OMG, have you ever seen “The Simpsons” episode “Dead Bart”? It’s gotta be one of the weirdest episodes of the classic animated sitcom ever made! In this bizarre adventure for Springfield’s famous family, the Simpsons take a trip that goes terribly wrong. While on a plane in mid-flight, Bart smashes a window and is sucked outside, falling to his death. It’s graphic, and tragic, and terrible. The rest of the episode descends into morbid surrealism, with a large chunk of the runtime devoted to the Simpson family visiting Bart’s grave in what appears to be a completely deserted version of Springfield.
What’s that? You’ve never seen this? Well, that’s because it doesn’t exist. “Dead Bart” is a myth; a bit of internet folklore. In technical terms, it’s creepypasta. Creepypastas are horror-tinged urban legends and short stories that get shared on message boards and Reddit. Some of these stories can be downright dreadful, and not in the intended way. But every now and then, a story ends up being pretty good and goes viral, breaking through and spreading to the various corners of the internet. The canceled-too-soon horror TV series “Channel Zero” was based almost entirely on creepypasta stories that had gained traction online. And “Dead Bart” is a bit of hokum that has similarly spread over the years. In fact, it’s become so well-known that one of “The Simpsons” showrunners even commented on it.
The origins of Dead Bart
“The Simpsons” is the longest-running American animated series and longest-running American sitcom in history, and while the animated comedy is a shadow of its former self, it was once one of the best shows on TV (yes, really!). Created by Matt Groening and developed by James L. Brooks, Groening, and the late Sam Simon, the series follows the dysfunctional Simpson family and their various friends and neighbors in the fictional of Springfield. When a show has been on as long as “The Simpsons,” it’s bound to inspire people, and that’s exactly what happened in 2010, when the creepypasta “Dead Bart,” written by someone known as K. I. Simpson, appeared on a message board. (You can read the full story here).
As the story goes, “Dead Bart” is a “lost” episode from season 1 of “The Simpsons,” written by Matt Groening. According to the tale, no one involved with “The Simpsons” likes to talk about “Dead Bart,” including Groening. Within the world of the story, Groening gets visibly upset if anyone brings it up. The writer of the creepypasta claims that he followed Groening at a “Simpsons” fan event once and tried to get details about “Dead Bart” from the show creator.
“When I mentioned the lost episode, though, all color drained from his face, and he started trembling,” the story goes. “When I asked him if he could tell me any details, he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. He grabbed a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and handed it to me. He begged me never to mention the episode again.” The piece of paper contained a website address on it, and going to that address allowed the writer to download a file that contained the lost episode.
Again: none of this actually happened. But it’s a fun, strange story. And it ended up becoming pretty popular online, inspiring countless YouTube videos and more. In fact, “Dead Bart” has become so well known that the folks really involved with “The Simpsons” are aware of it.
Bart’s Not Dead
On September 30, 2018, “The Simpsons” episode “Bart’s Not Dead” aired. The 640th episode of the show (good lord), “Bart’s Not Dead” begins when Bart is knocked unconscious after a fall. When he wakes up, he lies and says that he died and saw Heaven. The story spreads and soon a Christian film company wants to make a movie about Bart’s trip to heaven. Eventually, Bart confesses the truth.
The episode is partially inspired by the book “The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven,” which claimed to tell the true story of a boy named Alex Malarkey who said he died, went to heaven, and came back to life after a traffic accident. Alex Malarkey would later admit the story was fabricated (and the fact that his last name was “Malarkey” sure seems like a too-good-to-be-true detail).
Anyway, while the title of the episode is a play on the Christian movie “God’s Not Dead,” one can’t help but also think of the “Dead Bart” creepypasta. Speaking with EW, “Simpsons” showrunner Al Jean acknowledged as much, saying, “The title is ‘Bart’s Not Dead,’ and I guess it’s a slight allusion to the dead Bart rumor that was untrue in season 1. He’s definitely not dead — he’s very much alive and lying to his mother.”
As Jean plainly says, the “Dead Bart” story is false. Then again … that’s exactly what they want you to think, isn’t it??