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Today in History - 16th August

16th August 1977 - Elvis Presley dies aged 42

48 years ago today, Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, aged just 42-years-old. Presley had been discovered unresponsive on his bathroom floor by his fiancee Ginger Alden, and attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. He was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, with the cause of death being a cardiac arrhythmia, likely caused by the combination of prescription drugs he had taken.

Presley's death was a major shock to his millions of fans across the globe, coming just hours before he was due to depart for a tour. American President Jimmy Carter released a statement paying tribute to the star and how he 'changed the face of American pop culture,' whilst thousands of fans gathered outside Graceland to mourn.

However, proceedings soon turned dark; Presley's cousin, Billy Mann, accepted a payment of nearly $20,000 to photograph the dead body, with the image appearing on the front cover of the National Enquirer, whilst at the funeral, which took place at Graceland, a car ploughed into the crowd which had gathered outside the gates, leaving two young women dead.

Nevertheless, roughly 80,000 people lined the streets of Memphis to see Presley's coffin be transported to Forest Hill Cemetery, where he was buried next to his mother Gladys. However, within weeks an attempt was made to steal Presley's body, therefore the remains of him and his mother were exhumed and reburied at Graceland in October.

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