Sometime in 1969, around the time of the release of Abbey Road,
a rumor started. It was a rather silly rumor claiming that Paul McCartney was, in fact,
dead. He had supposedly died in a car accident sometime before Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band was made in 1967. In normal circumstances this rumor would not have gained popularity
but a lot of eerie evidence began to pile up. Remember The Beatles had not been on tour since
1966 and Paul spent most of his time on his farm and in the studio. No one, in the States at least, had seen Paul
live in public since '66. The remaining three Beatles supposedly had left clues on every album
since Sgt. Pepper's to tell the fans the truth. Paul of course had been replaced by a sound alike
and a look alike so The Beatles could continue as a group.
Here, I am listing all of the occurrences known to me of Paul is Dead evidence. I was not around for the rumors but here they are as they were explained to me, by older, wiser Beatlemaniacs. Clues submitted to me since this page's creation will give credit where credit is due. Please bear with me as far as updates are concerned... They are coming slowly but surely.
I hope new Beatle fans get a kick out of it and older fans will enjoy it,
too. To get some of the clues you will need the Vinyl version, but for most a CD copy will do. For those
without the capability to play the songs backwards I have added sound files of the reversed lyrics where
applicable. I want to include better quality copies eventually but for now they are small and poor quality. For simplicity's sake album titles are in all capital letters and song titles are capitalized
normally. It all began with:
1. Strawberry Fields Forever (originally it was supposed to appear on Sgt. Peppers but
was released early with Penny Lane as a single)
At the end of this song, you hear the by now infamous "I buried Paul" quote by John.
John was alternately claimed he was saying "Cranberry Sauce", "I'm very Bored", or that the
sound of his guitar had "buried" the sound of Paul's bass. All of the above are likely
considering John's love of absurd language but why no consistent answer? Hmmm....
(Also, in the promotional film for this song seen on The Anthology and The Compleat
Beatles, there is an extended scene where Paul is alone in a field, runs, around and jumps up
a tree, then night falls and the other Beatles enter and Paul looks down on them from the tree.
You can read into this scene however you like since possible and plausible metaphors abound.)
SERGEANT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND(1967)
2. The album cover
If you look closely at the ground in front of the assembled group, it looks like freshly
dug earth. It is surrounded by flowers, some of which are in the shape of a bass guitar. It
doesn't take much imagination to see this as a gravesite, obviously Paul's because of the bass.
3. The album cover
There is a hand directly above Paul's head (the real Paul not the wax dummy). This may
not seem like much but in the Indian culture this is the sign of death!
4. The album cover
Look and see which of The Beatles is tallest. It's Paul. In The Beatles earlier pictures
they, except Ringo, are all about the same height. If you want proof look at the wax statues
from Madame Tussaud's. They are all about the same height, except Ringo. Obviously there is
someone posing for Paul.
5. The album cover
The wax dummy Beatles all look very sad and are looking down at the "grave" obviously in mourning. Special thanks to everyone who sent this one in, especially Jospeh Elder, skcote@msn.com and Craig (metsmarching@aol.com)
5. The album cover
This one takes quite a leap of logic but I'll include it anyway. Hold your copy of Sgt.
Pepper's at a slight angle in front of a mirror. The letters spelling The Beatles should reverse
into 231-1438, a phone number. Supposedly a DJ attempted calling this number repeatedly and got
no answer until he discovered the following clue: On the reverse side of the album George is
pointing to a particular line from the song She's Leaving Home-Wednesday morning at five o'clock.
When the DJ called the number at this time and on this day he got the following message "Paul is
dead. You're following the clues. Good." This was all said in an English accent which means it must be true.
6. The reverse side of the album cover
Paul is backwards in line and taller than everyone else, again.
7. The overleaf
On the shoulder patch of Paul's uniform are the letters O.P.D which in real life stands for Ontario Police Department but for the purposes of the conspiricy stands for
Officially Pronounced Dead, the English equivalent of the American D.O.A.
...Or not, actually several loyal Canadian Beatlemaniacs have written me to say that the patch actually says O.P.P. (Not O.P.D.) which stands for Ontario Provincial Police. Thanks to all of you who wrote in to correct me on this point!
Apparently also at some point Billy Shears (see below) was supposed to have worked for the O.P.P...
8. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
This song introduces you to the man who is replacing Paul. It even tells you what his
name is: Billy Shears. (The singer's going to sing a song/And he wants you all to sing along/
So let me introduce to you/The one and only Billy Shears)
9. A Day in the Life
The car accident in this song is supposed to be Paul's accident.
10. The infinite loop
In the inner grooves of the record, where no normal music is recorded, the Beatles recorded a bizaare message which repeats over and over (if you have the original record, if you have the CD it eventually fades out). If this message is played backwards it seems to say "Will Paul come back as Superman?" Special thanks to Hannah Tenpas for this one!
MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR(1967)-You will need the original album for most of these
10. The album cover
Another hand over Paul's head
11. Page 3 of the story of the film
Paul is sitting at a desk. The sign on the desk in front of him says in bold type:
"I WAS" (just ignore the pointing man and the "you" also on the sign.
12. Page 8
Apparently when held in a certain light and tilted in the proper way this dinner scene
becomes a picture of a skull. I've never seen it though.
13. Page 10
ANOTHER hand over Paul's head
14. Pages 12-13
Look closely at Paul. He's not wearing any shoes. In India the first things they remove
from a dead body are the shoes! Then look on page 13, there are Paul's shoes, but look closely
at them. They appeared to be covered in something red, like blood. Hmmm.....
15. Pages 12-13
Paul is taller than the others again and this time in bare feet (see clue #26).
16. Page 14
Yet another hand over Paul's head. This one's on the recruiting poster of Lord Kitchener
17. Page 18
In the lower picture, Paul's got a hand over his head.
18. Page 23
Look at The Beatles' carnations. John has a red one, George has a red one, and Ringo has
a red one. But, Paul has a black one.
19. Page 24
Another hand above Paul's head
21. Strawberry Fields Forever
See clue #1
YELLOW SUBMARINE(1968)
22. The album cover
John's hand is over Paul's head.
THE WHITE ALBUM(1968)
23. Glass Onion
During the course of the song John sings: You know I told you about the walrus and me/
You know we were as close as can be/But here's another clue for you all/The walrus was Paul.
This is of course a reference to the movie Magical Mystery Tour in which the group dresses up
while singing I Am The Walrus. Unfortunately, John was the walrus not Paul. But the world clue
gives us a hint. The walrus is the Scandanavian animal symbol for Death, ergo Paul is dead.
Coincidentally, John was the walrus and he died an early death.
24. I'm so tired
At the end of this song is a segment of reversed lyrics which roughly translated are:
"Paul's a dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him."
Listen for yourself:
Lyrics forward
Lyrics reversed
25. Revolution 9
The lyric "Number Nine" reverses roughly to "Turn me on dead man". I think it sounds
more like "Turn me on Devon" but it could be a personal bias.
Listen for Yourself:
Revolution #9 forwards
Revolution #9 backwards!
ABBEY ROAD(1969)
26. The album cover
Probably the most famous Paul is Dead clue of all. The four Beatles are walking in
succession out of what looks like a graveyard. John, in white, is God. Ringo is the undertaker.
Paul, without shoes, is the corpse. George is the gravedigger.
27. The Album Cover
And don't forget the 28IF Volkswagon "Beetle" in the back. Paul would have been 28 IF he had lived to 1969. Also on the licence plate, the letters LMW: Linda McCartney Weeps. Thanks to Sarah for reminding me about that one!
27. The album cover
Paul is now as tall as George and John, in bare feet while in clue #15 he was taller.
Something is wrong here.
28.The reverse album cover
Next to the word Beatles are 8 black dots. Connect these dots and you'll get the number 3.
Read it and it says 3 Beatles.
LET IT BE(1970)
29. There are no clues on this album because the mystery was solved. Look as hard as you like, you won't find any...
Well, maybe you will. After four years+ of this site's existance, I have finally recieved many, MANY e-mails stating that the red background around Paul is a clue pointing to his bloody demise... Yes, all right I finally accept this clue. It kind of ruins the fun of the story a bit, but all right there's a clue on Let It Be...
Coincidentally, as far as I know there are no new clues on The Red and Blue
collections (songs being reproduced being an exception), Live at the BBC, and Anthology 1 all of which were released after the mystery was solved. Anthology 2 contains a bit of a clue:
THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY 2
30. Strawberry Fields (track 3)
At the end of this song John says "cranberry sauce" or if you prefer "I buried Paul" twice which means this was no accidental phrasing by John...
Another great "clue" is that after his "death" Paul dumped Jane Asher and started dating Linda McCartney. Special thanks to Rachel for that one!
Oh and by the way, the rumors were believed so devoutly that Time magazine ultimately sent a reporter to England to interview Paul and prove he was alive. He did so and a picture of Paul appeared on the cover. If you can track down the issue and you hold the cover up to the light the image of a car from the advertisement on the reverse of the cover shows through and bisects Paul.
But was it all a conspiracy to raise sales? Obviously Paul is alive, so there was no great mystery. Some say it was a conspiracy, pointing to the fact that clues can be found earlier than Sgt. Pepper's. Point in case: Yesterday and Today.
On the cover The Beatles are standing around a steamer trunk while Paul is sitting in it. Does everyone see the coffin metaphor? And then there's the whole issue of the unused "butcher cover". Hannah Tenpas makes note that on the unused cover George is holding up a baby's head to Paul's indicating head injuries (or even decapitation for Paul) and there are also a pair of false teeth on Paul's arm indicating his teeth were knocked out. But then again Yesterday and Today was a collection of songs cut off the US versions of The Beatles' albums and wasn't released until after Revolver which places it between Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's. Hmmm....
Conspiracy therorists also point to the fact that the alleged clues stopped after the announcement that Paul was dead.
Or was it all just a coincidence. Some clues are hard to belive or find. All those pictures of hands above Paul's head are probably just coinceidence, but still some clues are so eerie... Well, it's up to you to decide.
If I've forgotten any clues please tell me and I'll update the list. If you find any
errors and there probably are some tell me and I'll correct them. I can be reached at devon_halley@emerson.edu
Back to my home page
Gratuitous apologies for the unauthorized use of Beatles related pictures and sounds on this page. If
the owner of the copyright steps forward and complains the aforementioned objects will be removed.
