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* From a Northern Star article in September of 2014…
The ghost of Paul McCartney may one day haunt — or maybe it’s already haunting — the Northern Star office.
Rumors of McCartney’s death began in 1966 after the Beatles’ bassist was supposedly in a fatal accident and was replaced by a lookalike. Several journalists, including the Star’s Barb Ulvilden, wrote about the rumors in September 1969, causing international controversy. The rumors spread to the point that Life magazine sent reporters to Scotland to interview and take a photo of McCartney.
Ulvilden’s column, which was published 45 years ago today, spiked popularity about the topic and has been cited by conspiracy theorists and authors when perpetuating the urban legend.
Ulvilden’s column describe how the cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” featured a left-handed guitar (McCartney was the only lefty in the band) on a grave in front of the Beatles. She also said three of The Beatles attended a Bob Dylan concert but “Paul was conspicuously absent” and playing “Revolution 9” allowed listeners to hear someone saying, “Turn on, dead man.”
It was “Turn me on, dead man,” but whatevs.
* From a Northern Star editorial a couple of days ago…
The Northern Star Editorial Board would like to sincerely apologize to Paul McCartney, a musical icon, for our false Sept. 23, 1969, print issue that unethically speculated that he was dead.
In 2004, the Star finally decided to yield to the truth that McCartney is not dead in an article covering the sordid history of the “Paul is dead” rumors.
However, it has recently come to light that our infamous 1969 article was plagiarized from a Times-Delphic article written a week prior to our article. The Times-Delphic is the student-run newspaper of Drake University.
To the Times-Delphic, we sincerely apologize for plagiarizing your journalistic efforts.
With our 1969 publication, we helped support the untrue, international conspiracy theory that McCartney had been replaced by a lookalike. For that, the Northern Star would like to apologize – even if it comes 54 years late.
We understand the annoyance that McCartney reported in multiple interviews regarding the rumor. We truly apologize for our contribution to supporting an unfounded conspiracy theory.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 10:38 am
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Better late than never I suppose.
Comment by Stones Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 10:44 am
Plagiarizing false conspiracy reporting. Ahead of their time
Comment by Walker Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 10:48 am
Are the students behind the 1969 fiasco good-standing members of the Fox News or Newsmax companies?
Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 10:56 am
I worked in the computer lab used by journalism students when I was at NIU.
None of this surprises me.
I will say this, the journalism professors were a lot more colorful than my CS profs and a lot more cynical.
The journalism students were a lot easier to deal with than the CS students.
Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 11:03 am
Chicago TV media should take notice…
Comment by NIU Grad Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 11:28 am
But the walrus is still Paul, right?
Comment by Stu Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 11:36 am
Trolling to get Sir Paul’s attention now, is my guess.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 11:36 am
===But the walrus is still Paul, right?===
No. I think it’s Ringo.
:)
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 11:38 am
I sure hope the plagiarist didn’t go on to work in journalism.
Comment by Big Dipper Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 12:29 pm
To be clear, “Turn me on dead man” was the supposed message one could hear by playing the “Revolution #9″ backwards on the record player.
Comment by Gravitas Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 12:35 pm
Will we get an apology from the Chicago Tribune for “Dewey Defeats Truman”
Comment by The fullbird Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 1:21 pm
According Ferris Bueller, John was the walrus (and I quote:)
Ferris: Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people.
Comment by Jerry Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 1:30 pm
But there’s a hand over Paul on the Sgt. Pepper album cover, surely it’s the Grim Reaper (it’s actually Issy Bohn, British comedian).
Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 2:56 pm
I wonder if there’s an overlap between those who believed Paul was dead, and those who refused to believe starting 8 years later that Elvis was indeed dead.
Comment by Stuck in Celliniland Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 3:04 pm
===and those who refused to believe starting 8 years later that Elvis was indeed dead===
And those who believe bizarre stuff like this (read the comments if you dare) https://twitter.com/LeadingReport/status/1706419177437737067
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 3:13 pm
I do know Veruca Salt has admitted one key fact: The Seether’s Louise.
Comment by George Ryan Reynolds Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 5:02 pm
That was a hoax, right?
Comment by JP Altgeld Tuesday, Sep 26, 23 @ 6:02 pm