SECTIONS

(1) The Rumor
(2) The Timeline
(3) The Clues
(4) The Conspiracy
(5) The Evidence
(6) Conclusion

THE RUMOR

The basic narrative is that in 1966 Paul was killed, possibly in a car crash. The Beatles, who were at the height of their fame at the time, did not want to upset their fans so they replaced Paul with a lookalike in order to continue playing as though nothing had happened.

THE TIMELINE

The initial rumor began soon after the alleged incident took place in November 1966, this led to it being acknowledged and rebutted in the February 1967 issue of The Beatles Book fanzine which was published monthly until December 1969. There was relative silence on the subject until 17 September 1969 when Tim Harper, an editor at the student newspaper of Drake University in Iowa (the Drake Times-Delphic) published an article titled "Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead?"