“This album contains more clues than any other. I advise you to grab your LP or CD so you can check out the clues as I cover them.
Want to see the map of the people on the cover, check out the legend of Sgt. Pepper’s cover here.
FRONT COVER CLUES
This is the first occasion where we see an open palm above Paul McCartney’s head. There are many different theories as to what this signifies. It is generally taken to mean either that the person under the open palm will soon die or has recently passed away. As you will see, this turns up quite a few times. “A common story for the alleged death is that on Wednesday, 9 November 1966 at 5 am, McCartney, while working on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, stormed out of a recording session after an argument with the other Beatles and rode off in his Austin-Healey which he subsequently crashed into a lamp post, and died.
That story was pieced together from the lyrics of multiple Beatles songs:
According to the story, McCartney’s place in The Beatles (as well as his private life) was then taken by ‘William Shears Campbell’, who, it is suggested, was the winner of a McCartney look-alike contest. Other suggested names for the replacement include Billy Shears (the name of the fictitious leader of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), William Sheppard (based on the alleged inspiration for the song “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”), or some combination of these names.”