Elvis - A Lighted Candle

[Di]

AS TOLD BY... SAM THOMPSON -

There were very few real threats to Elvis' person - threats as a result of malice - but there were threats that sprang from the love Elvis' fans had for him. They all wanted a piece of him, and there were millions of fans and only one Elvis. I've taken Elvis into hotels and places where fans would literally pull his hair out. They didn't want to hurt him, but they wanted a piece of him. After every show, Elvis would have claw marks on his hands, and he would have to wear Band-aids; if you see pictures of him during and after shows, you'll see Band-aids. People would accidently claw him when reachng for him and reaching for scarves. Somewhere out in the Midwest, I took a lady offstage who had scratched Elvis in an attempt to get to him. As I was taking her off, she was yelling excitedly to her friends, "Look, Elvis' skin!". It was bizarre.

[Wanda June Hill]

Bizzare is right! Elvis laughed when he said, "It's ma what-ever I'm most scared of losin'" when tellling about scary moments with mobs of fans after him. He'd run like a rabbit to get away- and I guess had some really close calls that he might not have spoken of. One of the last concerts he was nearly drug off stage, he thought they were going to pull him out of his suit! And though he finished the show, afterward he was very shook up and couldn't sleep for fear he'd have nightmares... I know he would always have scratches and cuts on his hands after concerts.

Even before he was doing them, he would sometimes get clawed at places where people realized it was him-like trying to see a ball game and getting caught by someone.

And he had claw marks across his chest sometimes and his back from fans. I couldn't believe some he showed me across his chest...they were awful looking and deep claw marks...he snickered and said she left him a "souvinere" one of the artificial nails was embedded in his flesh.
He said it was red too, like that meant something? I remember one of his comments was, "She didn't mean to hurt me, really. I dun know what it is about me that makes 'em do those things..."

[MaryInTheMorning]

Thank you so much for sharing this story with us dear Di! Wanda my dear friend, I thank you also for sharing Elvis' thoughts with us about how he felt about what some of his fans did to him. You know, truly amazing are the first 2 words that come to mind when thinking about particular incidents like this that happened to him!!! I say that because I've watched/listened to interviews online that Elvis did when his career was first taking off back in '56 and he said the exact same thing about how he thought that the fans didn't mean to hurt him, but that they just wanted a souvenir to take home with them. You are so right Wanda when you've said that all throughout everything in his career/life he never really changed!! My forever thanks to you, dear Maia and sweet JoAnna for letting us get to know this one-of a-kind man whose sweet, caring and understanding soul seemed to know no boundries for loving his fellow man(or woman-lol! ) I just wish that he wouldn't have gotten hurt so much, but bless him for being so understanding about it!!