Have you ever wondered what happened to Paul McCartney? No you probably haven’t because he’s alive and well. Or so you think…

When Sgt Pepper was released in 1967, Beatles fans finally had something brand new from the Fab Four, but it wasn’t just an album, it was a eulogy, filled with clues and secret messages revealing the truth about Paul McCartney’s disappearance in 1966. Forget everything you know about rock history for a moment and dive into the ultimate OG conspiracy theory. 

As a fanatic Beatles fan, I think it’s safe to say that if I was a teenager in the sixties and you told me Paul McCartney had died and had been replaced by some random man called Billy, I think I would have joined the Americans and burned my Beatles records too. 

But this isn’t about me, this is about something serious. Where is Paul? Not the one who’s touring the world, not the Paul who wrote “The Frog Song,” I mean the real Paul. The one who wrote “Yesterday” and the “cute” Beatle and the one who may have met his death in a car accident in 1966. 

Now, this may sound like absolute b*llocks (which is what my dad said when I asked him about it) and well it is, but it is one of the most well known music conspiracies of all time and is still continuing today. If you scroll through Beatles videos on TikTok I can guarantee you will come across some form of joke or comment on the “Paul is Dead” theory and I laugh every time – which is quite sad come to think of it. 

The conspiracy goes that in November of 1966 Paul McCartney was killed in a car crash on his way home from the studio after a fight with the band. A day later, The Beatles found out and they decided to keep the truth from their fans, saving them the tragic news that would follow after the accident. To hide the real truth they replaced Paul with a lookalike who won a Paul McCartney lookalike competition. His name was William Campbell, also known as Billy Shears. To keep the real Paul alive in spirit, The Beatles left clues in their music to communicate the message to their fans. 

There are clues used by fans as evidence to prove McCartney’s untimely death and replacement. We begin with the cover of Abbey Road, and Paul has talked about this himself, or should I say Faul. The Beatles are pictured walking across Abbey Road, but Paul has no shoes on. The rumour speculated that this was a symbol for a funeral procession, John is the mourner, George is the gravedigger and Ringo is attending the funeral. Paul said it was just hot outside, but why spoil all the fun? 

More clues were uncovered as the years went by, in ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ John can be heard saying “I buried Paul” but he was actually saying “cranberry sauce,” you know just the usual sayings that we all mix up.

In Revolution 9, when played backwards you can hear John saying ‘Turn me on dead man’ which is my personal favourite. In the song “A Day in the Life,” the lyrics “he blew his mind out in a car, he didn’t notice that the lights had changed” was rumoured to be about Paul’s car accident. And one more damning piece of evidence is the beginning of “A Little Help From My Friends,” the song starts with the words “Billy Shears.” They really do, but Billy Shears is supposed to be Ringo, though you never know. 

This theory is not a product of the digital age, it actually surfaced in 1966, with The Beatles themselves responding to the rumours. Many of the Beatles’ retorts left their fans quite skeptical. “Paul McCartney” has spoken out in multiple interviews, a reporter asked “McCartney” if he was actually dead and he replied “I’m not actually dead, just a good replica.” Very suspicious if you ask me “Paul”. In a John Lennon interview in 1971 on the Dick Cavett Show, a fan asked Lennon about how much he had to do with the planning of the Paul is dead rumour. To which Lennon replied “It had nothing to do with me, the first I heard about it was in the press, I don’t know how it happened.”

There is no evidence that Paul McCartney did get into a car accident but according to author Jim Yoakum, the rumour began when Paul’s friend Mohammed Chtaibi crashed McCartney’s Austin Mini while driving. This caused confusion, assuming that the involvement of Paul’s car equaled Paul’s death, but fortunately that was not the case. To add to the confusion, Paul McCartney had a motorbike accident in 1965 and chipped his tooth, which can be seen in the music video for Paperback Writer. Paul never fixed his tooth until a few years later and filled it with chewing gum for the time being, hence why fans kept making side by side face comparisons. 

For nearly sixty years this conspiracy has taken over the Beatles fandom and the internet still keeps it alive, unlike Paul McCartney.