# 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:** 5
**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 3, 2024, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/81 "2024-09-03T23:20:40Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > 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. And some have probably succeeded, like Gerald Cotton, of the Quadriga bitcoin scam. ---
**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, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/82 "2024-09-03T23:32:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And some have probably succeeded, like Gerald Cotton, of the Quadriga bitcoin scam. Yeah, if you read all of the details behind that, that’s one of the most plausible examples of a death probably being faked that I’ve ever heard of. He had every reason to pretend to be dead, he was coincidentally on the other side of the world when it happened, and I think that the only proof given of his death was a certificate from the local government in India. Also, less than two weeks before his reported death, he had filled out a will giving everything to his wife. And supposedly the access to many millions of dollars owed to people just vanished with his death, since he was the only one who knew how to access it. It’s a rare case where a conspiracy theory might actually make more sense than the official reports of what happened. (Yeah I know, every CT claims this, but in this case it is actually true.) ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/83 "2024-09-04T00:09:14Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > But they had an article explaining how easy it would have been for Hitler to escape and live in Argentina. Well, Alexis Bledel, whose family is all from Argentina, does have blue eyes… ---
**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 4, 2024, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/84 "2024-09-04T00:31:28Z")
Crypto bros show a pattern of dying early deaths leaving investors (if you want to call them that) holding the bag. Millions of dollars seem to disappear or remain beyond the reach of the law, along with the bodies of the allegedly deceased. > **[Unsolved: These crypto leaders died and no one knows why](https://protos.com/unsolved-these-crypto-leaders-died-and-no-one-knows-why/)** > > The massive sums of money in crypto go hand-in-hand with extravagant lifestyles, risky travel, drugs, and suspicious deaths. Listed in the article are the following: John McAfee - offed himself in Spanish prison Mircea Popescu - swimming accident, remains missing Nicolai Arcadie Muchgian - swimming accident, remains missing Bob Lee - stabbed to death in SF. Gerald Cotten - dies of Crohn’s disease at the age of 30 in India, where he was opening an orphanage. Millions missing because he was the only person with the passwords. Money moved after his death. Investors wanted the body exhumed, but have so far been unsuccessful. > Other unsolved murder cases and disturbing deaths in the history of crypto include billionaire Matthew Mellon, Tiantian Kullander of Amber Group, Autumn Radtke of First Meta, Vyacheslav Taran of Forex Club and Libertex Group, Argentine crypto trader Fernando Pérez Algaba, and Javier Biosca of Algorithms Group. Me: Accidents happen and we shouldn’t simply assume all these are exit scam cases. They could be extortion or murder victims for example. I do think that when millions of dollars disappear that actual irregularities (such as, did this guy actually die?) need to be resolved. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/85 "2024-09-04T18:19:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > 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. Assuming the robber was caught … We may not know who shot J.R Ewing, but we know who shot Elvis. ---
**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 4, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/86 "2024-09-04T19:41:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Assuming the robber was caught … Not only was Jeffrey Lee caught but he’s on death row. > **[U.S. Supreme Court won't review cases of two Alabama death row inmates](https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2018/04/us_supreme_court_wont_review_c_2.html)** > > The decision denying the two writs of certiorari was announced Monday in the court's weekly order list. > Lee was convicted of two counts of capital murder in the Dec. 12, 1998 shooting deaths of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a robbery of Jimmy’s Pawn Shop in Orrville. The jury recommended a sentence of life without the possibility of parole by a vote of seven to five, but the judge overrode that reccomendation and sentenced Lee to death. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/87 "2024-09-04T21:05:49Z")
If this was a Perry Mason episode (original non-gritty series), Mr. Cotton would turn up newly-dead, his wife would be arrested for his murder, and someone else who knew he had still been alive would turn out to have killed him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/88 "2024-09-05T03:52:16Z")
This is stupid. Elvis is dead and has been dead for a damn long time, and the sooner people realize that Elvis is dead, the sooner he can get back to alpaca milking. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2024, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/89 "2024-09-05T17:43:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > haven’t seen any “Elvis is alive” on the supermarket tabloids for at least a decade. Sigh, I miss the print edition of the Weekly World News. There is an [online edition](https://weeklyworldnews.com/) but it just isn’t the same. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/90 "2024-09-09T02:51:19Z")
Quoting myself from another thread… In the 1980s, Bob Greene’s column ran in the Chicago Tribune, and was syndicated in a lot of midwestern newspapers, like the St. Louis P-D and Indianapolis Star. As such, he was an influencer before the term was coined. Because of him, there was briefly a run on Canfield’s Chocolate Soda (bleechh), he was partially responsible for the early popularity of Vanna White, and I believe he was entirely responsible for the “Elvis is Alive” phenomena. Seriously: a woman wrote to him and included a muffled cassette recording, supposedly of Elvis’s voice, and he went into detail about it. His tone was “Jeez, what a whack-job,” but then other people wrote in, supporting her story, and he printed **those** letters! This was in 1987, again IIRC, but if you can prove an earlier account of someone claiming that Elvis was alive, and from a source other than Greene, please do share. > [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Those pushing the Jim Morrison story point to the poet [Aurthur Rimbaud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud), who stopped writing poetry at age 20 and became an international merchant and explorer. But… Rimbaud never faked his death. Maybe the true examples involve those who dropped out of the public light and now live in relative obscurity, like Bill Watterson, the cartoonist who penned Calvin and Hobbes. Yes, I can think of two people, not superstars, but fairly well known, who noped out for a while. Daniel Day-Lewis went to Italy and made shoes for a few years, and Dave Chappelle walked away from his own show and went to South Africa. They weren’t hiding, but leaving the country tends to throw people off one’s scent. ---
**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 9, 2024, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/91 "2024-09-09T06:57:34Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > This was in 1987, again IIRC, but if you can prove an earlier account of someone claiming that Elvis was alive, and from a source other than Greene, please do share. People were claiming to have evidence of Elvis being alive since right after he died in 1977. > **[Suspicious Minds: The Bizarre, 40-Year History of Elvis Presley Sightings](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/503466/suspicious-minds-bizarre-40-year-history-elvis-presley-sightings)** > > Fans just won't let the King die. ---
**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 9, 2024, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/92 "2024-09-09T14:06:24Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > People were claiming to have evidence of Elvis being alive since right after he died in 1977 . That article discusses evidence that dates back to immediately after his death; but not necessarily speculation. My lying memory was telling me the conspiracy was around a lot earlier but a little online research fails to find a single “Elvis is Alive” book or tabloid until almost 10 years after his (supposed) death. ---
**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 9, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/93 "2024-09-09T20:45:55Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > That article discusses evidence that dates back to immediately after his death; but not necessarily speculation. I’m not following. You had people reporting that they saw him alive, yet you believe there was no belief that he was still alive? How do you figure that? There were people who were at the funeral who said that they had doubts that it was really Elvis, because his body didn’t look real and the casket was too heavy. If you mean just that there was no _publicized_ speculation, there was the Kolb story from 1984 in that article: > A similar case of mistaken identity led to some excitement a few years later, when sports agent Larry Kolb was captured looking uncannily Elvis-like alongside his client (and Elvis’s pal) Muhammad Ali and Jesse Jackson in a 1984 newspaper photo. I can find multiple accounts of that photo fueling “Elvis is alive” stories. Here is a page showing the photo and the claim that it’s proof: > **[The Elvis Conspiracy - ~~1984~~ - Wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/663923246-the-elvis-conspiracy-%7E%7E1984%7E%7E)** > > Read ~~1984~~ from the story The Elvis Conspiracy by Sskylerr22 (skyler22) with 1,787 reads. elvispresley, vernonpresley, priscillapresley. It was well known... Or here: > **[Elvis Sightings and You](https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4763)** > > People keep thinking Elvis is still alive -- and here's why that matters to you. > In 1984, a picture ran in the papers of Muhammad Ali with Jesse Jackson and sports agent Larry Kolb. When people starting saying Kolb was actually Elvis, Ali — much to his credit, I think — confirmed to an interviewer that it was, in fact, Elvis. This was years before 1987, when **Rilchiam** claimed that Bob Greene was the first one to claim that Elvis was still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/94 "2024-09-09T21:20:00Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > **Rilchiam** claimed that Bob Greene was the first one to claim that Elvis was still alive. Well, **he** didn’t make that claim. Someone, and I’d lay odds that it was Gail Brewer-Giorgio who **nightshadea** mentioned, called him and made that claim. He scoffed at the idea, while still giving her free publicity. But yes, that was 1987, or possibly '88. Anyway, I asked if anyone had an earlier cite, and there it is. ---
**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 9, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/95 "2024-09-09T21:23:04Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Well, **he** didn’t make that claim. Someone, and I’d lay odds that it was Gail Brewer-Giorgio who **nightshadea** mentioned, called him and made that claim. He scoffed at the idea, while still giving her free publicity. Sorry, I misunderstood you and stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/96 "2024-09-10T01:36:08Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Because of him, there was briefly a run on Canfield’s Chocolate Soda (bleechh), Is he the columnist who wrote that he lost a lot of weight drinking Canfield’s Diet Chocolate Soda? I drank it for a bit after reading that, also their diet cherry chocolate soda, but I was never really a soda fan and it wasn’t exactly filling, let alone good. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/97 "2024-09-10T04:15:44Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Is he the columnist who wrote that he lost a lot of weight drinking Canfield’s Diet Chocolate Soda? Musta been. I think he said the key was to _look_ at a picture of something chocolate while drinking it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/98 "2024-09-10T05:12:46Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > I think he said the key was to _look_ at a picture of something chocolate while drinking it. Lol! I don’t remember that part, but it certainly couldn’t have hurt! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/99 "2024-09-10T10:11:56Z")
Re: the origin of the “Elvis Is Alive” meme: The great late Kirsty MacColl had a UK hit in 1981 with “There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis”, so at that time it was already well-established enough to make fun about it in a song. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_PPMyXoH1pE/maxresdefault.jpg "Kirsty MacColl - There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis (TOTP 1981)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPMyXoH1pE) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192/100 "2024-09-15T03:17:15Z")
Really, 99 posts in and no one has had the audacity to link the following? Folks, it’s simple. People think Elvis faked his death and is still alive for one reason only. [Because Elvis is everywhere.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DcTY9i-fx8) [it’s also a fun commentary on various conspiracies] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-think-elvis-faked-his-death-and-is-still-alive/1006192.md?page=4)