Did Morrissey predict the death of Princess Diana?

Here's an unusual theory. David Alice, webmaster of dianamystery.com, argues that the singer Morrissey (formerly of The Smiths) predicted the death of Princess Diana. I would dismiss it all as an elaborate joke, except that the guy seems really serious about it.

The crux of his argument (at least in the video posted below) is that one of the songs on The Smiths' album The Queen is Dead, speaks about two people getting killed together in a car crash. And this song was released as an exclusive single in France. He comes up with a variety of other clues and weird coincidences, all equally farfetched.

The guy's theory is like a strange inversion of the Paul is Dead rumor, in that the Paul is Dead rumor involved people combing through the Beatles's music to find clues referring to a car crash that had supposedly happened in the past, whereas this guy is desperately searching through Morrissey's music to find evidence that the singer was providing clues about a car crash that would happen in the future.

Death Future/Time Music

Posted on Thu Oct 11, 2007



Comments

I think this explains, at least in part, the fallacy this guy is committing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc

There's another fallacy I'm trying to remember the
name of that applies here; I'm sure someone else
will know what I'm thinking of.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Thu Oct 11, 2007  at  02:54 AM
Not necessarily "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" - it's not really clear whether the guy believes Morrissey caused Diana's death or not. I get the impression he sees Morrissey as being prophetic/precognitive.
Posted by Chris  on  Thu Oct 11, 2007  at  07:50 AM
Well its quite as my husband says - people will see what they want in certain things and you can find almost any correlation if you dig for it but I have to say if nothing else - this one is pretty spooky just the same. I'm still left thinking of tinfoil hats though...
Posted by Jean  on  Thu Oct 11, 2007  at  09:01 AM
". . . and if a 10 tonne truck
kills the both of us
to die by your side would be heavenly way to die."

Yeah, I guess replace "truck" with "center divider" and we have ourselves a conspiracy.
Posted by mumblina  on  Thu Oct 11, 2007  at  07:08 PM
Chris said:

"I get the impression he sees Morrissey as being prophetic/precognitive."

Right. I'm saying that I think he went looking for "facts" to "prove" his pre-conceived notion. In other words, he started with the conclusion and worked backwards from there.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Thu Oct 11, 2007  at  07:13 PM
I think he went looking for "facts"...

Sounds a bit Texan to me. I don't think either Post Hoc or Non Causa were conceived with subsequently invented prophecies in mind, though.

I've a theory that no one actually believes these whacked-out hypotheses and conspiracy theories etc. But there are hundreds of thousands of independent satirists, all unknowingly spoofing an attitude that only exists in a state of spoofness...
Posted by outeast  on  Fri Oct 12, 2007  at  08:25 AM
There was a feast of (S)'s in that video...
Posted by Jackie  on  Fri Oct 12, 2007  at  06:36 PM
I would also like to add that I took a look at dianamystery.com, and I am sick of the word 'correspondingly'.
Posted by Jackie  on  Fri Oct 12, 2007  at  06:43 PM
In related news Morrissey correctly guessed that "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others".
Posted by Nicolletta  on  Mon Oct 15, 2007  at  04:49 PM
It's a nice, nearly-factual musing that goes horribly wrong, like all conspiracy documentaries, when it goes ahead and connects the dots for you instead of just pointing out that "if you connect them, you could ostensibly get this shape". Quite literally. We all admire the kid who can show you a thirty-five dot mess and say "you know, this could be a house", but we run away hot in the face from the Downs boy in the drugstore who tells you he can draw a house and starts doing it by dragging his snotty finger in curvy, drooled patterns about the page. Or, something.
Posted by fazzletwat  on  Thu Oct 25, 2007  at  01:42 PM
Everyone who thinks that the moon landings were a hoax, and that 9-11 was manufactured by the Bush regime should be given a link to this website to give them something to think about.
Posted by Moz  on  Sun May 03, 2009  at  11:32 AM
I, myself actually have a really, really plausible theory as to how Princess Diana died. Well her car crashed after the driver was speeding through a narrow underpass. You don't say! And what makes this even more spookier and relevant is that every year in France, there are thousands killed in road accidents! Never!
Posted by someone  on  Mon Jun 15, 2009  at  07:24 AM
Princess Diana's perfume that was created just for her on her wedding day is being sold on ebay.
Posted by 374658hj  on  Tue Jul 21, 2009  at  12:05 PM
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