I've started reading "The Death of Elvis" and..

[Vissie]

It's adversely affecting me I've only read the first 25 pages or so but after reading the details of the autopsy (even though I know how they are performed and what they entail) I'm having a hard time looking at photos of Elvis.

What a beautiful person.. heart, soul and physical appearance. To know that all of that was stripped away from him bothers me somewhat. When that one guy said he was holding El's voice box in his hands, I had to put the book down.

Has anyone else experienced a similar reaction to this book?

[tjs]

Someone just told me about the book and it bothered me a lot.

But then again, an autopsy description of anyone you cared about would be disturbing.

Elvis was indeed human and an autopsy would find what it would find in all of us--that we are flesh and blood that eventually we will sicken and die.

I think it is more a comment on our own humanity. For some reason when writers descibe in detail Elvis's death they are some how trying to underline that he was--ugh--human.

We all know Elvis was sick--we can argue from what but in the end he died like all of us will.

While he was alive he did more living and had more of an impact on this world and how we express ourselves than just about anyone else. The fact that today people sing and dance to music called rock and roll---an amalgamation of black, white, country, city, poor and affluent--because of him means a whole lot more than the evaluation of his post mortem body tissue.

That's all you have to know.

[Vissie]

When I look at photos of him I see in my mind the description of the autopsy (especially the head area). I know that he was so much more than just a human body, but to know that he was reduced to nothing more than pounds of bruised flesh and skeletal bones saddens me.

[Diane]

I haven't read the book Vissie but I do plan to get it sometime. I've heard it was pretty brutal.

Just remember that Elvis wasn't there anymore...just his shell.


Diane

[Tony Trout]

Are y'all referring to "The Death Of Elvis: What Really Happened"???

I've actually been wanting to pick up a copy of this book but never have gotten the chance to just yet.

[tlcElvis]

I borrowed it from my local library and I'm sorry I read the book. Warning to those who haven't read it, the details of Elvis' autopsy are extremely graphic. I didn't know anything about autopsies before reading the book and I really wish that I didn't know now.

[Getlo]

It is very graphic, yes, but free of emotion, which is great.

It is the most detailed book on Elvis' death ... and puts an end to all the stupid rumours about what happened at the time, and the idea that Elvis could be alive and all that other crap.

And if you see photos of JFK today, do you automatically think of that day he got his head blown off? No, of course not. So don't let the book's contents put you off.

As Diane said, the body is just the shell (not that I believe the body actually carries any form of spirit, but the shell comment is accurate).

One of the best Elvis books I've ever read.

[King_Creole]

Has anyone else experienced a similar reaction to this book?

Of course, but I found the book, (and still do), to be a fascinating, interesting and morbid read thru and thru ...

[HOLYSMOKE]

I?ve read the book last year in a week. I just couldnt stop reading. Afterwards i felt pretty depressed, to read about his last hours and the autopsy and the way his was lying dead on the bathroom floor. I never touched the book again. So beware!

[riley]

It must be a horrible book.

Vissie I can relate to what you are saying.

Me too I have difficulties with the way embalming is handled.

Here in Europe it is no common thing to do.
People die and are burried with all their organs, and I like that more.

Reading a bit from what you all are saying here it makes me wanna cry alreaddy

It is like he was ripped of his last dignity so to speak. Why were are those organs removed of him...

Is that a common thing to do...

So sad that a beautiful human being had to end , cut open, his hearth his brains his everything taken away, thrown away and described to everyone...
Probably filmed. OMG it is so hard to think about that part and it saddens me a lot. Was that really necessary, is it normal procedure in the states??

No wonder people said he didn't look like him in the casket.

This aint no book for me all those details would me make me sick literally

[marijaep]

It must be a horrible book.

Vissie I can relate to what you are saying.

Me too I have difficulties with the way embalming is handled.

Here in Europe it is no common thing to do.
People die and are burried with all their organs, and I like that more.

Reading a bit from what you all are saying here it makes me wanna cry alreaddy

It is like he was ripped of his last dignity so to speak. Why were are those organs removed of him...

Is that a common thing to do...

So sad that a beautiful human being had to end , cut open, his hearth his brains his everything taken away, thrown away and described to everyone...
Probably filmed. OMG it is so hard to think about that part and it saddens me a lot. Was that really necessary, is it normal procedure in the states??

No wonder people said he didn't look like him in the casket.

This aint no book for me all those details would me make me sick literally

Ouch, you brought tears to my eyes Riley... Can't imagine that either...

But, i will read that book if i have the chance. Many say that it's a good read although it's bit morbid...

[Diane]

Riley, autopsy aren't done on everyone, only when a family requests it as Vernon did, or foul play is suspected.

I think organs are generally returned in the body cavity before burial.

Diane

[ksimms2]

but yes, here in US atleast, the organs are removed, weighed and even disected if it pertains to cause of death. In Elvis' case, probably so. With no obvious cause - they may have had to disect an organ or something....so it was normal to do so. However, that was just his precious body, not his spirit. his spirit left him probably before he was even found, so please try and think of it that way okay? (non believers please don't say anything)

[riley]

I prefer to think at him being beautiful and healthy and happy like he once was.
Never think to much about his being death.
Sometimes I do.

I noticed when I was at Graceland I was standing at his grave and asked myself the morbide question "what is there left over of him"

But I tried to not think about it and try to find the peace he felt where he was. It was amazing I did feel a peace there it was like he was whispering trough a soft breeze that I noticed He I'm fine now.

I know if comforted me then and it still does. I know there is no pain nor sorrow anymore where he is. At the end of his life he was a very ill and very unhappy human being... I believe to think God saw he needed the rest and called upon him.

Too soon, way to soon. I do hope heaven exists and he is happy now.

[Vissie]

Let me begin my post by saying... Elvis' autopsy was gruesome reading. I know a little bit about autopsies from watching them (on tape) and from having some distant relatives in the funeral business. They are performed in U.S. when a determination needs to be made about the manner of death and/or presence of disease. In the U.K. I believe the organs are mandated to be returned to the body. That is not true in the U.S. Especially in the case of Elvis. The organs they removed, tissues, blood and fluid samples were not returned to his body.

The way that the body is cut to perform the autopsy is something I can't erase from my mind when I look at photos/film clips of Elvis. Also, to know that his teeth had been punched out bothers me as well.

During the autopsy, El had almost everything removed from his body, including his brain.

And if you see photos of JFK today, do you automatically think of that day he got his head blown off? No, of course not. So don't let the book's contents put you off.

For me, this is the first thing that comes to mind when I see photos of JFK.

As for Elvis, I know it was just his body, but I'm someone who isn't fond of autopsies although I know they can be medically necessary. When I read...


While holding the voice box in his hand, Warlick became sad and introspective. "As I looked at Elvis Presley's vocal cords, I thought about all the millions and millions of lives that he had affected with the songs he had sung and the music he made. And I thought what a pity it was that he would never be able to sing again"

...a heavy wave of sadness swept over me.

The book does provide details. It does put in b + w the facts surrounding his death and what physically was bothering Elvis. However, it is brutal. And, for me, I'm not sure I should be reading it. At least, maybe, not at this time when I've been enjoying so much of his music recently.

[LORRIELOVESELVIS]

I WILL NOT EVER GO THAT FAR... I WANT TO ALWAYS SEE THAT HANDSOME MAN`S FACE THAT GOD CREATED!!! LOL ...LORRIE

[riley]

Vissie,

have you read many books alreaddy about him.

It is in my opinion not really a good one to start with.

[Vissie]

Hi Riley,

I have read a few, particularly Guralnick's twin volumes. I will agree with you though, I don't think I should've started reading this :-< It is just too much information that has spoiled my listening enjoyment (albeit, I trust, temporarily).

[Tony Trout]

Also, to know that his teeth had been punched out bothers me as well.

Does the book specifically state that Elvis's teeth had been knocked out? The reason I say this is because Joe Esposito vehemently denies that he tried knocking Elvis's teeth out and in the book, "The King Is Dead", by Robert Holton and the late Robert Kendall (Elvis's funeral director), Mr. Kendall makes the following statement:

"All this time the mouth of the corpse was partially open as though frozen in mid-speech, displaying two rows of the most beautiful, gleaming white teeth I had ever seen."


So...who should be believed here? Mr. Kendall or the authors of "The Death Of Elvis: What Really Happened"??

[JDD]

If anyone still thinks Elvis could have "cleaned up" and been fine and lived to be an old man , all they have to do is read that book. He wasn't well, he wasn't well for a long time and he wouldn't have bounced back from all that was wrong with him when he died. He had to have a miserable last couple of months from the details I read.