Graceland Fell Into a State of Complete ‘Hysteria’ After Elvis’ Death
In 1977, Elvis Presley collapsed at Graceland, sending the household into chaos. Nobody seemed sure what to do with themselves, and the situation grew even more grievous when they received news that Elvis had died. According to one of the paramedics who arrived at the home, Graceland fell into complete hysteria.
Everyone at Graceland was stunned by the news of Elvis’ death
On Aug. 16, 1977, Elvis’ fiancée, Ginger Alden, awoke in the afternoon and realized Elvis wasn’t in bed with her. When she investigated, she found him unresponsive on his bathroom floor.
Paramedics rushed the musician to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. Elvis’ doctor left the hospital and returned to Graceland to inform the musician’s family and friends. This news hit the already-grieving Graceland with a crushing blow.
“[Graceland] was filled with hysteria,” EMT Ulysses S. Jones, Jr. said, per the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “People were running all over the place crying and screaming and moaning.”
Jones specifically recalled the grief of Elvis’ father, Vernon, and daughter, Lisa Marie. They hardly seemed able to believe the tragic news.
“Vernon was shaking and trembling … he couldn’t sit still,” Jones said. “The doctor took him to the kitchen …. Lisa was running all over the house and crying, ‘My daddy is gone!’… Ginger walked around in a daze, but she finally calmed Lisa Marie down and gently took her to another room and closed the door.”
One person at Graceland remained clear-headed after Elvis’ death
Graceland maid Nancy Rooks recalled the state of grief at Graceland, but she said that one person remained calm. Elvis’ Aunt Delta rushed upstairs to clear out the musician’s room.
“Aunt Delta probably held up better than the other family members,” Rooks wrote in her book Inside Graceland: Elvis’ Maid Remembers. “She also realized that certain things needed to be done immediately, still in the protective mode of always trying to protect Elvis. Almost as soon as Elvis was taken from Graceland, she grabbed me by the arm and said, ‘Let’s go. We’ve got to go upstairs and get rid of some things before the investigators get here!‘”
According to Rooks, they cleaned out any evidence of Elvis’ drug use they could find. Rooks was in such a daze that she didn’t consider that what they were doing might be illegal.
The musician is buried on the property
Two days after Elvis’ death, he was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery, where his mother Gladys had been buried years before. Just over a month later, though, Vernon decided to move his son to Graceland property. He caught wind of a plot to steal Elvis’ body and felt he would be safer at Graceland.
Both Elvis and Gladys were moved from Forest Hills to Graceland’s Meditation Garden. Today, Vernon, Elvis’ grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley, Elvis’ grandson Benjamin Keough, and Lisa Marie Presley all have their final resting places at Graceland.
