If the afterlife allows dark humour, then Michael Jackson may be killing himself laughing right now.

Or perhaps -- as some speculate -- he's in a Mexican hideout, sure that the joke is on the rest of us.

The King of Pop, who was also a prince of publicity, would likely have appreciated the many unbelievable 'Michael Jackson Death Hoax' websites that have popped up since he died. Or simply vanished across the border, depending on whether you believe Elvis still lives and the United States faked the moon landing.

"Michael Jackson is alive," proclaims michaeljacksonsightings.com, as it brandishes a fuzzy picture of someone under an umbrella as exhibit 'A'.

"The man who died June 25 looked like him, spoke like him and in fact doubled for him many times.

"The plot was 10 years in the making but it had to be done. Michael could not go on hampered with past debt, law suits, contracts etc."

The wacky site points out: "Michael is alive and well and happier than ever."

Sure, but who broke the news to the body-double of the plan?

While that site only has a bad cel phone camera shot of someone's back, michaeljacksonhoaxdeath.com believes they have video of Jackson rising from the dead.

The site includes a YouTube clip of the body of the singer being transported inside a helicopter to the morgue. But the movement of the craft, or the angle of the shot, makes it look like the body bag begins to sit up.

"This footage just confirms what we here at MJHD already believe from the start," the site concludes with a straight face.

Pointing out the false rumors circling of the deaths of other celebrities, the website poses the question: "So what actual evidence is there that the King of Pop has actually died, apart from the say-so of a handful of people who could easily have been apart of the entire conspiracy?"

While all this may be good news for die-hard Michael Jackson fans or those who believe the government is bugging their Cornflakes, other conspiracy theorists unhappily agree MJ is really dead.

But it didn't happen the way you think.

Among the alternatives proposed -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had him murdered as a way of distracting the world from protests in Iran and another theory where Jackson actually died years ago, and a look-alike has kept up the act.

A showman like Michael Jackson may have appreciated the bizarre spectacle his death has inspired.

That is, if he was really a man and not simply a space alien-- an Internet theory which still follows him.