Interdasting how HuffPo presents the PID theory (viral marketing exmple). Also, a useful timeline of the development of the theory:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sable/when-viral-becomes-infect_b_9517826.html
Fall of 1968 - Rolling Stone reported that someone had approached the magazine with a list of clues that Paul McCartney was dead. Rolling Stone dismissed the story at the time because "'the trouble with his death cry was that too many people had seen Paul alive and it was the same old Paul…' But the rumor persisted and led at least a few inquisitive people to examine their Beatles albums and begin playing their records backwards."
September 17, 1969 - The story spread through college newspapers…the earliest piece was by Tim Harper, whose article appeared in the college newspaper of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. "Harper later claimed he was writing for entertainment purposes only, and said he got the information from a fellow student, Dartanyan Brown. Mr Brown is said to have got the story from a musician who had heard it on the Californian west coast, and that he also read the story in an underground newspaper."
September 23, 1969 - The University of Illinois' student newspaper, the Northern Star, picked up the story and ran it as an article a week later, as did other college newspapers in that part of the country.
October 12 1969 - The story was broadcast by a radio station in Detroit when DJ Russ Gibb received a call about the rumor and look-alike claim and the subtle hints to it in Abbey Road and other Beatles albums.
October 14, 1969 - The article that did the most to propel the "Paul is dead" rumor was written by a University of Michigan student named Fred LaBour. LaBour's article appeared in the October 14, 1969, edition of the Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan's newspaper, just two days after the call to Russ Gibb. Faced with the task of writing a review of Abbey Road, LaBour wrote a tongue-in-cheek obituary of the Beatles…Many of the elements of the rumor that have been repeated countless times were products of LaBour's imagination. He created the identity of Paul's replacement, William Campbell, and he asserted the walrus was an image of death, stating "Walrus is Greek for corpse."
October 19, 1969 - Shortly afterwards, Russ Gibb coproduced a one-hour special called "The Beatle Plot," giving the rumor greater prominence; by then it was well on its way to becoming a national, then international, talking point, inspiring fans to pore over their albums for further clues.
October 21, 1969 - "Roby Yonge, a disc jockey at New York radio station WABC, discussed the rumor on the air for over an hour before being pulled off the air for breaking format." Recycling many of the "clues" from the previous sources, he also contends that a research team of 30 students at Indiana University has been put on the case. Yonge plainly states that some of the clues only emerge "if you really get really, really high…on some, you know, like, mind-bending drug," but this proviso didn't seem to undermine his confidence in the shaky web of connections.
October 1969 - Rolling Stone ran an article called "One and One and One Is Three?" in late October, explaining how the rumor got started and discussing some of the clues.
Halloween 1969 - "Broadcast on Halloween night, 1969, on Buffalo, NY's WKBW, the show [employed] several of the station's DJs, who constructed a detailed and dramatic narrative of Paul's death."
November 1969 - The New York Times ran its second article on the persistent rumor in early November, this one titled "No, No, No, Paul McCartney Is Not Dead."
November 7, 1969 - The rumor became widespread when Life magazine tracked down Paul and photographed him - the cover story "Paul Is Still With Us" helped the rumor begin to die down.
November 30, 1969 - "F. Lee Bailey, a famous, high-profile U.S. trial attorney known for defending controversial clients…, became involved in the action with an hour-long TV show cross-examining some of the students who first offered the claim" and the show was broadcast on WOR-TV station in New York.
1970 - The Beatles all denied…According to Ringo, "It's all a load of crap." When asked if he had intentionally placed any of the clues, John denied it in similar terms, "No. That was bullshit, the whole thing was made up."
Summer of 2005 - A package arrived at the Hollywood offices of Highway 61 Entertainment from London with no return address. Inside were two mini-cassette audio tapes dated December 30, 1999, and labeled "The Last Testament of George Harrison." A voice eerily similar to Harrison's tells a shocking story: Paul McCartney was killed in a car crash in November of 1966 and replaced with a double! British intelligence MI5 had forced the Beatles to cover up McCartney's death to prevent mass suicides of Beatle fans.
2009 - David Letterman interviewed Paul McCartney about it.
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