I’m with our sister site Twitchy on this one. Rolling Stone has been a nightmare when it comes to reporting stories that actually happened—getting sued and losing in court concerning their fantastical tale about a gang rape that never occurred on the campus of the University of Virginia should have closed this publication’s investigative journalism arm. It’s still a solid source for news on music, movies, and other forms of entertainment, but it’s been a rough go for the magazine when they’ve tried to report on things where they are clearly outside of their element.
Author Susan Meachen, who allegedly died by suicide in September 2020, returned to Facebook this week to reveal that she isn't actually dead — she just needed a break from social media. https://t.co/iBekAIkERO
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 5, 2023
Yet, they found one story beyond bizarre and a tad disturbing. Maybe odd news could be the next fixture for the magazine because this story is all-around unbelievable. It involves a romance writer who needed a break but went to extreme lengths to find peace. Meet Susan Meachen, who faked her suicide in September 2020 because she needed to get away from social media. Even NBC News found the story worthy of a lengthy piece about this person (via NBC News):
The Facebook account of an indie romance writer named Susan Meachen suddenly came alive this week more than two years after she supposedly died by suicide because she could not take the online bullying from some of her competitors.
“I debated on how to do this a million times and still not sure if it’s right or not,” somebody wrote Tuesday on Meachen's private 770-member Facebook group called The Ward, according to screenshots obtained by NBC News. “There’s going to be tons of questions and a lot of people leaving the group I’d guess. But my family did what they thought was best for me and I can’t fault them for it."
The writer — it's not clear whether it's Meachen herself or somebody posing at her — hinted at struggles with her mental health.
“I almost died again at my own hand and they had to go through all that hell again,” the writer posted. “Returning to The Ward doesn’t mean much but I am in a good place now and I am hoping to write again. Let the fun begin.”
Now the romance writers who mourned Meachen and self-published an anti-bullying anthology that they dedicated to her are outraged — and not just because they were apparently fooled into thinking she was dead.
They say they also raised money to help pay for Meachen’s funeral.
[…]
Meachen’s former supporters also are skeptical about her explanation about why she stayed silent and upset that they grieved someone they thought of as a friend.
“To find out that it was a hoax, two-and-a-half years later, was just a slap in the face to everybody,” fellow romance writer Samantha A. Cole told NBC News.
Cole and other former Meachen supporters said they believe she was still writing and taking part in discussions on The Ward, but under the name TN Steele.
The writers interviewed by NBC News admitted that, aside from Meachen's videos on her Facebook page, they had never met her in person and probably would not recognize her if she showed up on the cover of one the dozen or so books she’s self-published and is selling on Amazon.
[…]
While Meachen’s death by suicide was reported online some two-and-half years ago, a spokesman for the medical examiner's office in Polk County, Tennessee, said it had no record of anybody by that name being reported dead going back to 2020.
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Oh, that’s the other thing: it might not be Meachen—it could be someone else. What the hell is going on? Another layer of intrigue is that this woman has no death certificate. Social media can be a cesspool and a source for bullying and other heinous activities, but if you need a break, don’t log onto these platforms. Some writers and actors have outright deleted their accounts and have never returned. There are ways to create space without faking suicide, an unseemly act when there is a mental health crisis in the United States and elsewhere. It’s aberrant—unreal.
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