The shocking moment Elvis Presley’s corpse was almost stolen: “There was an attempt”
If you were to put a value on any famous person’s body, then surely someone like Elvis Presley would net you a considerable fortune if you were to acquire and sell it.
This is something of a morbid thing to think about, and considering the moral reprehensibility of the act of graverobbing, not something that you should try to engage with, but that doesn’t mean someone didn’t consider it. In fact, someone even tried to get their mitts on the body of the King of Rock and Roll, and although it was to no avail, it caused his family to take drastic measures in order to ensure that his body wasn’t whisked away and pawned off for a small fortune.
When Presley died in 1977, the music world grieved collectively over the passing of one of the biggest idols to have ever existed within their realm, and while his close friends and family would have understandably asked for privacy, it would have been pretty hard to come by. Plenty of outsiders would have wanted to pay their tributes to the iconic singer by attending his funeral, but that would have meant opening up what should have been an event reserved for those closest to him to thousands, or even millions of people to attend.
There was, as a result of this, an air of unease at the ceremony, and while many members of the funeral party stayed put at the chapel where it took place for over half of the week, things suddenly got out of hand when there was an attempt made to steal the casket which Presley was encased in. In an interview with the Elvis Fans Matter podcast, his cousin, Billy Smith, revealed what happened when they tried to lay his relative to rest.
“There was an attempt, believe it or not, to steal Elvis’ body,” he claimed. “From that point on, Uncle Vernon, he didn’t know what to do. So he called the city and asked them if he could move it to Graceland, that way he could have security 24/7. They agreed to it and also agreed to allow his Mama to be moved there, and, of course, Grandma and all of them are buried there now too.”
Even though the thieves weren’t successful in their mission, it would undoubtedly have been a stressful time for his family, who simply wanted him to have peace. While he was initially buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery alongside his mother, Gladys, his body now lies at his famous Graceland home alongside hers. The question still remains, however, why exactly people wanted to get their hands on his corpse.
Smith also revealed one potential reason for the attempted theft on the podcast, although he later admitted that he was joking around. “Now that is something that you won’t believe,” he proclaimed. “He decided to have his whole casket lined in gold to outdo [Egyptian King] Tutankhamun, and it weighed a ton.” It may have only been a joke, but it’s also the sort of lavish ceremony that someone like Elvis would have gone for, you’d presume.
