A thimble culled from the ocean of information mentioned above, points to a list of question marks about this decades-long Sherlock Holmesian caper. See if any of it resonates with you and if you're suddenly feeling inspired to polish your magnifying glass.....

*Kaufman was obsessed with the idea of Elvis faking his death, and spoke to many people about his desire to fake his own death with lung cancer (this site also has a great theory about Kaufman's passport renewal and photos of his psychic surgery with Jun Labo). Here are some quotes from a few of those close to him, concerning this phenomena:

-Old friend, Al Parinello, explains “Andy was an aficionado of meditation. One of the things Andy was taught at the highest level was a process where one could slow down his breath to a point where you can literally fool anyone that you may be dead when in fact you are alive.”

-His Confederate, Bob Zmuda says “For two or three years before he died, he was telling people he was going to fake his death. He called me up saying, ‘I want to know how to get a cadaver.’ He would fake a car accident. I said that wouldn’t work because they’d check dental records. . . . Then he started thinking about how he’d be lost at sea.”

-Family friend, Joe Troiani was at the funeral “I still wonder if the body I jabbed was real or wax...”

-Friend Bob Pagani has stated “Yeah, it is weird, because he did meet my friend Alan, who faked his own death and he was very very interested in that. And later he died in the hospital that when he wrote the Tony Clifton screenplay, Tony Clifton dies at Cedars-Sinai…To people who are conspiracy-minded, look like they add up to something. I don’t think they do, but I get why people think it.”

*He learned how to fake his death from Alan Abel, who pulled it off successfully over a weekend, and was mentioned in the NY Times obituary column.

*Michael Kaufman still has a “Sliver of hope...” that Andy is still alive. He explained he was going through Andy's writings many years ago and found a reference to him, " ..talking about 'faking his death,' including the line, 'I will reappear.' It said Andy's reappearance would take place at a restaurant on Christmas Eve in 1999.” When Michael Kaufman went to the restaurant, he said a parking attendant gave him a letter purportedly from his brother. "It was too much pressure to be Andy Kaufman. I just wanted to be Andy," Michael Kaufman read, "I think that's why I got sick. I had to change completely and quickly. I'm extremely very happily married with the most wonderful wife in the whole wide world and with the two greatest kids: a 10-year-old daughter and a son who is 8."

*Andy Kaufman's Social Security# is still active.

*Never smoked, unless he was playing the character, Tony Clifton.

*A paparazzi photo with Andy Kaufman and Bob Zmuda at the airport, features Andy “caught off guard” yet happily posing for the camera.

*There have been various sightings.

*Two caskets are seen at the funeral.

*Its interesting how in his last sketch with Rodney Dangerfield, Kaufman plays Doctor Vinnie Boombatz, smoking at his dead patient's funeral. When pallbearers attempt to take away the casket, the dead body falls out without the pallbearers realizing it. Was this a secret code?

*“Tony Clifton Story” written by Andy and Zmuda in 1980, features Clifton dying of cancer at Cedars-Sinai, 4 years before Andy “died” of cancer at Cedars Sinai. It turns out that Clifton is actually alive at the end of the movie and not dead at all.

*Only his head is bald in photos. If he was receiving treatment, even his chest hair would be gone.

*Was he speaking a code about faking his death, through Howdy Doody on The Midnight Special?

*Michael Kaufman has stated that Andy's left arm was deteriorating and could hardly be moved. Yet, in this video for Andy's last appearance on tv, “The Top,” he's flinging it around easily and has a full head of hair. After the show, Michael Dare took the last photo ever recorded of Kaufman.

*Comedian Chris Gethard interviewed Stephen Maddox/Andy Kaufman for Weird NJ Magazine, after witnessing the Andy Kaufman Press Conference.

*Many believe Andy Kaufman left clues in his books, mostly “ The Huey Williams Story.”

*He admits to wanting to fake his death in this recorded telephone call with Bob Zmuda.

*Two different books claim to know exactly HOW Andy Kaufman faked his death, and who helped.

*The mysterious grave at- #119817648 Latitude: 40.13491, Longitude: -74.52344

If Andy Kaufman did in fact fake his death, who was involved in helping him? What do you suppose he's been up to all these years? If he does decide to reappear, how long do you think it would be, before he disappears again? Or would he reappear and stick around awhile? Or has he been performing the entire time since 1984, right in front of us, camouflaged as a completely different alias? No matter what the true answer is, one thing is for sure... this Puzzlementary has been quite a crazy ride, and there's no telling what else is on its way! Until then, we'll have these compelling gifts to ravenously unwrap and ingest, like milk and cookies. The recent one of which, is the Andy Kaufman Fake Death Afterlife Bonanza hosted by Inspirado Projecto Radio, happening May 16 (2017) so stop by and state your opinion!



