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NFL Player's Death Eerily Predicted Hours Before By Fake Twitter Account

by Caleb Johnson on December 18, 2009 at 05:00 PM

With the level of anonymity it offers, it's no surprise that Twitter is ripe with fake accounts. The site has done its part to stop scammers from impersonating people, but the problem still remains. Unfortunately, the latest hoax to hit the microblogging site took a sad, eerie, and dark turn.

According to Valleywag, a person posing as Dallas Morning News columnist Gerry Fraley reported the death of NFL wide receiver Chris Henry on Wednesday via a series of tweets about 12-hours prior to Henry's actual death. We can't imagine the heartache this caused family and friends. At the time, Henry was in the hospital after he fell from the bed of a moving pickup Tuesday. With his family by his bed, Henry died Thursday around 6:30 a.m. EST.

While the real Gerry Fraley confirmed the other account was a fraud, it's still active on Twitter (although the fakester claims he'll quit tweeting [Update: He lied, and is calling the real Gerry a fraud.]). With a constant stream of anonymous information, fake deaths are bound to get reported. However, these actions, despite being tragically prophetic, were flat-out reckless and tasteless. Twitter should be a communication tool, not a gossip-mill spitting out harmful rumors. [From: Valleywag]

Tags: death, football, microblogging, nfl, rumor, socialnetworking, top, twitter, web

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