Imagine scanning the obituary section of your local paper, only to be shocked and saddened to see the name of a friend, relative or neighbor listed there — someone who seemed in perfect health the last time you spoke to them. Now imagine calling the grieving family to offer your condolences, only to have the recently departed answer the phone with a cheery, "Hello!...Whaaat? No, of course I'm not dead, Shirl. Whatever would have given you that idea?"

That's a scenario that played out recently in Brookville, Pennsylvania, after a 45-year-old man named Scott Bennett put a fake obituary announcement for his mother in the local paper, The Jeffersonian Democrat.

Relatives of Bennett's mother called the paper to tell them she was still alive, and the still-living woman herself paid the offices a visit just to incontrovertibly prove it. The local police got involved, and soon learned that Bennett had cooked up the scheme because he had taken off time from work and didn't want to be fired for it. He was charged with disorderly conduct, and a lifetime of, "Hey, remember the time you took out an ad in the paper telling the world I was DEAD, YOU USELESS LITTLE SHIT?"-style reminders from his beloved mom. [KWTX, Photos via Shutterstock]