"The King" Death Theories: Why Do Many People Think Elvis Is Still Alive?

Elvis Presley, the legendary singer and American movie star who became known as the King of Rock'n'Roll, died of a heart attack 41 years ago. His death on August 16, 1977, shocked the music industry and saddened millions of his fans around the world. In the days following his burial, speculation grew among a small group of skeptics that Elvis was not, in fact, dead. Despite doctors' clear declarations that the 42-year-old superstar was dead, skeptics were convinced that Elvis had faked his death to hide.

Melissa Chan

Over the past four decades, fans across North America have insisted they have seen Presley in various places and times. In 1989, the most die-hard and enthusiastic Elvis fans even created the "Elvis Watch Association" to monitor these claims.

Some people even claimed that he appeared in the background in the famous 1990 movie Home Alone.

Presley is not the first famous figure whose death has been unable to be accepted by our populist culture of nostalgia. Conspiracy theories have mounted after other high-profile deaths, from Hollywood star James Dean's death in a car crash in 1955 to Michael Jackson's death in 2009, as fans insist their idols celebrities must still be alive.

One of the biggest theories as to why Presley may have staged his own death is because he needed to escape from the mob. Gail Brewer-Giorgio, author of the 1988 bestseller Is Elvis Alive?, recalled in a recent interview with Time how she consulted thousands of FBI documents to conclude that Presley was an American hero who was forced into the witness protection program.

“Do I know if Elvis is still alive today? No, I don't know that. But I can say that he did not die on August 16, 1977."

Brewer-Giorgio, now 78, said the FBI recruited Presley as an undercover agent in 1976 to help the agency infiltrate a criminal organization called the Brotherhood, which apparently consisted of dozens of mobsters. She says Presley did it voluntarily, driven by his love for America and respect for the FBI. The author emphasized that the agency had contacted Presley, as a member of the "Brotherhood" was conducting open negotiations with him on the sale of an airplane owned by the singer. But when Presley was found threatened, he was put into the witness protection program, Brewer-Giorgio says, citing what she said was evidence from FBI documents and interviews: "Elvis staged his death, otherwise would be killed and there is no doubt about that".

The FBI did not immediately comment on the allegations that Brewer-Giorgio describes at length in her book. In fact, in the more than 760 files the federal agency has released on the singer between 1956 and 1980, there is no mention of Presley ever helping the FBI. The FBI never investigated Elvis, but created a file under his name after he had been the target of several attempted robberies, investigated by the FBI itself. The declassified documents describe cases of extortion, and they also show Presley's admiration for the FBI. During a visit Presley made to FBI headquarters in 1971, the musician "spoke positively" about the agency and did not offer his services "in any way". Also mentioned is Presley's plane and a business deal involving the plane. Experts say the document contains no evidence to suggest Presley is alive.

"These FBI files are available to the public. I have them. There's nothing in them," Patrick Lacy, the researcher who wrote the book "Elvis Decrypted" that dismantles conspiracy theories surrounding the singer's death, told Time. "All the evidence points to a death - the medical evidence, the eyewitness report... To stage his death would have required the silence and services of hundreds, if not thousands of people over the years."

In addition to reports of sightings of him alive, skeptics point to what they insist are errors by the Presley family in media interviews, and an apparently incorrect name on the king of rock's headstone as evidence of faking his death. his. Skeptics say Presley's middle name was deliberately misspelled - Aaron instead of Aron - as it would have been taboo to use his real name while he was still alive.

But myth busters say that Elvis started writing his middle name Aaron instead of Aron during his last years. They also say that Lisa Marie, the singer's daughter, dodged Larry King's question during a 2003 interview when he asked if she ever felt like she was "communicating" with her father.

The conspiracy theories cause unnecessary pain for Presley's family, said Lacy, who calls himself a "huge Elvis fan": "I'm dealing with this because I have nothing better to do. I believe that people who say that Elvis is still alive are doing a great disservice to his image and his family... Imagine living your whole life amid statements that your father did all these things and that he deceived his fans. Elvis' death hurt many people. And, it still hurts. You have to ask what kind of person would Elvis be to pull this trick on his fans?”

The vast majority of Americans believe Presley actually died in 1977. A Gallup poll conducted in 1997 found that only four percent of Americans thought Presley was alive, while 93 percent of respondents were sure he was. he is dead. Still, Brewer-Giorgio remains steadfast in her stance. The Georgia woman, who said she has no Elvis albums and no memories of him, insists her findings are based on facts, not feelings.

"I know he really did this," she said. "The world needs to know that Elvis Presley put his life on the line. I think it's sad that we don't know everything about Elvis. If I don't do it for Elvis, no one else will." /Source: "Time"/In Albanian: Bota.al/