# People who think Elvis faked his death and is still alive **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 25, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192 "2024-08-25T14:02:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2024, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/61 "2024-08-31T22:52:18Z")
You know who faked their death? Bond, James Bond, in the opening to the movie _You Only Live Twice_ (1967), with the able assistance of MI6. This high-profile example may have given some people the impression that this was a straightforward process. Because Hollywood action flicks provide extremely reliable guides to viable life choices. The screenplay author Roald Dahl (of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame) based his work loosely on the 1964 novel by Ian Flemming. Very loosely. There was no fake assassination in the novel. James Bond, still grieving after the brutal killing of his wife Tracy Bond, was sent to Japan on a diplomatic mission: it was suppose to be a cake walk. He ends up receiving a tip that the killer of his wife and arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld was currently residing in a Japanese castle on the sea (these don’t really exist, by the way). Some killing and various explosions later, Bond is struck with amnesia, and hooks up with his paramour, former Japanese film star Kissy Suzuki, who hides his past from him so they can live happily ever after. Alas, it was not to be… That’s the, “Living twice” part in the novel: it’s Hollywood amnesia, not Hollywood faked death. So how does one fake a death? NPR has the goods: > **[3 Steps To Faking Your Own Death From The Author Of 'Playing Dead'](https://www.npr.org/2016/08/09/489304489/3-steps-to-faking-your-own-death-from-the-author-of-playing-dead)** > > Elizabeth Greenwood has spent a lot of time researching the death fraud industry. She says the hardest step for many aspiring fraudsters would be cutting all ties with friends and family. Apparently people do it for money more often than love. Many get caught which is unsurprising considering that insurance investigators have been aware of such scams for well over a century. Greenwood’s book has a number of tips for would-be Elvis/Morrison imitators. Recommended. No, I haven’t read it or cracked it open. Also, the stuff above about James Bond was taken from wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/62 "2024-09-01T02:47:39Z")
Deanna Durbin was a huge movie star as a teenager and young adult in the 1930s and 1940s, but by 1950, when she was almost 30, she walked away from all this and lived out her life in France with her second husband, where she also used her real name, Edna Mae David. > **[Deanna Durbin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Durbin)** > > Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born American actress and singer, who moved to the U.S. with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano, she performed many styles, especially operatic arias and semi-classical pieces, which is today called classical crossover. > Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appear... ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/63 "2024-09-01T03:39:24Z")
I think Elvis died on his toilet in 1977 as stated. I have some doubts about Tupac Shakur. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/64 "2024-09-01T04:00:47Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > I have some doubts about Tupac Shakur. Same here, I don’t think Tupac died on his toilet in 1977 either. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/65 "2024-09-01T15:52:26Z")
While I don’t _seriously_ believe Enron founder [Ken Lay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Lay) managed to fake his death while awaiting sentencing, the little gremlin who sits on my shoulder loves to whisper the possibilities of off-shore accounts being accessed, young doctors with massive student loans being approached by proxy, closed-casket funerals, a falsified passport and some hair dye… I need to get my gremlin a hobby. Or a girlfriend. Or a girlfriend with a hobby. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/66 "2024-09-02T13:10:15Z")
Have none of you watched this documentary on the topic? > **[Bubba Ho-Tep](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubba_Ho-Tep)** > > Bubba Ho-Tep is a 2002 American comedy horror film written, co-produced and directed by Don Coscarelli. It stars Bruce Campbell as Sebastian Haff, a man residing in a nursing home who claims to be the real Elvis Presley. The film also stars Ossie Davis as Jack, a black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy, explaining that he was patched up after the assassination, dyed black, and abandoned. > It is based on the novella of the same name by Joe R. Lansdale, which originally appeared in the anthology... ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/67 "2024-09-02T13:21:45Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > Have none of you watched this documentary Based on Post #9, I assume @Stranger_On_A_Train has. (But I don’t blame you for missing it, since it was an obliquely-labeled link.) ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/68 "2024-09-02T13:24:03Z")
Haha yeah I missed that. What a great movie ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/69 "2024-09-02T13:26:01Z")
Where are any of you still encountering this particular brand of nuttery? I haven’t seen any “Elvis is alive” on the supermarket tabloids for at least a decade. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/70 "2024-09-02T13:54:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > y? I haven’t seen any “Elvis is alive” on the supermarket tabloids for at least a decade. It just moved to the Internet to make room for Florida Man. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/71 "2024-09-02T14:25:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I haven’t seen any “Elvis is alive” on the supermarket tabloids for at least a decade. Are you saying that “Elvis is still alive” isn’t still alive? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/72 "2024-09-03T04:10:06Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > While I don’t _seriously_ believe Enron founder [Ken Lay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Lay) managed to fake his death while awaiting sentencing… Well, it has a plausibility that the Elvis example does not: a number of people have tried and failed to fake a death in order to escape prosecution for various crimes. See my first Aug 29 post… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/73 "2024-09-03T15:46:00Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Based on Post #9, I assume @Stranger_On_A_Train has. (But I don’t blame you for missing it, since it was an obliquely-labeled link.) Hey! I mentioned Bubba-Ho-Tep _by name_ shortly afterwords: > [@](#): > > Huh. So **Bubba Ho Tep** wasn’t a documentary?\*\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/74 "2024-09-03T16:06:26Z")
I remember reading a few years ago that the owner of the “is Elvis alive” museum and an author of a book of the same name finally closed the museum and donated the space to a charitable organization because He didn’t have much longer to live and well the moment had passed. No one was interested enough to take over … the headline was "The end of a minor era the Elvis lives museum is closing " ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/75 "2024-09-03T16:14:35Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > He didn’t have much longer to live Elvis outlived him! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/76 "2024-09-03T16:45:26Z")
heres two of the main characters that kept the theory going : A different author wrote the book than the museum owner like I thought an interesting fact according to Wiki she caused such a stir that it delayed the Elvis Stamp by almost 10 years > **[Gail Brewer-Giorgio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Brewer-Giorgio)** > > Gail Brewer-Giorgio (born 1939) is an American author whose works have speculated about the possibility that singer Elvis Presley may have faked his death in August 1977. > Giorgio wrote a novel, Orion, in 1978, which described how a popular Southern singer who called himself "Orion" faked his own death to escape the pressures of fame. According to Brewer-Giorgio, her publisher inexplicably began to recall her novel, which led her to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Presley. ... here’s the museum info [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1V51d8HZI5c/maxresdefault.jpg "Elvis is Alive Museum Documentary") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V51d8HZI5c&t=259s/) > **[Elvis Is Alive Museum in Missouri Closes, Contents for Auction on eBay](https://www.foxnews.com/story/elvis-is-alive-museum-in-missouri-closes-contents-for-auction-on-ebay)** > > If Elvis were here today, he might say, "Thank you, thank you very much" for the 17 years that an odd Missouri outpost has been making the case that the King never died. But the burden of proof soon will fall on someone else's shoulders. the YT link is a 10-minute tour and he explains the rationale behind it ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/77 "2024-09-03T19:14:08Z")
The story of James Hodges Ellis, who I’d never heard of before, is fascinating. > **[Orion (singer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(singer))** > > James Hodges Ellis (born James Hughes Bell, February 26, 1945 – December 12, 1998), who used the stage name Orion at times in his career, was an American singer. His voice was similar to Elvis Presley's, a fact which he and his record company played upon, making some believe that some of his recordings were by Presley, or even that Presley had not died in 1977. Ellis appeared with many artists, including Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tammy Wynette, Ricky Skaggs, Lee Greenwood, Gary Morris, and t... He sounded like Elvis and so was paid at times to record covers of Elvis songs to trick people into thinking they were the real thing, and he was also asked to dress and style himself like Elvis and sing with a mask after Elvis died. No wonder there were rumors of Elvis still being alive, it was actively being encouraged with those shenanigans. Then tragically, years later the guy was murdered by a robber at a pawn shop he owned, along with his ex-wife who worked for him there. Crazy shit. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/78 "2024-09-03T19:35:21Z")
I don’t know anything about the _Police Gazette_ (whether it was considered serious or not) But they had an article explaining how easy it would have been for Hitler to escape and live in Argentina. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/79 "2024-09-03T19:46:05Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > **I remember reading a few years ago that the owner of the “is Elvis alive” museum and an author of a book of the same name finally closed the museum and donated the space to a charitable organization because He didn’t have much longer to live** and well the moment had passed. No one was interested enough to take over … > > the headline was "The end of a minor era the Elvis lives museum is closing " What an idiot. If he fakes his own death, he can last for another fifty years… ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/80 "2024-09-03T23:12:52Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I don’t know anything about the _Police Gazette_ (whether it was considered serious or not) But they had an article explaining how easy it would have been for Hitler to escape and live in Argentina. Wiki has an article on the Police Gazette. It’s a tabloid publication founded in 1845, a lad magazine. No, it’s not a reliable source but I suspect it’s a cut above Weekly World News. Meaning they traffic in the dubious as opposed to the wholly fabricated. > **[National Police Gazette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Police_Gazette)** > > The National Police Gazette, commonly referred to as simply the Police Gazette, is an American magazine founded in 1845. Under publisher Richard K. Fox, it became the forerunner of the men's lifestyle magazine, the illustrated sports weekly, the girlie/pin-up magazine, the celebrity gossip column, Guinness World Records-style competitions, and modern tabloid/sensational journalism. > The magazine was founded by two journalists, Enoch E. Camp, an attorney, and George Wilkes, a transcontinental rail... It ceased publication in 1977, though it still survives as a company, managing past trademarks and sanctioning bare knuckled boxing fights. The tagline at its website reads, “Covering crime, sports, celebrities, and all things sensational since 1845.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192.md?page=5)