Turn Me On Dead Man

The Story

The origin of the Paul is dead story has never been confirmed. The most popular belief is that the clues began at Northern Illinois University in 1969. As a joke, "clues" that proving that Paul had died and was replaced by a look-alike appeared in their school newpaper. Shortly after this, Detroit radio DJ, Russell Gibb, listed clues from an "underground newspaper." Newspapers began spreading the clues and several people began believing their joke.

According to the story, Paul was supposedly killed in a car crash. At five AM on a Wednesday morning in November, 1966, he drove his car and took his eyes off the road to look at a meter maid. He didn't see the lights change, and the car crashed. The car burst into flames and crowds of people gathered around the site of the accident. The person inside was badly mangled and hard to identify. He suffered severe head injuries and his teeth were knocked out, so he couldn't be identified by dental records. All they knew was that he was a young man with dark hair.

Shortly after the crash, a Paul McCartney look alike contest was held. The winner was William Campbell, who was chosen to replace Paul. He underwent plastic surgery and filled in for him. Then, they began putting clues into their songs to tell their fans of Paul's death...

Album Cover Clues

Yesterday and Today "Butcher Cover": The raw meat that the Beatles hold in this picture symbolizes how mangled Paul's body became during the crash. On Paul's arm, there are false teeth (his teeth were knocked out). The baby dolls are decapitated, symbolizing the severe head wounds Paul suffered. George is holding a doll's head next to Paul's head, also for his head injuries. Another reason why George is holding a head is because he was the "head" of the plans to cover up the "Butcher Cover"...

Yesterday and Today "Trunk Cover": This was pasted over the "Butcher Covers." Instead of having the other covers destroyed, George decided that they should cover them up with this picture (They were "covering up" Paul's death). If you look at this sideways, Paul appears to be in a coffin. On Paul's upper lip, there is a scar that was never there before.

Revolver: Paul is looking to the side, as if he doesn't belong. If you look carefully in one of the pictures, you can see an open palm above his head, a symbol of death.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: There are tons of clues on this one. First of all, Paul is holding a black musical instrument (symbolizing death). The other Beatles are facing slightly sideways and look more three-dimensional than Paul. He is facing forward and looks more like a cardboard cut-out. The whole scene looks like a funeral, with the wax figure of Ringo looking very sad and mournful and both the word "Beatles" and a left-handed bass in flowers. There are three sticks on the bass, meaning that there are three remaining Beatles. Some people think that the bass looks like it spells "Paul?" I see some of it, but it looks like the "A" and "P" are switched around. Above Paul's head is another open palm. Many of the people in the crowd were dead or outdated. If you hold a mirror horizontally across the words "Lonely Hearts," it says "One 1 One X He Die". This means that there are three Beatles (the three ones) and one is gone (the "X"). Between the words "He" and "Die," there is a shape that points to Paul. Near the cloth figure of Shirley Temple, there is a bloody driving glove. The car on her lap is the same model as the one that Paul "died in." Inside, there is a picture of the Beatles. On Paul's arm there is a patch that says "O.P.D." This stands for "Officially Pronounced Dead" in Canada. On the back on the record, George's thumb points to the words "Wednesday morning at five o'clock," the time of the accident. Paul is facing backwards because he doesn't belong. The hands of the other Beatles spell "L-ve," with Paul's "O" missing (he is the missing link). Paul looks taller in this picture, because he is "rising up."

Magical Mystery Tour: There was a picture booklet that was included with the record. In one picture, Paul is wearing a crushed hat (head injuries). While all the Beatles wear red carnations, Paul has a black one (this can also be seen in the "Magical Mystery Tour" film during "Your Mother Should Know"). In another one, Paul is sitting at a desk that says "I was" on it. On the cover, there is a black walrus, a symbol of death in a some parts of Europe. When the cover is held upside down, the letters in "Beatles" appear to spell out a phone number. I've heard two stories about this number. One says that it was the phone number of a London funeral home. The other one says that if you call this number, a voice says "You're getting closer" and abruply cuts off. If you look at the back sideways, it kind of looks like it says "RIP."

The White Album: There aren't any clues on the cover. Inside, there is a picture of Paul with a noticable scar on his upper lip. In another picture(on page 7 of the booklet), it looks like the hands of a skeleton are grabbing at him.

Yellow Submarine: John's hand is above Paul's head, the third time we've seen this symbol (you can't see it in this picture because the top got cut off a little). John is holding up three fingers (three remaining Beatles). The submarine is kind of like a coffin, resting in the hill. Some people, however, don't think these clues count because it says "nothing is real" on the cover.

Abbey Road: If you look in the background (hard to see in this picture), the liscence plate on the VW Bug says "LMW 28IF." I've heard that the "LMW" stands for "Linda McCartney Weeps." The "28IF" part means that Paul would have been 28 years old...if he had lived. The cover is a funeral procession, John is the preacher (wearing white), Ringo is the Pallbearer (wearing black), Paul is the corpse (barefoot, as people are buried in England), and George is the gravedigger (Wearing blue jeans). Also, John wears white, the mourning color of the Eastern world, and Ringo wears black, the mourning color of the western world.

Lyric Clues

"A Day in the Life": "He blew his mind out in a car. He didn't notice that the lights had changed. A crowd of people stood and stared. They'd seen his face before. Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of Lords."
The word "Lords" actually sounds kind of like the word "Paul" when you listen to this line, which describes the car crash.

"Don't Pass Me By": "You were in a car crash and you lost your hair."
When Paul "died" in the car crash, he lost his hair due to the head injuries.

"Eleanor Rigby": "Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walked from the grave."
This line was originally going to be about "Father McCartney."

"Glass Onion": "Well here's another clue for you all. The walrus was Paul."
A walrus is a symbol of death. "Looking through a glass onion." A glass onion is a coffin with a clear top.

"I Am the Walrus": "I am the walrus."
A walrus, as I said before, is a symbol of death.
"Bury my body...Oh untimely death!"
Near the end, these words are said (it's part of Shakespeare's "King Lear").

"She's leaving Home": "Wednesday morning at five o'clock"
This was the time of the accident.

"She Said She Said": "She said I know what it's like to be dead."
This one's pretty self-explanatory.

"Strawberry Fields Forever": "I buried Paul."
These lines are mumbled at the end of the song. John said that the line really was "Cranberry Sauce." (It sounds like he is saying "Cranberry Sauce" on Anthology 2)

"Yellow Submarine": "In the land of submarines...Sky of blue and sea of green. In our yellow submarines."
The land of submarines is a graveyard, the sea of green is the grass, and the submarines are coffins.

"You Know My Name (Look up the Number)": After the cuckoo clock chimes five times, a phone number is read off. When this number was called, a voice said "Beware of Abbey Road."

Backwards Clues

"Blue Jay Way": When played backwards, it sounds like "Paul is Bloody"

"Revolution 9": When the words "number nine" are played backwards, it sounds like "Turn me on, dead man"

"I'm So Tired": When the mumbling at the end is reversed, it sounds like "Paul is dead, man. Miss him, miss him, MISS HIM!"

"I Am the Walrus": When the ending is played backwards, it sounds a little like "Ha Ha, Paul is dead."

"Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove": When these noises are played backwards (and you use your imagination a bit), it sounds kind of like "Will Paul come back as superman?"

Other Clues

Many changes took place when William Campbell joined the Beatles. The real Paul was engaged to Jane Asher. William Campbell broke off the engagement and married Linda Eastman instead.

A voice specialist from Miami listened to Beatles recordings and heard "three Pauls" singing.