Elvis’ Maid Was Scared ‘Half to Death’ After an Intruder Defaced Graceland

Elvis Presley’s longtime maid and cook, Nancy Rooks, spent years working at Graceland. In this time, she grew close to the musician’s family, helped hold Graceland together, and dealt with several intruders. While most of these people were harmless, Rooks said that one occasion of trespassing left her terrified. She shared why she found it so off-putting.

Elvis Presley’s maid said someone defaced Graceland

Years after Elvis’ death, Rooks was cleaning up the pool area at Graceland when she briefly used the bathroom.

“I had been cleaning up around the pool area early one evening and was walking around the back of the house, towards the back entrance to the jungle room, when I stopped in to use the restroom located behind the house,” she wrote in her book Inside Graceland: Elvis’ Maid Remembers. “It’s the same restroom used by guests on the tour today right outside the trophy room. I did not notice anything out of the ordinary when I went into the restroom and closed the outside door behind me.”

When she stepped out of the bathroom, she noticed graffiti that hadn’t been there when she entered.

“I was only in there for several minutes and, as I came out, I immediately spotted some large lettering which had been spray painted on the outside wall,” she wrote. “It was just a few obscene words, but it was enough to scare me half to death.”

According to Rooks, they never found the culprit. This left her shaken.

“The police were called and the grounds were gone over with a fine tooth comb, but no intruders were found, and we never figured out what the motivation had been, or what it had meant,” she wrote. “It did leave me visibly shaken for awhile, however.”

A different intruder frightened Elvis’ maid at Graceland

Several years before this, Rooks and the residents of Graceland found themselves in a more frightening situation with an intruder.

“It was fairly late in the evening and I had gone down to the trophy room. I was busily straightening some things up when, all of a sudden, Aunt Delta and another of the maids came screaming into the room,” Rooks wrote, adding, “I could see by the look on their faces that they were terrified. I also noticed that Aunt Delta was carrying the small pistol which she normally kept in her nightstand, beside her bed.”

Delta pointed the gun at the intruder and told him to get out. Security quickly apprehended the man, but it rattled everyone.

Lisa Marie Presley worried someone was trying to break into the house

Perhaps because of the past trespassers, Lisa Marie Presley felt frightened when she heard something rustling in the bushes. 

“She and a friend of hers had spent the night in Aunt Delta’s room, (Aunt Delta was away), and they had been awakened in the middle of the night by noises outside the bedroom window,” Rooks explained. “We never did figure out if it was really something that they heard or if they had imagined it, but, in any case, it left a lasting impression on Lisa and she did not like to stay at the house after that.”