The death of Elvis Presley sent the music world into mourning. As one of the most famous musicians to ever exist, it was a loss that hit hard and globally. Wasting no time after his passing, his funeral was organised for only two days later, and fans flocked to his Graceland home, which was precisely the problem.
30 minutes after Presley’s passing, his father was on the steps of his iconic home announcing it to the world in a press conference. Everything went incredibly quickly from then on. Usually, the family would mourn in private for a few days, taking a moment for themselves before opening their grief up to the public. Usually a funeral is a somewhat private, personal thing reserved for the family and loved ones. But with someone as famous as Elvis, that couldn’t happen.
The news of his death would hit the press either way, fans would likely race to his hometown regardless, so the family made the decision to open it all up, including his casket. His body was returned to Graceland, dressed in a white suit, hair redied and makeup done, and then it was displayed for fans to come and say their last goodbye.
It was a complete open door policy. His body was in an archway between his music room and living room inside Graceland, so for the day it was there, the house was hectic. It’s reported that around 30,000 people made it inside to pay their respects but it was the 80,000 more outside that ended up in trouble.
As fans pushed and shoved, trying to get closer, hoping to get a chance to go inside, the crowds became unmanageable. The entire boulevard leading up to the house was a swarm of people, the gates were surrounded, and the roads were busy with even more people driving by to take a look at the scene or the press trying to get close too.
That’s how the incident happened. At some point, while the people inside the house were peacefully and respectfully saying goodbye to the King, a car swerved off the road and crashed into the crowd. Two people were killed, and another was badly injured but luckily recovered.
It seemed that everything surrounding Elvis’ death led to chaos. Not only was there this tragic accident and the out-of-control crowds, but then two weeks later, after he’d been buried, someone reportedly tried to steal the musician’s body. Three men were arrested at Forest Hill Cemetery for trying to break into the family mausoleum and steal the singer’s corpse. However, they were pretty unprepared for the sheer amount of concrete involved in a burial site and didn’t have the right tools to manage to get anywhere near close. Even if they had, they certainly would have had no luck trying to transport the heavy copper casket in which the King was laid to rest.
It gets wilder, though. While three men were arrested, one of them was actually an undercover FBI agent who had been tipped off to the whole plot.