Elvis ‘appears’ on Welsh rock
May 1 2008 by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail

HIS name has long been linked with an isolated and mysterious corner of West Wales and now it looks like Elvis Presley may have returned to his spiritual home.

A ghostly image of the King of Rock and Roll has appeared on an ornamental Welsh slate in a back garden in the shadow of the Preseli mountains in what could become a shrine to the most successful singer in music history.


And the apparition’s shocked owner is already being offered upwards of £1,000 for the now treasured rock, which was discovered by chance when her young niece asked her: “Who is that man in the garden?”

“The image definitely wasn’t there when we got the stone, it appeared around six months later,” said its owner, who does not want her identity revealed for fear of her home being deluged by fans of The King, who currently has more than 600 registered fan clubs worldwide.

“My niece insisted there was someone in the garden and I went outside but couldn’t see anyone until my niece pointed to the slate.

“I was totally taken aback, absolutely amazed. I just don’t know what to think.

“We left it alone, imagining it would disappear as quickly as it had come, but that hasn’t happened. It’s still there.”

It is not the first time people have claimed to have seen images of Elvis – who was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1935 and died aged 42 at his world famous Graceland mansion in Memphis in 1977 – since his death.

But his appearance in a mystical part of rural Pembrokeshire – in the same hills from which the Druids carved their bluestones for Stonehenge – may be the first time he has appeared in a place linked with his ancestry.

Cardiff academic Terry Breverton claimed in 2000 to have new evidence that Elvis’ ancestors came from Wales, citing the link between the names Presley and Preseli.

Supporting his theory was the legend of St Elvis of Munster, who apparently baptised St David. Mr Breverton claimed the Presley family could well have had links with a Pembrokeshire chapel dedicated to St Elvis, the only one known in Britain.

And he pointed to the Welsh names of Elvis’ mother Gladys, his stillborn brother, Jesse Garon and his grandmother Doll Mansell, who may be descended from the famous Mansel family of Gower.

The owner of this most recent image admitted to not knowing anything of Elvis’ Welsh roots – she is not even much of a fan of his music – but said she will not be parting with the rock, to which she has become quite attached.

“It’s not just any old rock. It is a phenomenon and I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.

“I don’t want to sell it. I look at it every day to see if the image is still there. I’m a bit nervous now that if I move it, it will disappear.”

Elvis became a US national sensation in the mid-1950s and has since sold more than one billion records worldwide, a record. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 150 different albums and singles, far more than any other artist, and he has 21 UK Number Ones, including four re-entries.

He starred in 33 successful films, made history with his television appearances and his home is the second most visited in America after the White House.

But despite people having successfully sold apparitions which have appeared on everyday items – most notably an image of the Virgin Mary which appeared on a 10-year-old toasted sandwich in Florida and sold on internet auction site eBay for around $28,000 (£14,000) in 2004 – Elvis experts say the site is unlikely to become a pilgrimage site.

Though the image has already attracted online attention from as far away as Chile, Julie Mundy, editor of elvis.co.uk, which gets one million hits a year, said: “A few fans may want to look at it out of interest but with Elvis there is a wealth of recorded sightings and fans can travel the world to see sites associated with him.

“When Elvis fans spend a lot of money, they will spend it on something Elvis actually wore or a rare recording and probably not on something like this. I don’t see any risk of its owner being swamped. But it certainly does look like Elvis.”

Peter Phillips, organiser of the Porthcawl Elvis Festival, said: “He has come home. I would say, bizarrely, that the site could become famous. The public capacity to digest anything Elvis-related increasingly fascinates me.

“It could become an Elvis version of Lourdes.”

Some of the most famous ‘sightings’ of revered figures

Last October, stunned Catholics marking the anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II watched as the flames in a bonfire in Katowice, Poland, apparently assumed the figure of the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing.

In 2004, a decade-old toasted cheese sandwich said to bear an image of the Virgin Mary sold on the eBay auction website for $28,000 (£14,000). Its Florida owner said the sandwich had not gone mouldy in 10 years of being stored at her home.

In 2002, after the death of a woman some residents of La Loche, Saskatchewan held to be a saint, an image of the Virgin Mary, accompanied by other holy symbols, appeared on a nearby picture window. Some smelled roses and others say a cross appeared in the sky.

In 2007, in Estes Park, Colorado, rock collector LaDell Alexander, 60, found a stone she swore bore the face of Elvis. She said at the time: “Seven out of 10 people see Elvis on the rock.”

By far the most common figure to apparently appear on everyday items is, of course, Jesus. In 2006, Laura Turner, from Warwickshire, saw an image of Jesus above her baby in her ultrasound scan. In 2004, Jesus appeared on a dental X-ray in Phoenix and on a shrimp in San Jose in 2006. The latter’s discoverer said he thought it was a sign as he was going through a “nasty divorce”.

Elvis?

That's Jerry Garcia circa Europe '72, complete with Nudie suit.