Elvis's First Gravesite was not Graceland | Historic Road Trip to Memphis

<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:00:47</time>
<p>CBS News.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:00:48</time>
<p>Elvis Presley, king of popular music, is dead at the age of 42.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:00:52</time>
<p>The undisputed king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley is dead.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:00:56</time>
<p>He died this afternoon here in his adopted hometown of Memphis after apparently collapsing in his South Memphis mansion.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:02</time>
<p>And the mayor has ordered all flags in the city to be flown at half staff.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:06</time>
<p>This is Channel 7's Eyewitness News tonight with Fahey Flynn, Joel Daly, Bill Frank, Steve Edwards and a special report by Jay Levine.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:15</time>
<p>Elvis Presley is dead at 42, possibly of a heart attack.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:18</time>
<p>An autopsy reveals tonight Memphis, Tennessee is in mourning tonight.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:23</time>
<p>Thousands of fans are reported gathered around this palatial mansion.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:27</time>
<p>The Memphis telephone company reports total overtaxing of its lines.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:31</time>
<p>Pandemonium has broken out here on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:36</time>
<p>Thousands of fans from all over the country are converging on Graceland, trying to get in to view the body of the forest 42 year old king of rock and roll.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:44</time>
<p>Why go to all this trouble?</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:01:45</time>
<p>Because we love Hellbers.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:01:47</time>
<p>We still do.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:49</time>
<p>You're not gonna get in, you.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:01:51</time>
<p>Doesn't make any difference.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:01:52</time>
<p>There's nobody else like him.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:01:54</time>
<p>There won't ever be anybody else like.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:01:55</time>
<p>Him as far as I'm concerned.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:01:56</time>
<p>I just can't believe he's dead.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:01:58</time>
<p>It's terrible.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:02:00</time>
<p>Presley's show business friends as well as his legions of fans are mourning tonight.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:02:04</time>
<p>Sammy Davis Jr.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:02:05</time>
<p>Was asked how the performer would rate on a scale of 1 to 10.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:02:08</time>
<p>Always gotta be 11, babe.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:02:10</time>
<p>And I'm not saying that because of the tragedy of the moment, but because anybody in this business of ours that can become one of a kind, he's the one, the only, the original.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:02:22</time>
<p>Everybody else is an imitator that came after him.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:02:35</time>
<p>Welcome to Talk with History.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:02:37</time>
<p>I am your host Scott, here with my wife and historian Jen.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:02:40</time>
<p>Hello.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:02:41</time>
<p>On this podcast we give you insights to our history Inspired World Travels YouTube channel Journey and examine history through deeper conversations with the curious, the explorers and the history lovers out there don't have.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:02:53</time>
<p>To twist my arm.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:00</time>
<p>You know that I.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:03:03</time>
<p>Satisfied.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:10</time>
<p>All right, Jen.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:11</time>
<p>We have had an incredibly busy October.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:15</time>
<p>Part of it's just because my job has been 100 miles an hour for the past basically the entire month.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:21</time>
<p>I've been working weekends and doing all that stuff.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:23</time>
<p>So we republished an old episode last week which is really cool.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:28</time>
<p>It was fun to talk a little Halloween theme night of the Living Dead.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:03:31</time>
<p>Yeah, I think that that episode doesn't get as much love as it should because it's so cool.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:35</time>
<p>Well, and it was our original.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:37</time>
<p>It was like our seventh episode ever and actually I look, I listened back to it.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:40</time>
<p>It's pretty good.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:41</time>
<p>So if you, if you're a Night of the Living Dead fan or you're a zombie genre movie fan, you can go listen to that.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:46</time>
<p>I want to thank a couple people first because we've had some kind of stuff happening.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:51</time>
<p>We've potentially got a live stream coming up.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:54</time>
<p>So if you're listening to this after it's released, we're going to try to live stream on Wednesday.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:03:58</time>
<p>If you're listening to this sometime in the future we're going to try to do get some more live streams back.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:02</time>
<p>We used to do them quite a bit.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:04</time>
<p>But first I want to thank Larry Z.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:06</time>
<p>So he, he dropped us basically like kind of like a one time tip [email protected] there's a support link in the bottom and I think he's been listening to like our entire back catalog of podcasts and he dropped us a $25 tip.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:20</time>
<p>So we really appreciate that.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:22</time>
<p>Larry, he said caught up with every podcast discovered after learning about them through pinups for vets when Jim became an ambassador.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:28</time>
<p>World War II content is my favorite and been commenting on some of our podcast episodes because in Spotify you can actually drop comments now.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:35</time>
<p>So if you're a Spotify listener, please feel free to drop us a comment or let us know what you're learning or if you have a question or anything like that.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:41</time>
<p>So we really appreciate that kind of support.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:44</time>
<p>If you want to support the podcast, you can always go to talkwithhistory.com there's a support link at the bottom.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:49</time>
<p>Or if you want some kind of extra content that we're going to slowly release and work on.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:04:55</time>
<p>Over at the History Road Trip, our newsletter website, you can sign up for a membership or even do just like a one month type thing.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:05:03</time>
<p>So it's monthly or annually and that support really, it really does help the podcast.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:05:08</time>
<p>We haven't really had any partnerships or sponsorships on the podcast, although we have some potential ones coming up here.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:05:14</time>
<p>We'll see.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:05:15</time>
<p>And we love hearing from listeners and from our audience like it's just it closing that circle, that, that kind of content circle and having folks email us or reach out to us and say hey, thank you for this episode or that episode or I love this kind of content.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:05:30</time>
<p>We really do love that.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:05:31</time>
<p>We do really appreciate your feedback.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:05:34</time>
<p>For us it's just a labor of love and sometimes we don't get to hear what you guys think.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:05:38</time>
<p>And when you give us such positive reinforcement, really it inspires us and keeps us going.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:05:43</time>
<p>So thank you so much.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:05:44</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:05:45</time>
<p>So again, if you want to drop us a one time tip, buy us some coffee or a couple coffees, you can do that [email protected] or if you want to sign up for our newsletter where we're going to start generating some exclusive content over there in addition to the free newsletter, you can see that [email protected] all right, Jen, so we are talking about the King.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:06:15</time>
<p>The King.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:06:16</time>
<p>So the King, his big tagline was taking care of business.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:06:20</time>
<p>So let's take care of business and talk about his original gravesite here in Memphis that a lot of people don't, don't know about.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:06:27</time>
<p>Absolutely.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:06:28</time>
<p>So we, we are now Memphis residents again and there's none more influential in this town than Elvis Presley.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:06:38</time>
<p>Now, Elvis Presley wasn't born here, was born in Mississippi, but he moves here as a child, goes to high school here.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:06:44</time>
<p>And even after he becomes famous, he will forever have his home here.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:06:48</time>
<p>So when he passes at such a young age, so unexpected, expectedly, at 42 years old, August 16, 1977, there isn't much in the way of preparations for his death.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:07:02</time>
<p>So nothing has really been planned on what to do with Elvis.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:07:06</time>
<p>No one planned for him to pass away at 42 years old.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:07:09</time>
<p>The only thing that was like a precursor to where they were going to put Elvis, where were they going to put him, as far as the cemetery is concerned, is his mother had passed and she had died August 14, 1958.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:07:24</time>
<p>And it's significant if you're an Elvis fan because he was in the army at the time and he gets emergency family leave to come home.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:07:31</time>
<p>He gets home August 12th and he's able to spend two days with his mother, Gladys, before she passes from heart failure.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:07:39</time>
<p>And then two days after that, she is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery, which is one of the older original cemeteries of Memphis, Tennessee.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:07:52</time>
<p>It's a, it's a pretty elaborate funeral because 900 people come to the funeral, but most of them to see Elvis Presley.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:00</time>
<p>He gets an extension of his emergency leave from the army for another five days.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:04</time>
<p>He doesn't report back until August 24, 1958.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:07</time>
<p>But there's also a picture of him at her original gravesite with all the flowers.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:12</time>
<p>And when you look at our videos, like from, if you've watched our shorts from Graceland and if you've ever been to the Graceland, to the meditation garden, which is now the forever home of Elvis and his family, there is a big white cross there that says Presley on it.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:28</time>
<p>And that's the original monument marker for Glattus in the Forest Hill Cemetery.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:08:34</time>
<p>And we show a picture of the original location, original picture of that cross at her original gravesite.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:40</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:40</time>
<p>And so we visit that in the.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:42</time>
<p>In the video because there is still a concrete slab for where that cross was placed.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:49</time>
<p>And unbeknownst to us, when we went to make the video, someone had actually left a wreath there, like a funeral wreath.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:08:55</time>
<p>There was a ribbon.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:08:56</time>
<p>It said Gladys on it.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:57</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:08:57</time>
<p>And they have marked out a square where her grave was because some people think she's still there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:04</time>
<p>So we wanted to just emphasize the reason why Forest Hill Cemetery was picked so quickly after Elvis's passing is because his mother was there and he had.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:09:12</time>
<p>Out of the family and he had.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:13</time>
<p>Other family there, which we also show.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:15</time>
<p>So we show.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:16</time>
<p>And who hadn't passed at the time, but her.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:19</time>
<p>His uncle was there and his cousin very close to Gladys's grave.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:24</time>
<p>So other funerals that Elvis would have attended.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:28</time>
<p>And he visited his mother very regularly in Memphis.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:31</time>
<p>So when he passes so quickly in 1977, they.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:35</time>
<p>They just default to this place that Elvis has his.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:41</time>
<p>His mother at now.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:42</time>
<p>They disinter her.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:44</time>
<p>They dig up her grave and they put her in a mausoleum.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:48</time>
<p>There is a mausoleum there that was built in 1915 for the elite of Memphis.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:54</time>
<p>Memphis.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:54</time>
<p>Now in 1958.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:56</time>
<p>Was Elvis an elite of Memphis?</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:09:58</time>
<p>Could his mother have been put there?</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:00</time>
<p>Probably.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:01</time>
<p>His stardom was rising.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:02</time>
<p>He wasn't quite the star he was to.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:05</time>
<p>He is today or was when he hits his stardom, but his star was rising.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:09</time>
<p>He had some moderate fame and they had purchased Graceland, but I don't think their mind set was there yet.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:17</time>
<p>Where they're going to be such an elite family and people are going to visit this family and want to be so connected to Elvis Presley that they just put, you know, they buried her where her family was buried.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:30</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:30</time>
<p>They didn't think that would be a future at the time.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:32</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:32</time>
<p>In 58.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:33</time>
<p>That this would be a future thing they would have to consider.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:35</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:35</time>
<p>And so I don't even think they think considered putting Gladys in the mausoleum, even though it was available then, because they just didn't see themselves as that part of society yet.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:45</time>
<p>Now in 1977, I make it very clear Elvis Presley is probably one of, if not the richest person in the Memphis city.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
<p>Oh, yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
<p>The footage from the day of his funeral procession was bonkers.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:10:58</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:59</time>
<p>I mean, people.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:10:59</time>
<p>We had.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:11:00</time>
<p>We've had people commenting on our.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:11:02</time>
<p>On our video saying, I remember my parents driving me down To Graceland to see his funeral.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:09</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:09</time>
<p>So people lined up to view Elvis in state.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
<p>They had an open casket in the music room.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:17</time>
<p>So if you've ever been to Graceland, it's the room with the piano, the very first room you come to, to the right.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:22</time>
<p>And they had him laying in state in there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:23</time>
<p>And even Lisa Marie remembers so many people coming to see her father.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:28</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:28</time>
<p>And she had alone time with him at night when nobody was there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:32</time>
<p>But so many people came in to view the body of the King and he's laid out in this 800 pound copper line casket, which is a replica, exact replica, of the same casket his mother is in.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:46</time>
<p>So she's also in an 800 pound copper line casket.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:49</time>
<p>And so, yeah, for two days.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:52</time>
<p>So he passes on August 16th, for two days he lays in state.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:11:56</time>
<p>And all these people come through Graceland to view his coffin and to mourn.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:12:00</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:12:01</time>
<p>And there's news footage of like, women passing out and men, you know, like, waking people up who, who like, are just visibly distraught.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:12:11</time>
<p>And it, like there's emotion there.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:12:13</time>
<p>It's, it's.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:12:14</time>
<p>I've never seen anything else really like it.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:12:17</time>
<p>Well, he meant so much to people because he.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:12:21</time>
<p>I always say Elvis Presley is a great example of the quintessential American dream.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:12:25</time>
<p>Because a man who comes from nothing, a boy who's born into poverty and in a rural Mississippi and is able to become everything, a movie star, the king of rock and roll, an influence on music and influence on movies and influence on media, like the mark he leaves behind is so untouchable, people even today are influenced by Elvis Presley.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:12:50</time>
<p>Sun Studio, you have famous people who will come to record albums in Sun Studio.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:12:55</time>
<p>Why?</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:12:56</time>
<p>Because Elvis Presley recorded an album in Sun Studio.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:12:59</time>
<p>So he meant so much to people.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:13:03</time>
<p>And since he died so young and so unexpectedly, people wanted to come and say thank you for what you did in my life.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:13:09</time>
<p>And I feel like a lot of people grew up with him from you, from the time he does like Love Me Tender and goes into the army.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:13:17</time>
<p>And then you see.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:13:17</time>
<p>See him like Jailhouse Rock and all these other.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:13:20</time>
<p>You'd see him grow up and then he had to do his residency in Vegas.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:13:23</time>
<p>Like, you see this man from his 20s to his 40s, you've grown up with him for 20 years.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:29</time>
<p>Yeah, well, and when was.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:30</time>
<p>When did he do all like the Comeback Special stuff?</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:33</time>
<p>Was that late 68?</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:34</time>
<p>Yeah, yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:35</time>
<p>So that was.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:35</time>
<p>It wasn't that long, that far, long ago.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:38</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:38</time>
<p>In his late 30s.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:39</time>
<p>So the comeback Special had happened.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:41</time>
<p>He had come back onto the scene, right.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:43</time>
<p>And less than, you know, seven or eight years later, all of a sudden, he passes at 42.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:49</time>
<p>Like, it's one.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:51</time>
<p>It's in that aspect of it, it's that quintessential, you know, superstar that dies young.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:13:57</time>
<p>Yeah, you can almost like a James Dean.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:13:58</time>
<p>James Dean or Marilyn Monroe or, you know, things like that that just really cements that stardom, because that's it.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:14:06</time>
<p>It's the snapshot in time that's the last thing that everybody remembers is, like, when they're almost at their peak and they're forever in that status.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:14</time>
<p>Yeah, he grew to legend.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:15</time>
<p>Just like you get James Dean may never age.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:19</time>
<p>They grow on into legend.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:20</time>
<p>They become bigger than really they ever were in life.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:24</time>
<p>And so the mausoleum being reserved for the elite of Memphis, there they put.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:31</time>
<p>They put his body there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:33</time>
<p>Now, it wasn't permanent yet, right?</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:36</time>
<p>Because when you're in the mausoleum, there's markers that have been permanently etched and made.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:41</time>
<p>And he's just put in a room off to the right.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:45</time>
<p>His mother's been disinterred.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:46</time>
<p>She's been placed in that room, and he's placed on top of her in that room.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:50</time>
<p>So we show you.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:51</time>
<p>You see.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:52</time>
<p>You see the video of, like, 12, 15 men carrying the coffin.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:56</time>
<p>In there is a little makeshift chapel.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:14:59</time>
<p>When you walk in that front door, they do a family ceremony there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:02</time>
<p>Now, they do this all August 18th, about 3:30pm only close family members can be at that makeshift event.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:11</time>
<p>Because it's very small.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:12</time>
<p>You only see, like, four pews per side.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:15</time>
<p>So it's really like close family and close friends.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:19</time>
<p>And then he is placed in that room off to the right.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:23</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:23</time>
<p>And you can't always get into the mausoleum.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:25</time>
<p>Like, the front door is often locked.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:27</time>
<p>It is, but.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:29</time>
<p>And the day we went there, when we were filming was actually completely locked.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:33</time>
<p>Usually always locked on Sunday.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:34</time>
<p>Always locked on Sundays.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:35</time>
<p>And we didn't realize that.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:36</time>
<p>And so we were like, oh, man.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:37</time>
<p>So you actually had to come back a couple days later.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:15:40</time>
<p>The back door was still locked, but you were able to go up to the front office and you said they were very nice about it and had someone unlock it for you so you could get in and visit his previous.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:49</time>
<p>Kind of graves, his original resting place.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:51</time>
<p>So it's now, you know, 1616 Elvis Presley Blvd.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:55</time>
<p>It's the forest Hill Cemetery again.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:15:58</time>
<p>It was established in 1888, but then chartered in 1892.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:04</time>
<p>And there is some famous.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:06</time>
<p>Other famous graves there as well.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:07</time>
<p>And we mentioned them in the video.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:09</time>
<p>But the founder of Holiday Inn is there some people who played backup with Elvis and his original records are there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:16</time>
<p>I didn't know that one of the co founders of Stacks is there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:19</time>
<p>And so this, the Memphis Bell, that's what brought us there in the first place.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:24</time>
<p>We were there visiting the Memphis Belgrave.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:16:26</time>
<p>Margaret.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:16:26</time>
<p>Margaret Polk.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:26</time>
<p>Margaret Polk is there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:28</time>
<p>So it is a Memphis, a famous Memphis graveyard.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
<p>This bit, there's two of them and this is the second one.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:35</time>
<p>So we were able to get into the mausoleum, see the original resting place of Elvis.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:40</time>
<p>People have been signing the marble beside it and that's why they lock it up now because it's defacing to the marble.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:16:47</time>
<p>But real, you know, people have done that to the gate of Graceland.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:16:51</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:16:51</time>
<p>If you see the Graceland, the wall outside of Graceland, I mean it is covered for like multiple feet, you know, probably, you know, 10, 20, 30ft of people sliding.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:17:01</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:17:01</time>
<p>And that's more stone.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:02</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:02</time>
<p>And they've accepted that.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:04</time>
<p>But in the mausoleum they're trying to avoid that.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:07</time>
<p>So we left a flag for Elvis's military service, but he's not there for long because unfortunately August 29, three men were arrested trying to break into the mausoleum and they're not quite sure what they were going to do because like I said, it's an 800 pound coffin and it takes 12, 10 to 12 men to lift it.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:31</time>
<p>Some think that they, he would, they were going to try to steal his body and hold it for ransom, but no one knows for sure because they didn't get inside.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:17:37</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:17:38</time>
<p>And we actually had a commenter on the, on the video who said someone had done that to like Charlie Chaplin's body or something like that.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:44</time>
<p>Oh wow.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:17:44</time>
<p>And so they had kid, they had basically taken his body, held it for ransom and I think they were actually caught.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:17:49</time>
<p>But it's not unprecedented.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:51</time>
<p>Sure.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:52</time>
<p>And I mean, I guess it's a get rich quick scheme.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:17:56</time>
<p>But what happens is about, I'd say a week later, on September 7, a letter is sent to the officials of Memphis from the Presley family.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:05</time>
<p>Now remember, Vernon is still alive, Elvis's father, asking if they can move Elvis's body and Glattus's body to Graceland.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:15</time>
<p>If they can, they'll put them in the meditation garden, they'll bury them in the ground and they can provide security at Graceland.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:22</time>
<p>Since they already do that.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:24</time>
<p>If they would have to provide security at the mausoleum, it would be $200 a day.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:30</time>
<p>Not that Elvis couldn't afford that, but he, but Vernon felt since they already do it at Graceland, this would be better for him to Just be home.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:18:39</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:18:40</time>
<p>And that was in the 70s.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:41</time>
<p>That was in the 70s.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:42</time>
<p>But this was not done.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:43</time>
<p>That's why they had to send a letter.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:45</time>
<p>And nowadays people just think of Elvis at Graceland, but this is not the norm even then, so on.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:51</time>
<p>And it was, it took about a month, but it was approved.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:18:54</time>
<p>And then October 2, 1977 is when Elvis's body is actually moved to Graceland with his mother.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:02</time>
<p>So it's a.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:03</time>
<p>About a month, a month and a half after he passes is he's actually brought back to Graceland.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:09</time>
<p>And since then, Vernon has passed.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:11</time>
<p>He is there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:12</time>
<p>His grandmother has passed.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
<p>She is there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:14</time>
<p>Lisa Marie, unfortunately, untimely again passes.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:18</time>
<p>She's there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:18</time>
<p>And so is Elvis's grandson Ben.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:20</time>
<p>Lisa Marie's son is there as well.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:23</time>
<p>And it has become the gravesite of the Presley family.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:27</time>
<p>I would, I would venture that Priscilla will be there and Riley will be there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:32</time>
<p>Now the cross that was at Gladys's grave has been moved there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:36</time>
<p>And all of the other items, there was a.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:37</time>
<p>There was a headstone.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:38</time>
<p>Those have been moved there as well.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:19:40</time>
<p>So if you visit the meditation garden that has become the gravesite of the Presley family, all those items from Forest Hill Cemetery are now there as well.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:19:48</time>
<p>Yeah, it was, it was neat.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:19:50</time>
<p>It's always neat to go to these cemeteries.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:19:51</time>
<p>Right.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:19:51</time>
<p>The more often that you and I do things like this, it's.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:19:54</time>
<p>It's just neat to see what else is there.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:19:56</time>
<p>And actually, funny enough, I will put a link to exactly where Gladys's gravesite is, because the one that's marked already in Google Maps is wrong.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:07</time>
<p>So we were looking at that and we found the correct site because you can see from the pictures and there's like another little mini mausoleum for some other family that was buried near Gladys site.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:16</time>
<p>And so we found the exact right spot.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:17</time>
<p>And I was looking on Google Maps, I was like, hey, the marker for Gladys burial site is actually in the wrong spot.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:23</time>
<p>So if you use Google Maps, the one that's in there, it's actually wrong.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:26</time>
<p>From what we saw, this is November of 2024.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:29</time>
<p>But I'll leave a link to the exact spot in the podcast.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:32</time>
<p>Show notes to her site.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:20:33</time>
<p>Yes, and it is in the wrong location.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:20:36</time>
<p>Although you can see the right location from that wrong location.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:20:40</time>
<p>And even from the original location, the right location of where Gladys was, was originally buried.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:20:45</time>
<p>You can see the mausoleum, the expensive mausoleum that is the only large mausoleum of Forest Hill.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:20:52</time>
<p>So if you're driving in looking for the mausoleum, it is the only large.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:56</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:20:57</time>
<p>And there's signs on the outside of the mausoleum that says Elvis Presley, like original site or something like that.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:02</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:02</time>
<p>So they've embraced their story.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:04</time>
<p>I mean, this is footprints of Elvis's early resting place.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:10</time>
<p>And this reveals like layers of his significance in Memphis, layers of who he was in life and then who he becomes in death as well.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:20</time>
<p>I think this is a very significant visiting location if you are a true Elvis fan.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:26</time>
<p>Even when we visited and it's on the video, they have a picture of Elvis inside that original place.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:34</time>
<p>No one else has been put in there.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:36</time>
<p>I don't think they will ever use it.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:38</time>
<p>I think it'll always have a home as Elvis's original resting place.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:43</time>
<p>They have a little monument outside to him about that.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:48</time>
<p>There's pictures inside the sanctuary that little makes of sanctuary of him and his mother and what the funeral possession looked like the day Elvis died.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:21:56</time>
<p>So I think they've embraced their story, much like the city of Memphis embraces him as the, you know, the original son of Memphis.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:22:03</time>
<p>I think the mausoleum has embraced their part in the Elvis Presley story as well.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:09</time>
<p>Yeah, it was, it was fun to make.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:11</time>
<p>It's always good to, good to get out there.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:13</time>
<p>And if you live in the Memphis area or if you're here in Graceland, it's not hard to visit.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:16</time>
<p>So thank you again for supporting us.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:19</time>
<p>If you want to support the podcast, you can do so [email protected] or if you want to support it and get some extra content that we're going to be making.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:27</time>
<p>We potentially have another History After Dark episode that we've been tossing around about some kind of famous historic celebrities in their, I'll say, their night lives, I'll put it that way, and kind of some of the, some of the things that come from that.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:41</time>
<p>So we're going to, we're going to talk a little bit about that over at History After Dark.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:22:45</time>
<p>We'll talk about History After Dark if you're interested.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:22:47</time>
<p>The sowing of the oats of celebrity.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:22:51</time>
<p>We'll talk about that.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:52</time>
<p>All right.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:22:52</time>
<p>Well, thank you so much, everybody.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:22:54</time>
<p>It's 6:29.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:22:55</time>
<p>It's WMAQ Chicago.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:22:57</time>
<p>I'm Dennis Day with Rick Elliott and Jay Marks.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:22:59</time>
<p>Say it one more time as much as it hurts.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:23:01</time>
<p>Elvis Presley died today.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:23:03</time>
<p>Many superlatives linked with his name, the greatest and the King.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:23:09</time>
<p>But probably the most important thing is that each person listening and all of us here, that Elvis had an effect, an important effect on each one of our lives.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:23:19</time>
<p>And what more can you say about an individual?</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:23:21</time>
<p>You'll be remembered for many, many years.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:30</time>
<p>This has been Walk with History production.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:32</time>
<p>Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Benny.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:36</time>
<p>Episode researched by Jennifer Benny.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:38</time>
<p>Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
<p>Talk With History is supported by our [email protected] our eternal thanks to those providing funding to help keep us going.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:50</time>
<p>Thank you to Doug McLiverty, Larry Myers and Patrick Benny.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:54</time>
<p>Make sure you hit that follow button in your podcast player and we'll talk to you next time.</p>
<cite>Jen</cite>
<time>00:23:58</time>
<p>Your love ain't gotta walk through that fire to keep me, keep me part.</p>
<cite>Fan</cite>
<time>00:24:09</time>
<p>Of.</p>
<cite>Anchor</cite>
<time>00:24:11</time>
<p>Mountains.</p>