17 Tragic YouTube Videos Because of What We Know Now

I am Not Dead, I am 57 Today

Apetor

This Norwegian content creator lived hard and loved every minute of it. Apetor, whose real name was Tor Rathje Eckhoff, rose to prominence in 2011, when his daring video On Thin Sea Ice 2 racked up a million views in just a week (that was a lot back then). During his lifetime, Eckhoff was criticized for his content, with detractors arguing that he was unnecessarily putting his life at risk. The YouTuber generally brushed them off, but the publics warnings proved painfully prescient when he died after drowning in a lake west of Kongsberg. His final video was a celebration of his 57th birthday, and its title became all the more chilling when he actually did die five days later.

Dear Future Self (Week 248)

Bratayley

The 2015 passing of 13-year-old Caleb Bratayley, a member of the Bratayley family, rocked YouTube and pop culture at large. The Bratayleys, who posted daily snippets of their lives, revealed via Instagram that the teen had passed unexpectedly from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a hereditary heart condition. His final video featured a segment in which Caleb posed questions to his future self. As a teenage boy will do, Caleb mostly dodges the question in favor of light, silly, irreverent answers like wondering if any new sports will gain popularity. Of course, as we know now, Caleb never got to meet his future self, leaving an irreparable hole in the Bratayleys.

Chadwick Boseman Gets Emotional About Black Panthers Cultural Impact

SiriusXM

Unbeknownst to legions of adoring fans, this Marvel icon was faced with an entirely different journey in his private life, far from the golden streets of Wakanda. Boseman, the first Black actor to star in an MCU movie, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016. While living with the disease, the Oscar nominee kept working, and visited hospitalized children who shared his condition. In this clip, posted by satellite radio giant Sirius XM, Boseman talked about what he learned from his experience. Overcome with emotion, a tearful Boseman is consoled by co-stars Lupita Nyongo and Danai Gurira. Years after his 2020 passing, this video becomes harder and harder to watch, given what the actor was going through at the time.

Christina Grimmie - Video from her last concert from her last Concert in Orlando

teamgrimmie forever

She was a star on the rise, with a bright future seemingly hers for the taking and then, she was gone. Grimmie had been a popular YouTuber for some years prior to finding success on the sixth season of the NBC reality competition show The Voice, with both Lil Wayne and Maroon 5s Adam Levine expressing interest in signing her to their respective record labels. On June 10, 2016, a meet-and-greet after an Orlando show went disturbingly awry when 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl fatally shot Grimmie before taking his own life. Cell phone footage from the concert, posted by a fan account over a year later, is as bizarre to watch as it is heartbreaking.

Deleting This Video In 24 Hours....

Corey La Barrie

Just one day prior to his untimely death in a car accident, YouTuber La Barrie posted a seemingly ordinary clip in which he announced his plans to celebrate his 25th birthday with a Twitch livestream. On the night of La Barries birthday, he was killed when his friend, celebrity tattooist Daniel Silva, lost control of his car and crashed. Both La Barrie and Silva were intoxicated at the time, and the tattoo artist was arrested for murder. Sentenced to a year in prison, Silva was released early, posting his own video in February of 2021 in which he attempted to explain things from his perspective. Fans have noted that the promise of La Barries original video will now never be fulfilled.

10 REASONS TO GET A YOUNGER BOYFRIEND

Emily Hart

Sometimes, a YouTubers final post seems so innocuous on the surface before the anvil really drops. Such is the case with Emily Hartridges last video, in which (per the title) the British lifestyle vlogger and television presenter elaborates on the rationale behind dating her boyfriend, whom she reveals to be eight years younger than herself. Four days after its upload on July 8, 2019, 35-year-old Hartridge was the victim of a fatal left-field electric scooter accident, thought to be the first of its kind in her native U.K. The scariest part? Her Younger Boyfriend video depicts Jake Hazell, her partner gifting her with two e-scooters one of which Hart was riding at the time of the accident.

Im Sorry

Etika

Chances are youve heard of this one. Live streamer Desmond Daniel Etika Amofah was massively popular within the gaming community, endearing himself to countless fans with his exuberant, joyful personality. Amofah earned and enjoyed years of fame and adoration on YouTube, but things took a dramatic turn in 2018. Beginning in October of that year, the streamer began acting erratically, using his various platforms to allude to his own death, utter numerous slurs, and post straight-up adult content. This continued until June 20, 2019, when Amofah posted this video to one of his YouTube channels. Days later, his body was retrieved from New Yorks East River.

Rice Cake RAFT! Will It Float?

TKOR

On July 28, 2019, channel creator/cohost Grant Thompson uploaded this video. The King of Randoms next upload was a stark contrast: it was a simple, sober memorial for Thompson, who had died on July 29 in a freak paragliding accident. Strangely enough, Thompsons YouTuber instincts may have provided his loved ones with some sense of closure. He had attached a camera to his paramotor, which revealed that an unexpected updraft had caused him to make a lethal crash-landing. After a series of memorial videos, the channel returned to its regularly scheduled programming, per Thompsons reported wishes. Watching Thompson try to make a rice cake raft float now feels impossibly heavy.

Teen Dad Tries Labor Pain Simulation!

Cam&Fam

People have always had to remind themselves that appearances can be deceiving and that, even though others may look perfectly fine on the outside, they may be struggling within. This couldnt be more apparent than in the case of 19-year-old Landon Clifford. Along with his spouse Cameron, Clifford ran the family vlogging YouTube channel Cam&Fam, which depicted their day-to-day life as parents of two young girls. Tragedy struck a few months later, when Cameron revealed that Landon had taken his life after a lifetime of living with anxiety, depression, and ADHD. While Clifford only experiences a simulation in this video, its become abundantly clear that his inner pain was very real.

Cookies For Cancer

Cooking With Lynja

We know this video is about tragic YouTube uploads, but its a challenge to watch the late celebrity chefs content without cracking a smile. Lynjas cheery, self-effacing persona could soften even the harshest of blows including her own cancer diagnosis in 2021. In Cookies for Cancer, she reveals shed been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, but true to form, she delivers the news with irreverent humor, upbeat energy, and a delicious cookie recipe dedicated to the healthcare workers who supported her on her journey. Yes, Lynja passed away at the start of 2024, but this video, which is part update, part tribute, and part baking tutorial, remains a heartwarming reminder of the joy she brought to millions, even in the face of adversity.

Rescuing a beautiful bobcat!

Saveafox

Social media can be an ugly, even vicious place. Case in point: the rise of snark subreddits, online communities that single out public figures for relentless mockery. This was the tragic reality for vlogger Mikayla Raines, founder and CEO of SaveAFox Rescue in Lakeville, Minnesota. In June 2025, Raines took her own life. A follow-up video featuring her husband, Ethan Frankamp, directly blamed one such subreddit for subjecting her to sustained cyberbullying and harassment. Frankamp also revealed that Raines had autism, depression, and borderline personality disorderand that the targeted attacks had taken a devastating toll on her mental health. Posted on June 21, the same day that she died, Mikaylas final video now stands as a quiet, sobering farewell.

I Made My Own Clothing Brand and It Actually Worked

P2istheName

Primarily known as a livestreamer, Philip Enewally had recently begun branching outlaunching both a production company and a fashion brand, frequent subjects of his videos. But that forward momentum came to a sudden, tragic halt on March 14, 2025, when Enewally was found dead in a Los Angeles mailroom. According to the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner, the cause of death was a sudden cardiac dysfunction due to solitary papillary muscle hypertrophy, which causes ones heart muscle to grow. That makes this upload all the more difficult to watch, as it captures Enewallys overwhelming gratitude for a life that, unbeknownst to him, was nearing its end.

Reckful shows his game Everland after 2 years of development

Reckful

A former esports pro turned full-time streamer, Byron Reckful Bernstein wasnt afraid to share his struggles with mental health, often using his platform to speak candidly about depression, bipolar disorder, and loneliness. That vulnerability resonated with millions, but it also revealed just how much he was quietly enduring. In July 2020, Bernstein died by his own hand at the age of 31, having previously spoken about the intense difficulty that came with losing his brother in the same way years earlier. Thats why his final video hits so hard: at one point, Bernstein joyfully remarks that he might someday watch others stream Everland, a video game he, himself, created which we now know hell never experience.

Shooting Victim interview-Jerry

Soft White Underbelly

The bio for this YouTube channel reads simply: Soft White Underbelly interviews and portraits of the human condition by photographer, Mark Laita. That understated line belies the emotional depth Laita reaches in his filmed conversations with residents of Skid Row, the unofficial neighborhood at the heart of downtown Los Angeles. To Laita, his subjects represent some of the most marginalized people in America, and his raw, unfiltered approach has drawn praise and criticism. But the channels most powerful moments are exactly what the tagline promises: human. Take his May 2019 interview with Jerry Nave, an unhoused Angeleno who survived a shotgun blast to the face. Naves sunny optimism takes on a deeply poignant weight following his death in November 2020.

Talking Kitty Cat 69 - Sylvester Goes To Court

Talking Kitty Cat

Idaho-based creator Steve Cash made a name for himself through Talking Kitty Cat, a long-running series in which he voiced his pets, turning everyday moments into bizarre, profanity-laden conversations. His breakout star, a grumpy black cat named Sylvester, helped him rack up millions of subscribers. Cash was candid about living with bipolar disorder, confirming struggles with mental health as the reason he had needed to take a nine-month hiatus from YouTube. Said Cash, I go into a really, really, really deep depression [...] And I cant make videos when thats happening. In April 2020, he took his own life, aged 40. His final upload, posted just weeks earlier, plays like business as usual which makes it all the more heartrending in hindsight.

Dem Bones - StevieRyan

Stevieryan

Heres a name thatll take you straight back to YouTubes early days. From 2006 to 2010, aspiring actress Stevie Ryan was a regular presence on the then-nascent platform. A kind of proto-vlogger, she uploaded comedy sketches, songs, and even burlesque performances. Her online popularity eventually led to Stevie TV, a sketch comedy series that aired on VH1 from 2012 to 2013. The circumstances surrounding her death are difficult to stomach: Ryan died by her own hand in 2017, and reports later revealed that nurse practitioner Gerald Baltz, with whom she was in a relationship, had prescribed her multiple medications without proper justification. This Halloween-themed sketch from October 2006, featuring Ryan dressed as a skeleton, now lands with grim irony.

so long nerds

Technoblade

Known for his strategic brilliance and deadpan delivery, Technoblade was more than just a Minecraft YouTuber: he was a phenomenon, building a massive fanbase without ever showing his face. That changed, in part, with so long nerds, a farewell video uploaded in July 2022, read aloud by his father shortly after his death from cancer at the age of 23. In it, Technoblade revealed his real name, thanked his fans, and signed off with the same dry wit that defined his channel. A longtime fan of Minecraft, Technoblades final address drew renewed attention in 2025 upon the release of Jared Hess A Minecraft Movie, which paid moving but tasteful homage to him.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, dont hesitate to call the National Mental Health Hotline at 1-866-903-3787.