Editing Paul is dead (section)

==Beginnings==
Although rumours that Paul McCartney's health was deteriorating had existed since early 1966,<ref>{{Cite web |title=My Broken Tooth - by Paul McCartney |url=https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/interview/my-broken-tooth-by-paul-mccartney/ |access-date=24 March 2024 |website=The Paul McCartney project |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324150614/https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/interview/my-broken-tooth-by-paul-mccartney/ |url-status=live }}</ref> reports that McCartney had died only started circulating in September of that year. The Beatles' press officer, [[Tony Barrow]], recounted this in his book, ''John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me.'' [[Fleet Street]] reporters started phoning Barrow early in that month, to confirm rumours regarding the Beatle's health and even a possible death, to which he replied that he had recently spoken with McCartney.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barrow |first=Tony |url=http://archive.org/details/johnpaulgeorgeri0000barr_z2n5 |title=John, Paul, George, Ringo & me : the real Beatles story |date=2005 |publisher=Andre Deutsch |location=London |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-233-00140-1}}</ref> 

For the rest of 1966, the rumour was eclipsed by similar reports that Paul McCartney was working on a solo project and that the Beatles were splitting up,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brian Epstein denies The Beatles are splitting |url=https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/1966/10/brian-epstein-denies-paul-mccartney-is-leaving-the-beatles/ |access-date=8 March 2024 |website=The Paul McCartney project}}</ref> which were backed by their disappearance from the public eye and the postponement of their scheduled tours in late 1966.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/inmylifebrianep00gell/page/132/mode/2up | isbn=978-0-312-26564-9 | title=In my life : The Brian Epstein story | date=17 April 2024 | last1=Geller | first1=Debbie | publisher=Macmillan }}</ref>

In early 1967, the rumour resurfaced in London, this time claiming that Paul McCartney had been killed in a traffic accident while driving along the [[M1 motorway]] on 7 January.<ref name="Yoakum/Gadfly">{{cite web|last=Yoakum|first=Jim|date=May–June 2000|url=http://www.gadflyonline.com/archive/MayJune00/archive-mccartney.html|title=The Man Who Killed Paul McCartney|work=[[Gadfly Online]]|access-date=27 September 2018|archive-date=26 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226165030/http://www.gadflyonline.com/archive/MayJune00/archive-mccartney.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The rumour was acknowledged and rebutted in the February issue of ''[[The Beatles Book]]''.<ref name="Yoakum/Gadfly" /> McCartney then alluded to the rumour during a press conference held about the release of ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' in May.<ref name="moriarty">{{cite web|last=Moriarty|first=Brian|date=1999|url=http://ludix.com/moriarty/paul.html|title=Who Buried Paul?|publisher=ludix.com|access-date=27 September 2018|archive-date=8 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308140906/http://ludix.com/moriarty/paul.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2019}} 

The Beatles' producer [[George Martin]] once claimed that, during the Beatles’ visit to [[Denver|Denver, Colorado]], "a number of people pretending to be Beatles" were employed by the promoters of the band's concerts in order to distract the crowds of fans from the real Beatles, while they were exiting a hotel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All You Need Is Ears {{!}} PDF {{!}} Sound Recording And Reproduction {{!}} Johann Sebastian Bach |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/469601510/All-You-Need-Is-Ears |access-date=24 March 2024 |website=Scribd}}</ref> According to journalist Maureen O'Grady, who wrote about it in the May 1966 issue of ''RAVE Magazine'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=RAVE Magazine, June 1966 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Rave-Magazine/1966/RAVE-1966-05.pdf |access-date=24 March 2024 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324150612/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Rave-Magazine/1966/RAVE-1966-05.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> such a tactic was used when the Beatles first played in [[Baltimore]], in 1964. As a result, stories began to circulate that the Beatles had sent four lookalikes to perform on stage on one of their American tours.<ref>{{Citation |title=Beatles Los Angeles Press Conference 1966}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=George Harrison & Ravi Shankar - The Dick Cavett Show (1971)}}</ref> Both Paul McCartney and [[George Harrison]] later refuted these claims. 

Despite the Beatles dismissing such accusations, they soon began accompanying the notion that McCartney had died. By late 1967, it was further stated that the Beatles had covered up his death by employing a Paul McCartney impersonator to stand in for him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Hunter |url=http://archive.org/details/beatlesfootballm0000davi_v8d0 |title=The Beatles, football and me |date=2007 |publisher=Headline Review |location=London |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7553-1403-4}}</ref> For example, journalist [[Jamake Highwater|Jay Marks]] was attending McCartney's engagement party in 1967 when a friend of the band told him that McCartney had been replaced.

By the mid-1960s, the Beatles were known for sometimes including [[backmasking]] in their music.{{sfn|MacDonald|1998|pp=16, 273–75}} Analysing their lyrics for hidden meaning had also become a popular trend in the US.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=115}} In November 1968, their [[The Beatles (album)|self-titled double LP]] (also known as the "White Album") was released containing the track "[[Glass Onion (song)|Glass Onion]]". [[John Lennon]] wrote the song in response to "gobbledygook" said about ''Sgt. Pepper''. In a later interview, he said that he was purposely confusing listeners with lines such as "the Walrus was Paul" – a reference to his song "[[I Am the Walrus]]" from the 1967 EP and album ''[[Magical Mystery Tour]]''.{{Sfn |The Beatles|2000|p= 306}}

{{listen
 | type         = music
 | filename     = Revolution-9-forward.ogg
 | title        = "Revolution 9" (section)
 | description  = The allegedly backmasked section of "Revolution 9"
 | filename2    = Revolution-9-reversed.ogg
 | title2       = "Revolution 9" (section) (reversed)
 | description2 = The same section reversed, which some believe sounds like "turn me on, dead man"
}}
On 17 September 1969, Tim Harper, an editor of the ''Drake Times-Delphic'', the student newspaper of [[Drake University]] in [[Des Moines, Iowa]], published an article titled "Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead?" The article addressed a rumour being circulated on campus that cited clues from recent Beatles albums, including a message interpreted as "Turn me on, dead man", heard when the White Album track "[[Revolution 9]]" is played backwards. Also referenced was the back cover of  ''Sgt. Pepper'', where every Beatle except McCartney is photographed facing the viewer. He is wearing a black badge "OPD" (Officially Pronounced Dead). On the front cover, Starr in a suit looks at the flowered grave, mourning, and McCartney (in a suit) puts his hand on his shoulder. Starr looks sadly down at a tomb shaped like a P, with 4 strings looking like a bass. The front cover of ''Magical Mystery Tour'' depicts one unidentified band member in a differently coloured suit from the other three.<ref>{{cite web |last=Schmidt |first=Bart |url=http://blogs.library.drake.edu/2009/09/18/it-was-40-years-ago-yesterday/ |title=It Was 40 Years Ago, Yesterday ...|publisher=Drake University - Cowles Library blog |date=18 September 2009 |access-date=19 September 2010}}</ref> According to music journalist Merrell Noden, Harper's ''Drake Times-Delphic'' was the first to publish an article on the "Paul is dead" theory.<ref name="Noden/MojoSpecial" />{{refn|group=nb|Writing in 1977, author [[Nicholas Schaffner]] said the theory has been traced to a student thesis at [[Ohio Wesleyan University]] and to a prank article published in the student newspaper for [[Northern Illinois University]].{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=128}} The university eventually retracted the article in 2023 due to the false and plagiarized nature of its content, writing an apology to McCartney for their role in propagating the hoax.<ref name="CBS 2023">{{cite news |last1=CBS Chicago Team |title=LOCAL NEWS Illinois student newspaper retracts 1969 story on false rumors of Paul McCartney's death |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/niu-newspaper-retraction-paul-mccartney/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h&mibextid=S66gvF#ln136irrzok5isnblzk |access-date=27 September 2023 |work=CBS News Chicago |agency=CBS |publisher=Paramount Global |date=26 September 2023 |ref=CBS 2023}}</ref>}} Harper later said that it had become the subject of discussion among students at the start of the new academic year, and he added: "A lot of us, because of [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] and the so-called [[The Establishment|Establishment]], were ready, willing and able to believe just about any sort of conspiracy."<ref name="Noden/MojoSpecial" />

In late September 1969, the Beatles released the album ''[[Abbey Road]]'' while they were in the process of disbanding.{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=353, 354}} On 10 October, the Beatles' press officer, [[Derek Taylor]], responded to the rumour stating: 
<blockquote>
Recently we've been getting a flood of inquiries asking about reports that Paul is dead. We've been getting questions like that for years, of course, but in the past few weeks we've been getting them at the office and home night and day. I'm even getting telephone calls from disc jockeys and others in the United States.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Paul McCartney Asserts He's 'Alive and Well' |newspaper=[[Courier-Post]] |location=Camden, New Jersey |date=10 October 1969 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aHwzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5871,970425&dq=mccartney&hl=en |title=Beatle Paul McCartney Is Really Alive |agency=UPI |work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]] |date=11 October 1969 |page=5 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017154931/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aHwzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5871,970425&dq=mccartney&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref>
</blockquote>

Throughout this period, McCartney felt isolated from his bandmates in his opposition to their choice of business manager, [[Allen Klein]], and distraught at Lennon's private announcement that he was leaving the group.{{sfn|Sounes|2010|pp=261, 263–64}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2010|pp=1, 396, 398}} With the birth of his daughter [[Mary McCartney|Mary]] in late August, McCartney had withdrawn to focus on his family life.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=559}} On 22 October, the day that the "Paul is dead" rumour became an international news story,{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=332}} McCartney, his wife [[Linda McCartney|Linda]] and their two daughters travelled to Scotland to spend time at his farm near [[Campbeltown]].{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=358}}