Meet deathlist.net, a website developed for keeping track of potential famous deaths. Alive and famous characters that are highly likely to die in the nearest future - whether it might be due to age or any sickness - can be nominated for a possible death during the year.
This black British humor webpage only features famous characters whose deaths may make newspaper headlines in the UK. Each year the site publishes at least 25 names, sometimes repeated year by year, until the person finally dies. If it so happens that the person recovers, he/she is taken down from the list.
Take Fidel Castro. Since news about his illness was broadcasted, he made it to the first place at deathlist.net. Then after some time, and due to apparent recovery, he stayed for a while in the top ten and was consequently dropped from the list when rumors faded away.
How the website works
Deathlist.net analyzes different famous personalities who may die during the year. The site has a committee that filters the nominees and decides who makes it to the top 50 deathlist.net. Followers can vote by leaving their comments on each person nominated.
Deathlist.net doesn’t involve any wagering activity (so far) and there’s no prize for the winner, but the site has gained a large number of followers in the last few years due to its shocking nature. The site owners have even started to monetize it, selling merchandise with the Deathlist logo on t-shirts, underwear, thongs, mugs and buttons.
Today the 2013 the list is nominating George Bush senior, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela, among many others. So far, this year’s list has already predicted 5 deaths, including the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and famous UK director Michael Winner.