Watch the video at the end of this article.
Introduction
ELVIS PRESLEY’S daughter described how “nothing has been touched” upstairs at Graceland since her father died. His bed is left as Lisa Marie requested and all his favourite videos and films are still there.
Elvis died over 40 years ago on August 16, 1977, but half a million fans still visit his home every regular year (pandemics aside). They are shown all around the downstairs living rooms and basement recreation rooms. They tour the museum areas, grounds and, of course, The Meditation Garden where the star is buried alongside his parents, Gladys and Vernon, and grandmother Minnie Mae. Last July, the star’s grandson Benjamin Keough was also laid to rest there after losing his life in a tragic accident at home. But nobody is permitted upstairs except Lisa Marie, Priscilla and very trusted members of staff. SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH LISA MARIE REVEAL GRACELAND’S SECRET ROOMS
Lisa Marie inherited Graceland on her father’s death, along with Vernon and Minnie Mae. Now the sole heir, she has final say on how the memory of Elvis is preserved.
Elvis: Lisa Marie ‘Upstairs at Graceland is a beautiful, creepy shrine to my father’
ELVIS PRESLEY’S daughter described how “nothing has been touched” upstairs at Graceland since her father died. His bed is left as Lisa Marie requested and all his favourite videos and films are still there.
Elvis died over 40 years ago on August 16, 1977, but half a million fans still visit his home every regular year (pandemics aside). They are shown all around the downstairs living rooms and basement recreation rooms. They tour the museum areas, grounds and, of course, The Meditation Garden where the star is buried alongside his parents, Gladys and Vernon, and grandmother Minnie Mae. Last July, the star’s grandson Benjamin Keough was also laid to rest there after losing his life in a tragic accident at home. But nobody is permitted upstairs except Lisa Marie, Priscilla and very trusted members of staff. SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH LISA MARIE REVEAL GRACELAND’S SECRET ROOMS
Graceland archivist Angie Marchese oversees all the contents of the home and attached museum, storage and display areas.
She said: “The upstairs at Graceland, even when Elvis was here was always a very private part of the home. Even Elvis’ closest friends and family didn’t go upstairs unless personally invited. And when we opened up for tours in 1982, the family requested that we keep the upstairs private, and we still honour that request and keep it private today.”
Angie added: “The bedroom really looks as if he (Elvis) just got up one day and left.
“The bed is made and all his personal items are still in place except his clothes which are in archives.”
The record player in the star’s bedroom still has the last disc he ever played on it, a track by Elvis’ backing singers, JD Sumner and the Stamps.
Apparently, there is even a styrofoam cup on a shelf, exactly as it was on August 16, 1977.
Lisa Marie has vividly described some of the details of what was preserved upstairs as well as her mixed feelings about having her childhood and the loss of her father preserved forever in time.
Video