Ruth Graham, writing in Slate, has the definitive story on the bullshit of The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven. Of course it wasn’t true, but so many rubes want it to be true they dropped hard earned cash to feel better about themselves.

The cover of The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven calls the book “a true story.” But the boy himself now says it was not true at all. Four years ago, Alex sent a letter to a conservative Christian blog dramatically renouncing the book. “I did not die. I did not go to Heaven,” he wrote. “I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. … People have profited from lies, and continue to.” Alex’s retraction also became a sensation, with reporters unable to resist the sudden, hilarious perfection of his last name: Malarkey.

The way everything just tore the family apart is heartbreaking.