The market for dead celebrities (Delebs) is large and growing. According to recent estimates, it is now worth $2.25 billion in annual licensing and royalty revenues (CBC, 2013; Kirsta, 2012). The practice is now so prevalent that Forbes began its annual ranking, in 2001, of the postmortem earnings of the “top‐earning dead celebrities.” In this paper, the author examines this practice and does the following. First, key terms are defined. Next, some of the major similarities and differences between living and dead celebrities are looked at. Following this, six major streams of theory that might pertain to Delebs are examined. They are used to explain (a) why Delebs remain popular in the consumption culture (“Nostalgia” theory), (b) why Deleb possessions are often in demand (“Celebrity Contagion” theory), (c) why many people willingly accept the products of Deleb morphing and reanimation efforts, even though they know they are not real (the “Pleasure of Imagination”), (d), why Deleb morphing and reanimation efforts sometimes fail with some audiences (the “Savanna Principle”), (e) how Deleb reanimations are typically perceived by human audiences (the “Uncanny Valley”), and (f) how Delebs should be properly used by marketers (“Fit” theory). The author concludes with some key principles learned, in addition to looking at the limitations of this paper and future directions for Deleb research.