Conspiracy Cabal
28: Elvis Presley | Part 1 | ft. Greg 'Yellow Wiggle' Page (Special Guest)
On the morning Elvis Presley died, someone booked a plane ticket out of Memphis under the name John Burrows — the alias he used on every hotel rooming list for the better part of two decades. It's the detail conspiracy theorists reach for first. It's also, according to the guest on this episode, one of the least mysterious things that happened that week, because what actually emptied out Graceland in the days that followed makes the fake-death theory look almost quaint by comparison. This week — part one of two — Rich Baker and Nick Coatsworth sit down with Greg Page: former Wiggle, lifelong Elvis collector, and the man who ended up owning (and later returning) the tag cut from the pajama pants Elvis was wearing when he died. The alias problem: John Burrows, a same-day plane ticket, and why a real escape plan probably wouldn't reuse a name that was already on every tour document he'd ever signed The Graceland problem: the "Rape of Graceland" — staff who realized their paychecks had just ended looting the house and selling relics to fans at the front gate before the funeral had even happened The autopsy problem: three toxicologists, one pathologist, and a finding of cardiac arrhythmia from coronary artery disease — "therapeutic" drugs only, despite the enduring Dr. Nick theory The provenance problem: a $50,000 brooch scam run on Priscilla Presley, an ongoing estate dispute over one of Elvis's jets, and how you actually authenticate a piece of memorabilia when the market is full of fakes Some of this is provable — federal aviation records, a certified autopsy report, a chain of custody that runs back through Graceland itself. Some of it, like whether Elvis really did engineer his own disappearance, is just a story people want to be true, seven arcminutes short of anything you could call evidence. This week, Rich and Nick let Greg do most of the talking — high tea with Priscilla, a "rediscovered" pair of jeans that got shot down by Elvis's own road manager, and the moment a piece of his collection went back to Graceland because it felt too close to the day itself. Part two lands next week. Contact the show at conspiracycabal@outlook.com . The Conspiracy Cabal doesn't promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them. Contact the show at conspiracycabalpod@outlook.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
