Elvis Presley Appeared to Stop the Rain on His Last Day Alive
Elvis Presley spent the last day of his life bouncing between various activities. He planned his tour, discussed his upcoming marriage, saw friends, and played a game of racquetball in the middle of the night. He also appeared to use some sort of divine power to change the weather. After Elvis’ cousin complained about the rain, Elvis told him he would stop it.
Elvis appeared to control the weather on his last day alive
Elvis typically woke in the late afternoon and stayed awake all through the night. As a result, his cousin, Billy Smith, was not surprised to get a call from Elvis in the early morning hours of Aug. 16, 1977. Elvis had already been awake for hours at this point, and invited Smith and his wife, Jo, to play racquetball with him. Though they had been sleeping, they agreed.
As the group walked to Graceland’s racquetball building, Smith complained about the rainy weather.
“Ain’t no problem,” the singer told his cousin, per the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “I’ll take care of it.”
According to Smith, Elvis then lifted his hands, and the rain, miraculously, ceased falling.
“See, I told you,” Elvis told him. “If you’ve got a little faith, you can stop the rain.”
He believed he had the power to heal with his touch
Elvis had grown up in the church and grew interested in spirituality as he aged. He had long thought that his faith gave him unique abilities. According to Priscilla Presley, Elvis believed he could heal people with his touch.
“He was capable of spiritual hearing,” Priscilla wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “One touch of his hands to my temples and the most painful headaches disappeared.”
His bodyguards were more skeptical about Elvis’ reported healing abilities. Red West, who worked with Elvis for years, said he avoided talking about his bad back around the singer.
“He would give me one of those little secretive smiles that told the world that he had these powers, and he would walk away pleased with himself,” West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “I would walk away and my back and neck were still hurting like hell. It was a case where I didn’t want to tell him that he was kidding himself, because he really had the best of intentions, but he was convinced that he had fixed me up.”
What else did Elvis do on his last day?
Elvis awoke on the afternoon of Aug. 15, 1977, and spent time watching television with Smith. After this, he went to a 10:30 PM dentist appointment with his fiancée, Ginger Alden.
Afterward, Elvis discussed his upcoming tour, arguing with Alden about whether or not she would join him. Still, they cooled down enough to make plans for their wedding.
After playing racquetball with Smith, Jo, and Alden, Elvis sang a few songs for them at the piano in the racquetball building. He received several packets of prescription medication before turning in for the night.
Several hours later, Alden found Elvis unresponsive on his bathroom floor.
