The phrase comes from the Paul is dead conspiracy theory that spread among Beatles fans in the late 1960s, when listeners claimed hidden clues in songs and album art suggested Paul McCartney had died and been replaced. Fans misheard a mumbled line at the end of Strawberry Fields Forever as I buried Paul, and the line became one of the most quoted pieces of supposed evidence. It later lived on in memes, reaction videos and conspiracy edits, where it still works as a shorthand joke for secret deaths and hidden messages.