Remember When Elvis Appeared in Kalamazoo Years After He Died? Here’s What Really Happened

It's one of Michigan's best urban legends - Elvis was spotted living in Kalamazoo in the late 1980s despite passing away in 1977. So what really happened with this rash of sightings?

The "Is Elvis Alive" conspiracy theories have been around since the last 1970s and were once a popular conspiracy subgenre. The Michigan Elvis sightings were among the first and most widely circulated nationally.

There are two key sightings cited for the Elvis in Kalamazoo theory - a Burger King and a grocery store. The popular check-out line tabloid Weekly World News ran the story which gave it national attention.

Why Michigan and specifically Kalamazoo? It is a stone cold fact that Elvis kept an office in the city. Kalamazoo is home to the Gibson Guitar factory and Elvis wanted to be able to get nearby to his 'Ax shop.'

Another intriguing Kalamazoo connection to the end of his life? Elvis played the city's Wings Stadium in the final few months of his life. He was in the city in late April of '77 just two months before his final concert in Indianapolis.

If it was those Whoppers that drew the King to Kalamazoo, today, sadly, the "Elvis Burger King" in Kalamazoo is long gone along Michigan Avenue on the city's west side. Torn down the plot is now a Walgreens Pharmacy.

The urban legend of Elvis in Kalamazoo endured longer than one might think thanks to a few true and uncanny connections to the small Southwest Michigan city.