'Paul McCartney Is Dead' is a death hoax that began in 1969, alleging that the famous Beatles member died in 1966.The British boy band are said to have covered up McCartney's death, despite hinting of it in their songs and artwork.

According to the original story of the Paul McCartney Is Dead hoax, the Beatles member stormed out of a session for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, got into his Austin Healey and crashed it, resulting to his untimely death.

The Paul McCartney Is Dead tale says McCartney was said to have been replaced by a lookalike named William Sheppard or William Shears Campbell, after dying in the car crash.

The truth behind the Paul McCartney Is Dead hoax is that the crash never actually happened. From Nov. 6 to 19, 1966 McCartney and his then girlfriend Jane Asher were on a getaway, traveling through France and Kenya.

There were a few related incidents that took place that might have fueled the hoax. McCartney crashed his moped on Dec. 26, 1965 which lead to a chipped tooth and a scar on his top lip that he hid by growing a growing a moustache.

On Jan. 7, 1967, McCartney's Mini Cooper was also involved in an accident along the M1 motorway outside London but was written off later on. The Paul McCartney Is Dead hoax failed to report however that the car was being driven by Mohammed Hadjij, a Moroccan student, and the Beatles member was not present at that time.

Hadjij worked as an assistant to Robert Fraser, a London art gallery. Fraser and his assistant showed up at McCartney's home on Jan. 7 and were later joined by Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, and an antiques dealer named Christopher Gibbs.

The group decided to stop by Jagger's house in Hertfordshire, before heading to Redlands, Richards' Sussex mansion. McCartney hitched for a ride with Jagger in his Mini Cooper while Hadjij drove in the Beatles member's Mini.

One of the premises of the Paul McCartney Is Dead hoax was that McCartney died in that crash especially after it lead to the heavily customized car being totaled.