The Beatles never caught a break when it came to rumors, speculation, conspiracy theories, and some very bizarre mental inventions from fans. Even in the age of the internet, decades after the Fab Four quit the business, age-old conspiracy theories and rumors about them still live on today. Let’s look at a few of the most insane ones that no one should have even entertained.
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The Fab Four Actually Died and Were Replaced by Doubles
We’ve all heard of the “Paul is dead” conspiracy. But there was another similar Beatles conspiracy out there that. It was one that claimed the Fab Four were all actually dead and had been replaced by body doubles.
This bizarre rumor suggested that the spirits of The Beatles were sending “subliminal messages” from the great beyond into the song the faux-Beatles were producing in an attempt to make the truth known. The proof? On the cover of Abbey Road, one could say the position of the Fab Four (or Faux Four?) mimics a funeral procession. Just as well, the car seen in the background has the number 28 on its plate. That would be John Lennon’s age if he had lived to see the album’s release. Which he did, because this rumor was absolutely ridiculous.
John Lennon Invented the “Devil Horns”
Plenty of heavy metal legends have been credited with inventing the “devil horns” hand gesture. Ronnie James Dio (who joined Black Sabbath in 1979) is often the most-credited individual for popularizing the gesture. Dio never asserted that he invented the sign, though. KISS’ Gene Simmons would later say he invented it and even tried to patent it, which didn’t quite work out.
Oddly enough, there is a real image of John Lennon using a very similar gesture way back in the 1960s. It can be found on a promotional image for the Yellow Submarine movie in 1968. However, it is very unlikely that Lennon was throwing up Satanic gang signs. Rather, considering Lennon (and the rest of The Beatles) were very involved in Eastern philosophy a la Indian spiritualism, there’s a good chance this is a very different gesture. It appears that Lennon is using the Apan Mudra hand gesture or some derivative of it, which is used in Hinduism to regulate the flow of energy. In the same photo, Paul McCartney is using the Gyan Mudra.
The ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Curse
They really jumped through mental loops to create this entry on our list of insane Beatles rumors. The rumor goes that John Lennon had ties to Mia Farrow and Roman Polanski, who famously worked together on the 1968 horror film Rosemary’s Baby. That movie also featured the Dakota Hotel, where Lennon was assassinated in 1980. Polanski was married to Sharon Tate, who was murdered by Charles Manson’s cult. The Beatles were connected to Manson as well, as he claimed their song “Helter Skelter” was sending him subliminal messages. All of these connections, some conspiracy theorists say, mean that there was a curse over the production of Rosemary’s Baby that led to Lennon’s death.
Photo via Apple Corps Ltd.
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