Crazy life and death of Paul the Octopus who became honorary citizen of town and was at centre of conspiracy theories
EVERYONE remembers Paul the Octopus.
The globe’s favourite psychic captured our hearts with his incredible predictions during the 2010 World Cup.
He may have been a common octopus by nature, but his story is anything but – from his English origins and Spanish citizenship to his tragic death and conspiracy theories galore.
So what really did happen to Paul the Octopus?
Only one person – or octopus – knows the full, extraordinary story…
HUMBLE DORSET BEGINNINGS
It all started for Paul in the seaside Dorset town of Weymouth.
He was hatched from an egg at the Sea Life Centre before being moved to a tank in the chain’s Oberhausen venue in western Germany.
Octopuses are among the most intelligent of invertebrates on the planet with complex personalities and even long-term memories.
And it didn’t take long for Paul – named after a German children’s poem – to start displaying his incredible brain power.
But it was his interactions with the public that first grabbed the attention of Sea Life’s entertainment director.
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Daniel Fey said: “There was something about the way he looked at our visitors when they came close to the tank.
“It was so unusual, so we tried to find out what his special talents were.”
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FANTASY FOOTBALL
Those special talents, it transpired, were his inexplicable ability to predict the outcomes of football matches, propelling the octopus to worldwide fame.
It all started at Euro 2008, where Sea Life staff presented Paul with two clear plastic boxes containing a mussel to choose from – with Germany’s flag on one and their opponent on the other.
With no option for a draw, the box Paul swam to and ate from first was deemed to be his choice.
And he managed to ger four of Germany’s six Euros outcomes correct.
Incredibly, though, he went even better two years later when football’s biggest tournament headed to South Africa.
His World Cup 2010 predictions were broadcast live on a German TV news channel.
And they gained him legendary status.
He correctly tipped all three Germany’s group games – wins against Australia and Ghana either side of a defeat to Serbia – as well as their last-16 clash with England.
His fifth accurate prediction of the tournament saw Germany dump Argentina out – prompting a bitter Argentine chef to post an octopus recipe on Facebook.
Paul then went against Germany by choosing Spain for their semi-final clash – and then got both the third-place play-off and final results spot on.
The chances of getting eight correct results in a row work out as a staggering one in 256.
RECORD TRANSFER BID
Paul’s incredible record in the tank unsurprisingly led to plenty of transfer interest from Spain.
Businessmen in Carballino, north-western Spain, offered Sea Life a staggering €30,000 [£25,000] to sign Paul and have him as the main attraction at the Fiesta del Pulpo – the Octopus Festival.
But rather than having Paul in a speciality dish, they promised to keep him alive and well in a tank – for celebrating Spain fans to see and enjoy, rather than eat.
However, Sea Life rejected the transfer offer – and insisted their star was not for sale for any price.
SunSport understands Paul did not submit a transfer request or demand improved terms and conditions in Germany.
Paul the Octopus’ predictions
PAUL THE OCTOPUS predicted six Germany matches at Euro 2008 – tipping his homeland in each one and getting four correct.
Two years later, he upped his level by getting all eight predictions correct – including the final as Spain beat Holland 1-0 in Johannesburg.
He finished with 12 of 14 predictions correct – a phenomenal record of 86 per cent.
EURO 2008
- Germany vs Poland – Correct
- Croatia vs Germany – Wrong
- Austria vs Germany – Correct
- Portugal vs Germany – Correct
- Germany vs Turkey – Correct
- Germany vs Spain – Wrong
WORLD CUP 2010
- Germany vs Australia – Correct
- Germany vs Serbia – Correct
- Ghana vs Germany – Correct
- Germany vs England – Correct
- Argentina vs Germany – Correct
- Germany vs Spain – Correct
- Uruguay vs Germany – Correct
- Holland vs Spain – Correct
But despite the transfer collapsing, Paul did make a splash in Spain.
The mayor of Carballino, Carlos Montes, travelled to Germany, formally making Paul a citizen of the town then presenting his Sea Life home with a silver plaque and a replica statue of the octopus.
EARLY ACCUSATIONS
But not everyone was convinced by Paul’s psychic sensations.
Then-president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Paul “all that is wrong with the Western world”.
Some pointed out that Paul may have been attracted to the similar colours in the national flags he picked – particularly with Germany and Spain both having yellow and red.
But it is commonly appreciated that octopuses are actually colourblind.
However, the flags of Germany, Spain and Serbia do all have similar shapes with horizontal lines.
And there were even rumours swirling around the aquarium industry of a possible scandal relating to our beloved Paul.
Some suggested the octopus that made the 2010 predictions was a different animal from the one that burst on to the scene as a six-month-old youngster two years earlier – and he had instead been replaced.
The other psychic octopus
INCREDIBLY, Paul is not the only psychic octopus to go down in World Cup folklore.
Eight years on from Paul’s heroics in Germany, Rabio stepped – or swam – forward to take centre stage in Japan.
Rabio correctly predicted the outcome of his home nation’s three group-stage matches at Russia 2018.
He tipped Japan to beat Colombia, draw with Senegal and then lose to Poland – which proved spot on.
Sadly, however, Rabio was not around to make any knockout round predictions.
After the octopus’ exploits made headlines around the world, fisherman Kimio Abe went on to reveal that he had sold Rabio to market, where he went on to become seafood.
SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
Speaking of replaced, there were claims Paul actually died during his miraculous run in 2010.
Chinese film-maker Jiang Xiao – who directed Who Killed Paul The Octopus? – claimed she was “60 to 70 per cent sure” the oracle passed away in July 2010 and was secretly swapped out for another similar-looking octopus to keep the entertainment going.
Jiang, who refused to back up her claims with any evidence, said: “[They] all look the same. It is impossible to tell the difference.
“We have been keeping in touch with the German aquarium ever since the beginning [of production] but it seemed to me that they were afraid.
“The movie is about unveiling the inside story behind the octopus miracle, so they felt nervous.
“For the movie, we had done quite a lot of investigation and I am 60 to 70 per cent sure that Paul died on 9 July [two days before the World Cup final] and the Germans have been covering up his death and fooling us for a long time.”
Paul did die later in 2010, unfortunately.
His keepers checked in on him at the end of the day on October 25 and all was well – but they found him dead the following morning in shocking and distressing scenes.
Although there were suggestions there was foul play involved and that Paul may actually have been murdered.
But Sea Life Centre were keen to downplay his passing.
A spokesperson said: “It’s certainly not true that Paul died in the summer.
“We can absolutely assure you that he died last night.
“He was about two and a half, which is the average age for an octopus. He died a simple and straightforward death.”
Paul’s agent Chris Davies added: “It’s a sad day. Paul was rather special but we managed to film Paul before he left this mortal earth.”
LEGACY LIVES ON
Paul may be gone – but he has certainly not been forgotten.
A condolence book was set up immediately after his death for fans to write down their memories of the famous cephalopod.
He was given a wonderful send-off with a cremation and his ashes were put inside a golden statue of Paul at the German Football Museum in Dortmund.
There is also a memorial paying tribute to him at Sea Life Oberhausen – alongside plenty of newspaper clippings of his tank exploits.
The octopus was even used as part of England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
And lastly, Paul even made it into a Google doodle on the search engine’s homepage at the 2014 World Cup, three years after the iPhone app ‘Ask the Octopus’ was created.