Beth Maiser and Brian Vastig were very close. They'd been good friends, were even

married for a bit, and they were also advocates for chronic fatigue syndrome an illness

that Beth had struggled with for most of her life. But in late 2023 their

friends began receiving alarming news about both of them.

Friends of the couple started seeing news online that said sadly both of them had passed away.

That's me as Sato, who writes for the Verde. said sadly both of them had passed away.

That's me as Sato, who writes for The Verge.

And it was kind of spreading within the friend group.

At least four people had heard the news online that they had both passed away.

And it was obviously this devastating, kind of like double whammy of losing two friends at once.

As with most deaths, obituaries started to post online, but friends of Brian and Beth noticed there was something a little off about what they were reading.

The obituaries would say, you know, Beth and Brian sadly have passed away.

There were kind of across different websites sort of similar wording but not quite

clear about what had happened and often in these

pieces chronic fatigue syndrome was mentioned but it was worded in such a way that it's

not quite clear what had happened.

Then came the twist.

Brian is a thousand percent alive.

Beth had died, but Brian very much hadn't. And this caused a lot of unnecessary confusion and stress and anguish among his friends.

It was this really weird thing where people kind of even in far-flung places were

hearing the news that Brian had passed away, including a friend who was on

vacation in Europe.

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