Long
live the King?
If
Elvis is dead, why won't he die? (CNN)
There's
a tomb at Graceland. There was an autopsy and a funeral and
numerous official investigations. There was even a photograph
of Elvis in his coffin published in that vanguard organ of
American journalism, the National Enquirer.
And
yet, for some die-hard devotees, all of that is not enough
hard and fast evidence to convince them that the King really
met his Maker 20 years ago.
For a dead guy, Elvis sure does get around. He's been seen
in a plethora of places, from a Burger King in Kalamazoo to
an Hawaiian atoll, where he is said to have established a
spiritual retreat with fellow dead-but-not-dead celebrities
Maria Callas and Andy Kaufman.
Depending
on which witness you believe, he's been hiding out upstairs
at Graceland all these years or camping out at ex-son-in-law
Michael Jackson's California ranch.
He
was even spotted kneeling reverently at the grave of Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis after her death.
Elvis
has also been reported holed up in a small unnamed Mississippi
town, where he financially supports the entire populace so
that they will keep his secret. On a few of the numerous Web
sites devoted to Elvis-is-alive lore, there were (tongue-in-cheek?)
suggestions that he was seen by Pathfinder on Mars.
That
would seem unlikely, given Mars' lack of both oxygen and cheeseburgers.
There's no word yet on what he might be offering the Martians
for their silence.
Perhaps
the only place Elvis hasn't been seen is in Dallas on the
Grassy Knoll with a rifle. But then, has anybody really checked
the grass for peanut butter-and-banana sandwich crumbs?
The
actual source for the belief that Elvis is still alive is
hard to trace. But many roads seem to lead back to a Georgia
woman named Gail Brewer-Giorgio, who professes to have never
even owned an Elvis record until after his death, er, make
that "death."
She
has written three books on the subject, including a fictionalized
novel, published in 1978, in which a famous singer named Orion
-- whose life story is strikingly similar to that of the King
-- fakes his demise.
After
the book came out, a corpulent crooner who sounded a lot like
Elvis began appearing around the United States under the name
Orion, shielding his identity behind a mask. Some fans concluded
Orion was Elvis.
Giorgio
followed up her novel with two others, "The Elvis Files" and
"Is Elvis Alive?" Together, these books form much of the theoretical
gospel for skeptics of Elvis' death.
For example, a 25-member group called the Presley Commission
spent more than two years investigating whether or not Elvis
was really dead. The group's leader, a Virginian named Phil
Aitcheson, said he got interested in the case after reading
Giorgio's work.
With
a bit of fanfare, commission members unveiled their long-awaited
report to the media in 1994, at a camping resort. While members
other than Aitcheson chose to remain anonymous, their unmistakable
conclusion was that Elvis faked his death.
(Spotlight/Article,
Source: People Online, 1 Dec 2004)
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