Paul Is Dead

Paul Is Dead is a late-1960s hoax claiming that Paul McCartney died and was secretly replaced by a look-alike. Its proponents treated Beatles lyrics, recordings, and album artwork as clues.

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Tim Harper: An Iowa student whose 1969 campus newspaper article helped spread the Paul Is Dead story. His article is an early documented instance of the rumor appearing in print.
Apophenia: The tendency to perceive meaningful patterns or connections in unrelated or random information. It describes the pattern-finding that made scattered Beatles details seem coordinated.
Paul McCartney: An English musician, singer, and songwriter who rose to fame as a member of the Beatles. The hoax centered on the false claim that he had died and been replaced.
Urban legend: A modern story circulated as true, often changing as it passes between people. Paul Is Dead spread through rumor and media as a contemporary legend.
Russ Gibb: A Detroit radio host who discussed the Paul Is Dead theory on air in October 1969. His broadcast helped turn a campus rumor into a widely reported story.
Backmasking: A recording technique in which sound or speech is recorded backward for playback in reverse. Claims of hidden backward messages supplied some of the hoax's supposed audio evidence.
John Lennon: An English musician and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles with Paul McCartney. Fans interpreted lyrics and remarks by Lennon as evidence in the rumor.
Conspiracy theory: An explanation of events that attributes them to a secret plan by powerful actors. The hoax proposes a concealed replacement and interprets clues as evidence of a cover-up.
Fred LaBour: A University of Michigan student journalist who wrote a satirical article about Paul McCartney's supposed death clues. His fabricated details added memorable clues to the rumor's growing catalogue.
Pareidolia: The perception of a familiar pattern, such as a face or phrase, in ambiguous sensory information. Listeners reported hearing clues in reversed or unclear recordings.