Elvis fan creates 'Graceland Too' shrine in Mississippi home

HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. - It's nearing 2 a.m. on a Saturday in this quaint town and Paul MacLeod has already circled his antebellum home, a shrine to Elvis Presley he calls Graceland Too, to arrive in front of a locked china cabinet.

Fumbling with five sets of keys, he says, "For this one record I was offered $1 million, but I won't take $20 million," he says of a vinyl recording on the top shelf.

Once there, the hyper-caffeinated 68-year-old with shellacked gray hair and disobedient dentures bypasses the record to grab a sealed plastic bag of panties.

With a high-pitched giggle, MacLeod shows off an extra-large pair from one female "fan" who tossed them at the front door in apparent admiration of his hoarder-style collection.

This is how it goes on the nightly tour of the always-open alternative to Graceland, a tourist attraction not suitable for children.

"This man. He keeps me coming back," Reed Falkner, 21, said following a tour. The Delta State student is a lifetime member at Graceland Too, meaning he has paid the $5 fee and toured the property three times, earning his picture on MacLeod's wall of fame and garnering free admission whenever he pleases.

Falkner said he "kinda" likes Presley, but what brought him back with three friends for the eighth time was the eccentric homeowner, who whistles, slaps himself and gets grabby with visitors throughout his two-hour spiel.

Since its public opening in 1990, night owls have gravitated toward the campy attraction long after last call at the bar.

"It's a place to go after a couple drinks, when you can laugh at it a little more," said Stephanie McKinney at the Holly Springs tourism office.

The azure home at the end of Gholson Avenue, which until last year was painted pink, stands out. There are plastic blue trees "for a moody blue Christmas" lining the porch and lion statues at the entrance.

There's an electric chair in the backyard, a frighteningly ambiguous representation of the "Jailhouse Rock" set.

MacLeod, dressed in a loose-fitting Hawaiian shirt and black slacks, says his intention is to "resemble" the real Graceland, in Memphis, Tenn., according to Presley's personality and tastes.

He has decorated his mother's 150-plus-year-old home from floor to ceiling with photos, posters, gum wrappers, records and notes. Other oddities, such as the stuffed ninja turtle or the deer head with a red light bulb muzzled to its snout, are introduced to viewers with half-baked explanations.

"Statue of Liberty? One of the Bush daughters gave me that. You ever been to New York? You ever seen the Statue of Liberty? ... Looks like Elvis."

MacLeod, a former gambler, throws numbers at his guests at a rapid pace: 500,000 visitors; 165,000 newspaper clippings; 80,000 television recordings; 35,000 records; 100,000 TV guides.

"I'm trying to preserve a piece of history," he says. "This guy wasn't born in Russia. He was born in Tupelo," in Mississippi.

MacLeod says his collection has been lauded by archivists in Memphis, but those claims could not be affirmed by communications reps at the real Graceland who declined a request for an interview and instead emailed one cutting line: "There is no affiliation."

The only numbers MacLeod offers proof for are the 24 cans of Coca-Cola he drinks each night to stay awake.

"It works on me like Viagra," he says, jiggling a bag of aluminum tabs and pointing to empty boxes near the trash can.

McKinney said MacLeod first opened his house, now the No. 1 attraction in town, because tourists on the pilgrimage from Presley's birthplace to Memphis heard of his cache and came knocking.

MacLeod originally gave tours with his wife and son, Elvis Aaron, whom he photographed as "The King" from an early age.

"My son's a dead ringer for this guy," MacLeod says, revealing poster-size photos of his son in bedazzled jumpsuits. "It scares Elvis' relatives and family until they ... faint."

The younger MacLeod has since moved to New York, and the elder MacLeod said his wife divorced him over the obsession.

"Put everything I ever had in my life to do this, including my wife," he says. "But you gotta do what makes you happy."

The longest tour MacLeod has provided in the musty, two-story enclosure is 12 hours, he says, though his most adamant follower has visited a purported 80 times.

On this Saturday, away from the harsh light cast by naked bulbs that MacLeod uses to spotlight his wares, which include nudie pics of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie, 19-year-old Cameron Keigley summed up his tour with three words:

"Now I believe."

Graceland Too, 200 E. Gholson Ave., Holly Springs, MS 38634

Open 24/7/365 (knock loudly at night)

$5 admission

Tourism office: 662-252-2515

(Sara Patterson writes for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.)