Portland, Maine codeine Baptist Memorial Hospital Memphis Graceland cover
On August 16, 1977, Presley was scheduled on an evening flight out of Memphis to Portland, Maine, to begin another tour. That afternoon, however, his fiancée Ginger Alden discovered him in an unresponsive state on the bathroom floor of his Graceland mansion. Biographer Joel Williamson suggests that "involving a reaction to the codeine" he had taken "and attempts to move his bowels—he experienced pain and fright while sitting on the toilet. Alarmed, he stood up ... and fell face down in the fetal position." Drooling on the rug and "unable to breathe, he died." Attempts to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital at 3:30 p.m. He was 42 years old.
