Advanced:
On August 16 2007, 70,000 Elvis Presley fans came to
Graceland. They were there for the
30th
anniversary of
the death of the King of Rock and Roll.
But there were devoted Elvis fans who stayed away from
the Presley family home in Memphis. ‘He’s
not buried there,’ they insisted, ‘because
he’s not dead,’
There were rumours from the beginning. Some
fans had always refused to believe that their hero
had died from heart failure, aged 42.
Not dead?
Suspicion increased when an
autopsy report mysteriously disappeared. And many
pointed to something Elvis often said in his final
concerts: ‘I don’t look very good now, but
I will look good in my coffin.’ What was he
trying to tell his fans something?
There were several theories about this supposed
‘fake death’. Elvis had
escaped his fame and returned to a simple life. Or
he was hiding from the Mafia in a FBI witness
protection programme. Or working as an undercover
drugs agent for the government (listen to more
about this here).
Or as a CIA spy.
Some even suggested extra-terrestrial involvement:
‘Aliens Kidnap The King.’
Colonel Parker
The most believable theory involved Presley’s
manager ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker. Parker had a
history of faking things - including the story of his
own life. ‘I come from West Virginia,’ the
Dutch illegal immigrant told the press. ‘I ran
away from home to join my Uncle’s circus.’
None of this was true.
Parker had brilliantly stage-managed
his
star’s career. He reinvented Elvis several
times: from wild rock and roll star to film star to
Las Vegas cabaret act. The Colonel even made Elvis
join the army to improve record sales. And the
sudden, tragic death of the King of Rock and Roll
did sell a lot of records.
