The
Death of the King of Rock
What really happened to
Elvis Presley? On the evening of August 16, 1977, Presley was found face down
in his bathroom by his girlfriend at the time, Ginger Alden (Timmons 1).
Although the King of Rock n’ Roll was struggling from some health problems like
high blood pressure, the apparent cause of death was a drug overdose, however
some believe the scene of death was staged to look like a suicide/overdose.
Here are some of the arising conspiracies that encase the dethroning of the
King:
1. Was
Elvis’ death a murder, staged as a suicide/accidental overdose?
2. Is
Elvis actually still alive?
3. Who
could have killed the King?
Let’s take a look at Elvis Presley and the conspiracy
theories surrounding his death, while considering who would have wanted him
dead or gone.
Character
Analysis
How
did Elvis Presley go from the outcast on poverty row to world renowned artist,
hero, and heart-throb? Elvis Aaron Presley “was born to Vernon and Gladys
Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo,
Mississippi, on January 8, 1935” (“Elvis Presley Biography” Graceland). He grew
up singing wonderfully in the church choir with his family and moved often, due
to his father’s job. One year, Elvis asked his mother for a bicycle, but his
mom decided to buy him a safer present that was less expensive than a bike, a
guitar. He spent his days strumming along only to himself and his family, until
7th grade when he began taking his guitar to school and playing it
during lunch for his peers to enjoy because he as kind hearted (Doll 4). As the
years went by, Elvis became more and more influenced by country music and
colored music, and finally sang an amazing original song for Sun Records who
signed him before his contract was bought by RCA (“Elvis Presley” Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame). When World War II came into play, Elvis bravely went into the
draft and while overseas met the women who would become his wife a few years
later, Priscilla Beaulieu. Because he was a family oriented man, they had one
child together, Lisa Marie Presley, before splitting up later on. While he was
in the military and before the military, his music influenced singers like the
Beatles who began to surpass him in the music charts (Timmons 1). After making
an iconic comeback, he began facing health problems which led to more prescription
drug use and ultimately his death. Let’s take a deeper look into the conflicts
of Elvis Presley.
After Elvis reclaimed his fame, he began facing some
health problems. He suffered from “obesity, prescription drug abuse,
loneliness, and the heartbreak of losing the love of his life Priscilla”
(Sheridan 1). The most obvious health problem was his rapid weight gain. He
became mildly overweight, which means he gained a large amount of body fat over
a short period of time. As most people know, obesity can lead to more health
problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, as well as less of an
ability to be active. This would have interfered with his performances
especially his well-known hip swivel and could have also led to psychological
changes like depression. He had many prescriptions with large doses in order to
help him with his other health problems: enlarged colon, glaucoma, and high
blood pressure. (1) The man with “good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good
humor,” (Anton 1) had become a man with the internal conflict of depression.
Due to his depression, Elvis suffered from loneliness. He missed his wife
Priscilla who left him alone and heartbroken. He had no family to be with him
as he grew older. He had a nurse who took care of him who would keep him
company, hold his hand, and sing gospel songs with him, to try and make him
feel better, but she, Letetia Henley, could not (Sheridan 1). Nobody could help
the King of Rock and Roll out of his slump, nobody, but, Priscilla. Because he
did not have the love of his life with him, Elvis suffered from heartbreak. He
pined for Priscilla, and “he was miserable” (1). Elvis’ love for popping pills
became another internal conflict. He became addicted to drugs, taking random
medications from people who would give it to him on the streets in order to get
on his good size. “He hoarded them” (1). His doctor may have been the cause to
his addiction because Dr. Nichopoulos lost his medical license for
overprescribing pills to his patients (1). Elvis struggled with the ideas of
aging and self-preservation. He couldn’t cope with the fact that he was growing
old alone, so he turned to drugs to make him feel better physically and
mentally, but besides his internal conflicts, Elvis had external ones too.
Elvis Presley, though full of humility and
human-kindness, had external conflicts with some people. The one conflict that
had a major effect on him, was his conflict with his wife Priscilla Presley.
Priscilla was 11 years younger than Elvis. While that was not a problem for the
young couple, it interfered with Priscilla’s life. They began dating when she
was 14 years old. Priscilla had fun throughout her teenage years, but “she didn't experience them ‘as a normal girl’” (Dier
1). They had an unusual relationship, which she didn’t realize for quite some
time. The couple was married on May 1, 1967, when “cilla”, as Elvis called her,
was twenty-one and Elvis was thirty-two (Shevey 1). Less than a year later,
Lisa Marie Presley was born. Both Elvis and Priscilla were in love with the
lifestyle of raising a child, a daughter, in their new home, but as time does
not stand still, neither does show-business. Elvis was on a strict schedule,
with music tours, movies, etc. so he was away from home often. He would try to
make up his absence to Priscilla by purchasing her gifts, sometimes of her own
choice, but gifts cannot give the same allusion as love does (1). Priscilla
missed her husband. She knew that the way he lived was the way he was, but deep
down she hoped he could change. He didn’t. Elvis continued making his public
appearances while his little wife stayed home all day to care for their child,
all the while not knowing that there was soon to be a conflict between him and
his wife. When Elvis didn’t change, Priscilla decided she had put up with his
absence long enough, and just like that, she left him. A few months later,
Elvis filed for divorce, giving full custody of Lisa Marie to Priscilla (1).
This external conflict Elvis had with his wife, was the cause of some of his
internal conflicts. If only he had spent more time with his family.
Elvis
Presley was an amazing man with some struggles throughout his life of fame. It
is hard to think that the King of Rock n’ Roll is gone. Many say he was too
young to die, he should have lived longer, or he shouldn’t be dead at all.
Well, what if he isn’t? What if his death was a way of allowing him to have a
“normal life?” What if Elvis Aaron Presley is still alive?
Conspiracy Theories (Explained Theories and Survey Results)
In
the case of Elvis Presley’s death, there are some conspiracy theories that have
developed. One of the highlighted conspiracy theories questions the means of
his death. The other two highlighted theories question the certainty of his
death and if there was another part played in his untimely death.
The
first conspiracy theory suggests that Elvis’ death may have been a murder only
staged as a suicide/overdose. On the day of his death, Elvis had wandered into
the bathroom to use the toilet. He suffered from constipation, so he brought a
book along most likely to help pass the time (Williamson 1). Later, when Elvis
was discovered, he was curled up in the fetal position on the floor in front of
his black commode with black leather seating, two syringes lying next to him,
covered in vomit (1). If Elvis was just going to the bathroom to use the
toilet, then why would he have brought syringes? On top of that, there were no
traces of illicit drugs in his system, only prescription (Rogers 1). So why
were there syringes? They may have been placed there to stage his death as an
overdose, especially because the body had been moved and people in the house
kept insisting that he overdosed, yet weren’t in the room with him when he
died. Medics that responded to the call on the night of his death even asked
for a container of the supposed drugs, but “none were produced” (Williamson 1).
Elvis had been a heavy user of prescription drugs, but under the direction of
his doctor, Dr. Nichopoulos (1). Although, his doctor had been tried in court
by the state for overprescribing drugs to Elvis and a few other people, Elvis
did suffer from many physical problems and a few psychological issues, so it is
justifiable that Elvis would need a large amount of prescription drugs. Over the years, even if Elvis was an abuser
of drugs, he knew how many drugs to take without killing him, so he couldn’t
have accidentally overdosed. Knowing all of this, it is a definite possibility
that Elvis was murdered.
Another
conspiracy theory is that Elvis may still be alive. There is no evidence of him
being alive today, just apparent sightings, however there are different
conspiracies that insist that he did not die on April 16, 1977. There is one
theory that supports Elvis’ love and respect for the FBI. This theory suggests
that Elvis volunteered to go under cover into a criminal organization known as
“the Fraternity” (Chan 1). He volunteered to do this in 1976, a year before his
death in his Graceland home. It is described that there was a man in the Fraternity
that knew Elvis through an airplane deal in the past, so when he found out
Elvis had joined the group, he knew he was a mole. Elvis was put into the
Witness Protection Program because his life may have been at risk (1). The
conspiracy comes in to play when people believed that he faked his death as a
means of making it easier to have a new life after being threatened in his
original life. However, Patrick Lacy told researchers that if Elvis Presley
would have faked his death, there would have been “hundreds or thousands of
people that knew about it,” so it could not be true (1). Some skeptics believe
that another conspiracy is the supposed misspelling of his middle name, Aaron,
on his tombstone (1). People who believe in this conspiracy believe his middle
name was only spelled with one “A” instead of two, but there is not proof to
support this theory.
There
is one more conspiracy theory to be discussed. This theory questions who could
have killed Elvis? The one person that sticks out the most, is Ginger Alden,
Elvis’ twenty year old girlfriend at the time of his death. In an interview
with Priscilla Presley in July of 1977, it was discovered that four years after
their divorce, Elvis begged Priscilla to come back to him (Parker 1). He wanted
his family back. It was also learned that he confessed to Priscilla that he did
not intend to marry his girlfriend Ginger Alden (1). This could have given
Ginger motive to kill Elvis. If she found out this information, she may have
tried to kill him so that no one else could have him. It is also stated by Mike
Parker that Ginger found out she was “not figured in to Elvis’ will” after his
death and was devastated (1). This devastation could show that she may have
killed him after thinking she could have figured in to the will, so she could
take her “riches” and find a man that truly loved her. When this did not work
out for her in the end, she had to act her way out of being a suspect.
The
conspiracy theory that is the most plausible is the first theory that Elvis was
murdered. There is quite a bit of evidence that can support this theory, or
even the lack of evidence can prove this theory true. Elvis had no illicit
drugs in his system and the amount of prescription drugs in his system was not
high enough to kill him. The syringes by his body did not make any sense as to
why they were there. He would not have shot up while using the toilet. The body
was moved and people just kept insisting that Elvis had overdosed (Williamson).
When the paramedics asked for the vile of drugs to be produced, no drugs were
produced, and not everyone looked very sad (1). All of these facts point
towards a murder. It feels impossible for his death to not have been a murder.
He would not have destroyed his life after he lost his wife to keep his music
and acting careers alive. Although a poll asked if people thought Elvis
overdosed, it resulted in twelve people saying yes he overdosed and only eight
people saying no they do not think so. Yet, there are still many other people
who would believe Elvis was murdered.
Elvis
Presley was a humble, religious man. While he did abuse drugs, he did manage to
keep his life somewhat together before supposedly overdosing; therefore it does
not make sense to assume the King of Rock overdosed. There is more reason to
believe Elvis was murdered rather than anything else. Elvis Presley was an
inspiration to all no matter what his cause of death was.
Conclusion
Elvis
Presley is one of the many musical artists and actors that died suddenly and
before their time. His death led to three conspiracy theories.
1.
Was Elvis’ death a murder, staged as a
suicide/accidental overdose?
2.
Is Elvis actually still alive?
3.
Who could have killed the King?
Although a lot of the evidence points to
Elvis being murdered, the case is still unsolved. Everyone seems to think that
because the media came out with the information that Elvis overdosed, he did,
but this is just not the case.
Works
Cited
Chan,
Melissa. “Elvis Presley Death Theories: Why Do Some Think He's Alive?” Time,
Time, time.com/4897819/elvis-presley-alive-conspiracy-theories/.
Dier,
Arden. “Priscilla Presley Reveals Why She Left Elvis.” Newser, 21 Nov.
2016,
www.newser.com/story/234329/priscilla-presley-reveals-why-she-left-elvis.html.
Doll,
Susan. “Elvis Presley Biography.” The Musical Influences of Elvis Presley
- The Musical Influences of Elvis Presley | HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 11
July 2007, entertainment.howstuffworks.com/elvis-presley-biography3.htm.
“Elvis
Presley.” Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,
www.rockhall.com/inductees/elvis-presley.
“Elvis
Presley Biography.” Graceland, www.graceland.com/elvis/biography.aspx.
“For
the First Time... Elvis Presley's ex-Wife Tells All.” Elvis Australia
News,
priscilla.elvispresley.com.au/1973-priscilla-presley-ladies-home-journal.html.
Parker,
Mike. “EXCLUSIVE: Elvis Presley begged 'ex' Priscilla for reunion.”
Express.co.uk, 23 Aug. 2014,
www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/502645/EXCLUSIVE-Elvis-begged-ex-Priscilla-for-reunion.
Rodgers,
Garry. “Elvis Presley's Death -- What Really Killed the King?” The Huffington
Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 Feb. 2016,
www.huffingtonpost.com/garry-rodgers/elvis-presleys-death-what_1_b_9157820.html.
Sheridan,
Peter. “The sad last days of Elvis - drugs, obesity and a live-in
nurse.” Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 17 Sept. 2015,
www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/606337/The-last-days-Elvis-drugs-obesity-and-a-nurse.
Synergy,
Top. “Elvis Presleygeneral characteristics.” Elvis Presley
characteristics,
famous-relationships.topsynergy.com/Elvis_Presley/Characteristics.asp.
Timmons,
Greg. “The Death of the 'King': Remembering Elvis, 40 Years
Later.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 15 Aug. 2017,
www.biography.com/news/elvis-presley-death-40-years-later.
Williamson,
Joel. “The Elvis Presley coverup: What America didn't hear about the death of
the king.” Salon, 14 Apr. 2017,
www.salon.com/2014/11/16/the_elvis_presley_coverup_what_america_didnt_hear_about_the_death_of_the_king/.
No comments:
Post a Comment