At some point in young adulthood my obsession with the Loch Ness Monster and her cryptozoological ilk started giving way to an obsession with the Beatles. While I loved their music, it was something else that made it truly an obsession. It was the mystery of it all. Much like other big fans (such as Charles Manson and the David Berkowitz) I liked listening for hidden messages. I liked trying to unravel songs like “Glass Onion” and “I Am the Walrus.” And, there was no mystery bigger than the one surrounding the untimely death of Paul McCartney… Somewhere around here, unless Clementine or Linette has thrown it away or sold it on Ebay, is my “Paul is Dead” journal from the fifth grade where I’d recorded all of the clues substantiating the claim.

For some reason, the other night I felt compelled to get online and wistfully stroll down memory lane, reexamining the evidence while listening to backward lyrics. And, during this little exploration, I happened upon a tiny piece of synchronicity. The whole “Paul is dead” hoax started right here, in Ypsilanti, Michigan!

Here’s a clip from a site memorializing the Detroit rock station WKNR, the entity credited with popularizing the “Paul is dead” conspiracy theory:

On October 12, 1969… Russ Gibb, working on WKNR-FM heard from an Eastern Michigan University student about a series of clues that seemed to point to Paul’s death. The story took on a life of its own… and Russ received credit for making it a national story.

It was a Sunday afternoon in Detroit when Uncle Russ took the call. He had just played some tracks from the Abby Road album and turned to the phone lines for his customary “rap” with his listeners. Eastern Michigan University student Tom Zarski was on the line. “I was going to rap with you about McCartney being dead and what is this all about?”

Gibb told us that his mind immediately went back to the Dylan is Dead rumor that circulated after the poet’s serious motorcycle crash in 1967. He began to review the litany of rumors floating around about the current crop of rock celebrities. Tom was insistent, claiming that there were clues on the Beatle’s records. “..play Revolution Number Nine backwards,” he said.

WKNR-FM’s audience heard “Turn me on, dead man” for the first time.

An audio clip from that origninal call can be heard on this recording of a truly bizarre documentary broadcast shortly thereafter. (It’s one of the coolest things I’ve heard in years. The next time I have a minute, I need to come back and transcribe it. Or, better yet, use a clip in a Monkey Power song next year.)

On another WKNR tribute page they track down Tom Zarski and get his side of the story. Here’s a clip:

Sunday, October 12 is a watershed date in the WKNR story. It was the afternoon when an Eastern Michigan University student called Russ Gibb with questions about a rumor that Paul McCartney was dead. For 34 years, “Tom” has existed only as an anonymous sound byte, although he was the catalyst for the broadcast that amplified the Paul Is Dead story to international proportions. In June of 2003, Keener13.com tracked Tom down and at long last, we unmask his identity and hear an account of the historic day in his own words.

“By that Sunday, Oct 12, 1969, I had spent the better part of a week going over the ‘Paul is dead’ mystery clues, keeping track of them as best I could, on paper, and in my own head. I was hoping to solve the riddle there in my Ypsilanti, Michigan apartment, that was going around on the Eastern Michigan U. campus-amongst mainly my friends. Each of them seemed to remember only one clue or so that they had heard, and brought it to me. I was simply stumped at trying to find significance in a notion that one of the Beatles had died, if only figuratively speaking, as part of some story -legend, and nobody officially acknowledged it, or if so, why they wouldn’t?”

According to Wikipedia (see first link), this was followed two days later by an article in the Michigan Daily entitled, “McCartney Dead; New Evidence Brought to Light.” And the rest, as they say, is history. Before you knew it, it had been completely swallowed up by popular culture. (The issue of the Batman comic pictured can be found here, and information on the other comic shown can be found here.)

I haven’t seen it yet, but a few years ago a documentary came out about the “Paul is dead” phenomenon. The trailer, which includes a clip of Tom Zarski, can be found here. Zarski, by the way, comes across in some of the material as a little bitter. Interviewed not too long ago at his Roswell, Georgia home, he indicated that felt responsible for jumpstarting the Beatles’ flagging records sales. (According to Zarski, the sales of “Abbey Road” were falling off up until the point when the rumor broke. He points out that he got nothing for his contribution.)

And so, with all of that having been said, I want to announce that, in the very near future, Linette and I will be adding “Paul is dead” products to our line of Let’s Put Ypsi on the Fucking Map clothing. (We just need to think of a way to show “the cute one” dying in a horrible automobile crash (perhaps crashing into Ypsi’s famous water tower) that isn’t too disturbing.) Yes, soon you may be able to have your very own “Paul is dead” panty.

So, for the record, Ypsi’s got Winsor McKay, Iggy Pop, Elijah McCoy, Preston Tucker and “Paul is Dead.” Can any other town even come close? (And, if we’re ever tied in a coolness showdown with another town, we can always whip out the fact that Phyllis Diller lived here for a few months during the 40’s.) I think it’s safe for me to say, “We win.”