It is my intention that this website on Elvis be nothing but
positive energy and influence on the reader. There were however, some dark
presences in in his life. I feel that these dark energies around him were part
of his soul mission, as it was his to love even those who mistreated him and
took advantage for their own financial and emotional gain. So I present to you
the following information not to judge, criticize, expose or slander anyone,
but to reveal the true tests that Elvis' soul worked through on it's path to a
greater Light.
"...Power hungry men arranged that their voices
could be heard through the world... and their pictures could be seen
everywhere... and greedy men did the same... they would try to attack him with
evil words..." - The Minstrel, by Bernard Benson
Elvis about 1971 or 1972:
"People tend to measure life by the things, the
material things be it money, houses or business, that they have attained or
done when they ought to measure it by the joy, the happiness and love in their
life that they’ve brought to another - by their deeds, if you will. For that
is what makes us different from the animals - we have capacity, the desire to
be important, to be more than we are. It is the idea of God, the knowledge
that a God does exist who will judge us, that gives us the inspiration, the
need, to be better, to do good works and attain perfection. And that’s good.
It is always better for a man to think there is someone or something - God,
out there to look upon our life and to make judgments upon it. Otherwise there
would be no moral fiber, no reason to try. In His wisdom He fashioned this
need into man and woman kind - gave them His word, and made sure by the many
written and spoken words called His word, that we would be aware, we’d know
and have it down as fact. Man has always had a deep felt desire to attain
goals, to Be, and if he’d just take the time to look, to listen, he’d
understand that the greatest thing he could achieve is that when he had lived
out his life, people would remember that he was a good man, a loving man, and
one who cared for his fellow man, his country, and tried to improve it for
all. That is immortality, that is greatness - to have even one other person
say, I’ll miss him, damn, he sure was a friend! God smiles on every
handshake, every smile we give someone who needs it, every hand we offer
another, every time we bend to help, and he numbers each deed. Those are the
numbers that count - not dollars and cents!
"You see, people don’t realize, are unable to
comprehend the vastness of God’s thinking. This intelligence created the
Universe - not just ours, not just one in our galaxy, but all of the universes
out there too many for mere mortals to understand or imagine. We base all our
understanding on our own comprehension and we are so small, so nebulous in any
comparison to what God is - you understand me? There are no words, no
communication devices we know of to explain this vastness, so we stumble along
and limit God to our thinking. Yet, in His wisdom He created in each of us a
desire to be like Him, to seek His attention, to gain His favor, and that is
the essence of the heart and soul. With out that need we become animals and
even to say that is wrong because animals love, are devoted, and attempt to
please man, therefore they too in their way, know a God. But mankind without
the need to please the Lord is criminal, insane, if you will, and has no
comprehension of good, of doing good, and will in fact, commit harm. I think
that those persons without this need are in some way evil, of evil nature and
are perhaps sent here by evil forces - Satan...and I believe they number in
the thousands and seek to destroy mankind’s tie with God. They also attack
all of us, especially those trying to be more perfect in His image, trying to
bring good to others. The Evil Ones throw down stumbling blocks, often killing
the good, the kind. Thus we say, how can one so good die when so many evil
ones go on living? God doesn’t rule this Earth, not yet, evil does. He tells
us that - Jesus intervenes at His will, when it is a step to further that
closeness to perfection."
From a 1979 press release in Memphis, Tennessee:
"An autopsy on the death of Elvis Presley showed the
singer was dying of bone cancer, his chief security guard says. In a
copyrighted book outline, Dick Grob, who supervised security for the singer on
his concert tours, said Presley probably would have lived only a few months
more if he had not died August 16, 1977, allegedly of cardiac arrhythmia. ‘Elvis’
death at that moment in time, was a very kind deliverance,’ Grob says in the
outline of ‘The Elvis Conspiracy’, a book he plans to author with writer
Dan Mingori. ‘His eventual death would have been slow, excruciatingly
painful and intolerable to witness. Elvis was dying of bone cancer...’ The
outline proposes a two-part book on the days following Presley’s death. ‘A
former police officer, Dick Grob uses his expertise to detail and report facts
that have been checked, and rechecked and checked again,’ the outline said.
‘His journal reads like the police report...conspirators of one kind or
another and that many questions that have lingered have finally been answered.’"
In 1969 Wanda June Hill came by unexpectedly to visit
Elvis at his Palm Springs vacation home. In her book, ‘Elvis, Face to Face’,
she relates his concern for her safety:
"After a few minutes of small talk passed, Elvis
bluntly said, ‘Please don’t come by unless you call first from now on. It
would be better for you if you didn’t do that. Things are not the same - not
as they used to be. There is too much goin’ on that you didn’t know about
- I would rather you not become involved.' He was dead serious, his tone one
of 'don’t question my word' and though I was full of questions, I accepted
his command. (Later, I was to learn there were indeed things going on having
to do with his career, earning capacity, and unrelated to anything he had
control over, and there were death threats. He was worried about his family
and friends).
"When I left, Elvis hugged me, hanging on as if he didn’t
want to let go of the past...it was a sad feeling, one I never quite
understood."
Sean Shaver, in his book ‘Elvis, Photographing The King’,
writes about Elvis’ isolation, imposed upon him by others:
"In time we will come to find out, I’m sure, that
from ‘management’ on down to the lowliest ‘flunky’, Elvis was
surrounded by people who at best could be called ‘inept’, and at worst
even ‘criminal.’"
When Elvis asked to see someone who was right outside trying
to get in to see him, if the ‘boys’ didn’t want Elvis to see this
particular person, they would tell Elvis that individual never came, and then
inform the person waiting that Elvis had gone to bed.
As Sean stated in his book:
"What’s Elvis going to do, say, ‘Hey, I don’t
believe you?’ Or go downstairs and run through the lobby looking for
somebody? I mean, Elvis was at the mercy of whoever was around him."
Marian Cooke, Elvis’ nurse in his last few years,
recalls in her book, ‘I Called Him Babe’:
"As we flew over the Grand Canyon, Elvis quoted a line
from the song, ‘How Great Thou Art’... ‘When I, in awesome wonder...’
He marveled about the beauty of it as though he would never cease to be amazed
by it, and there were tears in his eyes...He was my kid, my friend, my
confidante. We had laughed together and cried together many times. He had been
betrayed by people he called his friends, he had been slandered by those who
envied him, and he had been taken advantage of because of his generous
nature."
From a newspaper article by Jess Stearn in 1983:
"After Elvis died, an autopsy revealed what he (Elvis)
had already suspected. And the almost unbearable pain he felt at times that
caused him to use .....painkillers.
"The singer’s dad, Vernon Presley and other close
friends of Elvis were there when a doctor engaged to perform the private
autopsy told the disconsolate father: ‘Elvis’ cancer was in the advanced
stages. He would have deteriorated rapidly and known ever greater pain.’
"When the star’s longtime friend Larry Geller spoke
to him about it, Vernon was still terribly despondent and could only say: ‘Elvis
was sicker than anybody knew.’
"For some reason, the cancer was viewed as a stigma by
some of those closest to Elvis. Elvis’ father thought it would be a shock to
daughter Lisa Marie and wanted it kept from her, not recognizing that the
disclosure of the cancer would explain Elvis’ frequent use of painkiller
drugs....
"While this book (‘Elvis, His Spiritual Journey’)
was being put together, Joe Esposito, Elvis’ foreman, called Larry and asked
him not to mention the cancer.
"Larry decided, as I did, that it would be fairer to
Elvis’ memory to let his public know the truth.....(Larry) ‘In the last
year and a half of his life, he (Elvis) constantly complained to me, sometimes
doubled over in agony.’"
Charlie Hodge was Elvis’ long-time friend and employee,
who also played guitar and sang back-up with him on stage. In Charlie’s
book, ‘Me ‘n’ Elvis’, he relates that he was present when Elvis’ Dr.
Nick told Vernon Presley what the autopsy had revealed:
"He said what he was about to tell us must be kept in
the strictest confidence. He said that during the autopsy it was discovered
that Elvis had bone cancer that had spread through his entire body."
Kathy Westmoreland, one of Elvis’ back-up singers for the
last seven years of his life, stated in her book, ‘Elvis & Kathy’:
"(Elvis) had an enlarged heart and both his mother and
father had weak hearts....Elvis was a diabetic and he had hypertension, a
life-threatening condition (high blood pressure is a sign of this
disease)....Not long after I met Elvis, he told me in confidence that he had a
cancer-like condition.....after Elvis died, I was told in strict confidence
(along with Charlie Hodge and Larry Geller) that the autopsy revealed what
Elvis had already known: that bone cancer was indeed there and had spread
throughout his body....Elvis had suffered three unreported heart
attacks prior to the one that killed him.....Another genetic problem for Elvis
was chronic insomnia, which was not psychological, but a clinical
disorder....From the time he was a child, Elvis suffered from pernicious
anemia, which I understand his mother, uncle and grandfather had and was
commonplace in his family tree. Pernicious anemia is a cancer-like condition
of the liver....When I first met Elvis in 1970, he was just beginning to
suffer from glaucoma. It is an extremely painful disease which causes severe
pressure and pain in the eye. Periodically, he had to have fluid removed from
his eyes with a syringe."
Dr. Harry Rosenberg, a phone friend (From Wanda Hill's
'We Remember, Elvis'):
"In 1976, Elvis called me once in the middle of
the night. His voice very serious, he said ‘Harry, I need to ask you some
medical questions. Will you be honest with me?’ I told him I would try. He
wanted to ask about his health, but I told him I couldn’t give him a fair
answer because I didn’t know all the details of his condition. He said, ‘Just
tell me this, is it....Harry....is it terminal, or can you tell me?
"I then had to tell him that I couldn’t be sure, but
that from what he had told me, it was serious, and he should get expert help.
He told me he had a good doctor and that when he had been in the hospital they
had talked of surgery, but he could not go through that, he just couldn’t. I
assured him I understood his feelings. The suggested operation was not
pleasant and he’d have to live with it for a long time. He said that he
thought he would just try the medicine route and pray. ‘God will take care
of me,’ he said. ‘His will be done.’
"When Elvis died, they said he had drugs in him. He
should have had more, the way he suffered in his last few months. With his
condition, he was courageous beyond reason if that’s all he had in
him."
I include the following in support of Elvis' true outlook on
street drugs.
While conducting research for their book, ‘Elvis In
Print’, Maria Colombus, President of The Elvis Special Fan Club, received
correspondence from the department of the Treasury, and Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms. To quote from this correspondence:
"During the period of 1974 through 1976, Mr. Presley
provided one of our undercover (narcotics) agents, who was a musician, a job
cover. Mr. Presley confirmed to anyone inquiring that the agent / musician was
a member of one of his traveling bands. Although Mr. Presley was not actively
involved in any of the investigations, his assistance in this regard made it
possible for our agent to develop a number of quality investigations."
Elvis was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation by
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms by the Regional Director of BATF
in 1976. This certificate can be seen on display in the Trophy Room of
Graceland.
In 1972 I became casual friends with a young Hilton photo
girl who knew Elvis. In a card the photo girl sent to me dated
11/05/74 she wrote:
"I went to Elvis’ closing night party - very bad - he’s
just not himself. I left after an hour. His record producer (Felton Jarvis)
stopped by here. He left Elvis in Tahoe. He says Elvis won’t live another 3
years unless they put him into a hospital and get him well. His kidneys aren’t
functioning right for one thing. My friend (Felton Jarvis, Elvis' record
producer) is really worried - so am I."
She told me things that I found quite startling at the time.
She painted a picture of a lonely, sensitive man, seeking his spiritual role
in conversations on mystical topics with the few people he was able to meet in
his restricted environment. These were mostly a selection of young women who
were the only human beings available to Elvis for metaphysical discussion,
since his men willfully barred most other people from visiting him. Elvis was
unaware of the extent of this manipulation, as he was told by his men that the
individuals whom he wished to see simply did not show up. Elvis essentially
rescued these girls from the intentions of his entourage. In his bedroom he
would read to them from the Bible or other metaphysical texts, and lecture
them on the spiritual benefits of remaining virgins until the wedding night.
The Hilton photo girl also informed me that certain
individuals in his employ had been overheard discussing how they could
"put Elvis out" when he was "being difficult," but that he
was "hard to hold down." She said that Elvis once was pleading to
the point of desperation with a doctor to stay the night with him in his room,
to no avail. It was my friend’s opinion that Elvis was terrified of being
alone that particular night.
I am quite certain now that Elvis was literally held hostage
by the mafia working with and through those around him. I was told this many
years ago by a source I trusted, and have heard it repeatedly since. Elvis
broke down and wept when speaking to Wanda Hill as he related the threats made
to him on his daughter if he did not comply with their wishes. Even David
Stanley, one of his stepbrothers admitted that he knew Elvis was being drugged
against his will. (from David Stanley’s book, ‘My Life With Elvis')
Wanda Hill spoke with Todd Slaughter, a renowned British fan
club president, who stood and watched helplessly as Elvis was led down the
ramp of his plane in 1977 with two men firmly grasping him, one on each side.
Elvis was presented to Todd, who reached to shake his hand. The Star was
obviously drugged, and on his pale and swollen face was a bright red hand
print, and a split and bloodied lip. He grabbed the proffered hand tightly,
and refused to turn loose. Finally Elvis’ manager pried his hand away from
Todd’s. As Elvis was taken bodily to a waiting car, he turned and rasped to
Todd, "They are making me do this." (Todd Slaughter wrote about his
experience in a fan club newsletter, but later told Wanda in a long-distance
telephone conversation the undiluted version given in this text.)
Another witness, Fran Dale, described a scenario in a hotel
in which Elvis was staying for a performance in that city. This was apparently
after the concert. She saw him come down the hall, again with two men holding
on to him. Elvis seemed ill, but alert. He looked right at her, and attempted
to walk over to her, but the men tightened their grip on him and he was
escorted into a room. The door closed. Later, someone went in and this woman
caught a brief flash of Elvis solemnly sitting in a chair with several men
around him, none of whom she recognized as being a part of his usual
entourage. At one point, she heard what she believes to be Elvis’ voice
yelling, "No, no, don’t do that!" After which another voice said
gruffly, "Shut up!" Minutes later, he was brought from the room by
the same two men again. This time he was unconscious, his chin resting on his
chest. They threw a cape around him and ‘walked’ him down the hall.
Before he passed away, Elvis’ friend and karate instructor
Ed Parker, told of Elvis’ face being shoved under a basin of ice and
astringent until he struggled for air, and began inhaling and choking on the
substance. This was done to get the swelling down from his face caused by the
bloating of his failing liver and cortisone medication. They wanted him to ‘look
good’ for the next show. As a result, his lungs and eyes were damaged from
the toxic astringent. (This incident was told by Ed to Fran Dale. It was also
written by Larry Geller a spiritual confidant of Elvis’, in his book, ‘If
I Can Dream.’ Larry’s version states that the bowl contained ice and
water, but Ed told Fran that he too, had thought it was water until he later
went over to the bowl and inspected it more closely, at which time he realized
that the fluid it contained was astringent.)
I have heard too much from too many different sources
through the years not to believe that Elvis was indeed a prisoner from 1969
on. This was something he kept from his family, although his father Vernon
became suspicious toward the end. So while it is true that Elvis had very real
physical illnesses for which, as Kathy Westmoreland stated, it was necessary
for him to take prescribed medication, he was also becoming addicted by larger
doses of knock-out drugs administered completely against his will. Elvis often
resisted his ‘wardens’, and this was a way to insure his cooperation. I
believe that there was an intent to addict him, so that he would be dependent
on an artificial reality controlled by them. He was not so easy to subdue in
1972, but by 1977 he could no longer resist them. He at times reached out for
help, but those persons he reached out to were afraid to help him. They had
their own lives and family to protect.
Not to dwell on his suffering, but to comprehend more fully
his situation I inject the following: In a hotel, Elvis’ unmade bed was seen
full of blood. His men joked that he had been deflowering young maidens. In
truth, he often hemorrhaged in his colon, and vomited blood. One can only
speculate how the forced drugging done irrespective of his medical needs
affected Elvis’ sensitive pain-racked body. (Ed Parker was the witness to
the bloody bed. and told this to Fran Dale. Also from a second source Casey
Korenek: Casey’s friend Kay Reynolds-Hunter was a hairdresser for Elvis and
his entourage for a time in the last years of his life. Kay was with Ed Parker
when she saw Elvis’ blood-soaked bed.).
There were times toward the end due to the pain and a
dangerous mixture of medication given to him to intentionally keep him
'under control', when he could barely stand and sometimes passed out on the
floor (often to simply be left there). Yet for the most part he was alert and rational. I have heard a
conversation of him talking with some Avon ladies (who sent him some gifts
while he was in the hospital) in the last few weeks of his life in which he
was discussing the upcoming book written in a fit of betrayal by three of his
employees. He was not only completely clear-headed, but so very wise and fair
in his assessment of their motives. It was most certainly to his credit that
despite terminal illness and great pain, and being periodically rendered
nearly comatose by his captors, he could still exhibit such clarity and
wisdom in his final days. One of the Avon ladies knew Wanda Hill and gave her
a copy of the taped conversation which this author has heard. The
following are excerpts from that taped conversation:
Elvis: There’s a book that you all will be seeing
in the stores, wherever, in paperback, about, uh, an expose of my life, my
private life, and I would like to say that all of you who will read it, you
can believe what you like, but I would like to say right here that it’s been
distorted drastically, and, uh, sometimes when people get angry at someone
they do things that they regret later, and this is sort of the case. The two
former employees of mine got very upset and very angry at the fact that we had
to let them go, and they know very well why they were discharged and they
couldn’t accept it, and somebody offered them a lot of money, and you know,
uh, you’re all aware that nice things don’t sell. People aren’t
interested in hearing about how good someone is, or what kindnesses they may
do, or if they live a quiet life. They want risky things and the bizarre. So
this is what they’ve given them...there are a lot of things that are
distorted and anybody that followed my career will know that it’s impossible
for someone to live that type of a life, even behind closed doors, without
somebody saying something about it before now. Nobody leads that charmed of a
life, especially not myself.
....as far as the drugs, I did not take drugs from 1960 on.
I’ve never taken any drugs except for medical reasons.
Elvis speaking to Wanda concerning the underlying
intrigue that controlled his life in those last years:
You see, the guys here, they don’t know everything. They
think they do, but there’s so much more behind Elvis Presley, the name, the
image, the-the money, than they know. It’s not in their best interest to
know, an’ that’s all I’m sayin’ about it. I-I-I wish things were
different, but its too late now.....I’m just me - nothin’s going to change
that, except dyin’, I guess. Godddd, wait ‘til the reviews come out ‘bout
that! Man, it’s gonna be tough - on everybody, family and friends. Godddd -
‘n’ Lisa - she’s the one who’s goin’ to-to have to live with it....
Wanda and Elvis discussing the book his bodyguards wrote,
which came out the day he died. Elvis had read an advance copy:
Wanda: Well, I just think they didn’t give a damn
what they did to you.
Elvis: Oh, honey, don’t talk that way, don’t
swear, not from your sweet lips, and honey, don’t feel like that, bad toward
my friends, please. Just let it be. It doesn’t matter what those persons
will believe or what they don’t believe. All that matters is that we know
what’s true - you know - my real friends know, my fans know, in your hearts
you’ll know. That’s all that matters. I’ve loved them for so long and
they’ve stood by me - they’ll understand, and they’ll also know that it
would be impossible for me to live like that for so long and not have it come
out before now. I just don’t want folks blamin’ the boys for that book -
it doesn’t matter - it’s done. Let’s forget it. Man, my head’s killin’
me tonight. I just can’t think straight, it’s so bad....I really miss the
old days - talking to them you know - about the old days - I miss that - I
have nothin' in common with these guys - most of ‘em - they weren’t there,
you know, at the beginning.
Wanda: I’m really sorry, Elvis, I really am.
Elvis: Too bad I didn’t have all that fun they said
I had (laughs).
Wanda: Well, you were so bombed out on drugs maybe
you did and just don’t remember it!
Elvis: Yeah! (laughs) Maybe so man, would that be a
waste! (laughs more)
It is the plague of history, that those who have made the
greatest contributions to the Spirit of the Earth are often scourged and
crucified in one form or another. There are undoubtedly some dark aspects
churning in the mire that slew Elvis Presley, another Sun King sacrificed on
an altar of uncertain definition. It has been said, and rightly so, that all
history is written by the victors. The history-makers who pass from this
mortal coil are painted for posterity in the colors and hues of those who
outlive them, friend and foe alike. It is often the enemies and the
indifferent who comprise the loudest voice in giving the world their picture
of an individual who is no longer able to alter this presentation by his or
her living presence. When reflecting upon the defacing books that supposedly
reveal the real Elvis, this truth was especially evident to me. The true story
of Elvis Presley as told by him to his phone friends from beginning to end,
would rock the world. It can only be revealed in part within the pages of this
book, and will probably have to wait for a full telling until those whose
special interests wish to keep it buried, are themselves interred in the
earth. But it will one day be told as it has been recorded, by those who know
the story. That which has been set down in secret will one day be revealed. It
will then be seen as the history of a hidden prophet / priest.
(also see Elvis' Ailments)
visit Tribulations forum
on the ELC Forums
