Nearly three years back, Susan Meachen’s “death” was mourned by everyone in her online “book world”. Now, the same community is enraged.
Why? Because, apparently, she is alive.
In what seems familiar to the plotline of Gone Girl and scores of other movies where a character fakes their own death, Meachen allegedly played a similar trick in 2020, only to ‘resurrect’ herself this year.
Who is Susan Meachen and how did her “death” come to light in 2020? How did she come “alive” now? Why had she faked her own death? We explain.
Who is Susan Meachen?
Tennessee-based Susan Meachen is an indie writer who describes herself as the “author of perfectly flawed romances”, reported USA Today.
She founded the Facebook group named The Ward – which consists of self-published romance and erotica authors who sell affordable e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks, especially on Amazon, as per Slate magazine.
How Susan Meachen’s ‘death’ came to light
In September 2020, it was in The Ward group where the news about Meachen’s death by suicide was revealed in a post by someone who claimed to be her daughter, reported BBC.
Tributes poured in with everyone condoling Meachen’s “death” on the post.
Soon after, rumours started spreading that the author had been bullied by some people in “the book world”, which triggered finger-pointing among the online group for months.
“I personally was harassed by another author who loves to create drama, claiming I was one of the authors who bullied Susan and drove her to suicide,” Samantha A Cole, a fellow indie author, told Rolling Stone.
A month after her alleged death by suicide, a post was made from Meachen’s account that got tongues wagging.
Responding to people’s questions about activity from the dead author’s account, Meachen’s “daughter” wrote, as per Rolling Stone, “Sorry thought everyone on this page knew my mom passed away”.
“Dead people don’t post on social media I’ve been on this account for a week now finishing her last book, my wedding gift from her,” she further added.
Another post urged followers on Facebook not to report the official account of Meachen, which Rolling Stone says was “likely to avoid its memorialization and maintain access”.
According to BBC, for two years, the book community members marked Meachen’s death anniversary, and also organised fundraisers and book auctions to honour her memory.
Not everyone was convinced
Cole, a retired police officer, told BuzzFeed News that some community members had suspicions about Meachen’s death, but they kept quiet for fear of being “torn apart”.
Author Candace Adams, who has been part of Meachen’s online writing group since 2019, said the doubts increased after some of them noticed a grammar mistake in posts made by Meachen’s “daughter” from the writer’s account after her alleged death.
“Susan had a very strange spelling error. Whenever she would write ‘supposed to’, she wouldn’t write that, she would write ‘post to’,” Adams told BBC.
It is also believed that Meachen created another identity by the name of TN Steele to maintain a presence in the book community, say reports.
‘Dead’ author comes back to life
It seems Meachen has decided to return to the living world.
In a post on 2 January 2023 on the Facebook group, Meachen wrote, as per USA Today, “I debated on how to do this a million times and still not sure if it’s right or not. 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. I almost died again at my own hand and they had to go through all that hell again. 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.”
The post left her fellow community members, fans and friends shocked, confused and angry.
“I was horrified, stunned, livid, and felt like I’d been kicked in the gut and the chest at the same time. I’m still sick to my stomach and it’s gotten worse,” Cole wrote in her now-viral post about the death hoax.
As per Rolling Stone, Cole asked Meachen about what was going on after her comeback post, to which the Love to Last a Lifetime author replied: “Nothing. I simply want my life back. My family was in a bad place and did what they thought was best for me.”
It is not yet known why Meachen faked her own death.
Stunned at the events that unfolded last week, Cole told BBC, “To me it’s something that happens in fiction”, adding, “I will never be able to completely wrap my brain around whatever she might have been thinking because people just don’t do this”.
Hitting out at Meachen over the death hoax, Cole told Rolling Stone, “Suicide is not something to make a joke about or claim it happened for attention. Almost everyone knows someone who committed suicide or attempted suicide, and there are many people who have tried to kill themselves and are grateful they failed or continue to struggle to fight their demons.”
As per Adams, the news of Meachen faking her death has “destroyed what once felt like a safe and supportive community”.
“Everybody kind of feels like now they can’t take care of each other because they don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” BBC quoted her as saying.
(A collection of suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here (http://www.aasra.info/helpline.html). Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022-27546669)
With inputs from agencies
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