Lisa Marie Presley’s Haunting Account of the Day Elvis Presley Died originally appeared on Parade.
Lisa Marie Presley was haunted by the death of her father, Elvis Presley.
The event that changed Lisa’s life was documented in her posthumous memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown. She went into great detail about her fears, reaction, and the great loss that dominated her life thereafter in the book co-written by her daughter, Riley Keough.
Lisa was nine during the Summer of 1977 and visiting her father at Graceland ahead of the new school year. Her father, Elvis, was engaged to his girlfriend of less than one year, Ginger Alden, and ready to head out on an 11-day tour set to begin August 17.
In her book, the “Lights Out” singer recalled it seemed like another ordinary late night at Graceland. She last saw her father around midnight on August 16, when he kissed her and told her to go to bed.
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Lisa wrote that when she woke up in the early afternoon, she sensed “something’s not right.” She found her father’s friend Joe Esposito, who told her, “Your daddy’s sick.”
She recounted that she ran to the bathroom in Elvis’ suite, connected to her room, and saw him lying there. “Just as I was getting my eyes set on my dad on the ground, I tried to run to him, but somebody grabbed me and pulled me back.”
Lisa wrote, “There were so many times” she had previously found her father “down on the floor or unable to control his body very well.” She attributed this to his use of barbiturates.
“They were standing over him, moving him around and trying to work on him. I was screaming bloody murder. I knew it was not good. Then I got taken out of the room.”
Later, Lisa learned that Elvis had died. She recounted that “anger” was her first emotion over sadness, and “grief” came second. “My life that I knew it, was completely over,” she wrote in her memoir.
Throughout her childhood, she feared losing the king of rock and roll. She claims she discussed her fright with her father, only to have him brush it off.
“Whenever I told my dad I was scared he was going to die, he’d say, ‘I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere.’ But he did.”
Lisa Marie Presley was Elvis and Priscilla Presley‘s only daughter and the sole heir of his estate. On January 12, 2023, Lisa Marie died of cardiac arrest. She was 54.
Lisa Marie Presley’s Haunting Account of the Day Elvis Presley Died first appeared on Parade on Aug 16, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 16, 2025, where it first appeared.
