CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and thousands of local news outlets (yes, even this one) may have been duped by none other than, SANTA CLAUS.  The story of a Knoxville area Santa Claus actor holding a five-year-old boy in his arms as the boy died may or may not have been fabricated.  Trouble is, the news agency which originally published the story now says they cannot verify the story to be true.  If the story ends up being untrue, we’re happy there was no young boy who died of course, but the story touched the hearts of millions (That one story received more than 780 shares and was read by more than 65,300 people on Crossville News First alone) but at the same time, we would hate to think a man who spends his life bringing cheer to children every year dressed as Jolly Old St. Nick would purposely fabricate a story like this.   The Knoxville News Sentinel published the following yesterday: 

Last Sunday, the News Sentinel published the storyof a Campbell County Santa Claus actor, Eric Schmitt-Matzen, who said a terminally ill child had died in his arms.

Immediately, the story went viral. Follow-up interviews and video recordings by local and national television outlets showed a very emotional Schmitt-Matzen retelling the story in virtually the same words he gave to the News Sentinel.

Schmitt-Matzen had not approached the News Sentinel originally with the story. The information came to the newspaper indirectly through a known source, and Schmitt-Matzen was then contacted and asked about the incident. At the time of that initial interview, he said he had promised to protect the identities of the child’s family and the nurse who summoned him to the hospital bedside. In follow-up interviews, he has continued to hold this position and stand by his account.

Since publication, the News Sentinel has done additional investigation in an attempt to independently verify Schmitt-Matzen’s account. This has proven unsuccessful. Although facts about his background have checked out, his story of bringing a gift to a dying child remains unverified. The News Sentinel cannot establish that Schmitt-Matzen’s account is inaccurate, but more importantly, ongoing reporting cannot establish that it is accurate.

Therefore, because the story does not meet the newspaper’s standards of verification, we are no longer standing by the veracity of Schmitt-Matzen’s account.

Jack McElroy, editor

Sam Venable, columnist and original author