Sightings of the American singer Elvis Presley have been reported following his death in 1977. The conspiracy theory that Elvis did not die and instead went into hiding was popularized by Gail Brewer-Giorgio and other authors.
Sightings of the American singer Elvis Presley have been reported following his death in 1977. The conspiracy theory that Elvis did not die and instead went into hiding was popularized by Gail Brewer-Giorgio and other authors.
The earliest known alleged sighting of Elvis, post-death, was the day after he died, in August 1977, at the Memphis International Airport: A man resembling Elvis gave the name "Jon Burrows", which was the same name Elvis used when booking hotels. [2] At that time, one could board a flight without ID, using only their plane ticket.
A series of alleged sightings took place in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the late 1980s. In California, many people believed they had seen Elvis at California's Legoland amusement park shortly after opening in 1999. It was later revealed that Elvis impersonators were hired as an attraction to commemorate Presley. [3]
In late 1988, record label LS Records released the song "Spelling on the Stone", sung by an unknown vocalist purporting to be Presley. The song's narrative suggested that Presley had not actually died. Airplay received by the song on country music formats caused a number of listeners to call in to radio stations and report sightings of the singer after hearing the song, while program directors of said stations debated whether or not the song's vocal track was actually Presley. [4]
The song may have been a response to the 1988 book by Gail Brewer-Giorgio, Is Elvis Alive?, purporting that he was. Eddie Clontz, editor of the Weekly World News, not only parleyed an article about this book into a headline of "Elvis is Alive", but, upon the enthusiastic response of readers, kept it going, taking any claim mailed in that a reader had seen Elvis and treating it as fact:
We’d say Elvis was still alive and run a picture of what Elvis would have looked like at that time. We’d get dozens of phone calls. If someone calls and says, “I saw Elvis,” you didn’t try to disprove the headline. — Iain Calder
The tabloid newspaper produced a whole series of articles, each claiming to track some further appearance or adventure of the secretly-living Elvis. The "story" of this Elvis progressed, including an incident where he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident (replete with photo), recovered, traveled through the Northwest and Canada, et cetera. [5]
Altogether, the Elvis Saga at WWN went on for at least 57 different articles. However, in 1992, the Weekly World News wrapped up the storyline with the headline "Elvis Dead at 58".
Elvis was rumored to have appeared in the background of an airport scene in the 1990 film Home Alone . It was alleged that the bearded man wearing a turtleneck and a sports jacket, who could be seen over the left shoulder of Catherine O'Hara's character while she is arguing with an airline employee, was Elvis. Paranormal researcher Ben Radford responded to Elvis sighting believers with, "Why fake your death and then turn up as an extra in a popular movie? How could the cast and crew have failed to notice the presence of one of the most famous figures in the world? Even if he looked very different, could he have disguised his voice and mannerisms?" Radford was challenged to find the actor who played that part to prove it was not Elvis. He explained that the burden of proof was on the person making the claim. [6] In an interview with USA Today , director Chris Columbus responded, "If Elvis was on the set, I would have known." [7]
After being challenged by Radford to locate the true identity of this extra, Kenny Biddle investigated and found the man to be Gary Richard Grott, who died of a heart attack in February 2016. Biddle located Grott's son, Roman, who explained that his father was indeed the extra in the airport scene of Home Alone, and that he had known director Chris Columbus personally. Because of this he appeared in a number of his movies as an extra, including Home Alone. [8]
Bill Bixby, who co-starred with Elvis in Clambake and Speedway , hosted two television specials investigating the conspiracy: The Elvis Files (1991) [9] and The Elvis Conspiracy (1992). [10] The conspiracy was also featured in the 1990 video game, Les Manley in: Search for the King , where the titular hero attempts to find Elvis (known in the game as "the King") to win a million-dollar contest. [11] Bixby was later lampooned on the sketch TV show In Living Color , where Jim Carrey played Bixby as he and a group of hunters track down Elvis in the manner of Bigfoot.
In January 2015, a fake news website claimed that an 80-year-old homeless man in San Diego named Jessie had been posthumously identified by DNA evidence as being Elvis Presley. [12] A similar-looking man was seen working as a groundskeeper for Graceland in 2016, and was also believed to be Elvis. [13] Some believe that Elvis attended his own 82nd birthday.[ citation needed ] An old man with security guards around him, all grey hair, grey beard, sunglasses and a ball cap on, was believed by conspiracy theorists to be Elvis. [14]
Some believe that Elvis was involved with the Mafia during his time as a rock star, served as an undercover agent and was found out. Thus, they believe he faked his own death to try to escape their wrath. [15]
The frequency of Elvis sighting claims became famous in the 1980s, growing into a pop culture phenomenon in and of itself.
Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III was an American actor, director, producer, and frequent game-show panellist. Bixby's career spanned more than three decades, including appearances on stage, in films, and on television series. He is known for his roles in the CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian as Tim O'Hara, in the ABC sitcom The Courtship of Eddie's Father as Tom Corbett, in the NBC crime drama series The Magician as stage Illusionist Anthony Blake, and the CBS science-fiction drama series The Incredible Hulk as Dr. David Banner.
Elvis Aaron Presley, also known mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Known as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.
Graceland is a mansion on a 13.8-acre (5.6-hectare) estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, once owned by American singer Elvis Presley. Presley is buried there, as are his parents, paternal grandmother, grandson, and daughter.
An Elvis impersonator is an entertainer who impersonates or copies the look and sound of American musician and singer Elvis Presley. Professional Elvis impersonators, commonly known as Elvis tribute artists (ETAs), work all over the world as entertainers, and such tribute acts remain in great demand due to the unique iconic status of Elvis. In addition, there are several radio stations that exclusively feature Elvis impersonator material. Some of these impersonators go to Graceland on the anniversary of Presley's death to make their personal tribute to the artist.
Thomas Andrew Parker, commonly known as Colonel Parker, was a Dutch-American musical entrepreneur. He was best known as the manager of Elvis Presley.
"Suspicious Minds" is a 1968 song written and first recorded by the American songwriter Mark James. After this recording failed commercially, it was recorded by Elvis Presley with the producer Chips Moman. Presley's version reached No.1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, his 18th and final no. 1 single on that chart.
Elvis Presley has inspired artistic and cultural works since he entered the national consciousness. From that point, interest in his personal and public life has never stopped. Some scholars have studied many aspects of his profound cultural influence. Billboard historian Joel Whitburn declared Presley the "#1 act of the Rock era".
Clambake is a 1967 American beach party musical film directed by Arthur H. Nadel and starring Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, and Bill Bixby. Written for the screen by Arthur Browne Jr., the film is about the heir to an oil fortune who trades places with a water-ski instructor at a Florida hotel to see if girls will like him for himself, rather than his father's money. Clambake was the last of Presley's four films for United Artists. The movie reached number 15 on the national weekly box-office charts.
Spirit photography is a type of photography whose primary goal is to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual entities, especially in ghost hunting. It dates back to the late 19th century. The end of the American Civil War and the mid-19th Century Spiritualism movement contributed greatly to the popularity of spirit photography. Photographers such as William Mumler and William Hope ran thriving businesses taking photos of people with their supposed dead relatives. Both were shown to be frauds, but "true believers", such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, refused to accept the evidence as proof of a hoax.
Gail Brewer-Giorgio is an American author whose works have speculated about the possibility that singer Elvis Presley may have faked his death in August 1977.
"If I Can Dream" is a song made famous by Elvis Presley, written by Walter Earl Brown for the singer and notable for its similarities with Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. The song was published by Elvis Presley's music publishing company Gladys Music. It was recorded by Presley in June 1968, just two months after King's assassination, and also a short time after Robert Kennedy's assassination. The recording was first released to the public as the finale of Presley's '68 Comeback Special.
A faked death, also called a staged death, is the act of an individual purposely deceiving other people into believing that the individual is dead, when the person is, in fact, still alive. The faking of one's own death by suicide is sometimes referred to as pseuicide or pseudocide. People who commit pseudocide can do so by leaving evidence, clues, or through other methods. Death hoaxes can also be created and spread solely by third-parties for various purposes.
Elvis the King is a box set comprising 18 singles of the recorded work of American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released in 2007 by RCA Records. The box set is available in both CD and 10" vinyl formats.
James Hodges Ellis, who used the stage name Orion at times in his career, was an American singer. His voice was similar to Elvis Presley's, a fact which he and his record company played upon, making some believe that some of his recordings were by Presley, or even that Presley had not died in 1977. Ellis appeared with many artists, including Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tammy Wynette, Ricky Skaggs, Lee Greenwood, Gary Morris, and the Oak Ridge Boys.
A death hoax is a deliberate report of someone's death that is later proven to be untrue. In some cases it might be because the person has intentionally faked death.
Viva Elvis is the soundtrack remix album of the Cirque du Soleil show Viva Elvis, which focuses on the life and music of American singer and musician Elvis Presley. The album, though initially produced as a soundtrack to the show, does not include all of the songs featured in the show. The CD tracks are rearranged and extended versions of songs heard in the show, and in fact the album includes two instrumental versions of the songs "Memories" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", neither of which is in the Cirque du Soleil show.
The singles discography of Elvis Presley began in 1954 with the release of his first commercial single, "That's All Right". Following his regional success with Sun Records, Presley was signed to RCA Victor on November 20, 1955. Presley's first single with RCA, "Heartbreak Hotel", was a worldwide hit, reaching the No. 1 position in four countries and the top 10 in many other countries. Other hit singles from the 1950s include "Don't Be Cruel", "Hound Dog", "Love Me Tender", "Too Much", "All Shook Up", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", "Jailhouse Rock", "Don't", "Hard Headed Woman" and "A Big Hunk o' Love". On March 24, 1958, Presley entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee, and was stationed in Germany. He left active duty on March 5, 1960.
"Spelling on the Stone" is a 1988 song about American musician Elvis Presley, recorded by an uncredited artist impersonating him. The song was released in response to a number of Elvis sightings after the singer's death. Upon the song's release, many radio listeners began to report sightings of the singer, while others questioned whether or not the song was actually recorded by Presley. In the years since, the recording has been attributed by some sources to Dan Willis, while others claim the authorship still to be unknown.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
