Attention Conspiracy Theorists: Did John Lennon Sell His Soul?

A new book is coming in December from New Chapter Press that asks whether John Lennon sold his soul to Satan in exchange for his musical success. The Lennon Prophecy, A New Examination of the Death Clues of the Beatles by Joseph Niezgoda will interpret the hidden messages and symbols that have supposedly been littering the Beatles landscape for many years.

According to the press release, "Niezgoda dissects and examines the Beatles' and Lennon's recordings and album artwork and follows a fascinating and unique trail of sorcery, mysticism, numerology, backward masking, anagrams and literary and theological writings to explain his conclusions."

The Lennon Prophecy puts forth the theory that a 20-year-old Lennon, so disillusioned with a life of sadness and disappointment where he was abandoned by his father and stricken with the death of his mother, entered into a deal with the devil to achieve fame and fortune. Niezgoda alleges that a 20-year pact began in December of 1960, shortly before a night when Beatlemania first struck audiences on December 27, 1960, when the Fab Four played at Town Hall Ballroom in Litherland, England. During that performance, as Niezgoda writes, "The Beatles evoked a response noticeably different from anything in their past." From there, The Beatles inexplicably and immediately shot to global fame at a level never seen before or since. The 20-year pact came to its tragic conclusion on December 8, 1980, when Mark David Chapman, who testified he was possessed by demons, fulfilled the end of the contract by murdering Lennon outside of his apartment at The Dakota in New York City.

Clues foretelling the death of Lennon are revealed in album covers such as Rubber Soul, Yesterday and Today, A Collection of Beatles Oldies, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Yellow Submarine, Magical Mystery Tour, Abbey Road as well as Lennon solo albums Imagine and Walls and Bridges. Songs that also reveal the mysterious prediction of death and connections to the devil include Tomorrow Never Knows, I Am The Walrus, Come Together, One After 909, Let It Be, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolution No. 9, which Niezgoda reveals is in itself a step-by-step preview of the actual assassination. The video for the biggest hit off Lennon's last album (Just Like) Starting Over also reveals an intriguing clue that brings the literary world of James Joyce into the myriad clues.

Lennon's alleged anti-Christian behavior as well as his infamous declaration that the Beatles were "Bigger than Jesus" are also presented as evidence of a possible pact. Niezgoda also dispels the "Paul-is-Dead" mythology that theorized that the Beatles inserted clues in their songs how Paul McCartney was killed in a car crash.