Dan Brown Dead? Author Becomes Victim of Internet Death Hoax

Dan Brown is dead. At least that's the Internet saying. However the author of "The Da Vinci Code" didn't die. He's just the victim of an Internet death hoax.

Rumors started swirling this week that Dan Brown died in an accident. The rumor seems to have started by an account for the Italian writer, Umberto Eco. Eco wrote "My publisher phones me from NY. Dan Brown dies. Accident, few minutes ago. No comment, no words.." The message was also posted in Italian. The rumor set Twitter ablaze as people tried to figure out if the message was true or not.

Dan Brown isn't dead. The Eco Twitter account is a hoax. The manager of the account later wrote, "This account is an hoax created by Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti."

No notable news sources have reported on Brown's death. They have, however, been reporting on his upcoming book Inferno. Brown's new book will debut on May 14 and continues Robert Langdon's story previously found in The Lost Symbol, The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons.

Despite the news being nothing more than a rumor, fans of the author took to Twitter to question and mourn the death. Some examples of tweets include:

"My Italian is either not as good as I think it is, or Dan Brown is dead? (last RT)"

"Can anyone confirm the news that Dan Brown died in an accident?"

"That last tweet in Italian stated that Umberto Eco is reporting that Dan Brown has died in a road accident in NY. No idea if that is true."

"RIP Dan Brown."

Brown is just fine. He isn't the first person to become the victim of an Internet death hoax. Death hoaxes have become a trend on the Internet over the past few years. Some start on Twitter through fake accounts and some start through death hoax generators which create fake news stories that claims that a celebrity died.