I remember this. I was in kindergarten or first grade I think, and I remember crying on the school playground after they told me about it. It was back and forth between believing them or my Dad's denial, and I finally went with my Dad (with maybe a hint of suspicion remaining).

I remember there was a group of about 6 or 7 kids in my high school (yes, I am that old) who believed this story passionately. They claimed there were visual clues on album covers, clues in song lyrics, messages in Beatles songs played backwards, and a bunch of other horseshit surrounding the story. One of my earliest exposures to disinformation.

I remember this well.
There was even a "trial" on television about it.
One of the "clues" was that he was on the cover of LIFE magazine, there was a car ad on the opposite side, and some people tried saying it was proof that he died in a car accident.
Thing is, if you held the page to the light, the car ad was visible through the paper.
Even as a kid, I knew it was garbage, and Paul wasn't dead.
So fucking dumb.

I remember the story and how there were supposedly clues embedded in the Magically Mystery Tour album ("I am the walrus" supposedly meaning Paul was dead, "dragged a comb across my head" supposedly meaning a head injury, etc.), and the White Album (Revolution Number Nine played backwards sounds like "turn me on dead man). Of course it was all bullshit, but the harmless fun of it contrasts sharply with the decidedly nasty and dangerous lies from anti-vaxxers, neo-fascist seditionists, conspiracy theorists, and general self-promoters we are inundated with today.

Shocked I'm not hearing this from Qanon, but no, it's a fiction, like Jesus, Moses, and the torments of early Christian cult members they call martyrs. Sure some Christians were killed early on, but it's less then a thousand to one verses the other way around after the Christians took over and started torturing and burning pagans and Gnostic Christians.
Also history is written by the winners....

I call bullshit

It's a good story I'm surprised it never got made in to a "Tales of the unexpected" episode.

Almost as good as the twilight zone episode "The Once and Future King" where an obsessed Elvis impersonator manages to steal a time machine to go back in time and meet his idol before his big break, but accidentally kills Elvis after "the King" attacks the traveler for playing devil's music and for being the ghost of his dead brother Jessie. When Elvis accidentally impales himself on his own broken guitar, the time traveler is forced to live Presley's life for him and even endure the same humiliating death.

No, I never believed it. Humans love conspiracy theories.