The King conspiracy Roadside museum caters to those suspicious

WRIGHT CITY, Mo. -- Quicker than you could choke down a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, Bill Beeny's roadside "Elvis is Alive" museum serves up plenty for folks with suspicious minds over whether Elvis really ever left the building.

Barely bigger than a living room, the place about 40 miles west of St. Louis is a conspiracy theorist's dream, from its government documents to the pathology reports, DNA testing results and photos, including one purporting to show Elvis shadowing Muhammad Ali in 1984.

All of it, Beeny insists, proves that Elvis sightings over the years aren't just urban legend.

"There's a certain percentage of people who think I'm totally crazy. That doesn't bother me," says Beeny, 75 with jet-black, slicked-back hair and long sideburns that would make Elvis proud, as would the jumpsuit Beeny jumps into when photo opportunities arise.

Now 11 years old, Beeny's museum along Interstate 70 casts Elvis as "the King" of deception, the guy who masterfully faked his death a quarter century ago Friday to escape miseries of fame, fortune or sweaty rhinestone duds, not to mention Mafia death threats.

"He had a lot of reasons for wanting to leave the life he had," Beeny said.

Low-pressure approach

"We don't try to make any converts," says Beeny, convinced that Elvis, who would be 67, lives peacefully as an unrecognizable, silver-haired legend far slimmer than the bloated entertainer in the years before his, uh, death in 1977.

At the museum that charges no admission, Beeny says, "We just say, 'Here's the evidence we have, look at it and whatever you want to believe is fine. Draw your own conclusions.'"

Featured over the years by all major U.S. television networks and foreign journalists as far as Japan, Beeny's museum bills itself as the world's most-photographed.

Inside, walls are plastered with photos and clippings of the King or the site. There's a replica of Elvis' Graceland grave, just a pelvic swivel from a creepy open casket with a wax figure of an Elvis stand-in Beeny believes was buried instead of the real Elvis.

Museum clocks use Elvis' hips for pendulums. A TV plays videos of Elvis performances or a 1990s documentary examining "evidence" it says clouds whether Elvis ever died. In one snippet, a voice expert declares as authentically Elvis a recorded phone conversation in which the King discusses things that happened "after" his death.

Beeny insists Elvis has surfaced in recent years -- not at a Michigan Burger King or as a Miami cop, as legend would have it, but as an arthritis sufferer who in 1997 sought treatment from Dr. Donald W. Hinton, a Kansas City, Mo., psychiatrist.

Supposedly with Elvis, Hinton co-wrote "The Truth About Elvis Aron Presley, In His Own Words," published last year.

While amused by the museum, 42-year-old Elvis fan Kelly Hitch wasn't buying any of the souvenirs -- or the conspiracy talk. Elvis, thankyouverymuch, is dead, she said.

"The pictures here were fun," the woman from Wentzville, Mo., whispered, not wanting to offend Beeny. "But I don't believe Elvis is alive."

Still, Beeny's powers of persuasion worked on Bill and Rita Santen, a retired Kirkwood, Mo., couple.

"I kinda think it could be possible Elvis pulled one over on us," Rita Santen said. "I'm keeping an open mind, and I want to believe that he's alive."

Beeny beamed.