'Boy Who Came Back from Heaven' admits he made up memoir to get 'attention'

Five years ago, a book called The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven became a bestseller in the US. It was the memoir of Alex Malarkey, who claimed to have visited heaven when he was in a coma after a car crash. However Malarkey, who was six at the time of the crash, has now published an open letter to Christian bookshops stating that his book was a fabrication, The Telegraph reported.

"I did not die," the teenager wrote in the letter published on the website pulpitandpen.org. "I did not go to Heaven. I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible."

The confession has prompted the book's publisher, Tyndale House, to announce that it will no longer sell the book. “Tyndale has decided to take the book and related ancillary products out of print," said Todd Starowitz, the firm's public relations director, speaking to The Washington Post.

Malarkey's story began in November 2004, when he and his father Kevin - who co-authored the book, and is yet to comment on the latest developments - were in a near-fatal car crash. Malarkey later claimed that during the accident, he watched his father hurtling through the car window only to be swept up in the arms of an angel. Malarkey fell into a coma for two months; when he awoke he told of having visited heaven and meeting Jesus Christ, experiences which were the basis for the book.

Alex Malarkey's mother has already gone on the record to refute many of the stories from the book. In a blog post published on April 20 2014, Beth Malarkey wrote: "It is both puzzling and painful to watch the book The Boy who Came Back from Heaven to [sic] not only continue to sell, but to continue, for the most part, to not be questioned." She went on to say that the book "leads people away from the bible not to it", and suggested that her son had been taken advantage of by unnamed people. Beth and Kevin Malarkey are no longer married.