High bidder for memorabilia from Elvis' home state

ST. LOUIS -- Someone from the King's home state has placed the highest bid on a trove of memorabilia from the Elvis is Alive Museum.

The bidder, a man from Laurel, Miss., must make a $500 deposit toward his $8,300 bid by the end of the weekend or lose his right to claim the stuff. He should have made a deposit within 24 hours of the eBay auction's closing at 5:20 p.m. Thursday.

But late Friday, the man contacted Bill Beeny, the 81-year-old proprietor of the Wright City roadside attraction, saying he hadn't received official notification from eBay that he had placed the highest bid.

"He's saying he's going to go through with it and send a deposit over," said Steve Beeny, the museum owner's son.

"Technically he's in violation, and we could give the second [highest bidder] a chance. But [Bill Beeny] says he wants to give the guy through the weekend."

Bill Beeny looked over FBI files on Elvis Presley at the Elvis is Alive Museum on Oct. 31 in Wright City, Mo. (JEFF ROBERSON ~ Associated Press)

Bill Beeny placed his Elvis Presley memorabilia on eBay late last month hoping someone would buy the collection and open a museum dedicated to the theory that Elvis never died.

The collection includes photographs, books, yellowed news clippings and replicas of the Cadillac Elvis drove and the casket and gravestone from his 1977 funeral.

There are also a casket and mannequin, a poster of the famous photo of President Nixon and Presley from 1970, and a tape recording of what is said to be Presley's voice -- a recording made long after the date of his death. The collection also has an Elvis head and piles of documents that Beeny said are FBI files proving Presley's involvement with federal authorities.

The Baptist minister founded the quirky museum in 1990. He said he wants to refocus his energy on serving the needy in Warren County and raising money for relief efforts in Darfur.

Carpenters will begin this weekend to reconfigure the museum, a transformed coin-operated laundry 55 miles west of St. Louis that the elder Beeny opened in 1990.

The big change in his life's direction hasn't sunk in yet.

"It's hard to get used to hearing I'm the ex-owner of the Elvis is Alive Museum," Bill Beeny said.

Steve Beeny declined to put a value on his father's collection.

"Value is in the eye of the beholder," he said diplomatically.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure."

He said Bill Beeny would have liked the museum to stay in the family but all six of his children "have real life going on."

"I'm sure there's some regret there," Steve Beeny added. "But he's always been one to look forward and not look back. It's bittersweet. It's kept us entertained through the years."