Newspaper Questions Validity of Santa Claus/Dying Child Story [VIDEO]

The story, which went viral on Monday, is now coming into question...kind of.

It broke hearts around the world, yet validated the "true meaning of Christmas" for a lot of people. But now, the news source that first reported it, has done some more digging, and says that they can't verify it.

But they also can't deny it.

The Knoxville News Sentinel says that a reliable arource approached THEM witn the story about Eric Schmitz-Matzen, a local Santa who said that he was called to a hospital to comfort a child, who then died in his arms.

Schmitz-Matzen promised to protect the identity of the family and the nurse who called him, which he has stuck to. The news outlet says that they have verified his background, but because they are unable to validate the story about the child, they can "no longer stand by the veracity of Schmitz-Matzen's account."

Personally, it sounds to us like Santa is doing what he said he'd do: protect the identity of the child and the family. It's a shame that a nice story like this has to take such an ugly turn.