London: Paul the Octopus, who made it big during the World Cup this year, is dead but many believe that he has been for a long time.
Not everyone, it seems, is prepared to accept the news that the 'psychic' octopus passed away on Monday in the German aquarium where he lived.
Jiang Xiao, the director of soon to come thriller ‘Who Killed Paul the Octopus?’ said that she was "60 to 70 per cent sure' Paul had died in July and been secretly replaced by his keepers, reports The Guardian.
Xiao said she thought it was 'kind of strange' that news of Paul's death had broken not long after the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in western Germany had contacted her team to say they were keen to co-operate on the international distribution of her film.
"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," she said.
"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 per cent 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,” Xiao said.
However, a spokesperson for the aquarium dismissed the speculations as rubbish.
"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,” she said.