In 2003, her butler revealed a note she wrote to him that The Guardian ruled apparently genuine, discussing her fears that someone was “planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry.” There’s no evidence that death was indeed anything other than an accident, but it might have worked out really well for that unnamed person.
10
Sonny Bono’s Wife Insists He Was on Drugs
Congressman and Cher accessory Sonny Bono was killed in a 1998 ski accident, which his widow blamed on a prescription drug habit of “15-20 pills a day.” That was pretty odd, because the sheriff said his autopsy showed “no indication of any substances or alcohol,” but his wife insisted therapeutic levels of Vicodin and Valium were found. Incidentally, she won his Congressional seat after his death.
9
John Barrymore’s Body Was Used to Prank Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn was obsessed with John Barrymore, so the late actor’s friend, director Raoul Walsh, claimed he thought it would be funny to bribe a morgue employee $200 to surprise Flynn with his recently departed idol. According to Flynn, he later came home, turned on the lights, and found Barrymore sitting in his favorite chair. He fled screaming, at which point his friends jumped out from the bushes, explained that he’d been Punk’d, and took Barrymore back home.