Elvis Crypt Up for Auction

A photograph promoting the film Jailhouse Rock depicts singer Elvis Presley.

Elvis Presley’s original crypt will be up for auction in June,the New York Times reports. The crypt is part of a two-day “Music Icons” sale of memorabilia to be held by Julien’s Auctions on June 23rd and 24th.

While Elvis now lies buried at Graceland, he was initially interred in this private crypt in the mausoleum of Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis while his father sought permission from the State of Tennessee to bury him on the singer’s estate. His body was kept at Forest Hill, along with the body of his mother, Gladys, for about two months. The crypt has been empty ever since the Presleys were moved.  

Bidding for the crypt will start at $100,000, and the price includes a memorial inscription, use of the chapel for a service, and the opening and closing of the vault and crypt for burial.

“I just consider that if you’re an ultimate fan of Elvis Presley, it’s an opportunity,” Darren Julian of the auction house told the Times. “It’s definitely a conversation piece. Only one person can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to be buried where Elvis Presley was.'”