![Elvis Presley 1970](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Elvis_Presley_1970.jpg)
Sightings of the American singer
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
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.
Notable sighting claims
The earliest known alleged sighting of Elvis was at the
Memphis International Airport
Memphis International Airport is a civil-military airport located southeast of Downtown Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. It is the primary international airport serving Memphis. It covers and has four runways., effective A ...
where a man resembling Elvis gave the name "Jon Burrows", which was the same name Elvis used when booking hotels. A series of alleged sightings took place in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the late 1980s. Such reports encountered public ridicule and became fodder for humorous publications like the ''
Weekly World News
The ''Weekly World News'' was a tabloid which published mostly fictional "news" stories in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news th ...
''. 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 impersonator
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 ent ...
s were hired as an attraction to commemorate Presley.
Elvis was rumored to have appeared in the background of an airport scene in the 1990 film ''
Home Alone
''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Hea ...
''. 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
Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right.
Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...
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. In an interview with ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'', director
Chris Columbus responded "If Elvis was on the set, I would have known".
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''.
Bill Bixby, who co-starred with Elvis in ''
Clambake
The clambake or clam bake, also known as the New England clambake, is a traditional method of cooking seafood, such as lobster, mussels, crabs, scallops, soft-shell clams, and Hard clam, quahogs. The food is traditionally cooked by steaming the i ...
'' and ''
Speedway
Speedway may refer to:
Racing Race tracks
*Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta
*Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana
Types of races and race cours ...
'', hosted two
television special
A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...
s investigating the conspiracy: ''The Elvis Files'' (1991) and ''The Elvis Conspiracy'' (1992). 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.
Some believe that Elvis attended his own 82nd birthday. An old man by the name of Bob Joyce with security guards around him, all grey hair, grey beard, sunglasses and a ball cap on, was believed by conspiracy theorists to be Elvis.
A similar looking man was seen working as a groundskeeper for Graceland, and was also believed to be Elvis.
["Suspicious Minds: The Bizarre, 40-Year History Of Elvis Presley Sightings". Mentalfloss.Com, 2021, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/503466/suspicious-minds-bizarre-40-year-history-elvis-presley-sightings.]
A group of people believe that Elvis was somehow involved with the
Mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
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 fool the mafia.
["Elvis Presley Died 40 Years Ago. Here's Why Some People Think He's Still Alive". Time, 2021, https://time.com/4897819/elvis-presley-alive-conspiracy-theories/.]
References
{{Authority control
Urban legends
Elvis Presley
Presley, Elvis