P.I.D.

Paul Is Dead...

From www.wikipedia.org

"Paul is dead" is an urban legend alleging that Paul McCartney of the British rock band The Beatles died in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike and sound-alike.

Evidence for McCartney's death consists of "clues" found among the Beatles' many recordings, most of which are treated as if they were deliberately placed by The Beatles or others—as if McCartney's death was a mystery to be solved by the public.

Purported clues include statements allegedly heard when a song is played backwards, symbolism found in obscure lyrics, and ambiguous imagery on album covers. A few of them are well known, such as the fact that McCartney is the only barefoot Beatle and is out of step with the others on the cover of Abbey Road, but others are far more obscure, such as the allegation that bisecting the words printed on the drum on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover shows a coded message.

It is often unclear whether proponents spread this story as a joke or as a real conspiracy theory. The rumour has been the topic of much sociological examination because its development, growth, and rebuttal took place very publicly, due to the Beatles' enormous popularity and propensity for hidden messages and double meanings in their songs, as well as in their album titles and artwork.

Many fans have claimed that the rumour was a hoax perpetrated by The Beatles, either as a joke, or to stimulate record sales (the initial call placed to Russ Gibb coincided with the release of Abbey Road). This was denied numerous times by all four band members.

Longtime "Paul is dead" expert Joel Glazier wrote1 a 1978 treatise which included a theory suggesting John Lennon's love of wordplay and clever studio editing may have been responsible for the more bizarre clues in later albums, and that after Charles Manson claimed The Beatles were hiding references to an upcoming racial war in their song "Helter Skelter", the band members may have chosen not to reveal the joke.