Paul is Dead: Story & Clues

[The End]

The Paul Is Dead Story and the 'Clues'

The Paul Is Dead rumor started with a series of events in the 1960s that led fans of the popular rock band The Beatles to believe that bassist Paul McCartney was actually dead and replaced with a look-alike. McCartney remains alive, as of 2005.

The rumor began in earnest in 1969, when Russ Gibb, a radio DJ from WKNR-FM in Detroit, Michigan, announced that McCartney was dead. Other DJs, television news reporters, newspapers, and magazines picked up on the story and began to look for clues.

The rumor eventually became a full-fledged conspiracy theory as members of the media and Beatles fans searched album artwork and song lyrics for clues to the cover-up and McCartney's supposed death. Believers eventually decided that McCartney had died in a car accident that happened at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday morning (the time and day, mentioned in the song "She's Leaving Home"), and that "he hadn't noticed that the lights had changed" ("A Day in the Life") because he was busy watching the pretty girl on the sidewalk ("Lovely Rita"). According to believers, McCartney had been replaced with the winner of a McCartney look-alike contest. The name of this look-alike has been recorded as both William Campbell and William Shears. Though it has been denied by all four members numerous times, many fans are convinced that the rumor was a hoax perpetrated deliberately by the Beatles as a joke. The rumor has been exhaustively examined in the book Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles and the "Paul-Is-Dead" Hoax by Andru J. Reeve, the latest edition released in October 2004.

Other alleged clues included:

[An Apple Beatle]

Great read, cheers Al

[Bruno]

great post Alan

[The End]

Ta

I was bored during my lunch-break!!

 ;Dhehe

good post anyway

[Indica]

The Rubber Soul cover theory..how weak! made me chuckle

[lennonlemon]

i must agree with indy. who knows what the hell they were looking at?

personally, the paul is dead theory stuff is good for a laugh, but never something i'd believe and take seriously. i mean, you can take any small detail and distort it into a "clue." my favorite one was always the last one mentioned regarding his solo work.

[The End]

It's the very last comment that I agree with the most!

it is usually a joke itself among Beatles fans.

Here's a question for everyone - has a conspiracy theory ever been proved to be correct? I can't think of one. Maybe Bay of Pigs?

the best one is the bass drum on Sgt Pepper. If anyone hasn't seen it, I can post it.

A couple that were left out:

--The intruments the Beatles are holding are all marching band instruments except Paul's which is an oboe.

--On the back cover of Pepper, their hands make different letters: George is 'L'; John is 'V'; Ringo is 'E'. The only letter missing in the word 'love' is 'O' because Campbell's back is to the camera, and Paul is the only Beatle who doesn't have the letter 'O' in his name.

--On the back of Abbey Road, next to the passing girl, the shadow looks like a skull.

--There are a pair of skeleton hands grabbing Paul in one of the pictures on the White Album poster.  The list goes on.

I also heard a guy give a lecture on it once and he said toward the end of 'Gently Weeps' that George is singing 'Paul Paul'.

There was also the deal with their name being a phone number. The first three letters like they're spelled out on Magical Mystery Tour are 834, which is also the time on the board in the MMT booklet behind John the mustachioed ticket man. Supposedly someone called the number and there was a message saying "You're getting closer".

11/9 he die. The Stupid Bloody Tuesday.

[An Apple Beatle]

They could have been a bit more subtle. lol

[SieLiebtDich]

XD good one Alan hehehe

[Harrison]

I love reading about these.  The whole Paul is dead theory is just a fun thing to make stuff up for.  Has anyone read the article about this on www.iamthebeatles.com?