55 years ago, Russ Gibb, a DJ at WKNR, received a call suggesting he take The Beatles' White Album and play the "number nine, number nine" part from the beginning of the track "Revolution 9" backward (to be honest, the original version of this track is creepy enough to scare the hell out of me).
Russ tried it live on air and heard the phrase "Turn me on, dead man." Then, a listener called in to report that they heard John saying "I buried Paul" at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever."
And from there, a theory emerged that Paul McCartney had died in a car accident back in 1966, and the band had to find a lookalike to replace him, named William Campbell. This William Campbell was apparently so good that he even helped The Beatles write "Hey Jude" and "Blackbird."
Besides the “evidence” fans dug up from the Sgt. Pepper album cover, where Paul was wearing a jacket with three letters on his arm that vaguely resembled O.P.D., which they interpreted as "Officially Pronounced Dead" (though in reality, the embroidery read O.P.P.), people also found clues on the Abbey Road album cover to support the rumor.
- The members follow the sequence of a funeral procession, where John is the priest (in white attire), Ringo is the undertaker (in black attire), Paul is the corpse, and George is the gravedigger (in denim).
- Paul is the only member walking barefoot and is out of step with the others.
- Paul is holding a cigarette in his right hand (even though he is left-handed).
- The Volkswagen Beetle behind them has a license plate reading "28IF," referring to Paul's age "if" he were still alive (though technically, according to Western age counting, Paul would not turn 28 that year).
After a series of such theories, in November 1969, Life magazine had to publish a note saying "Paul Is Still With Us," along with a picture of Paul and his family vacationing in Scotland, reassuring everyone that he was still alive and well.
Paul himself found the whole thing quite amusing. Once, someone called his office and told him, "Hey Paul, you're dead." Paul promptly replied, "Oh, I don't think so."
As for John Lennon, he didn’t find the whole affair amusing at all. He even called the radio station on October 26 and outright said that this was the stupidest rumor he'd ever heard, denying any hidden messages that people had dug up and misinterpreted. The final words of “Strawberry Fields Forever” were not “I buried Paul” but actually “cranberry sauce.”
This incident later inspired other artists to insert hidden messages in their songs, music videos, etc., giving their fans a chance to explore, analyze, and discover them.