Is this the ghost of young
Elvis?
Return to SpectreLOOK closely
at the ghostly photo of a child taken at Elvis Presley's
home, Graceland.
Has the King of Rock come back from the grave as a
God-fearing schoolboy?
Experts say the youngster, apparently clutching a
Bible and superimposed on a misty portrait of Elvis, is
the spitting image of The King at 13.
In the spooky photo, taken by a tourist with a cheap
camera, Elvis seems to be drifting out of the ornate
picture frame at his mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
The photo has become the latest mystery for
Hollywood's private eye to the stars, Don Crutchfield.
So far, he has failed to solve it.
Don, whose case files include the names of Michael
Jackson, O.J. Simpson, Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando,
can't find an explanation for Elvis's "ghost".
Crutchfield, who hasn't named the man who snapped the
picture, told me: "He is a big Elvis fan who was with a
group of other people touring Graceland. He drifted back
after the others had gone and was the last person there.
Then he saw a portrait of Elvis, wearing a jump suit
with the collar turned up."
HurryA security guard told the tourist
to hurry up because it was getting late and they wanted
to close. Don, 52, adds: "My guy said later, 'Something
told me to go back and take a picture of the Elvis
portrait. So I returned and snapped it.'
"He didn't think any more about it. He took the film
to one of a chain of film processors and had some prints
made.
"He got his pictures back and was looking at them
when he came across this strange one. He shouted, 'My
God! What have I got here?' The ghostly image of Elvis
really scared him. Before he handed the picture to me,
he showed it around and one expert told him that the boy
with the Bible was Elvis at 13."
He also learned that Graceland doesn't even have that
particular portrait of the young Elvis.
"This means he couldn't have super-imposed it on to
another picture on the same roll of film."
Don points out that on the type of simple camera the
tourist used, you can't get a double exposure.
He says: "The first thing I did was to compare the
negative to the proof sheet and then the final print.
All of them tallied.
"Then I took all the evidence I had to the best
Hollywood photographers I know.
"They looked at it and came to the same
conclusion -- there is no rational way to explain this
ghostly shot of Elvis."
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