A character is assumed to be dead by another. Perhaps they've been gone for longer than usual and everyone assumes the worst, maybe something was said that was mistaken as a euphemism for death, maybe a character stumbles across their clothes with no idea of what happened to them, maybe they were in a very deep sleep (which can result in Buried Alive). May result in the entire cast crying over them.
Compare Disney Death, for when the audience is fooled rather than the characters being fooled. Contrast Please Wake Up, for when a dead character is mistaken for being unconscious.
Examples
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Films — Animation
- The Cat Returns: Panicking upon realizing she's turning into a cat, Haru rushes to find Muta only to discover him seemingly drowned in a massive jug of catnip jelly. While Haru breaks down in tears as Natoru offers her condolences, Muta is later revealed to be just fine once the jug is smashed.
- Bambi II: Bambi is believed to be dead when the ledge of the cliff he's standing on collapses under his feet, but he's actually just knocked out.
- Finding Nemo: Marlin and Dory believe Nemo to be dead, but he was actually just faking it so he would get flushed down the toilet.
Films — Live-Action
- RoboCop: Due to Joe's ambiguous wording about rendering her unconscious, everyone in the room assumes that he murdered Officer Anne Lewis.
- Played for Laughs in Scary Movie. Parodying I Know What You Did Last Summer, the characters run a man over while driving, but he survives... and then one of them accidentally kills him.
Western Animation
- In The Simpsons episode "Dial N for Nerder", Bart and Lisa mistakenly think they've killed Martin when his clothes are found on a tree.
