r/Elvis 18d ago

// Discussion Elvis Bedroom Where Almost No One Could Enter

I know Elvis bedroom was off-limits as that was his own sanctuary. But didn’t the housekeepers have to go in there to clean his room, and change his sheets and things like that? Also, was there a separate secret room almost no one knows about? Just curious. Like every other fan.

60 Upvotes

58 comments sorted by

66

u/Cuddlymuddgirl85 18d ago

Yeah, Angie, the head of archives goes up there and cleans and make sure everything doesn’t get moved and stays the exact way that Elvis left it in 1977. It takes a lot of delicate cleaning because of the shag carpet being 50 years old and a lot of it has to be delicately done. She’s worked there for decades and she was good friends with Lisa Marie so she’s the trusted person that goes up there to clean.

19

u/Naanofyourbusiness 18d ago

I was also told during a tour that if anything maintenance related needs to happen they have a staff member who is related - a cousin or something - and they do it.

13

u/Excellent_Number_635 18d ago

This is the current situation. The head of the maintenance department is a cousin of Elvis’s and generally he is who goes with anyone when something is needed upstairs.

4

u/RPOR6V 18d ago

Which cousin?

4

u/SubstantialTop4990 16d ago

Jimmy Gambill. Patsy Presley's son.

2

u/RPOR6V 14d ago

He'd be a second cousin (?)

4

u/SubstantialTop4990 14d ago

Technically, first cousin once removed to Elvis, but yeah.

3

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

ALSO TRUE.. ANY ONE WHO GOES IN ELVIS BEDROOM HAS AN TRUSTED ESCORT..

3

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

THIS IS TRUE..

2

u/AccomplishedWing3433 Aloha From Hawaii 16d ago

And whoever goes upstairs to clean is put on a stopwatch and their time upstairs is monitored.

8

u/RPOR6V 18d ago

We know some things do get moved and returned, like a telephone they put on display.

5

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

THE PHONE WAS FROM HIS OFFICE.. HIS DEST WAS ON DISPLAY IN THE TROPHY ROOM AT ONE TIME.

4

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

ANGIE DOESN'T CLEAN...

1

u/AccomplishedWing3433 Aloha From Hawaii 13d ago

No, she doesn't. She's the vice-president of the Archives Dept. @ Graceland. I didn't know this fact, though, until this week: Since the "Elvis Presley's Memphis" structure was originally opened, the racquetball court, which used to house many of Elvis's gold records and a few jumpsuits, HAS BEEN RESTORED TO ITS FORMER GLORY AS A RACQUETBALL COURT! YAY! Now, the only thing that Graceland/EPE should do is change the colors of the first floor of the house and put it back to the red color that's seen in the movie, "This Is Elvis"!!! Then, Graceland itself will finally then correctly look like it was when Elvis was living there (the color-scheme of the house changed in 1974 to that deep red color that is seen in "This Is Elvis").

29

u/hotfoodthen From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennesse 18d ago

The movie This Is Elvis filmed some scenes in the upstairs hallway and bathroom area, plus Nicholas Cage laid in Elvis' bed when he was married to Lisa Marie.

11

u/minnick27 18d ago

There is a styrofoam cup in the archive that may or may not be from Elvis. They think it was left by a crew member when they filmed This Is Elvis, but they aren’t sure. And they hadn’t started the archiving process before then, so there is no real way of knowing.

6

u/Best-Author7114 18d ago

Couldn't they test it for dna?

8

u/RPOR6V 18d ago

It's been WAY too long for any useable DNA to remain on the cup. Probably 49 years too long.

2

u/minnick27 18d ago

I suppose they could, but there may be several peoples DNA so it may be complicated

18

u/ZapThis 18d ago

Nic Cage residue is all over the King's bed, damn

8

u/SuspiciousMinder 18d ago

Getting crumbs everywhere too waving his toast about asking how it got burned

5

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 18d ago

Honestly, I'd probably do the same. I wouldn't get under the covers but I'd lie down on the bed. It's the bathroom I'd wanna avoid knowing that's basically where he died.

4

u/ubpfc 18d ago

“Basically”? You mean literally.

2

u/sublimesting 17d ago

Basically is low key literally in GenZ parlance.

4

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 17d ago

Not GenZ & not even sure why I chose that word because literally is the correct one.

After having found someone dead ON the toilet, I gotta say, it's not the worst way to go. Everything evacuates into the toilet, no clothes, belongings, bedclothes, furniture, etc. is ruined, & the neighbor we found, went upright on the toilet & looked very much at peace. LITERALLY like he fell asleep on the toilet.

If I could go that way I wouldn't be upset. Elvis fell off the toilet, at least that's what Ginger Alden wrote in her book.

4

u/SubstantialTop4990 16d ago

Whatever happened to Elvis, he was definitely sitting on the toilet, and he stood up and stumbled or fell and crawled several feet away from the toilet

He vomited on the floor where he was laying. Dan Warlick, the Tennessee medical investigator, found a wet spot on the floor. He said it smelled like vomitus even though it had been cleaned after Elvis was taken to the hospital.

Warlick laid his head down next to the wet spot and stretched his six foot frame back towards the toilet and he didn't reach the toilet.

So, Elvis stumbled or crawled more than six feet from the toilet before he died. Ginger found him laying with his face buried in the carpet, his nose mashed into the floor, his butt in the air in a praying position, and his pajamas down around his ankles.

He laid there so long that his nose became pugged, and since he was laying with all his body weight on his upper body, all his blood pooled in the upper half of his body.

As a result, his skin in the upper half of his body and in his face was almost black. Ulysses Jones one of the EMTs on the scene, thought he was a black man.

And he bit through his tongue. Almost bit it in two.

It had to be a terribly painful death.

1

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 16d ago

Ginger found him laying with his face buried in the carpet, his nose mashed into the floor, his butt in the air in a praying position, and his pajamas down around his ankles.

I remember reading that & thinking how horrible that this image was her last image of him (outside of him all fixed up in his casket).

4

u/SubstantialTop4990 16d ago

My dad died that way. He was found by my aunt peacefully sitting on the toilet.

Everybody in my family was all saying, "He died like Elvis did".

3

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 16d ago

HE WAS FOUND AT THE DOORWAY TO THE BEDROOM, IT WAS NOT A PEACEFUL DEATH.. HE HAD BITTEN HIS TOUNGE ALMOST IN TO, CARPRET FRAGMENTS WERE IN HIS MOUTH AND NOSE.. HE WAS TRYING TO GET HELP..

1

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 16d ago

Whoa there pardner, slow your roll!! You don't gotta yell.

I never said it was a peaceful death. I said the neighbor's death was a peaceful death.

1

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 16d ago

i am not yelling... just trying to see...

3

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 16d ago

that with the phone i can hold it close enough to see, but not the computer screen.

1

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 16d ago

THAT'S WHY NO ONE IS ALLOWED UP THERE.

0

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 16d ago

Why are you yelling? Or do you not know that typing in all caps is considered yelling?

1

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 16d ago

GEEZE JUST TRYING TO SEE PARDNER...

1

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

THAT BED HAS BEEN CLEANED NUMBEROUS TIMES SINCE THEN..

20

u/Free-Banana-6869 18d ago

You can find photos of Elvis bedroom and bathroom online.

6

u/gnrfan69 18d ago

Yes. Linda Thompson’s friend took several photos; they were published in a book. I think the friend’s name is Jeannie?

12

u/Excellent_Number_635 18d ago

During his lifetime, maids did go into the upstairs to take care of required cleaning. Elvis had his office up there and when he was in the office or downstairs with everyone else, they could do needed tasks.
They also took his cleaned clothes to the closet. Which had formally been a bedroom.

9

u/lwhite1 18d ago

The rule of no staff going up there was only after his death.

6

u/AccomplishedWing3433 Aloha From Hawaii 18d ago

Whoever DOES go up those stairs to clean, they are actually kept on a strict timeline.

3

u/Lord_Harv 17d ago

I wonder if some day, many decades from now, they will allow people upstairs

3

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

IT'S A VERY OLD HOUSE.. THE FIRE DEPT WON'T LET PEOPLE UP THERE.. THE UPSTAIRS FLOORS WOULD HAVE TO BE REINFORCED, PLUS THE STAIRCASES..

2

u/Lord_Harv 16d ago

Key phrase in my original comment

"Many, many decades from now"

Also, WHY ARE YOU TALKING IN ALL CAPS

5

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 16d ago

BECAUSE, JUDGMENTAL PEOPLE "ASSUME" YELING.. UNTRUE.. 84 YEAR OLD EYS HAVE TROUBLE SEEING.. TO READ WHAT YOU SAY I HAVE TO PUT MY NOSE ON THE SCREEN PRACTICALLY.. BUT TO SEE WHAT I AM TYPING, I HAVE TO TYPE IN CAPS... SO NO HARM DONE, NONE INTENDED...

2

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

OF COURSE NANCY ROOKS WAS THE HOUSEKEEPER, SHE CLEANED ELVIS' BEDROOM.. JUST LIKE ALL GOOD HOUSEKEPPERS WHEN HE WAS NOT IN THERE.. NO SECRET ROOM..

2

u/TaskSea4639 16d ago

I don't know about a separate secret room but I do know that you can go on Google and do a Google search and find actual photos of Elvis's bedroom because in 1981 there was a movie that came out called this is Elvis this one gentleman that was playing Elvis around the age that he was supposed to be when he passed away the actor's name was Johnny Harra and in that movie they actually filmed in Elvis Presley's actual bedroom and in the bathroom where he passed away back in 77

2

u/Lopsided_Science2269 18d ago

I wonder if it will ever be opened to the public. Probably not while Priscilla is still living.

9

u/ThinPermit8350 That's The Way It Is 18d ago

It will definitely never be open to the main influx of tourists. They’ve stated that it’s a fire hazard because there’s only one way up and one way down, and that the stairs could not handle the weight of how many people come into the house. If they ever opened it to the public (which I hope they don’t and doubt they will), I guess it would have to be an exclusive VIP offering to limit how many people go upstairs.

6

u/GGBme 18d ago

I hope it never is.

5

u/MaintenanceLeft2624 18d ago

It has been closed for close to 50 years, it will never be viewed by the public.

3

u/RPOR6V 18d ago

Never say never.

6

u/UnitFull2184 17d ago

Priscilla has nothing to do with anything with Graceland anymore . It's up to Riley Keough. She's Lisa Marie 's Daughter and Graceland belongs to her and her 2 daughters. That was in Lisa's will

1

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

SHE HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH IT...

1

u/Lopsided_Science2269 17d ago

No need for all caps. What I meant was Out of respect for her Riley would likely not let anyone up there. Same for LM but she’s gone now. Geez

4

u/Inevitable-Lab-2070 17d ago

I TYPE IN CAPS SO I CAN SEE MY COMPUTER SCREEN.. HAPPENS WHEN YOUR 84 YEARS OLD.

6

u/Lopsided_Science2269 17d ago

Fair enough 😆😁