Elvis sightings

Elvis before meeting President Richard Nixon in 1970, a White House photograph by photographer Ollie Atkins

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.

Notable sighting claims

Controversy arose almost immediately after Presley's death in 1977 and rumors circulated for years afterwards. Various doctors made contradictory statements about Presley's health and the circumstances of his death, including whether or not prescription drug misuse may have contributed to singer's demise. There were accusations of a coverup to protect Presley's reputation or to conceal misconduct in the local medical examiner's office. George C. Nichopoulos, Presley's primary care physician, was arrested in 1980 on allegations his prescribing massive amounts of drugs to Presley contributed to the singer's death. Nichopoulos was found not guilty of criminal complicity in Elvis's death in a 1980 trial, but his license was revoked in 1992 after he was found to have routinely over-prescribed medication for other patients. Furthermore, Presley's official autopsy was re-opened for investigation in 1994. These circumstances may have contributed to the belief among some observers that Presley did not actually die in 1977, or that such claims were plausible.

The earliest known alleged sighting of Elvis, post-death, was the day after he died, August 17, 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. 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.

From the time of Elvis's death to 1983, Sun Records owner Shelby Singleton marketed the recordings of Elvis sound-alike James Ellis as strongly implied to be that of Elvis. Ellis donned a domino mask and assumed the identity of "Orion," based upon the title character in Gail Brewer-Giorgio's 1978 novel about a major pop star who fakes his death. Ellis disowned the Orion persona in 1983, but returned to it—to less success, since the ruse had been broken and there was little to distinguish his act from Elvis impersonators—from 1987 until his death.

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.

Weekly World News

A cover from the July 23, 1991, issue of Weekly World News. This picture is actually the Ollie Atkins photograph, edited to make Presley appear older

The LS Records song may have been a response to the 1988 book by Gail Brewer-Giorgio, Is Elvis Alive?, purporting the singer was alive. Eddie Clontz, editor of the Weekly World News, not only turned 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.

Altogether, the Elvis Saga at WWN went on for at least 57 different articles. In 1992, the Weekly World News wrapped up the storyline with the headline "Elvis Dead at 58", only to announce just weeks later that also turned out to be a hoax.

The American television show Unsolved Mysteries featured segments on the rumors of Elvis's survival during the 1990s.

Post-mortem film career

Elvis was rumored to have appeared as an extra 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. In an interview with USA Today, 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. Roman Grott also stated his father knew Columbus personally and appeared as an extra in several of the director's films.

The First Elvis Files

Bill Bixby, who co-starred with Elvis in Clambake and Speedway, hosted two television specials 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. 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. An extremely similar-looking man was seen working as a groundskeeper for Bakersfield in 2016, and was also believed to be Elvis. Some believe that Elvis attended his own 82nd birthday. An old man with security guards around him, all grey hair, grey beard, sunglasses and a panama hat on, was believed by conspiracy theorists to be Elvis.

In popular media

The frequency of Elvis sighting claims became famous in the 1980s, growing into a pop culture phenomenon in and of itself.

• The 1990 song "Elvis Is Dead" by the musical group Living Colour addressed rumors of Presley's survival.
• The 2002 film Bubba Ho-Tep stars Bruce Campbell as Presley, who faked his death and lived under the name "Sebastian Haff".
• Two other films, Elvis Has Left the Building (2004) and 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), include references to Elvis being alive or sighted.
• The Simpsons routinely references Elvis being alive.
• In the episode "Suspicious Minds" of ALF, ALF believes a neighbor is Elvis Presley.
• In Men in Black, Agent K says that Elvis did not die, but simply "went home", presumably to his alien planet of origin.
• Shock jocks in the 1980s regularly referenced Elvis sightings, as has Saturday Night Live. In Living Color also did segments purporting to hunt Elvis like a cryptid.
• In Death Becomes Her, Elvis is shown at a secret party with other undead celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Andy Warhol.
• In Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, At the start of the level "Night of the Bobcat", the Titular Character says; "Hey, I thought I saw Elvis back there!".
• In Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City a newspaper article headline saying "Zombie Elvis Found" can be seen blowing around on the ground.