Elvis sightings

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The Weekly World News frequently claims "Elvis Is Alive!"
The Weekly World News frequently claims "Elvis Is Alive!"

Elvis sightings are a recurring phenomenon in which people claim to see American singer and rock star Elvis Presley, who supposedly died on August 16, 1977.

Contents

[edit] Background

Presley was born in January 1935, so his projected age would not preclude the possibility that Elvis is still alive (as of 2006, he would be 71 years old). Critics of this would state that a number of Elvis impersonators can easily be mistaken for Elvis and that Elvis' fans merely don't want to believe he is actually dead.

Most people who believe Elvis is still alive believe that Elvis is spending the remainder of his life in solitude somewhere in the United States and to back this up they have suggested that Elvis' middle name is spelled incorrectly on his death certificate [1]. On the death certificate it is spelled 'Aron' - the same as his birth certificate, even though his estate prefers the use of 'Aaron'.

Others believe in extraterrestrial involvement, although these conspiracy theories may simply be an exercise in self-parody.

Former bass back-up singer J.D. Sumner was one of the pallbearers at Elvis' burial service in 1977. He claims that Elvis' body was in the casket.

One meta-theory holds that stories of Elvis sightings are circulated by the CIA to discredit in advance stories of secret government weapons and activities. "Yeah, you saw a black plane that left regular puffballs of smoke behind it, and, by the way, Elvis just bought a doughnut in Kenosha."

[edit] Media Examples

There have been many documented sightings of Elvis over the years and this has been a great source of inspiration for the mass media to draw upon. It is mainly to do with the unique iconic status that Elvis holds in society and that people still fail to grow tired about media articles about his life and works.

[edit] Print

  • In 1987, Gail Brewer Giorgio wrote a book, Is Elvis Alive?, discussing the matter. She invited people to phone a premium-rate number to listen to her proof that he is. After one heard the proof, the caller would be instructed to make another premium-rate call to vote on if they believed Elvis was alive.
  • In the comic Bloom County, Elvis is discovered as a road worker after faking his death. He is old and obese, but when he kisses an elderly woman, he demonstrates the power of a fountain of youth, magically making her young again. Leaning against a steamroller, he tells his co-worker Dewey to pass him a doughnut, who responds with, "Ain't my job."
  • In Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Ford Prefect buys a spacecraft with the monogram 'EP' from a mysterious character identified only as "the King". This character can be presumed to be Elvis Presley as Prefect mentions that the club he stays at has the best rock music in the galaxy, which agrees with Presley's status as "the king of rock and roll".
  • In DC Comics' Preacher, Jesse Custer picks up an old, balding hitchhiker late at night while driving to meet his friends. The man's face is never seen, as it is obscured by the shadows, but he talks of his former life of fame and how he gave it up to get back in touch with real society.
  • In his short story "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band," by Stephen King, the main characters wander into a ghostly Oregon town called Rock N' Roll Heaven, which is populated by dead music personalities. The sheriff of the 1950s-styled town is Elvis himself.
  • In Good Omens, there is a trivia game on a computer where a person is playing, and spectators try to help. When the question of when Elvis died came up, and the spectators agreed on 1966, the player, who turns out to be Death, says "I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAYS, I NEVER LAID A HAND ON HIM."

[edit] Television

Various television shows have also had a field day poking fun at the urban legend, some examples of this are listed below:

  • In an episode of the sitcom ALF, Alf believed that his neighbor was actually Elvis after he took a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
  • The TV show Eerie Indiana featured Elvis in the show's introduction, suggesting that he was alive and well living in 'Eerie'.
  • The BBC television show called Give My Head Peace had a Christmas special entitled "The King and I" [2]. This featured a plot line of Elvis saving one of the characters (Andy) from a very dangerous situation. After telling his friends the story, everyone is convinced that he is suffering from mental illness and in a bid to save him from the psychiatric ward, Mervyn (Andy's friend) takes him to Graceland to show him Elvis' grave and shock him back to reality. The plan backfires and Andy insists on digging up Elvis' coffin to check inside. After being chased back to Belfast, Mervyn is shocked into believing Andy in a comedy ending when Elvis himself (played by impersonator Martin Fox [3]) pops around to check if Andy is OK.
  • In an early episode of In Living Color, they poked fun at Elvis sightings making a short spoof documentary similar to ones showing expeditions to find Bigfoot.
  • In 1991 and 1992, actor/director Bill Bixby (who starred in two movies with Presley and was also one of Elvis' close friends) hosted a program live from Las Vegas titled The Elvis Files. People called in to ask questions to an "expert panel" on why they thought Elvis was alive. Radio shock jock Howard Stern even called in to make fun of the program. At the end of the show, the final results of the call-in poll stated people believed Elvis was alive.
  • On an episode of The New WKRP in Cincinnati, someone called Les Nesman called in claiming to be Elvis. It later turned out to be a joke by a rival station.
  • On an episode of The Fairly Odd Parents, Chester and his dad stumble upon a "underground sandhouse" where Elvis is living. In another episode, Cosmo, a dimwitted fairy, is looking for something and says "All I found was this cup (holding up the Holy Grail) and this guy (showing Timmy Elvis)!" Later in that episode, Elvis reappears talking about his "underground beach kingdom".
  • An episode of science fiction television series Sliders features the character Rembrandt Brown, a soul music singer, meeting a successful alternate version of himself who fakes his own death to escape the pressure of celebrity life, in reference to the alleged rumours concerning Elvis' death.
  • In an episode of Married... with Children, Peg runs into a man who she believes is Elvis. Then , more "proof" pops up when one of Al's shirts has a sweat stain that shows the profile of the King.
  • In the opening credits of The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror IV," a tombstone can be seen reading "Elvis: accept it"
  • In an Animaniacs episode, when the Warners say goodnight to each other, Yakko says, "Good night, Elvis!" then an Elvis voice says, "Thank you very much, but I don't want anybody to know I'm in here."
  • In the X files episode "Shadows", Fox Mulder says "only one person has ever successfully faked his own death. Elvis".
  • In an episode of Full House, Jesse visits a local bar after having a fight with his family where he is given words of wisdom by someone he believes to be Elvis due to the strong resemblance and voice.

[edit] Film

  • The idea of Elvis' non-death was taken to its zaniest conclusion in the 2002 movie Bubba Ho-tep in which Bruce Campbell plays a man in a nursing home who claims to be the real Elvis, and to have switched places with an Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff in the early 1970s. The movie plot indicates it was Haff, not the real Elvis, who died at Graceland in August of 1977.
  • In 2003, a mystery novel written by Steve Brewe was published, involving a mysterious celebrity by the name of Mr. Aaron who, as the plot thickens, happens to be the real Elvis Presley. He, in turn, is not just alive and well, but in the process of returning to normal life after faking his own death in 1977. In mid-2006, the novel was turned into a motion picture, and shall star Robert Patrick as the mysterious celebrity.
  • In the 1991 film Hot Shots! A pilot blames a near accident on a sighting of Elvis, a superior simply replies "Face it, the king is dead."
  • In the 2000 film Red Planet, Val Kilmer's character jokingly states "I saw Elvis" after jettisoning himself into space from the surface of Mars.
  • In the movie Men in Black, when Agent J asks Aqent K if he understands that Elvis is dead, replies, "No, Elvis is not dead. He just went home." (implying that Elvis was an alien and went back to his native planet)
  • In the opening credits of "The Simpsons" episode "The Telltale Head" it can be read on Bart's blackboard : "I did not see Elvis".
  • In 2007, a feature documentary entitled The Truth About Elvis is scheduled for release, in which Dr. Nick, Joe Esposito, Linda Thompson, George Klein, Bill Beeny, Phil Aitcheson, Monte Nicholson and others talk about this urban legend.

[edit] Video Games

  • As an in-joke, Grand Theft Auto 3 featured scattered newspaper front-covers which read "Zombie Elvis Found"
  • In Earthworm Jim 3D, in the level "Are You Hungry Tonite?", Jim must rescue "The King" who is basically Elvis, and gets turned into a burger.

[edit] Trivia

  • There is an official Elvis Sighting Society which is based at the Newport Restaurant in the Westboro section of Ottawa, Ontario. Restaurant Owner Moe Atallah is one of the founders of the group.
  • Sightings of Elvis in the Yukon Territory are completely believable, since "Tagish" Elvis Presley, a local resident, has not only legally adopted the name, but dresses as Elvis and believes he is a reincarnation of Elvis.
  • "Elvis" and "Lives" are anagrams of each other.
  • A short, unmapped road off Kyle Canyon Drive on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada, on the way to the Mt. Charleston resort area, bears the sign "Elvis Alive Drive". It is not apparent whether the road is public or private.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Elvis Death Certificate. ElvisPresleyNews.com (2006). Retrieved on 2006-06-08.
  2. ^ The King and I (Give My Head Peace, Episode 5). BBC Television, broadcast 26th December 2003 (2003). Retrieved on 2006-06-08.
  3. ^ Elvis Impersonator. Martin Fox (2003). Retrieved on 2006-06-08.

[edit] See also

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