Santa Con? Doubts are raised over touching story about Father Christmas who held a terminally ill boy in his arms as he died

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It was a tale so touching it brought a tear to eye of many readers during this festive season.

Eric Schmitt-Matzen even broke down in tears during an interview with the DailyMail.com on Monday, where he described how a terminally ill little boy had died in his arms after he visited him in hospital dressed as Santa.

The story of how the 60-year-old had granted the dying wish of a five-year-old went viral after it first appeared in a local newspaper column.

But now that same newspaper has cast doubt on their own account.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that, despite investigation by their own reporters, they were unable to verify the story and so are 'no longer standing by the veracity' of the account.

A local newspaper has cast doubt over the story of Eric Schmitt-Matzen, 60, who said he fulfilled a terminally-ill child's wish to see Santa Claus, and then held the boy as he died in his arms

DailyMail.com has visited or contacted five hospitals in the Eastern Tennessee area near Schmitt-Matzen's home in an attempt to verify the story, but none of the facilities approached had any record of such a visit taking place.

Erica Estep, public relations manager from East Tennessee Children's Hospital,the only children's ICU in the Knoxbille metro area, told DailyMail.com: 'I am aware of the story but this did not happen at our hospital.'

A marketing manager for the Tennova Healthcare, which manages nine hospitals or health centers in the area and is the second largest healthcare provider in the Knoxville metro area, said it did not happen at any of their facilities.

Jellico Community Hospital told DailyMail.com that such a little boy had not been in treatment at their center. 

Eric Schmitt-Matzen, who plays Santa at 80 different gigs every year, has always refused to reveal the names or details of the young boy he visited, or his family on the grounds of privacy. He also refused to divulge the name of the hospital or nurses who called him in to visit.

When visited at his business, Schmitt-Matzen told DailyMail.com that he did not have any information on the family and added that he would not have done the original interview if he had known the story would become so big.

'This has gotten so blown out of proportion,' he said. 

However, the professional Santa, who is also a mechanical engineer and co-owner of Packaging Seals & Engineering, said he was unfazed by the skepticism now surrounding his story.

'If some people want to call me a liar . . . I can handle that better than I can handle a child in my arms dying,' he said. 'It's sticks and stones,' he told the Washington Post.

Schmitt-Matzen claims that he had just gotten home from work just over a month ago, when he got an urgent phone call.

A nurse who worked at the hospital where Schmitt-Matzen, 60, often spreads joy and Christmas cheer, said there was a 'very sick five-year-old boy' who wanted to see Santa Claus, Schmitt-Matzen told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The mechanical engineer said he was so shaken by the experience he considered hanging up his Santa suit for good 

Fifteen minutes later, Schmitt-Matzen said he arrived and the boy's mother handed him a toy to give to her son.

'I sized up the situation and told everyone, 'If you think you're going to lose it, please leave the room. If I see you crying, I'll break down and can't do my job,'' he said. 

'When I turned around, where is everyone? Already outside, crying in the hallway,' he told DailyMail.com.   

As the boy's relatives watched from a window looking into the Intensive Care Unit, Schmitt-Matzen said he walked inside and saw the boy.

'He was laying there, so weak it looked like he was ready to fall asleep,' he said. 

'I sat down on his bed and asked, 'Say, what's this I hear about you're gonna miss Christmas? There's no way you can miss Christmas.' 

'Why, you're my Number One elf!' 

He said the little boy looked up at Schmitt-Matzen and his perfect Santa Claus beard and asked: 'I am?' 

Schmitt-Matzen had assured the child that he was, and then gave him the toy. 

'He was so weak he could barely open the wrapping paper. When he saw what was inside, he flashed a big smile and laid his head back down.' 

The little boy then had a big question for Santa, Schmitt-Matzen said.

'They say I'm gonna die,' he told Schmitt-Matzen. 'How can I tell when I get to where I'm going?' 

Schmitt-Matzen then asked the little boy to do him a 'big favor'. 

Schmitt-Matzen works 80 gigs as Santa Claus a year, even bringing along his wife as Mrs Claus, but it was this visit to the hospital that he will never forget 

'When you get there, you tell them you're Santa's Number One elf, and I know they'll let you in,' he told the boy. 

'They will?' the child asked. 

'Sure!' Schmitt-Matzen said he had replied.

The little boy sat up and gave him a big hug. He had one more question: 'Santa, can you help me?' 

It would be his final words. 

'I wrapped my arms around him. Before I could say anything, he died right there,' Schmitt-Matzen said. 

'He was in my arms when I felt him pass. 

'I kinda looked up in the air, and tears started coming down my face,' he told DailyMail.com, choking up again at the memory.

'I let him stay, just kept hugging and holding on to him.'  

Schmitt-Matzen said everyone outside the room then realized what had just happened, and the little boy's mother ran into the room screaming. 

'I handed her son back and left as fast as I could,' he said. 

'I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I've seen my share of (stuff). But I ran by the nurses' station bawling my head off.

Schmitt-Matzen said he decided to become a professional Santa six years ago, after agreeing to play him for his local church. He even studied at 'Santa School' before he was allowed to become a fully fledged Santa Claus

The entire experience completely rattled Schmitt-Matzen, who said he cried the entire drive back home. 

'I even had to pull over a couple of times,' he told the DailyMail.com.

'My wife and I were scheduled to visit our grandchildren in Nashville the next day, but I told her to go by herself,' he said. 

'I was a basket case for three days. It took me a week or two to stop thinking about it all the time,' he added of the experience, which occurred more than a month ago.

Schmitt-Matzen was so affected he even considered leaving Santa Claus behind for good. 

But he dragged himself to another show, and remembered just what had inspired him to wear Father Christmas' suit in the first place. 

'When I saw all those children laughing, it brought me back into the fold,' he said. 

'It made me realize the role I have to play.' 

Schmitt-Matzen said that he knew many people who had played Santa for decades without ever having to make a deathbed visit.

Yet, since putting on his jolly red hat and coat six years ago, he has made no less than four - including one adult who wanted to knock 'a picture with Santa' off their bucket list.

But this was the one that has stayed with him the most.

He and his wife Sharon Byrne Schmitt-Matzen, pose together as Mr and Mrs Claus

'This one hit me a little harder because he died in my arms,' he said.

Schmitt-Matzen said his second ever Santa request had been to make a deathbed visit. He said he had visited the hospital room of her granddaughter with his elves and Mrs Claus, but when he walked in last, 'all the (medical) alarms in that place went off' as the sick little nine-year-old girl spotted her hero.

'I thought I'd killed her,' he said. 'She had so many tubes and things down down her.' 

'The kids know they are going to miss Christmas which is a fun time for them. That has them more worried about missing Christmas than dying.

'It may sound ridiculous to us adults, but that's what they understand.' 

Schmitt-Matzen said he decided to become a professional Santa six years ago, after agreeing to play him for his local church. He even studied at 'Santa School' before he was allowed to become a fully fledged Santa Claus.