In mid-September 1969, The Beatles were preparing for the release of their penultimate album, Abbey Road, and bracing themselves for an impending breakup, while conspiracy and conjecture swirled hundreds of miles away in the cornfields and sleepy highways of northern Illinois and Iowa. Despite being a world apart from the hustle and bustle of New York City and London, this area of the States became a hotspot for one of the biggest hoaxes in rock history.
“Paul McCartney is dead, and the band replaced him with a body double.”
Videos by American Songwriter
How an Illinois College Town Fueled the Conspiracy Flames
On September 23, 1969, Northern Illinois University’s college newspaper, Northern Star, published a conspiracy theory claiming that The Beatles’ bassist, Paul McCartney, was dead. The man who looked like McCartney was merely a body double. The headline was enough to attract a massive campus-wide readership: “Something Wrong With McCartney? Clues Hint At Possible Beatle Death.” Northern Star’s story claimed McCartney died in a car accident years earlier, and the band replaced him with a lookalike so no one would know.
Armchair historians often trace the “Paul is dead” rumor back to the Northern Illinois University campus. But as it turns out, a different university paper ran the same story six days earlier. Tim Harper of Drake University’s Times-Delphic penned that piece, which provided the inspiration for Barb Ulvilden’s at NIU. “I was the first one to put it all together,” Harper said in an interview later that year. “I knew when I wrote the story that it wasn’t true.”
In a 2013 interview with his old paper, Harper told the Times-Delphic he didn’t even own a Beatles record at the time. “I talked to others who might know about the rumor or something about The Beatles,” he explained. Harper pulled “clues” from various Beatles albums, including the covers of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour; lyrics from the White Album, particularly in “Glass Onion”; and effects on “Revolution No. 9” that included audio that sounded like “a spectacular auto crash.”
The story spread like wildfire. Most notably, it transferred from the Times-Delphic to Northern Star. From there, the rumor continued to grow throughout the upper Midwest, becoming so prominent in newspapers, radio shows, and television programs that McCartney felt the need to respond.
Paul McCartney Reacts to Rumors About His Death
While rumors about Paul McCartney were picking up steam in college towns across Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan, the soon-to-be ex-Beatle was spending time with his family in Scotland. McCartney was eager to be out of the public eye amidst growing tensions in the band and rigorous business dealings. However, he ended his respite early to respond to the growing Beatles conspiracy that he was actually dead. Somewhat ironically, he did so with an interview with Life.
The magazine’s cover featured McCartney with his arm wrapped around his wife, Linda McCartney, as they stood with their two children in the countryside. It was an idyllic setting that, based on McCartney’s comments to the press, was something he wanted to return to as quickly as possible.
“Perhaps the rumor started because I haven’t been much in the press lately. I have done enough press for a lifetime, and I don’t have anything to say these days,” McCartney said. “I am happy to be with my family, and I will work when I work. The people who are making up these rumors should look to themselves a little more. There is not enough time in life. They should worry about themselves instead of worrying whether I am dead or not.
“Can you spread it around that I am just an ordinary person and want to live in peace?” He continued. “We have to go now. We have two children at home.”
On September 24, 2023, the Northern Star issued an apology to both McCartney and Tim Harper and the Times-Delphic. “We understand the annoyance that McCartney reported in multiple interviews regarding the rumor,” the NIU paper’s statement read. “We truly apologize for our contribution to supporting an unfounded conspiracy theory.”
Photo by Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns