“Paul is dead” read the tabloids and news articles through the 1960’s. The hoax surrounding the supposed death of The Beatles member, Paul McCartney, has been investigated for many years and is still talked about today.

Dr. Todd Pfannestiel, a Clarion History professor, presented his “Paul is Dead” presentation, one in which he has not presented in three years. Pfannestiel had a prepared PowerPoint showing pictures and audio clips throughout McCartney’s career explaining his urban-legendary death.

Nov. 9, 1966, a call to a radio station suggested that McCartney was decapitated when he wrecked his Austin-Healey after a recording session. The legend suggests that McCartney left because an argument broke out.

Other stories also claim that he had alcohol in his system. Pfannestiel explained that the rumor says McCartney was replaced with a look-a-like who underwent plastic surgery to become an exact replica of Paul McCartney. For a while after the death rumor started, some fans began to believe it was due to The Beatle’s lack of live performances and the cover of their first album after the “death” missing a picture of the band.

Pfannestiel explained as time went on, little hints began to show through music and album covers suggesting a difference in McCartney. On the PowerPoint, Pfannestiel showed images on the “Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album suggesting that McCartney was in fact dead.  The image hid smaller images such as little toy Aston Martin automobiles, and some say the bed of flowers the band stood over was to symbolize McCartney’s grave, amongst many other hints.

On this album and through the rest of the albums the Beatles produced, more and more hints began to arise. “It’s obvious to me, this is no accident,” Pfannestiel said. No accident is what other Paul is Dead hoax believers began to think about. Pfannestiel said, John Lennon, another member of The Beatles, liked to mess with the media and the public, so he planned the hoax. “Fact is, he [John Lennon] did make it up. Some suggest it was planned to enable fans to become part of the story,” Pfannestiel said.

Planned or not, some students found the clues to be creepy, including the audio hints. As part of the hoax and presentation, Pfannestiel played audio clips from some of The Beatles music.

The audio clips were played as normal and then, played backward revealing what some students may find as creepy. “Some of the audio clips, when played backwards, gave me chills. It was crazy,” Junior Amber Yukon said. “Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him” is what is said to be heard when playing John Lennon’s “I’m so Tired.” “Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation, even though it wasn’t true,” Yukon said.

McCartney released many statements saying that is he very much alive and was not replaced. His “Paul is Live” album cover featured himself debunking some of the hoax riddles to prove that he is alive.

“This is harmless and quite fun,” Pfannestiel said. Many other celebrity deaths pose question and hoax to “cluesters”, the people who look for clues and hints throughout an artists work for other meaning. Though the death of McCartney was a hoax, the many hints found seem convincing to some.