Conspiracy Theory: Paul McCartney Is Dead

Conspiracy-minded Beatlemaniacs say Paul McCartney secretly died in 1966 and the other Beatles covered up his death – hiring someone who looked like him, sang like him and had the same personality.

Paul then
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Paul Now
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The story goes that on Wednesday 9 November 1966, McCartney stormed out of a session for the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, got in to his Austin Healey car, and subsequently crashed and died.

In fact, the crash never happened. Between 6 and 19 November 1966, McCartney and his girlfriend Jane Asher were on vacation in France and Kenya.

However, a couple of relevant incidents did take place. On 26 December 1965 McCartney crashed his moped, resulting in a chipped tooth (seen in the videos for Paperback Writer and Rain) and a scar on his top lip, which he hid by growing a moustache.

Additionally, on 7 January 1967 McCartney's Mini Cooper was involved in an accident on the M1 motorway outside London, but the car was being driven by a friend; McCartney was at a party in Sussex.

The origins of the myth

The first known print reference to McCartney’s death was an article in a September 1969 edition of the Times-Delphic, the newspaper of the Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The author later claimed that he wasn't the original source for any of the information in his article. He claimed he was writing for entertainment purposes only, got the information from a fellow student, who in turn said he got the story from a musician who had heard it on the Californian west coast.

The rumors gained momentum on 12 October 1969, after an on-air phone call to radio WKNR-FM in Michigan. The caller, identified only as 'Tom', claimed that McCartney was dead, and instructed the DJ to play Revolution 9 backwards, where the repeated "number nine" phrase was heard as "turn me on, dead man."

Listening to the show was an arts reviewer for the student newspaper, The Michigan Daily. He used clues from the radio program along with others he had invented himself - including the name of William Campbell, the alleged replacement for McCartney, to write a story.

It was published in the Michigan Daily under the title McCartney Dead; New Evidence Brought To Light. Although clearly intended as a joke, it had an impact far wider than the writer and his editor expected. The writer admitted later he made the whole thing up.

Shortly afterwards, a one-hour special called The Beatle Plot, fueled the rumor; and it was well on its way to become a national, then international, story, inspiring fans to pore over their albums for further clues. "Clues" that confirmed Paul was dead were on the Abbey Road album cover photograph.Further reading 

Abbey Road cover
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A British version of the rumor is believed to have existed prior to the American one, with fewer details. The sources are unknown, but the notion of McCartney dying in a road accident appears to have originated there.

Life Magazine cover
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Rumors started to decline after Life magazine’s cover in November 1969, which pictured Paul, Linda and their children.

In a Public Policy Polling Report in April, it was found that five percent of those polled (in this case, U.S. voters) believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966.

So there we have it: another conspiracy story. Or could it be called an Urban Legend, Hoax or Misinformation? Take your pick. But an interesting story, nevertheless!

The next and final post of this series: The Moon Landings were Faked.