Paul McCartney is convinced that John Lennon haunted the recording of the 1995 Beatles single “Free As A Bird” – in the form of a white peacock. McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were posing for a photograph outside the studio where the track was recorded when a rare white peacock wandered in the shot at the last minute.

About the peacock McCartney said,

“I said to the other guys, ‘That’s John!’ Spooky, eh? It was like John was hanging around. We felt that all the way through the recording.”

“Free as a Bird” is a song originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. The Beatles then made a studio version of the recording, incorporating contributions from McCartney, Harrison and Starr. The song was released the week of the 15 year anniversary of Lennon’s death on The Beatles Anthology 1 record so it makes sense that the presense of Lennon was felt in the studio and during photo sessions.

Here is the photo of them after the peacock went away…

McCartney also believes John made his presence felt on the single. He said,

“We put one of those spoof backwards recordings on the end of the single for a laugh, to give all those Beatles nuts something to do. I think it was the line of a George Formby song. Then we were listening to the finished single in the studio one night, and it gets to the end, and it goes, ‘zzzwrk nggggwaaahhh jooohn lennnnnon qwwwrk.’ I swear to God. We were like, ‘It’s John. He likes it!”

Fast forward to the end it happens at around 4;30….