On June 18, some ardent Beatles fans will light candles in honor of Paul McCartney’s birthday. Paul is one of the most popular singers in history, and lighting candles is their way of saluting him. Other Beatles fans will light candles for a very different reason: as a memorial. They believe Paul is dead and that he died in 1966.
When film and music stars pass away fans are saddened but move on with their lives. But others deny the official announcements and are convinced those stars are really alive – rock “king” Elvis Presley, actress Marilyn Monroe, rapper Tupac Shakur, and lead singer of The Doors Jim Morrison, just to name a few. Add Beatles star Paul McCartney to this list, but for very different reasons. Many fans are certain he died in 1966, and say the plethora of evidence pointing to that is irrefutable. What makes this really bizarre is that would mean someone is faking his being alive. This sounds crazy, but the details make one wonder.
Stranger Than Fiction
According to Vinyl Rewind, the story that Paul died began in 1966, when the Beatles ruled the rock world. The Fab Four were supposedly at a recording session when a heated argument erupted, and a furious Paul sped off in his car. As the theory goes, Paul lost control of his vehicle and was involved in a terrible smash-up. Photos of the wreck are still on the internet, and are so horrific that it’s hard to imagine how anyone could possibly have survived, let alone walked away unharmed. Skeptics say Paul did not.
The British intelligence agency MI5 got word of the accident and urged the band to find a replacement quickly. They were concerned that if word of Paul’s death got out, hysteria would spread among Beatles fans, leading to chaos, mass arrests, and possibly even mass suicides. Obviously, there’s no way to verify this story.
According to Wikipedia, “In October 1969, the western world was swept by the story that Paul had died in an automobile accident three years earlier, and was secretly replaced by a double chosen in a lookalike contest.” There was, in fact, such a contest, and the winner was a Scottish orphan named William Shears Campbell, usually called Billy Shears.
Billy is not Paul’s twin, but the incredibly strong resemblance is undeniable. Both are nearly exactly the same age, height, have the same color hair, eyes, and shape of mouth, among other characteristics. Vinyl Rewind suggests the Beatles may have given him pointers on how to sing and to play the guitar to sound more like Paul; minor plastic surgery added the finishing touches. Voila, a near-perfect lookalike.
The Rumor Revived
When the Paul is dead rumor first surfaced in a Beatles fan publication in 1967, it was denied, and that appeared to be the end of the story. But it wasn’t. And in the fall of 1969, not only was the rumor alive and kicking, but Beatles fans became obsessed with finding out what really was going on.
One college student writing a review of the then new Beatles album “Abbey Road” theorized there may be clues about Paul’s death in recent Beatles songs and album covers, and he analyzed those very carefully. To his amazement, he found dozens of hints! He concluded that Paul indeed was dead and explained why in an article that appeared in his college paper. The story was quickly picked up by other college newspapers, made its way to local publications, and soon afterward was headlines on network news.
Curious Cover
The first album the Beatles released after the rumors began was “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The music was very different than in previous Beatles albums, and so was the album cover, which was loaded with hints and innuendos of Paul’s death. The following are just a few of the clues reported by First Vinyl, which said it reported only some of those it uncovered.
In case you’ve never seen the album cover, it’s not just a simple photo of the Fab Four. It is loaded with illustrations and artwork of famous people and unusual floral arrangements and symbols. The cover has been described as a funeral, and has been interpreted as the three surviving Beatles serving as Paul’s pallbearers. A British comedian holds his palm open over Paul’s head, a symbol of death in Eastern mysticism – one of the many times this symbol appears on the cover.
According to Vinyl Rewind, Paul is the only member of the group holding a black instrument, another hint of death. Holding a mirror to the large drum on the cover reveals the number “1” next to the word “one,” a reference to the eleventh month. That’s followed by the Roman numeral for “nine;” conspiracy theorists believe he died on November 9. Adding credibility to this interpretation are the words “he died.”
Below that is what appears to be a freshly-dug grave and a floral arrangement of a left-handed guitar – Paul was left-handed; the flowers spell out the word “Paul” followed by a question mark. Then there’s a colorful picture of the group – finally something upbeat. But on closer inspection it’s not upbeat at all, as Paul is wearing a patch on his shoulder with the letters “OPD,” or officially pronounced dead, the British equivalent of the American abbreviation “DOA,” or dead on arrival.
On the back of the album cover are other allusions to Paul’s death, including George pointing to the lyrics of another song on the album with the words “Wednesday morning at five a.m.,” the supposed time of Paul’s death.
The lyrics of “A Day In The Life,” another song on that album, include the line: “He blew his mind out in a car.” “Strawberry Fields” has the lyrics “Nothing is real.” Space limitations prevent us from going into the numerous additional hints that have been discovered.
Listen closely to some songs on this album and you’ll hear the words “Paul is dead, miss ya, man,” and John saying, “I buried Paul.” And the cover of “Abbey Road” shows the Beatles walking away from what might be a cemetery, with the license plate of a parked car “28 IF,” the age Paul would have been at that time if he were still alive. There are many more hints of Paul’s death in these albums -– very curious for music that one expects to be happy and cheerful.
Is all this just a brilliant marketing ploy by Capitol Records to sell more albums? A practical joke on fans? Or a subtle way of telling fans news they don’t want to hear but that needed to be shared with them?
The idea of taking over the identity of someone as popular as Paul is preposterous. Besides, Paul’s fortune is estimated at over $1 billion; did Billy Shears simply take control of that? So many people would have to be involved in this conspiracy. Could all of them have kept this secret for decades?
Rock experts say most of the clues that Paul is dead in these songs and album covers can be explained. But any remaining doubts can be resolved easily enough. Paul and Billy Shears could simply stand next to each other and wave to fans. To my knowledge that has never happened. Maybe it still could by June 18, Paul’s 82nd birthday. By the way, anyone know what happened to Billy Shears?
Sources: blogto.com; cjr.org; listverse.com; wikipedia.org; YouTube: Vinyl Rewind: Did Paul McCartney Really Die In 1966?
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
