Elvis Presley :

Unexplained Power Blackouts


...Chronology Of Events...


1950s / 1960s 

'BLACKOUTS, the extinguishing of all lights in large areas and entire cities due to power failures. UFOs have frequently been seen hovering near power facilities, sometimes prior to or during blackouts. The highest number of such incidents occurred in the late 1950s and the mid-1960s...'

Margaret Sachs The UFO Encyclopedia


August 1962

John Myers, an acquaintance of Marilyn Monroe, reported that soon after her death a light that he always left on in a 'special room', containing a portrait of MM, '..was extinguished of its own accord - nobody had entered the room. He also found inside this locked room a written note for which he could not account...'

Maurice Barbanell He Walks In Two Worlds


November 1965

After the death of Dorothy Kilgallen, there was a big power blackout affecting New York, where she had lived and died:

'On November 9th 1965, New York State as well as portions of six neighboring states and eastern Canada were plunged into darkness for several hours.

Besides the loss of power, the blackout triggered sensors that placed the Mt.Weather facility (to house the president in time of nuclear attack) on red alert.

There were also a number of reports of anomalous lights, and speculation that the blackout may have been related to UFO activity in some way.'

Francis L. Ridge, NICAP website


1967

'..When the music's over
When the music's over
When the music's over, turn out the lights
Turn out the lights, turn out the lights...'

The Doors


July 1968

'..UFOs have often been seen hovering near power facilities. There are a small number but still a little too many to seem pure fortuitous chance, of system outages, coincident with the UFO sighting..'

Dr.James E. McDonald, testimony before the House Committee on Science & Astronautics


December 1972

At Elvis Presley's home, Graceland in Memphis:

'..Our conversation soon turned to his deep love for his mother, and he began telling me the story of how she had died just prior to him being sent to Germany.

...He was in the middle of telling me the story about how he tried to cope in Germany, and that's when it happened.

"Luckily," he was explaining, "I had access to a jeep, and I would sometimes go off by myself and just sit in that jeep and think about her for hours at a time. I remember I drove up into some nearby mountains one night, you know, just to get away, and I was sitting there thinking about her, and began crying. I yelled out, 'Momma'..."

And when he said the word momma, the lights went out in the house. They stayed off for a few seconds and then came back on, and he went on with his story, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He had this look on his face as if he was totally unaware of what had just happened.

He said it a second time - "Momma" - and again the lights went off and came back on as if a storm had struck the house. The second time it happened, Linda came rushing out of her bedroom. "What in the world is going on? Why are the lights going on and off?" she wanted to know.

I did my best to explain to her what had happened, not really knowing myself, and she and I walked back into her bathroom, clearly shaken up, having no idea what had taken place. We've talked about that story several times since it happened and still have no logical explanation of it...'

Jeanne LeMay (As told to Jim Cox) Elvis, Linda and Me  


May 1977

The album 'Lights Out' by rock band UFO was released, including the song 'Lights Out'.


July-August 1977

David Bowie's album 'Heroes' was recorded in West Berlin. Released on October 11th that year, on RCA - the same record label that Elvis Presley recorded for - 'Heroes' includes the song 'Blackout'.


August 16th 1977

'The Meditation Gardens at Graceland where Elvis, his mother, father and grandfather are laid to rest, was originally built for Elvis in 1963 by Anne Lacker and Bernie Grenadier.. it is now the focal point of any visit to Graceland...

According to legend, on the night of Elvis' death, the lights in the Meditation Gardens all mysteriously failed.'

Mick Farren The Hitchhiker's Guide to Elvis


August 16th 1977

Larry King: Did you go to the funeral?

Linda Thompson: Oh, I felt - oddly enough, Larry, every light in my apartment went off. I was the only apartment in my building that had no power. And I lit candles all over the apartment just to pack, just to get ready to go back to Memphis. I went outside, and I said has everybody lost power? No, just your apartment, which I thought was a little strange. And my friends were coming over to console me, and they said, oh, you're lighting candles for Elvis. And I said, well, actually, no, I'm trying to see to pack.

Larry King Show, 16.08.2002


August 16th 1977

'.."Well," she explained in between the tears, "I got a phone call from Lisa. When I picked up the phone, Lisa was screaming, 'Linda, Linda, my daddy's dead!' At that, I threw the phone in the air and when I hesitantly picked it up again I said, 'Oh, no, honey, I'm sure you're mistaken. He can't be dead! Put somebody else on the phone for me, okay?' My brother Sam.. took the phone and confirmed that he had died. Oh, Jeanne, it was terrible! My hands were shaking, and I couldn't believe what I'd just heard! And then, for no reason at all, you won't believe what happened. The electricity in the apartment went out. Can you believe that? It was just like when the power went out when you and Elvis and I were at Graceland that time. Do you remember? It was all so weird. I had to pack my suitcase by candlelight...'

Jeanne LeMay (As told to Jim Cox) Elvis, Linda and Me


August 16th 1977

'..Sometime shortly after I began to pack, all the power went off in my apartment. Not long after that, my next door neighbour knocked on my door and stuck her head in.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked. "Can I do anything for you? We heard the news about Elvis, and we know he was a big part of your life. We used to see him slipping in the back door here."

"Thank you so much," I said. "But, no, I have everything I need. Oh, is your power off?"

"No, ours is fine," she said. "Let me know if you need anything."

I smiled and nodded as she closed the door behind her. As the day darkened into night, I began to light candles to better navigate around my apartment. A few friends came by, including my workout buddy, Deborah.

"Oh, how sweet, you're lighting candles for Elvis," she said.

"Well, not really," I said. "I have to see to get ready to fly out of here, and there's no power in my apartment."

I was not unaware of the strangeness of the situation. It was downright eerie. As the night wore on, and the power remained inexplicably out in my apartment only, I began to consider all the candles for Elvis after all. It was his first candlelight vigil, a tradition his fans have carried out every anniversary of his passing since that day...'

Linda Thompson A Little Thing Called Life


August 16th 1977... and around that date 

'..As many of us talked in the days after the funeral, I began to take note of the many strange occurrences around Elvis's death. Priscilla said she'd been overcome by a strange sense of loss even before she heard he was gone. Almost the minute Jerry Schilling heard the word of Elvis's death out in Los Angeles, a major drought ended there with a rainstorm. After Linda Thompson heard the news, the power went out in her apartment. As we all gathered around televisions at Graceland the night of Elvis's death to see how the story would be covered on the ten o'clock news, the sound went out on the broadcast. As we carried Elvis's casket out of Graceland, a tree limb fell on Ginger Alden's car. Later, Alan Fortas tried to play a tape of "Blue Hawaii" in his car and it jammed. I tried to play a cassette of Elvis's Greatest Hits in my car and the tape broke right after "Can't Help Falling in Love" - the song Elvis ended his concerts with. None of us knew what to make of any of that, but I could never help thinking that all those coincidences added a supernatural twist Elvis himself would have loved...'

George Klein and Chuck Crisafulli Elvis: My Best Man


circa-October 1977

'..Things remained difficult for a long time, but I gradually began to heal, thanks to the loving support from family and friends. I also received numerous condolence letters from Elvis's fans. The letters brought me great comfort, and I answered every one I could. Even when the electricity went out in our home once, I got a flashlight and continued to answer those letters of sympathy. Knowing that so many cared about me gave me the strength I needed to get through the first terrible months without Elvis...'

Ginger Alden Elvis & Ginger


1987

Publication of the book 'Elvis UFO Connection' by Richard Daniel.


October/November 1997

Neil Nixon, quoting Globe In Transit research findings in UFO Reality magazine:

'..It is likely that there was alien involvement in the deaths of.. leading rock stars including Jim Morrison and Marc Bolan...'   


2003

The first single release by Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley became a Top 20 hit. The title of the song is 'Lights Out'.


July 2005

Publication of 'Alien Rock' by Michael Luckman. 'Elvis: Musical Ambassador From the Stars' is the title of the book's introductory chapter.