Paul McCartney Died Decades Ago? History of 'Paul Is Dead' Theory Explored

Did Paul McCartney die before The Beatles broke up?

The Beatles debuted with its four members - McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr - in 1960. It had since become the most influential band of all time despite its disbandment in 1970.

But the band and McCartney got bombarded with the rumor that the member died in 1966 and was replaced by someone else instead.

"Paul is Dead" Explained

Fifty-five years ago, McCartney was killed off by the "Paul is dead" craze.

It started when a rumor about McCartney reportedly dying in a traffic accident emerged. According to Gadfly Online, the buzz suggested that The Beatles member got involved in a traffic accident along the M1 motorway.

In 1969, editor of Drake Times-Delphic Tim Harper penned an article titled, "Is Beatles Paul McCartney Dead?" It explored the rumors surrounding McCartney's reported dead and that the band itself dropped hints that he had already passed away.

One of the assumed hints was heard in the White Album track, "Revolution 9," when played backward.

During the same month, The Beatles' press officer Derek Taylor addressed the talks and said, " We've been getting questions like that for years, of course, but in the past few weeks, we've been getting them at the office and home night and day. I'm even getting telephone calls from disc jockeys and others in the United States."

The next month, the rumor "Paul is dead" became global news, and Detroit DJ Russ Gibb ignited the biggest hoax while hosting his show on WKNR. As quoted by Rolling Stone, the DJ received a call from a mysterious caller who asked him to play the Beatles' White Album and spin the "number nine, number nine" intro from "Revolution 9" backward.

Again, the same line that Harper's article mentioned - "Turn me on, dead man" - again.

Another clue was reportedly included in "Strawberry Fields Forever," where Lennon said, "I buried Paul."

Although the rumor has since been debunked, "Paul is dead" continues to be the weirdest and most infamous conspiracy theory in the music industry.

McCartney himself, on the other hand, clarified to Rolling Stone in 1974 that someone directly told him that he was dead - but he did not agree with that.

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Paul McCartney