Is Elvis Alive?
Gary James' Interview With
Maria Columbus



Maria Columbus says Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, faked his death and she has the evidence to prove it! A month and a half after Elvis was reported dead, Maria Columbus started receiving cards written by Elvis! And how would Maria Columbus know Elvis' handwriting? Well, Maria Columbus was the president of one of the oldest Elvis Fan Clubs in the U.S. She knew Elvis. She sent him birthday cards and holiday cards. He sent her birthday and holiday cards. She called him at Graceland. She went backstage at concerts to speak with him. It's truly an amazing story. Arranging an interview with Maria Columbus is harder than getting an interview with the President of the United States. Maria Columbus doesn't grant very many interviews. Just for the record, Maria Columbus is not promoting a book deal, a TV deal or a movie deal. Is Elvis alive? Maria Columbus says yes!

Q - Maria, let's start at the beginning. You were an Elvis Fan Club President?

A - Still am.

Q - When did you start this fan club?

A - We started it in 1969. It's one of the oldest fan clubs, not the oldest fan club. Most clubs that are still around started in the '70s or '80s.

Q - Does that mean you had to have Col. Parker's approval"

A - Yeah. You didn't have to officially get approval from the Col. to start a fan club, although most fans did very generous with fans and the fan clubs as far as letting contact him or his office to let him know, because he was always letting them know what was going on tours or movies. He was always giving things to fan clubs for them to pass out, like calendars and pictures and that kind of stuff.

Q - I thought at one point, Col. Parker was suing Elvis Fan Clubs.

A - He never sent us a letter saying that you are officially a Fan Club. But we did contact him and told him we were putting together a Fan Club. So I guess we did get approval in a round-about sort of way.

Q - Did you ever meet Elvis and has father Vernon?

A - Many times.

Q - How many times would you say?

A - I don't know. Well, Col. Parker let Jeanie (Maria's best friend) and me into Elvis' Press Conference in Las Vegas in 1969. Vernon was there. We saw Vernon a lot of times in the Hilton. He was a big gambler. He loved to play the quarter machines. So if you were there, anybody could meet Vernon. All you'd have to do is go by the slot machines. (Laughs).

Q - Did you ever go to Graceland?

A - The only time we ever went to Graceland before August '77 was in June '77. Usually we went to Tahoe or Vegas. The very first time I met Elvis was in '67.

Q - Where did that happen?

A - Outside his home in the L.A. area, Bel Air.

Q - Were you an Elvis fan from '56 on?

A - No. I started really getting into Elvis in '60. Jeanie started in '55. She started before he was really big, because she was from the South. She was from Kentucky. I've been in fan clubs since 1961. When I met Jeanie in 1969, we decided to start our own club.

Q - So, you knew Elvis. You didn't just worship him from afar then?

A - Well, he knew our names and our faces. Jeanie and I used to get Christmas cards and birthday cards from him. It was pretty unusual.

Q - You probably saved all of those cards?

A - Oh, yeah. (Laughs).

Q - According to Gail Brewer Giorgio's book, The Elvis Files, you are ninety-eight percent certain that Elvis is alive.

A - Yeah.

Q - Tell me why you believe that.

A - There are a couple of things that point me in that direction. Jeanie was my best friend after I met her in 1969. She had a friend who was a friend of Elvis, although he's not one of the guys. He's another type of friend, not a hanger-on or a bodyguard. So, nobody would even know who he is, I'm sure. Elvis had a bunch of friends that people didn't know about.

Q - That seems hard to believe since he was constantly surrounded by the Memphis Mafia.

A - See, they thought they guarded Elvis as much as they did, but Elvis was very stubborn. When he wanted to do something, he did it. If he wanted to go out, he would go out without letting them know he was leaving. You know that time Elvis went to Washington, D.C.? That was not the only time Elvis got out without anybody around him. They just didn't know about it. You know the times he was up in his room, pouting? He was not in his room pouting! He was off somewhere. But they thought he was there.

Q - What was Elvis doing?

A - Getting away from them and getting a little freedom.

Q - Was he in disguise or not in disguise?

A - Probably both. I know that when we were in Vegas, he would go down and mingle among the fans. He used to do that a couple of times. I don't know how often he did it in disguise, just to see what the fans were saying. The guys didn't even know about it. They thought he was upstairs in the suite and didn't want to come out to the parties.

Q - But getting back to what I originally asked you, why do you think Elvis is alive?

A - Because we had a fan club and Jeanie was such a big Elvis fan and had been since she was a kid. She was a few years younger than Elvis. He (Jeanie's friend) introduced her to Elvis, over the phone actually, the first time. She got to know him on a personal basis. Because I was a good friend of hers, I got to know him also. That's one reason why we used to get Christmas cards and birthday cards. I'm not talking about the cards that went out to the fans. I'm talking about cards that he picked out himself. We used to get notes from him when we were in Las Vegas or Tahoe. We'd write him and he'd respond. Obviously, the letters stopped after August l6th (1977). But, then they started up again, after.

Q - How soon after?

A - About a month and a half. It was the same handwriting.

Q - Have you had that handwriting analyzed?

A - One of the things I have is in the Commission Report (The Presley Report, Presley Commission). I have several copies of the inventory of Elvis' estate. I have one copy with comments all over it. We were questioning why so many things were missing from the inventory that we knew Elvis should have had in his home.

Q - Such as?

A - His diary. We knew he had kept a diary and had done it for years. He called them his journals. In fact, it's mentioned in the inventory. He (Elvis) writes, 'Where are my journals?' Actually, we came up with a list of 125 things that should've been in the inventory that were missing, from jewelry to a motorbike, a van. (Laughs). He'd just bought a van and it just had been delivered and that's not there. There's even a plane missing, I think! Some of his guns are missing. A lot of jewelry is missing. Portraits. His Stutz (car) wasn't listed. That's a car that even the fans knew about. He was very enamored with it. He loved his Stutz Bearcat.

Q - Maria, isn't it possible that Priscilla has those items someplace?

A - It's possible.

Q - When these letters started arriving, were they postmarked?

A - Some of 'em were. Some were in our P.O. box. When we heard be had died, we were of course very shocked. But right away I felt something was wrong and so did Jeanie. It didn't feel right. So, we had doubts about the whole thing right from the beginning. So then, this story keeps going around that Vernon told us not to come. Well, that's true. We called Graceland 'cause we were gonna go. We had the phone number for Graceland. In fact, I've got the phone bill and his phone number is on there from '77 prior to August, and then after. We had called the airline and had made reservations and we were gonna fly out. Jeanie called Graceland and talked to Vernon and he said he did not want us to come out. .

Q - Did he say why?

A - We were pretty upset at that, 'cause that was like August sixteenth. He said there were just too many people coming. He wouldn't be able to talk to us. The press was there. It was a circus. He asked us to come a couple of days after.

Q - So maybe he was just looking after your best interests.

A - It's possible.

Q - Did any of the members of your fan club see Elvis in the casket?

A - There was a fan, but she's not a member of my club. She's a big Elvis fan and was one of the ones that went through the line. She said she touched him and his skin felt like a chicken. Real cold. I was telling a friend of mine, a dead body doesn't feel like a chicken.

Q - What would the implication of that be?

A - I don't know. I just thought it was an odd comment. To me, it didn't sound like an actual dead body, because that's not what a dead body feels like. So, what was it that she was touching? That's what she said. I haven't been able to question her myself.

Q - Did you receive a phone call from someone who identified themselves as Elvis in 1981?

A - He didn't say "this is Elvis." I was at work. He didn't say who it was. He said, "You know who this is." It was a very short phone call. I was totally startled. He said he wanted to thank me for still being supportive and to let me know he was still okay. It was like a thirty second phone call. Real short.

Q - Did you say "Elvis""

A - No. I let him do most of the talking 'cause I wanted to listen to his voice. But when I hung up, I felt it was him.

Q - Why do you say that?

A - It was just his manner, the way he spoke.

Q - You know of course that a lot of people can imitate his voice.

A - Well, they try to.

Q - Some do a better job than others. Could you have been fooled?

A - I've yet to be fooled by someone pretending to be Elvis. Fans do it as a joke. I can usually tell. There's a difference.

Q - From '60 to '77, did you ever speak to Elvis on the phone?

A - Yes. I called Graceland once and talked to him on the phone. Actually, I did it more than once. I talked to Lisa (Elvis' daughter) on the phone at Graceland.

Q - Did you only get the one phone call?

A - I got more than one. There were a couple. Jeanie got 'em too.

Q - Did Elvis ever tell you why he had to fake his death?

A - I have a letter from him where he says that nobody would believe why he had to do what he did. He said it's even hard for him to believe why he had to do it. It was like a bad movie or a bad dream. I don't remember what the exact words were. That letter was typed. It wasn't in his handwriting.

Q - Did he sign it?

A - Yeah.

Q - After Elvis' reported death, you actually saw Elvis alive, didn't you? Tell me about that.

A - It was like '82. I was driving in downtown Memphis during Tribute Week and I had two other people in the car with me; there were four of us, come to think of it. Jeanie and two friends, Carol and Rose. I was driving. I was parked and it was rush hour. There was a lot of traffic on the street. It was kind of the downtown area around the Courthouse and City Hall. Carol and Rose and Jeanie are talking and I'm sitting there waiting for the traffic to let me in I'm getting annoyed 'cause five minutes have gone by. This car pulls up right next to me and stops. It wasn't a fancy car. I don't remember what kind of a car or what color it was. There was a man in it. Dark hair. No sun-glasses. Not dressed flashily. I look at him and he looks at me and gives me this smile and he says, "C'mon, go out." Suddenly it clicked in my head that smile was Elvis' smile. I turned and said, "Oh my God!" I must've screamed it. I turned around and the car pulled around me and sped off like a bullet.

Q - Did you get a license plate number?

A - No. I mean it happened so fast. I said, "I think that was Elvis!" Jeanie, Rose and Carol had a fit 'cause they weren't even paying attention. I'm the only one who actually saw him. He waved at me and he has very distinctive hands. I guess that's what clicked, the hands, and that smile.

Q - Are you sure it wasn't a look-a-like?

A - He was very low key. He wasn't flashy in any way. He didn't have a lot of jewelry on. Didn't have the sun-glasses on. What freaked me out is when I turned around to look at him and I said, "Oh my God, Elvis!", the women all turned too and that's when he took off. Now, why did he take off like that? (Laughs). He drove really fast, made a turn and was gone. I couldn't catch up to him.

Q - After 1982, and this incident, did you ever see Elvis again?

A - No.

Q - How about a phone call?

A - I haven't had a call in about four or five years.

Q - What was said in that call, thank you for your support?

A - Basically, yeah.

Q - Maria, you could end this controversy. You have letters that could be analyzed. Why haven't you been more vocal about your experiences and evidence?

A - I really believe there was a Mafia threat against Elvis. I think that's what happened. I'm kind of hesitant 'cause I don't want to force him out, although I don't know if that's possible anyway. He wasn't the kind of person you could force to do anything.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

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