Gary James' Interview With Kalamazoo Michigan resident
Louise Welling



Since his reported death on August 16^th, 1977, Elvis Aaron Presley has been sighted in cities all across America. There is one city however that has gained a greater notoriety than others for Elvis sightings: Kalamazoo, Michigan. Is Elvis alive and residing in Kalamazoo? We can't say for sure, but resident Louise Welling seems to think so. Here is her story...

Q - Mrs. Welling, you first saw Elvis in the back of a police car in 1979?

A - That's correct. We lived in Vicksburg, Michigan. A police officer came to our house one day and in the back seat was Elvis Presley; what I thought was Elvis Presley. At the time, I shrugged it off and said, "No, it can't be." The police officer's name was Sgt. Dwayne Duffy. I tried looking for his phone number, but it's not even listed in the phone book anymore; I can't find it. [The police] said they never heard of a Sgt. Duffy, but I know that was his name. The officer I talked to said that he didn't know of him. When I tried to find out about it, it was during all the Elvis stuff. At the time I said, "No, it can't be, it's probably an impersonator." I just shrugged it off. But, looking back on it, I really feel in my heart I was looking at him. He looked ill. I don't know if it was around the time of his father's death, or if he just wasn't feeling quite well. You know when someone doesn't feel well, you can see it in their face. Elvis was just sitting there (in the police car), I can still describe what he was wearing. He had this Navy P-coat or jacket, and a real pretty shade of blue shirt. He just looked so neat and clean. Now that I look back on it, I believe I was looking at Elvis Presley.

(At this point, Mrs. Welling talks about noticing Elvis' name in the city of Galesburg's newspaper, The Argus. This led her to believe that Elvis had relatives in Galesburg)

I found this out from the private detective who came to my home to fix the satellite dish, Sgt. Jayco. My husband was kidding with him and said, "You know Louise believes that Elvis is alive and has relatives in Galesburg." He (the detective/satellite repairman) got sort of white-faced, and tried to get out of there in a big hurry for some reason.

Q - In September of 1987, you said you saw Elvis on a Sunday morning in a grocery store.

A - We lived in Vicksburg then. I think it's kind of strange, the more I look back on it. I walked into the grocery store with my grandson, I had gotten my things and as I walked up to the grocery line, I looked at what I thought was an Elvis impersonator. Then I thought: "That could have been Elvis." He acted very nervous and jumpy as I approached him. He kind of calmed down when I didn't do anything. I just kept quiet and smiled a little bit, and he smiled at my grandson. He had a motorcycle helmet with him. By the time I went out (to the parking lot), they were gone. They really scooted off quite hurriedly. I didn't see anybody in the parking lot.

Q - You said "they." Was he with someone else?

A - I don't know. He was alone when he came in the store.

Q - Why didn't you go up to this person and say, "Did anyone ever tell you that you look like Elvis?"

A - I'm kind of a shy person. I wouldn't have bothered him. I thought it really looked like him, and I thought it was him. I'm not the kind of person that would just jump on a person, you know? I'm kind of quiet myself. There were a couple of other sightings (in Kalamazoo). Our local television station, WMM reported an Elvis sighting. I have a police scanner and about a week after they reported that last Elvis sighting, around 7 pm in the evening, my husband and I were listening to it when this officer came on and said, "I'm checking into the presence of Elvis." I swear to God! I'm telling you something, there is definitely more to Kalamazoo than people think.

Q - Isn't there a tape kicking around where Elvis says he lives in Kalamazoo?

A - I have the tape. It came out in December of 1976. On the tape, Elvis is talking to the audience and he says, "Hey, you know I don't even live in Tennessee. Tennessee is a joke. I live in that place in Michigan." And the audience is hollering out, "Lansing, Pontiac?" He says, "No, Kalamazoo." There's a newspaper clipping that came out in 1980 that tells about how Priscilla is coping with her life. It talks about a lot of relatives in Michigan. I know for a fact that Elvis had relatives here in Kalamazoo, because I was told by the private detective who put out satellite dish in that relatives of Elvis' owned the 101 Ranch Motel in Galesburg. I've known that for quite some time. When Elvis did his first concert here, I was in the audience, He told the audience that he lived in Paw Paw by the name of 'Cook' and he mentioned Vicksburg. I thought that was funny, because we were moving to Vicksburg shortly after that concert. There he was talking about what great songwriters there are around Pontiac, Michigan.

Q - Now your daughter Linda also had a strange incident happen to her.

A - It was in the early '80s, and my daughter had an apartment on Sprinkle Road. They were gonna do repairs to her apartment, 'cause she just moved in. She came home one morning and the maintenance man was already in the apartment. Linda asked him how he got in and he said, "Your boyfriend let me in." This kind of puzzled Linda because she thought that she was supposed to let him in. She said, "What did he look like?" The maintenance man told her he was tall, had dark hair, and was wearing western clothes. But her boyfriend was short, and had curly blonde hair. And he (the stranger) took some things out of her apartment. I know this is gonna sound funny and like I made it up, but I swear as God as looking on me now, it is the truth. He took a jar of her medication, 'cause she was on Dilantin for epilepsy, a jar of peanut butter and a bunch of her bananas. As we think and look back on it, those could have been clues. She got a two page letter on her car the next day and it said something like, "My dearest Linda. You're a beautiful young lady..." He said a lot of other things, but we can't remember the whole letter. He said maybe they could get together for coffee. The letter was signed with only the initials 'E.P.' That was it. No one has bothered her after that incident. That was the only time.

Q - And you probably threw the letter out.

A - Yeah, we did. Because at the time in Kalamazoo there were some rapes going around and, being a mother, I thought this was a kook. We had kept it for a couple of weeks, but I'm the one that threw it away.

Q - Your daughter also received a phone call at the hospital from Elvis.

A - When Linda was to deliver her son Nathan, this was in '83 or '84 - the fella in admitting said that he got a phone call from someone saying they were Elvis Presley and to give Linda the best of care, and so that's a mystery to us, if it was him. To this day, we don't know who E.P. was, or who left the letter. We're just assuming by what he took that he could have been leaving clues. Who else would have wanted that?

Q - Since going public with your story, have you received phone calls from anybody telling you to cut it out?

A - I got a phone call from someone who said they were Lisa Presley, and that her dad was upset. She was crying. I really believe in my heart that it was indeed Lisa, because you couldn't have faked a cry like that. I thought it (her voice) sounded like Lisa Marie's on the television.

Q - Mrs. Welling, there are people out there who will simply not believe your stories. What would you tell them? What do you think is going on?

A - You know something, I always thought to myself that if he ever wanted to get out of it, he would have had to do something like that; fake his death. You understand how popular he was. If I were in his shoes, I would probably do that. How else could you have peace? You gotta understand he was a human being. They looked upon him as a sex object. They really didn't look upon him as a human being with feelings. Well, eventually the truth will come out, You know, if you tell the truth long and hard enough, it will come out. I know it will. I don't have to prove anything. There's only one person I have to answer to, and that's God. He knows those things happen, and I know those things happen, and that's all I have to worry about. So many of the people who really love and care for Elvis know he's alive, and it's really hurting us. There's one tabloid that I believe is telling the truth and that's the World Weekly, because when they did a story on me, they printed it word for word. They didn't add, they didn't subtract a thing. I wish Elvis would come out. We'd love to see him again. I'd like to send a little message to Elvis in this interview. Tell him I wish him much love, more than his arms can hold, and peace.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

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