.”

Bandai America, the toy’s parent company, turned this simple concept into a global juggernaut. Over 80 million units have been sold worldwide, and total revenues are edging toward the billion‑dollar mark. The brand has even evolved, offering cloud‑based versions that keep the nostalgic experience alive for a new generation.

The Tamagotchi story illustrates how a modest electronic toy can capture imaginations and generate massive profits, even decades after its debut.

4 The Snuggie

Launched amid the 2008 financial crisis, the Snuggie—a blanket with sleeves—quickly became a cultural touchstone. Its quirky infomercials, dubbed “the Pet Rock of the Depression 2.0 era” by the New York Times Magazine, propelled the product into homes across the nation.

By the mid‑2010s, more than 30 million Snuggies had been sold, with Allstar Products Group reporting over $500 million in profit. The timing was perfect: lockdowns and binge‑watching sessions turned the blanket‑sweatshirt hybrid into a must‑have comfort item.

Even today, the Snuggie remains a symbol of how a simple, comfort‑focused product can thrive during economic uncertainty.

5 Chia Pet

What began as a modest grow‑your‑own‑plant kit in the 1970s turned into a cultural icon thanks to Joseph Pedott’s savvy marketing. The Chia Pet’s quirky television infomercials, alongside other memorable products like the Clapper, made it a household name.

At its zenith, Pedott’s company shipped roughly 500 000 units annually, tallying over 25 million Chia Pets sold worldwide. Priced around $20 each, the cumulative revenue added up to a sizeable fortune, cementing the product’s place in novelty history.

Even after Pedott’s passing in 2023, the Chia Pet continues to sprout green hair on figurines, proving that a simple horticultural gimmick can generate lasting profit.

6 Billy Bob Teeth

Among the strangest gag‑gift successes are Billy Bob Teeth—a set of fake, rotten‑looking dentures that snap over your real teeth for a quick‑scare prank. Founder Jonah White launched the product with modest expectations, yet it exploded into a multi‑million‑dollar venture.

White’s company sold tens of millions of these novelty teeth, netting more than $50 million in profit. In a 2012 interview with St. Louis Magazine, White recalled being told he was a fool, only to prove the skeptics wrong and laugh all the way to the bank.

The Billy Bob story underscores how a bizarre, low‑cost novelty can capture a niche market and generate serious revenue.

7 Furby

When Hasbro released Furby in 1998, the plush, wide‑eyed creatures quickly became a sensation. In its debut year, two million units sold, followed by a second wave of 14 million the next year, cementing Furby’s status as a must‑have toy.

Although the dolls’ eerie design raised eyebrows, collectors treated them as valuable items, often reselling them for well above the original $25 price tag. This secondary market didn’t directly boost Hasbro’s bottom line, but the initial sales helped the company surpass half a billion dollars in revenue during Furby’s peak.

Furby’s legacy lives on as a reminder that even the quirkiest toys can become cultural touchstones and profit powerhouses.

8 The Slinky

The Slinky’s origin is as accidental as its spiral shape. Engineer Richard James, working on a wartime project in the 1940s, unintentionally created a spring that “walked” down steps. The toy debuted in a Philadelphia department store just before Christmas 1945 and sold out within an hour.

Since then, hundreds of millions of Slinkys have rolled into homes worldwide. The product earned its makers roughly $3 billion over its lifespan, and the brand was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2000. Recent years have seen a resurgence, with POOF‑Slinky doubling down on production.

The Slinky exemplifies how a serendipitous invention can become an enduring, profitable classic.

9 Koosh Balls

First hitting shelves in the late 1980s, Koosh Balls—soft, rubbery spheres from the tiny OddzOn company—won over kids of the ’80s and ’90s. Parents appreciated the safe, low‑impact design, making them a staple in many households.

By the mid‑1990s, each ball sold for about $5, and the product became ubiquitous. Recognizing its popularity, Hasbro acquired the Koosh line in 1997 for $100 million. Later, New Jersey‑based Russ Berrie and Co. purchased the remaining OddzOn assets for $30 million, further cementing the ball’s commercial success.

Koosh Balls demonstrate how a simple, inexpensive toy can capture a generation’s imagination and become a multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar asset.

10 Crocs

Since their 2002 debut, Crocs have polarized opinions—some adore the slip‑on comfort, while others scoff at the garish design. Regardless of taste, the Colorado‑based company expanded rapidly, selling hundreds of millions of the distinctive foam clogs worldwide.

Today, Crocs are stocked in about a hundred countries, with the company’s stock trading above $100 per share and annual sales eclipsing the billion‑dollar threshold. Once dismissed as a fashion faux pas, the shoes now enjoy runway recognition and even feature in high‑style editorials.

The Crocs saga proves that comfort, clever branding, and relentless distribution can turn a seemingly odd product into a global, billion‑dollar powerhouse.