The death of Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney died in a car crash in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike. The accident happened after an argument with the other members of the group, during a recording session for the Sgt Pepper’s album. McCartney was very angry, and as a result abandoned the session, took his Austin car, drove fast, crashed and died. It was 5am on Wednesday 9 November.

This is the urban legend that started back then. Probably it is just a hoax, or even more, a complete stupidity, but it is very funny too.

According to this theory, there are two reasons which could explain why the Beatles didn’t tell the truth. First, British Intelligence, MI5, had forced the band to hide McCartney’s death to avoid massive suicides of fans. Second, the company didn’t want to end the Beatles lucrative career. The band felt guilty because of the deception, and so placed hidden clues on the album covers.

                  The magazine report that dispelled the rumour in 1969

This magazine's cover showed us Paul and Linda with their children, in a picture taken on their Scottish farm. The cover featured the sentence "The case of the 'missing' Beatle - Paul is still with us".

In 1969 the rumours grew when a listener called on-air to a radio station and asked them to play “Revolution 9” backwards. The phrase “number nine” was heard as “turn me on, dead man”. In the same song, there is the sound of a car crash followed by an explosion.

And now let’s talk about the funniest thing in the whole story, the clues that supposedly prove that he died.

For “Paul Is Dead” followers, there are a lot of clues. Here is a selection of the most interesting:

At the end of Strawberry Fields Forever, Lennon can be heard muttering "I buried Paul". However, he denied it in subsequent interviews. The real words are actually "cranberry sauce".

If you hold a mirror exactly in the middle of the drum featured on the "Sgt. Pepper’s" cover, instead of the words “lonely hearts”, "I ONE IX HE DIE" appears. This refers to the date of Paul's death: November 9^th.

On the same cover, McCartney has a hand over his head. In some religions this means “death”. The badge on his arms shows the letters “O.P.D.”: "officially pronounced dead".

At the bottom of the picture is an image of the Hindu god Shiva, called “the destroyer”. His hand is pointing directly at McCartney.

On the back cover McCartney shows his back to the camera, as if hiding his real identity, and as another symbol of death.

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Inside the album are the lyrics of the songs with a photo of the band. George Harrison’s thumb points exactly to the line "Wednesday morning at five o'clock" (She’s Leaving Home), the time of Paul's death.

The procession of The Beatles across the zebra crossing on the Abbey Road cover represents Paul’s funeral.

John Lennon, dressed in white, is the preacher.

Ringo Starr, dressed in black, is the mourner and George Harrison is the gravedigger.

Paul McCartney, the only one who is barefoot, is the corpse.

Paul was left handed, but here the imposter holds a cigarette in his right hand.

The white VW Beetle has the registration plate LMW 28IF, which supposedly means “Linda McCartney Weeps, 28 years old if he hadn’t died”

If Paul is dead, then the other guy has a great sense of humor, because he released a live album in 1993 called Paul Is Live.

Anyway, the real or the false Paul endured a horrible divorce from Heather Mills. If he was the real one, the divorce may have made him wish he were dead. So who is the real McCartney? The world may never know.

Unfortunately, John Lennon had no double in 1980, when he was killed.

To end this thorny issue, I propose much clearer evidence: if you listen to any of his solo albums, you realize that he cannot be the same guy.

Moreover, in July of 1966, just a few months before Paul’s car crash, Dylan crashed his motorcycle on a road near his home in Woodstock, New York.

He disappeared for several months, gave no concerts and made no public appearances, but kept recording music with the Hawks at his home and in the basement of the Hawks' house, called "Big Pink”, located in the same neighborhood. These recordings were considered legendary for so many years.

Finally, Columbia released them in 1975 as The Basement Tapes, and just a few months later, the Hawks, renamed “The Band”, recorded the fantastic album Music from Big Pink. But this is another story.

VAN TRUNG