Elvis Has Left the Building

Elvis Presley died in 1977. Now, the museum dedicated to the theory that he didn't die is dead.

Bill Beeny, the 81-year-old owner of the Elvis Is Alive Museum, is finally calling it quits and is selling his Elvis memorabilia on eBay. From the AP:

Beeny, a self-described "western Kentucky hillbilly" Baptist minister who wound up in Missouri 50 years ago, is selling the contents of his roadside attraction, a transformed coin-operated laundry 55 miles west of St. Louis that he opened in 1990, to satisfy something else that drives him.

"I have a burden to help people," said Beeny, wearing the penciled dark mustache, long sideburns and slick black hair of an Elvis aficionado. "Someone else can run, will run, the museum. No one in the whole county is doing the job I intend to do."

Beeny wants to put his energy into serving the needy in rapidly growing Warren County by providing child care, senior services, a food pantry and counseling for the addicted.

Beeney said he'll miss Elvis, "but life has its changes. You have to let go."

Better 30 years late than never.

I think he made the right decision. After all, he's been in direct competition with the official Elvis Is Dead Museum (a.k.a. Graceland) for the last 17 years. That couldn't have been good for business.

No matter. At least he's found something constructive to do. The King would be pleased.