Paul McCartney died in 1966 (did he?)

November 1966, Paul McCartney, after a fierce argument with his bandmates, The Beatles, leaves the studio. During his escape, he suffers a car accident and dies...?

The fact that Paul McCartney is still alive and kicking today should be reason enough to know that this accident and death never happened. However, the fake news went from a small rumour to one of the best-known conspiracy theories in contemporary history.

Like a Hollywood script, the story of Paul McCartney's death claimed that the world's greatest band could not afford to lose one of its members, let alone let him die. The solution? A replacement. Hear out the proposed story...

Obviously, it couldn't have been just any replacement, but a physically similar and musically talented one. The chosen one was William Campbell, also known as Billy Shears, who was found in a contest of impersonators of the 'deceased' Paul and who underwent cosmetic surgery to make him look even more like him.

Once the main problems was solved, yet a few months later another unexpected problem arose: Brian Epstein, the band's manager, wanted to confess the lie because it was burning inside him. In August 1967, he turned up dead, in London, of an alleged overdose.

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It was not until October 1969 that Tim Harper 'uncovered' the whole story. He did so in an article published in the University of Michigan newspaper entitled 'Is Paul McCartney Dead?'.

A few days later, the story hit the 'Detroit News' and from there... the whole world. Was it possible that one of the most important artists in the world had passed away?

For those who believed Paul McCartney's death was real, from that moment on, they began to see the evidence of what happened, in records, promotional images or song lyrics.

One of the examples they give is the lyrics of 'Good Morning', where they point out that there was 'nothing to do to save his life'. It's even more explicit in 'A Day in Life' where they sing: "He blew his mind out in car. He didn't realise the lights had changed".

Another example, given by 'Detroit News', was that Paul McCartney's arm was above his head on the album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (1967), as well as on the cover of 'Yellow Submarine'. The raised arm, the paper said, is an ancient symbol of death.

The same was true of the Shiva statue on the cover of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', another symbol of death aimed at Paul McCartney, according to the media.

But the best was yet to come. Every song of the band was analysed in detail, listened to thousands of times at every possible speed, even backwards. Obviously, they found messages. Or so the hoaxers believed.

Music journalist John Neary claimed that listening to 'Strawberry Fields' backwards, one could understand: "I buried Paul". Something similar happened on 'Revolution 9', where you could hear sounds of a car crash and a voice calling for help.

The conspiratorial climax came on the B-side of the 'White Album', in which Neary claimed he could hear John Lennon say that "Paul is dead. I miss him", right in the silence after 'I'm so tired'.

Although Tim Harper for 'Life' magazine denied the death, the snowball was too big to stop. It was too juicy a hoax not to take advantage of and many people embraced the false death of Paul McCartney.

In fact, it didn't help that the November 1969 cover of 'Life' featured Paul McCartney with his family, claiming to be in perfect condition. "I swear I'm alive and not at all worried about my death. If I were to die, I'd be the last to know". It seems some fans were not convinced.

The rumour kept rolling and rolling, to the point that Paul McCartney released a live album in 1993 called 'Paul is Live', making it clear that he was taking the theory about his death seriously.

The reality is that, to this day, Paul McCartney is a music legend, a pop culture icon, and an octogenarian billionaire who is living, and it is important to say living, history.

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