Elvis Is Alive Museum

The Elvis Is Alive Museum was a museum founded by Baptist minister Bill Beeny (1926-2022) and opened to the public at Wright City, Warren Co., Missouri from 1992 through 2007. The museum's assets were sold on the auction website eBay in 2008 and briefly showcased in a new space at Hattiesberg, Forrest Co., Mississippi under the proprietorship of Andy Key, but this new museum closed just months later. The museum featured exhibits that were intended to support the view that Elvis Presley did not die in 1977.

Press Coverage

Interstate Highway 70, Exit 199 (1992-2007)

• Smith, Bill (18 Sep. 1992), "Kingmaker: Museum Is Ode To Elvis", St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO): 3, https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-kingmaker-museu/141173543/ 
• Spiers, Wally (13 Apr. 1993), "Is Elvis still alive?", The Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, IL): 9, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-belleville-news-democrat-is-elvis-st/141173870/ 
• Larry Fruhling (30 Jul. 1995), "Elvis may be singing this museum's praises", The Des Moines Register (Des Moines, IA): 1, 2, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-elvis-may-be-sin/141173120/ 
• Aitchinson, Diana (13 Jul. 2000), "Elvis Is Alive, and, well...", St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO): F1, F3, https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-elvis-is-alive/141181182/ 
• Suhr, Jim (1 Jan. 2003), "Elvis Is Alive museum caters to suspicious minds", The Journal News (White Plains, NY): 36, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-news-elvis-is-alive-museum-c/141182393/ 
• Associated Press (22 Jul. 2006), "Long live THE KING: Is Elvis a gray-haired man who vacations in Hawaii?", Bristol Herald Courier (Bristol, TN): 2, https://www.newspapers.com/article/bristol-herald-courier-long-live-the-kin/141183269/ 

Beeny's eBay Auction (2007)

• AP (2 Nov. 2007), Items from Elvis Is Alive Museum sold on eBay, nbcnews.com, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna21587578  — "A collection of photographs, books and FBI files from The Elvis Is Alive Museum sold for $8,300 on eBay, and the 81-year-old proprietor of the roadside attraction hopes the bidder will carry on his theory that the King never died."

Key's eBay Auction (2008)

• Trunkations (23 Sep. 2008), Elvis Is Alive! Museum Is Back On eBay, roadsideamerica.com, https://www.roadsideamerica.com/blog/elvis-is-alive-museum-is-back-on-ebay/  — "The Museum is being sold as a package, and includes Elvisabilia such as a replica tombstone, DNA test results, a “fake Elvis” dummy in a real coffin, and lots and lots of files. The bidding ends on Friday, September 26, a little after noon on East Coast time."
• AP (3 Oct. 2008), Elvis is Alive Museum near death, nbcnews.com, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27014716  — "The Elvis is Alive Museum will not live, at least not for now. Andy Key tried to sell the Missouri museum twice on eBay. He received no bids by the time the auction ended Friday."

Resources

• https://web.archive.org/web/19990202143359/http://www.iwc.com/elvis/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20010125081200/missourilife.com/muse010.shtml
• Recording from 2000 of Bill Beeny giving the tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V51d8HZI5c