Video: 'Paul McCartney Died in 1966: Here's the 'Proof''

(Wednesday, November 9, 1966, 5:00 a.m. GMT) — Paul McCartney, 24, of The Beatles was supposedly killed in a car crash today after storming out of a session for the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album and getting into his Austin Healey car, according to the “Paul is dead” hoax that would circulate in late 1969.

According to the hoax, the surviving Beatles, aided by Britain’s MI5, replaced him with a McCartney look-alike to spare the public from grief, subsequently communicating this secret through subtle details of their albums.

Proponents perceived clues among elements of Beatles songs and cover artwork; clue-hunting proved infectious, and by October 1969 had become an international phenomenon.

Video: 'The Beatles - Paul McCartney on Safari Home Movies, November 1966'

In reality, McCartney, who flew to France on Sunday, Nov. 6, 1966, was actually spending the week driving through the French countryside before meeting up with road manager Mal Evans at Bordeaux on Nov, 12, 1966.

McCartney and Evans would drive to Seville, Spain, fly to Madrid and have a layover in Rome before eventually ending up in Nairobi, Kenya, for a safari vacation.

The two returned to London on Nov. 19, 1966, five days before the band’s first recording studio session in five months.