Conspirators hiding clues to their secret conspiracies in plain sight is a running theme through many of these theories, despite the fact it makes no sense. Take the "Paul is dead" legend, for example: we know that Paul McCartney died in a car crash in 1966 and replaced with a look-a-like, because it's all there in The Beatles' music! If you play I'm So Tired it sounds a bit like they're saying "Paul is dead man, miss him miss him miss him"! On Strawberry Fields Forever John Lennon sings "I buried Paul! (Well, according to the lyric book he says "cranberry sauce", but they don't want to make it too easy for us, eh). The cover of Abbey Road is a funeral procession, with Paul barefoot and out of step because he's dead! For the most part the rumours died out in 1969 when McCartney gave an interview with Life magazine, but some haven't given up so easily. There's a different crowd, genre-wise (if not intelligence-wise) who believe an eerily similar conspiracy theory: that the real Slim Shady cannot stand up, because he also died in a car crash some years ago and has also been replaced by a doppelganger. Which might explain why all of his pop culture references are so out of date. This theory began with a spoof news article that cropped up online in the early 00s, and has continued to rear its ugly head every couple of years. So where's the proof this time? Well, Marshall Mathers has a few songs about split personalities, including Evil Twin, plus he has started to look different as he got older. As all people do. Ahem. There rumours are an interesting flip-side to the Elvis/Tupac faked deaths, since the burden of proof is on the believers. Sure, you can claim Tupac and Elvis are still alive, but hiding - that's why we never see them! McCartney and Shady being replaced by actors, though? Bit of a stretch.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
