History Main / DeadAllAlong

[[caption-width-right:326:They have been dead all the while...]]

* The main character in classic horror film ''Film/CarnivalOfSouls''.

* Parl Dro in Creator/TanithLee's ''To Kill the Dead''.

* In an episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', a woman on a road trip of some sort continuously sees the same hitchhiker along her way. The woman turns out to be dead, and the hitchhiker turns out to be Death.

* Yuuko in ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'' and ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', who is not "dead" as such, but has simply had a RealityWarper [[RealityBreakingParadox tell reality to ignore the fact that she died for several hundred years.]] When she moves on, things reset and it is as if she had died when she, er, died. Yeah, descriptive words get kinda difficult here. However her death couldn't completely set right the multiverse. The consequences had twisted reality beyond repair.

* Kobato herself in ''Manga/{{Kobato}}''. At least in the anime.
* Aiko's parents in ''Manga/VampirePrincessMiyu'' turn out to be this. They actually died few after being mortally injured in an accident ''and'' [[HeroicSacrifice after donating their blood so their daughter would survive]]; when Aiko falls into despair and makes a DealWithTheDevil with a Shinma, said Shinma recreates Aiko's old life -- parents included. This works so "well" that they're the ones who hire Himiko to "exorcise" the demon that supposedly has possessed Aiko, thus bringing her into the story...

* Arguably Fayde from ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' Fits this trope.In one episode the people of Stormalong have been doing things and saying [[RunningGag "Must've been]] [[ImplausibleDeniability A Ghost."]] The entire episode. After eating the entire birthday cake and getting a stern look from all the partygoers, Fayde says the line and smiles creepily as he fades away leaving an empty chair. It doesn't help that they play really eerie music as this happens.

* Enjou in the fifth ''Literature/KaraNoKyoukai'' movie was revealed to have been effectively dead all along, killed and resurrected in an artificial body by Araya, so that he'd bring Shiki to him. Soon after TheReveal, Araya kills him for good.

* ''Forever Honey'' is a short manga about a single dad and his daughter. [[spoiler:Near the end we learn Honey had been killed in a car accident and she was a ghost that only her dad could see]].

TomatoSurprise [[XMeetsY meets]] DeadToBeginWith. A character is dead. Really dead. However, because PowersThatBe wanted him back, he is. He walks, he talks, he breathes just like everyone and neither the characters (sometimes, not even himself), nor the audience suspects anything fishy until TheReveal, at which point he usually [[KilledOffForReal dies for good]] or otherwise disappears because UndeathAlwaysEnds. Severe DeathAmnesia is mandatory if the character was previously unaware of their condition.

There are variants. Maybe the heroes have been fighting the forces of someone who they later learn has been dead for years; TheDragon may or may not have taken over and not told anyone that the BigBad is dead. Maybe they go to find or rescue or recruit someone, only to find that they're very, ''very'' [[IncrediblyLamePun late]]. Maybe someone was fooling them with a DeadPersonImpersonation or a really good OfCorpseHesAlive. While someone might have ''suspected'' that this character is dead, none of the others really consider it.

* Souji Mikage in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' (according to one interpretation, anyway) and Kiryuu Touga in TheMovie.
** The Sega Saturn game adds Sanjouin Chigusa, sort of a DistaffCounterpart to Mikage. (The latter is, somewhat remarkably, still in the game.)

* Leon Schezar, Allen's DisappearedDad in ''VisionOfEscaflowne''.

* Yuuko in ''XxxHOLiC'' and ''TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', who is not "dead" as such, but has simply had a RealityWarper [[RealityBreakingParadox tell reality to ignore the fact that she died for several hundred years.]] When she moves on, things reset and it is as if she had died when she, er, died. Yeah, descriptive words get kinda difficult here. However her death couldn't completely set right the multiverse. The consequences had twisted reality beyond repair.

* ''DigimonTamers''' Alice is thought to be a ghost. She was incredibly pale, and literally disappeared after she did all that she could to help the Tamers. It is also hinted by several characters that she was already dead. ''WordOfGod'' neither confirms nor denies this.

* Oo no Suefumi in ''[[HarukanaruTokiNoNakaDe Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Maihitoyo]]''. Unfortunately, he isn't quite aware of his true identity either, and by the time the characters discover who this mysterious {{Bishonen}} was, he is already pretty much promoted to being the lead girl's love interest. Yep, LoveHurts.

* In ''TokyoMagnitude8'', Yuki died sometime during episode 8, as a result of a concussion or cerebral hemorrhage after being struck on the head by falling rubble in episode 6 and then walking across the city during a summer heat wave. This does not become obvious until the end of episode 10, since Mirai and the viewer had been seeing him as a ghost, and Mirai had convinced herself that his death in the hospital was AllJustADream.

* Several of Hiruko's clients in ''NightmareInspector'' are revealed near the end of their chapter to be dead. Then the end of the series reveals that Chitose, current host to Hiruko the baku, died in the aftermath of the earthquake long ago, and that the one we've seen for the whole series is Azusa's delusion.

* In the final episode of ''BlueSubmarineNo6'', Minosoko:

* Suo from ''DarkerThanBlack: Ryuusei no Gemini'' is revealed to have been dead for about eight years, in the same incident that vaporized Mao's original body. The one in the series proper is a sort of OppositeSexClone made by her brother Shion, whose Contractor power is something a sort of duplication.

* The Bishops/Ghosts of ''[[ZeroSevenGhost 07 Ghost]]''.

* ''{{Hunter X Hunter}}'': The Chimera Ant Nerferpitou has Kite's head in his hands after their fight, but nevertheless, Gon convinces Killua and perharps the entire audience that he was still alive. Even after witnessing Kite in a zombified state, he believes that the Ant still can restore him. However, Pitou reveals that he was just a moving doll, unable to ever come back to life, leading Gon to forget any value for both his life and Pitou's.
* Kumoshichi from ''AyakashiAyashi'' was revealed to have died a long time ago with Atl causing Yukiatsu to realize that he's been talking to a ghost that only the two of them can actually see.
* In ''DragonBall'', Uranai Baba's fifth fighter was revealed to have been dead all along when his true identity was revealed as Son Gohan, Goku's adoptive grandfather, who had already had his DeathByOriginStory.

** The little girl in episode 4 is a ghost. Not surprising, considering her general [[CreepyChild creepiness]].

* In its final chapter, ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' turned its own continuity on its head big time. [[ThePollyanna Superoptimist]] Kafuka Fuura died long before the series began, and her organs were transplanted into all of Nozomu's students, which gave them her optimistic genes and ability to see her, as sort of a psychological experiment on Nozomu. Try watching/reading this series again, with that in mind.
* Kobato herself in ''{{Kobato}}''. At least in the anime.
* Aiko's parents in ''VampirePrincessMiyu'' turn out to be this. They actually died few after being mortally injured in an accident ''and'' [[HeroicSacrifice after donating their blood so their daughter would survive]]; when Aiko falls into despair and makes a DealWithTheDevil with a Shinma, said Shinma recreates Aiko's old life -- parents included. This works so "well" that they're the ones who hire Himiko to "exorcise" the demon that supposedly has possessed Aiko, thus bringing her into the story...
* ZigZagged as part of a TwistEnding in the ''Manga/ZekkyouGakkyuu'' story "The Ocean is Calling." It foreshadows that the main character drowned before the events of the story, and everyone is acting nice to try to keep her from remembering and passing on, while her love interest is being deliberately cold to her to try to get her to. Except that it turns out it's the exact opposite situation -- she's the only ''survivor'' of an accident where her class' bus fell into the ocean. The others wanted to keep her from waking from a coma so she could join them forever, while the love interest was saving her life, making her question the situation so she'd wake up.

* In ''BatmanRIP'', an amnesiac Bruce Wayne is helped out by a strange homeless man, Honour Jackson. It's not until Jackson and Bruce part ways that Bruce discovers Jackson died some time before Bruce met him.

* In ''SavageDragon'', there was a DoctorDoom {{Expy}} named Dreadnaught. He was an armored villain that was ruling over an entire country. After his initial fight, it was revealed that he had been dead for years and his armor was running without him.
* In ''NthManTheUltimateNinja'', it is ultimately revealed that the protagonist is an imperfect copy created by a psychopathic RealityWarper after the original was killed in an accident. This imperfection is why the present-day character is willing to kill as a ninja assassin, despite being an [[IncorruptiblePurePureness incorruptible pacifist]] in his youth.

** In "Black Magic" a necromancer tried to raise a century-dead corpse only to end up with a mindless zombie. When he cast the spell to turn it back into a lifeless corpse he discovered that ''he himself'' was an ex-corpse which had been raised and trained by the mentor he [[{{APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil}} scorned and despised]].

* ''BunnyAndTheBull'': The Main character's best friend was viciously gored to death in front of Stephen, causing what is strongly implied to be a mental breakdown. A clever viewer can pick up subtle hints starting from about halfway through, but it's still a massive shock

* ''TheSixthSense'' (See ItWasHisSled).

* PlayedWith in ''Almost An Angel''. The hero gets hit in a traffic accident, and when he wakes up, he's convinced (thanks to overhearing a TV about, curiously, the same thing, and taking it for real) that he's been sent back to Earth to help others. His delusions are helped several times by happenstance (he's shot at point-blank range by a robber with no injury, but shortly after another robber reveals that he put blanks in his partner's bullets, because the guy was so twitchy he might accidentally gun down a bystander) and he carries on his 'heaven-sent' mission. Near the end, a truck drives right into him - and passes through him. He cheerfully tells his friend, "I told you I'm immortal" and wanders off into the ending.

** Even more appropriate, in a way, in that Totenkopf's actor (Sir LaurenceOlivier) had been dead for 15 years when the movie was filmed, and his parts were entirely spliced in from scenes from old movies. So essentially, an actor who had been dead for 15 years played a character who had been dead for 20 years.

* Large Marge, the truck driver, picks up PeeWee Herman in ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'' and relates the story of a truck driver who was killed making one final run. When she drops him off at a roadside diner, she tells him, "Be sure and say 'Large Marge helped you."' When he does so, the whole diner gasps and one of the drivers starts retelling the same tale, pointing to a picture of Large Marge hanging on the wall.

* All seven protagonists in ''ChroniclesOfNarnia:'' ''TheLastBattle'' are revealed to be dead and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence in Heaven]].

* [[EpilepticTrees The possibility exists]] that [[HouseOfLeaves Johnny Truant]] was never alive, or, was alive for three days. [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis The parts of the book written by him might have been written by someone else.]]

* ''{{Goosebumps}}'' gave us ''The Ghost Next Door'', where the narrator is actually the ghost, along with ''Ghost Beach''.

* A character is revealed to be such midway through [[LoisMcMasterBujold Bujold's]] ''[[Literature/{{Chalion}} Paladin of Souls]]''. There are multiple hints both subtle and otherwise and something odd is going on, but the formal [[TheReveal reveal]] awaits Ista accepting her status as CosmicPlaything once more.

* In FrederickForsyth's ''The Shepherd'', a young airplane pilot gets into trouble when his instruments fail, he gets lost in the English fog, and is low on fuel. When he thinks everything's lost, a Mosquito plane (WorldWarTwo plane, already out of date in 1957 when the story is set) shepherds him to an old dispersal field, and he survives. There he finds hints that the man who saved him apparently was WW 2 pilot Johnny Kavanagh (the other plane had "JK" written on it), who shepherded many planes during the war. But then he learns that Johnny actually died fourteen years ago...
* [[BigBad Brona]], [[SorcerousOverlord The Warlock Lord]] in ''TheSwordOfShannara'' is revealed to be a mobile corpse, motivated only by his own [[{{Determinator}} conviction]] that he cannot die. Touching him with the titular Sword, which reveals the complete truth about any object it touches reduces him to dust.
* A particularly {{squick}}tastic example occurs with Bathilda Bagshot in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. Bathilda's corpse was reanimated by Voldemort, and Nagini hides ''inside the corpse'', lying in wait for Harry and Hermione.

* In StephenKing's ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'', Donald and Helga Donovan, Vera's son and daughter have been dead since TheSixties, and this fact is unknown to Dolores until after Vera's death.

* ''Titus'': The episode "The Visit" has Titus, Dave, Tommy, and Ken (Papa Titus) trying to capture Juanita (Titus's homicidal, manic-depressive schizophrenic mom) whom they think escaped from the mental hospital again and is out to ruin Titus and Erin's chance at adopting Amy [[note]]who was sent to live with Titus and Erin after Amy's disastrous birthday in her run-down apartment, which featured her drugged-out mom passing out on the cake and her drunk stepfather nearly beating Amy when she confesses to calling Child Welfare on him[[/note]]. Titus, Dave, Tommy, and Ken have her cornered in the closet -- until Erin comes in and tells Titus that she got a phone call from the Missouri police department with news that Juanita killed herself four hours ago. To drive the point home, Titus opens the closet and finds no one there and the episode ends with [[TearJerker a heartbreaking message about how hard it is to be a parent and how Titus forgives his mom -- even though everyone now thinks he's crazy]].

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Road Kill".
** Also in the episode "[[SupernaturalS09E09HolyTerror Holy Terror]]"
* "The Tale of the Dream Girl" from ''AreYouAfraidOfTheDark?'', itself the [[OlderThanTheyThink inspiration]] for ''TheSixthSense''.

** Oddly enough, this particular [[EpilepticTrees epileptic tree]] was deliberately planted by Joss Whedon throughout the first half of the season. Anthony Stewart Head later told an interviewer that, given all the retakes and effort involved, he didn't think the [[{{Jossed}} payoff]] was worth the trouble.

* In the ''{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Screw Up", Dr. Cox spends the second half of the episode being absolutely furious with JD after one of his patients died. It's revealed at the end that the patient who died was not the elderly man JD was seen treating earlier, it was Dr. Cox's brother-in-law and best friend Ben. Several hints are dropped during the second half of the episode, such as Dr. Cox being the only one who interacts with Ben and Ben not carrying around his camera (earlier in the episode he said he would carry it around till the day he died).

* Subverted in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' where Janeway seems to be DeadAllAlong in one episode - but really isn't.

* In ''{{Fringe}}'', our universe's "real" Peter Bishop died as a young boy; his father Walter kidnapped Peter's AlternateUniverse counterpart and raised him as his own.

* The British SitCom ''Series/TwoPointFourChildren'' had a character (the mysterious man on the motorcycle who showed up randomly when Bill needed help) who was implied to have been DeadAllAlong. Considering [[MagicalRealism the nature of that show]], it wasn't actually that odd.
* The ''OneFootInTheGrave 2001'' UsefulNotes/ComicRelief skit. Obviously it's set before the TearJerker finale of the series. And Margaret isn't reacting to anything Victor says because she quite often ignores him when he's on one of his rants. Right?

* One of the twists late in season 6 of ''{{Dexter}}'' is finding out that Professor Gellar, the BigBad of the season, was dead the whole time, and Travis, his accomplice and murderer, was imagining him and committing the murders he thought Gellar performed.

* In the ''{{Friends}}'' episode "The One with Joey's Big Break", Joey's character's LoveInterest having been Dead All Along is the TwistEnding of the [[ShowWithinAShow Movie Within A Show]] ''Shutterspeed'', which up until TheReveal is scripted as a love story. Joey's friends find the idea of such a movie laughably ridiculous, which became HilariousInHindsight [[ItWillNeverCatchOn three months later]] when TheSixthSense premiered.
* In several episodes of ''CriminalMinds'', characters who initially appear to be associating with the unsub turn out to be DeadAllAlong, as they were either the culprit's hallucinations or alter-egos, or corpses they'd kept around as if they were still alive.

* In the ''Series/StargateUniverse'' episode "Visitation", Dr. Caine is shocked to learn that he and his companions have died on the planet they called Eden and then been temporarily reanimated by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens.
* In an early season two episode of ''PersonOfInterest'', Reese, having successfully blackmailed The Machine into giving him a lead to finding the kidnapped Finch, investigates the life of Hannah Frey, a girl who went missing more than twenty years before and who Reese believes grew up to be Root, the kidnapper. After he and Carter investigate for a while, they end up finding Hannah's body buried in the back yard of a person who Root had murdered years before - Root was actually Hannah's best friend, who lost faith in humanity when nobody listened to her when she reported Hannah's kidnapping (which ultimately led to her murder).
* Wilson was originally going to be revealed as this in the final episode of ''HomeImprovement''.

* Gabe in ''NextToNormal''.

* One of J.M. Barrie's many revisions of the play ''PeterPan'' was written for an actress who [[AlternateCharacterInterpretations interpreted Peter in this way]]. Specifically, he [[HatesBeingTouched refuses to let anyone touch him]], the implication being that he ''can't'' be touched. He himself has no idea that he's dead.

[[folder:Music]]
* The marine in Stan Ridgeway's "Camouflage".
* [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation One way]] to interpret the ending of the Music/NewOrder song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l36eO6BwPq8 Love Vigilantes.]]" It's a little hard to catch thanks to the LyricalDissonance and the lead singer's lack of coherency. It's better in the Iron & Wine [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugx0zC3Otwk version]], which seems to deliberately be aiming for this ending.
* The protagonist in the video for {{Nickelback}}'s "Someday".
* Manbou-P's A Clingy Boy Sticking For 15 Years, alternatively, Pursuing a Cute Boy For 15 Years. In each of the songs, the singer is singing to a love interest who never responds to their love poems. Near the end of the song, the said love interest is revealed to have "died 15 years ago". Surprise.
* Jin's KagerouProject has an entire cast of dead characters, as that is how one obtains the eye powers everyone is known to have in the first place.
* BrianMcKnight's character in the "Back at One" video.
* The boyfriend in the video for Armin van Buuren & AdamYoung's "Youtopia".
[[/folder]]

* In the short, free game ''VideoGame/Serena'', there's strong evidence that the protagonist is this.
* In ''VisualNovel/RibbonOfGreen'', this is pretty much the plot twist.

* In an interesting variation of the trope, it is revealed towards the end of ''{{FinalFantasyXIII-2}}'' that Lightning fell in battle against Caius Ballad long before Serah and Noel encountered her for the first time, but due to the plot-centered TimeyWimeyBall, she was able to support, assist and meet with them [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble after her inevitable demise in her upcoming battle with Caius]].

* Velis in ''FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings''.

*** In the [[VideoGameRemake 're-imagining']], ''SilentHillShatteredMemories'', Harry died in a car crash years ago, and his journey through Silent Hill is a psychotic delusion created by his daughter Cheryl's grief.
** Although Mary's death is established at the beginning of ''SilentHill2'', the letter from Mary creates doubt in James' (and the player's) mind. That is, until Mary's death is confirmed at the end of the game. The twist is that she died less than a year ago and James killed her, not the illness.
** ''SilentHill4'' has Walter Sullivan.
** ''SilentHillHomecoming'' has Joshua Shepherd.

* Itsuki Tachibana in the second ''FatalFrame'' and Choushiro Kirishima in the fourth.

* ''CrescendoEienDatoOmotteItaAnoKoro'': Miyu never got better, she is dying in the hospital during her whole storyline.

* In ''AgarestSenki2'', the Weiss that Aina finds in the middle of nowhere that you see throughout the game is not really Weiss but is actually Chaos forming as Weiss. The real Weiss died during the part where ''you think Weiss stabbed Chaos'' in the beginning.

* In ''AgeOfWonders'', Merlin realizes that he can master the death sphere of magic without Gabriel's guidance because he had drowned before Gabriel "rescued" him in the beginning of the campaign.
* In ''{{Strife}}'', attacking the Oracle reveals that under its robe is a human skull on a non-human body. Oh, and its Spectre then attacks you.

* In ''{{Solatorobo}}'', there is the quest giver Galvan, who merely wanted Red to give his son his log and, hence, his last wishes.
* ''SoulCalibur V'' indirectly reveals that Raphael is the host body that Nightmare uses as "Graf Dumas". The playable Raphael is actually his lost soul, tethered to this world by [[{{Determinator}} sheer willpower alone]] and his love for Amy.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}:'' ''Tale of the Forsaken Land'', ''everyone'' is DeadAllAlong. The Flash in the backstory actually killed everyone in the kingdom. All of the characters in the game, including yourself, are ghosts. As you fulfill requests throughout the game, the tavern gradually becomes empty since the people you aid move on to the afterlife after you help them accomplish their GhostlyGoals.
* This is actually reversed in ''[[VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors 9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors]]''. Kind of. June, Junpei's childhood friend, actually died in the last Nonary Game, and she's trapped in a weird loop to try to get Junpei to contact her past self and give her the answer to the last puzzle of the game to save her life. ItMakesSenseInContext.
* ''SuperMarioGalaxy'': "I want to go home! I want to go back to my house by the hill! [[IWantMyMommy I want to see my mother!]]" The girl was shouting now, her face wet with tears. "But I know she's not there! I knew all along that she wasn't out there in the sky! Because... because... [[TearJerker She's sleeping under the tree on the hill!"]]

* The character Heracles (the party member who actively goes by that name, not the NamelessHero or "General Heracles") in GloryOfHeracles DS is actually Heracles's nephew, Iphicles. When Heracles agreed to help Daedalus in his experiments to revive his son, Iphicles gets hit by the blast, gains immortality, and believes himself to be Heracles. When the real Heracles is found and Iphicles regains his memories, he explains that he was already dead and simply fades from existance. Luckily, the real Heracles regains his memory and his strength and thus takes the same role in the party.

* In the fourth episode of ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'', Beatrice declares to the player that Kinzo Ushiromiya, the protagonist's grandfather and the reason the entire mess started, is in fact, dead at the beginning of not just the game in question, but all the other games in the series. And considering the number of important plot scenes the character has [[UnreliableNarrator supposedly taken part in]] at the time of ''TheReveal'', the implications are... [[MindScrew complicated]].

* Tomo Wakeman in ''TheDragonDoctors''.
* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', we hear much of the exploits and greatness of Jade's Grandpa, only to find out he's been dead for some time and his corpse is stuffed and placed in front of a fireplace. Creepier still, [[MummiesAtTheDinnerTable Jade still refers to Grandpa as if he were alive]] and complains of his various elderly tendencies. Let's just say that he was eccentric enough that most readers believed his stuffed corpse was just a doll of himself he kept lying around at first.

* In ''Webcomic/LsEmpire'', this is revealed to be the case with [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario Dimentio]]). Since he's a master of dimensional magic, it's more of a technicality then being any real hinderance.

* In ''ThereWillBeBrawl'', it turns out that Princess Peach had been killed immediately after she was kidnapped.
* One of ''TheJournalEntries'' has this turn out to be the reason a certain girl warns one of Ken's children away from the place her ship is. (Doubles as a ShoutOut to LostInSpace, right down to the ship being a Jupiter mark II, with four people aboard, including an adolescent girl and a younger boy. Things just ended badly for them.)
* ''{{Smosh}}'': Partway through "Real Ghostbusters," Anthony is killed when Ian accidentally throws the scissors at him, stabbing his head. Later, they are told that only ghosts can see other ghosts...and [[TheReveal IAN WAS ALREADY DEAD]]. When he picked up the scissors, Anthony saw them floating by themselves, and screamed, startling Ian into throwing the scissors at Anthony and killing him... yeah.

----

* ''SuperMarioGalaxy'': "I want to go home! I want to go back to my house by the hill! I want to see my mother!" The girl was shouting now, her face wet with tears. "But I know she's not there! I knew all along that she wasn't out there in the sky! Because... because... [[TearJerker She's sleeping under the tree on the hill!"]]

* ''WakingLife'': Played with - the audience is never told if The Dreamer is alive or dead, though he strongly suspects he is, and the film keeps hinting at it. It's all up to the interpretation.
* Halfway through ''SourceCode'', we find out that this is what's happening to our protagonist. Kinda.
* Inverted in ''Ghost Dad''. The main character spends most of the movie believing that he died in a car crash and came back as a ghost. He's actually in a coma and using astral projection, an ability that apparently runs in his family.

* Franklin and Celia in ''WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''. It seems at first that Franklin divorced Eva (in a flashback he told Eva he wants a divorce) and got custody of Celia after the massacre at the school (Kevin was imprisoned, so neither parent would get custody of him), and hasn't spoken to Eva in a long time. However, the truth is, as the nonlinear timeline shows, Kevin actually killed Franklin and Celia BEFORE the massacre at the school. That's why Franklin never answered Eva's calls as Eva was out witnessing the aftermath at the school.

* ''Film/PaleRider'', which has ClintEastwood revisiting the concept of "the dead coming back for justice".

* [[spoiler:Grace and her children, ''and'' the old servants, in ''Film/TheOthers''.]]

* The marine in Stan Ridgeway's "Camouflage".

* In ''{{Deadlands}}'', there is a "Veteran o'the Weird West" Edge that lets you start with a higher experience level, but confers on you a random negative effect such as being alcoholic, wanted or insane. And the most severe of these effects is the player character being a Harrowed (a revenant type undead) without realizing it!

** Several Amicus Studios (a HammerHorror rival) anthologies - which probably inspired ''Tales'' - use similar [[FramingStory framing stories]] (''Tales From the Crypt,'' ''Vault of Horror'', ''Dr. Terror's House of Horrors'').

* In AlanMoore's version, this happens to Alec Holland in ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' - Comicbook/SwampThing was actually a totally non-human plant elemental which had arisen from Holland's dying body, and possessed his memories.

* Colonel John Konrad in ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''. And possibly Walker, if you go with the DyingDream[=/=]SelfInflictedHell interpretation.