Works Cited

Bird, D. A., Holder, S. C. and Sears, D. "Walrus is Greek for Corpse: Rumor and the Death of

Paul McCartney." The Journal of Popular Culture, p.110121. June 1976.

This article shares some quotes from academic journals and magazines on the

Paul is dead conspiracy. In addition, Bird discusses Paul's interview with

Rolling Stones magazine and quotes from others who believe the conspiracy.

Collins, Loren. "Paul McCartney Really is Not Dead." Skeptical Inquirer, 2014.

If Paul really was replaced by a look-a-like this person would have been living as Paul

longer than Paul did. According to the rumor, Paul would have died when he was 24-

years-old. He is currently 74-years-old. Because of this fact, only five percent of

respondents to a 2013 survey believed that this conspiracy was true. Goes in depth on the

"Paul McCartney Really is Dead, The Last Testament of George Harrison" and why it is

false.

Flagg, Gordon. "Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Complete Story of the Paul McCartney Death

Hoax." Booklist, 15 April 1994, p.1498. Literature Resource Center. 9 February 2017.

This book talks about where the conspiracy originated, how it spread, and the

clues behind making it true. Flagg goes into a lot of detail about this. Later, Paul

made an album titled Paul is Live to make another joke about the incident.

Harrison, George. "It's Johnny's Birthday." All Things Must Pass, Apple Records, 1970.

When the verse "And we would like to wish him all the very best" is played backwards

the words "He never wore his shoes, we all know he was dead" can be heard. People

believe this to be a direct comment towards the 1969 Abbey Road cover where Paul is not

wearing any shoes. They use this statement as proof that Paul actually died and had been
 replaced by a double. Problem is, with backtracking, one can make any of the sounds fit

what they want to be heard. If someone said, "Hey, listen to this song backtracked" and

the person listening did not know what they were looking for they would just hear a

bunch of jumbled words. But when someone asks, "Hey, listen to this song backtracked

and tell me if it talks about Paul not wearing shoes" they are more likely to hear those

words because they are trying to find them.

Jones, Josh. "How the 'Paul McCartney is Dead' Hoax Started at an American College

Newspaper and Went Viral." Open Culture, 26 December 2014. Web. 15 February 2017.

Jones goes over an accident in 1967 involving Paul's car, but not Paul himself. It

was a man named Mohammad Hadjij who got in an accident and was

hospitalized. Paul was riding in Mick Jagger's car and got to the destination

safely. Like Flagg, he also talks about how the conspiracy started.

"Kid's New Macabre Game: Is Paul McCartney Dead?" Variety, Inc. [New York City, New

York], 22 October 1969.

The Abbey Road album had just been released one month prior to this article

being written. A radio disk jockey, Roby Yonge, reported the rumor of Paul's

apparent death live on air. This rumor was how Paul was replaced by a double

who won a look-a-like contest hosted by the Beatles. This caused the rumor to

spread like wildfire. The article says that a bunch of college students are trying to

find clues to Paul's death in Beatles songs after hearing this. The Beatles lawyer,

Lee Eastman, says that Paul is alive and well in London.

Letterman, David. "Paul McCartney on David Letterman." Late Show with David Letterman,

2009.
 Paul is asked what his feelings are on the rumor of his death and how the rumor

spread. Paul says that American DJs were the ones who started the rumor. He also

adds that rumors started when the Abbey Road album was released, and fans

found clues in the album art. One of the biggest clues in the cover was Paul being

barefooted. He said he did not understand why him being barefooted equated him

to being dead. He just laughed at the rumor and knew it surfaced, because of the

fame and craziness surrounding The Beatles at the time.

Rikk, Juha. "On Political Conspiracy Theories." The Journal of Political Philosophy, 2009.

The author talks about how the government is involved in the spread of conspiracy

theories. Briefly mentions the "Paul is dead" conspiracy, but does not go into great detail.

She is more concerned on the overall idea of conspiracies than one singular conspiracy.

Suczek, Barbara. "The Curious Case of the 'Death' of Paul McCartney." Urban Life and

Culture, April 1972.

Suczek discusses the conspiracy theory in detail and how the phenomenon

surrounding it relates to other conspiracy theories. She has quote from John

saying they never put any intentional backtracking in the songs pointed out as

evidence to the theory.

The Beatles. "A Day in the Life." Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, EMI studios, 1967.

The song is based off of the suicide of the London socialite Tara Browne. This comes

directly from a quote from John himself. "Just as it sounds: I was reading the paper one

day and noticed two stories. One was about the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car.

That was the main headline story. He died in London in a car crash. On the next page was

a story about four thousand potholes in the streets of Blackburn, Lancashire, that needed
 to be filled" (Lennon). However, some Beatles fans are not educated on the meaning

behind the songs, so they may take this to be a reference to Paul's "death."

The Beatles. "Birthday." The Beatles, EMI studios, 1968.

Another case of backmasking. "Paul is dead" can be heard when the song is listened to

backwards. To me, it does not sound like this at all.

The Beatles. "I am the Walrus." Magical Mystery Tour, EMI studios, 1967.

Again, many people believe walrus to be the Greek word for corpse. In "Glass Onion",

one of the lyrics states that the walrus is Paul. Although, if looked into, one can find

that there is no word walrus in the Greek language, discounting this theory.

The Beatles. "Let it Be." Let it Be, Apple Records, 1970.

"Let it be" is backtracked to say, "He's been dead." This one also does not sound like that

unless you read the subtitles on the video.

The Beatles. "Glass Onion." The Beatles, EMI studios, 1968.

"The walrus was Paul" backtracked to say, "Paul took the wrong road." People believe

that walrus is the Greek word for corpse. Although, there is no such word as walrus in the

Greek language.

The Beatles. "Revolution 9." The Beatles, EMI studios, 1968.

The male voice repeating number nine at the beginning can be backtracked and heard

saying, "Turn me on, dead man." It does not help that the song sounds quite ominous. In

addition, this could be a "A Day in the Life" reference, because Paul came up with the

"I'd love to turn you on" lyric. Other than that, there is really no way to connect these

heard noises to a Paul getting in a car accident and dying.

The Beatles. "Strawberry Fields Forever." Magical Mystery Tour, EMI studios, 1967.
 At the end of the song, you can hear John saying something faintly in the background.

Some people think he says, "I buried Paul", which adds some evidence to the rumor. To

me, it sounds just as much like "I buried Paul" as it sounds like "I'm very bored" or "I'm

very poor."

Volkay, Chris. "Is This Article on Conspiracies Part of a Conspiracy?" Skeptical Inquirer,

October 2007.

Many people believe that Paul died in a car accident in 1966 and was replaced by

a double. One website even has voice comparisons of pre-1966 Paul and Post-

1966 Paul. It also makes facial comparisons of pictures taken before that time and

after. Just because there is a ton of evidence to support the Paul is dead theory

does not mean this conspiracy is true. The author goes on to prove why everything

in the world of conspiracies is opposite of what it is in reality.