Claim: Mickey Rourke was killed in a snowboarding accident in Switzerland.
Example:[Collected via e-mail, January 2013]
THIS STORY IS STILL DEVELOPING...
Actor - Mickey Rourke Dies In Snowboard Accident
Actor Mickey Rourke is reported to have died shortly after a snowboard accident earlier today - January 23, 2013.
The actor & novice snowboarder was vacationing at the Zermatt ski resort in Zermatt, Switzerland with family and friends. Witnesses indicate that SMickey Rourke lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed.
Mickey Rourke was air lifted by ski patrol teams to a local hospital, however, it is believed that the actor died instantly from the impact of the crash. The actor was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and drugs and alcohol do not appear to have played any part in his death.
Additional details and information will be updated as it becomes available. This story is still developing
Origins: Web sites such as mediafetcher.com allow users to generate phony news stories about celebrities being killed in Swiss snowboarding accidents by plugging their names into the URL used to access the site. For example, going to http://george.clooney.mediafetcher.com/news/top_stories/actor_skiing.php produces a fake article about George Clooney's death today in a snowboarding accident.
Every few months another one of these faux user-generated articles is circulated on the Internet to fool the unwary, generating a brief but intense death hoax for the named celebrity. In January 2013, the latest "victim" of this form of hoax was actor Mickey Rourke, who remains alive and well.
