WEBVTT - A Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Loathing: Kevin Curtis 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.760 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:06.720 Elizabeth Duntz Zeron Burnette So glad to see. 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:07.680 I'm glad to see me too. 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:08.400 I know. 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.879 Right, Look, I got a question for you while you're done. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:16.040 Do you what's ridiculous I do? 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.919 Now? Hold on, this is my take a while. Okay, okay, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:26.279 we've been inundated with suggestions for a certain spirit, a 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:31.920 certain liquor. Dorito's is all about disrupting culture and bringing 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:36.360 our fans unexpected, bold experiences. Okay, So Dorito's has a 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:39.400 liquor and I don't really know. It's just like a 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.920 distilled whatever. It's apparently vacuum distilled, so it really tastes 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:47.800 like a Dorito. Oh yeah. The flavor is nacho cheese, 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.479 corn toastata umami in a hint of acidity, and you 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.560 can use it for Margarita's, Bloody Mary's old fashions, neat 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.960 or over ice or anyway Dorito's fans like, says the 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.480 press release. Yeah, okay, so whatever, right, I got that 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.640 out of the way. I mean, it's like, literally hundreds 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.800 of people have been telling us about this, but then 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:12.479 you know who swooped in, Marie Noel she's a new 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.280 friend of the show. Now. She sent us a great email. 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:17.880 She said, before I get into all the ridiculous stuff, 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:19.560 I want to let you know how much I enjoy 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.640 your podcast. It never fails to make me laugh. I 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.399 used to listen to it when I went out for 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:26.640 a run. But one day I laughed so hard that 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.720 it made me cough and I couldn't catch my breath. 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:31.160 A nice lady even stopped by to make sure I 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.679 was okay and wasn't about to die. So I did 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.600 the only thing I could do. I stopped running all together. 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.400 Now your podcast makes me giggle during my commute to 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:45.640 and from work. We've made someone stop running. We did it. 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:46.520 We did it, Joe. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.280 Okay. So here's the thing though. She also included that 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:52.320 she's like, you know what, I'm sure everyone's sending you 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.280 the Doritos thing, but let me let me take you 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:55.000 to the next level. 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:56.920 There's another level. Yeah. 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:01.080 So she sent a link to this Tamworth Distilling company 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.960 and they have a line of booze called House of Tamworth. 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:11.919 Now there are five. There's smoked trout flavored brandy, right 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:18.200 Crab trapper, Oh Crab flavored whiskey, o de musk, which 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.400 is I don't know, some sort of like muskrat whatever, 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:27.280 deerslayer venison flavored whiskey. Then we get to my favorite, 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:33.960 a favorite unholy rye and the tagline is I drink 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:40.280 dead people. It's called grave Robber, Grave Robber, unholy rye. 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:44.080 Grave Robber is an unholy rye whiskey infused with maple 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:48.600 syrup tapped from graveside maple trees. On the property of 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:52.320 Tamworth Distilling lies a malignant old maple whose roots burrowed 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:57.160 deep into the nearly unmarked colonial era graveyard. What would 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.919 happen if we tapped some of the sinister stap sap 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.560 and added it to our whiskey? Spicy yet sweet, evil 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.200 yet divine. The life of a grave robber begins when 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:07.919 yours ends. 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:13.079 They broke the Jeff Goldbloom maxim, they said, Rather than asking, 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.760 you know, should we, they just went ahead and did it. 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:19.120 It is the most god thing to like have, Like 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.400 the I don't know, I can't even get my head 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:21.880 around was that. 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.200 Considered like goth like whiskey? I mean, like, is that 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:25.440 like I think you want that? 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.000 You know that it's syrup tapped from the graveside in 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:28.639 maple trees. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.359 God, I'm just wooy enough to be like. 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.959 No, yeah, meet me at the cemetery case. 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.680 Luckily I had been prepared for this, I thought by 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.960 listener Eric Buckholt, who sent me ward, will you be 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.240 throwing these doritos at me? And then you still got 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.640 and brought the un whiskey. 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.880 Eric told you, he warned you. I'm not on Twitter anymore, 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:52.960 but I used to see him on there all the time. 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:58.040 But see Marie Noel, she brought it. Elizabeth, she's my 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:00.520 number one roode Dude. Yah, there you go. 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:01.920 Okay, what do you have? 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:03.880 It's ridiculous, This is what I'm saying. 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:08.200 Beyond ridiculous. I'm sorry that took so long. Pale, Yes, 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.920 I had, Oh my god, how am I going to 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.200 adjust to that? Okay? Well, do you have a second? 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:15.120 Of course I did. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:15.600 I got one. 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:16.880 What else am I going to do today? 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:18.880 Okay? You remember when Obama was president? I do? 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:19.560 I remember that? 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:20.120 All right? Okay? 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.680 Did you know I went to his first inauguration? 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.080 You did? But how was it was a good? 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:26.000 You're amazing? 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:27.680 It was really great. How many stars? 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.280 I'd say eight out of five? 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.880 Wow, big, big, momentous occasion. Okay, so do you I saw. 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:36.440 Tyne Daily in real life. 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:41.159 Not the Time Daily, tim Daily's sister Cagney and Lacy 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:42.200 Tyn Daily from. 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:43.120 About half a block away. 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.920 Wow, it's pretty crazy. That's what you came away with 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:52.200 Time Daily also Obama's president. That's do you remember the 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:56.279 news during the Obama presidency when a taekwondo fighting martial 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.760 arts instructor and part time Elvis impersonator attempted to kill 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:01.680 the isn't it with rice and powder? Wait? 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.360 No, I miss that. I miss that. 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:05.800 You're in luck. Have I got a story for you today? 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:26.560 Hell? Yeah? 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:31.880 This is Ridiculous Crime, A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:37.200 and cons. It's all always ninety nine percent murder free 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:42.720 and one hundred percent ridiculous. Yes, Elizabeth, I have three 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:43.599 questions for you today. 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:43.760 One? 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:44.280 Two? Three? 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.960 Do you like Mississippi? Sure? You ever been to Tupelo, Mississippi? 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:48.359 Yes? 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.320 Do you you have? You? Did you like it? Yeah? 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.680 I was all right, memorable? Sure did you go there 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.880 to see Elvis's birthplace? No? Do you like Elvis? That's 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.159 my third question? Okay, I got a bonus question. You 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.760 ever heard of the song the Tupelo, Mississippi Flash. No, 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.800 all right, it kind of goes like this, he said, son, 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.080 my name is Boba god Ripley. I come to you 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.240 from Tupelo, Mississippi. I write songs and sing like a bird, 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.560 and I play licks on me guitar like you ain't 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.560 never heard now. That is a Jerry Reid song. Oh okay, 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.560 aka the Snowman from Smoking the Band or water Boy 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.080 the coach for the rival team and water Boy. Anyway, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:27.880 his track is a teasing nod to the fact that 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.760 Elvis is from Tupelo, the true below Mississippi Flash. It 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.240 was a kick for Jerry Reid when Elvis actually performed 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.800 a cover of that very same song, because Elvis was 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.320 one of Jerry Reid's heroes growing up, much like Jerry 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:41.680 Reid was one of my heroes growing up. But of course, 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.280 just like you were one of my heroes growing up. 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:49.400 Exactly exactly now. Elvis, he's the mountaintop, right, He was 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.160 the goat to mindy a Southerner like, did you know 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.360 even my father loves Elvis. 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:56.040 I think you've mentioned that my. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.080 Black nationalist father loves Elvis, which is great. He even 0:06:59.120 --> 0:06:59.760 named his dog. 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:00.920 Elm Oh he did. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.400 Yeah, he's out there king. I'm like, oh, Dad, anyway, 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:08.279 So tupla, Mississippi birthplace of Elvis. It's steeped in Elvis lore, 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.880 and much like the rest of the South, it's a 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.280 it's a place where you're gonna find a fair share 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.200 of nuts. Sure, who's my man, Jerry Read would say, 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.920 I said, watch him, everybody, that boy squirreling. Now, all 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:21.920 of this will prime us for the story I'm about 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:23.400 to tell you the cat that I want to tell 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.080 you about today. This squirrelly dude was an Elvis superfan. 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.360 Oh okay, and like Elvis, he was from Tupelo, Mississippi. 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.000 I've known some serious Elvis superfans totally. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.679 Well, he was a fellow Tupelo, Mississippi martial arts master. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:38.600 Oh that's how far he took it. And one day 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.040 he was accused of trying to kill the president. Yeah, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.200 there's so much more to this story than that. So so so. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.920 In twenty thirteen, the first news articles announced the FBI 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:49.960 was investigating this rice in incident. Right the Guardian Over 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.800 in the UK, they reported on April eighteenth, twenty thirteen, 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.000 quote a man accused of mailing letters was suspected rising 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.200 to President Barack Obama and other officials believed he'd uncovered 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.800 a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.400 market and claimed, quote various parties within the government quote 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:10.600 we're trying to ruin his reputation. So Paul Kevin Curtis, 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:14.120 that's our CATA forty five years old at the time. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:20.960 Pksey case, he's the man in question. Beats my friend 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.200 sim So he's accused of threatening Barack Obama with the 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.080 powdery toxin sent through the mail. Right, Okay, Now, on 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.560 the face of it, this story seems outrageous, but yet 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.040 it kind of makes sense. Yeah, no, right for real, 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.320 paranoid man from Mississippi, convinced there's a secret cabal of 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.480 body part brokers working on the black market, protected by 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.000 elected officials, decides I'm going to kill the president, you 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.679 know what. That is ridiculous, But the story it feels 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.320 kind of familiar, like I believe, like well, I mean 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.840 for our days these days, like people I'm gonna blow 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.320 up my RV because of the president or whatever. Right, 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.679 but you throw in the Elvis impersonator part, you got 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.880 a real story. Now it's international, So that's when it sideways. Anyway, 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:05.319 who is this cat? Paul Kevin Curtis seven? Now for one, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:07.080 he prefers to be called Kevin, so we'll call him 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.679 Kevin Curtis, not Paul Curtis now at best as I could, 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:14.240 gleant Casey. Oh, Casey's early life was strange. Now this 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.880 is primarily due to his Elvis loving mama at a 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.079 very early age. Kevin, he was a childhood prodigy Elizabeth 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:28.400 as an Elvis impersonator, a child prodigy Elvis will allow Elvis. 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.839 You ever heard of the Mexican Elvis Elves. Yes, he's 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:36.480 my favorite of the Elvis impersonators. But then there's also 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.760 I think one you like, dread Zeppelin, the Led Zeppelin 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.360 cover band, Elvis impersonator as the front man who would 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:48.800 perform Zeppelin songs and Elvis krooner voice that Wastelvis. Yes, Tartelvis, 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.240 thank your producer, Dave Tartelvis could not think of that 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.679 cat's name. All right. He had another one for you. 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.160 You ever seen the two thousand and one movie three 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:01.760 Thousand Miles to Gray Slam? I sure have, yeah, Kevin Cage, 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.320 it's Kevin cost and Kurt Russell, and. 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.800 I haven't seen it with Nicholas Cage. 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:08.680 Leaving Las Vegas. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:10.559 That's not where he dresses up as Elvis. 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:14.080 No, he does dress up as Elvis in a movie. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.440 In a movie. Yeah, I'm blanking right now. 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:18.439 Let's just say it's three thousand miles to. 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.640 So he's one hundred miles to Graceland. Three thousand still 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.760 maybe three hundred page version. It was an indie film, 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.280 three hundred miles. We were close. I live closer to Vegas. 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.200 I live in perump So, Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, they 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.880 play Elvis impersonators in three thousand miles to Graceland. So, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.880 with the help of an army of other Elvis impersonators, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.719 they pull off an epic heist in Las Vegas, all 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.640 dressed as Vegas era Elvis. I think I have seen that. 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:50.480 I know to kill the parachuting, Yes, yes, parashooting, all right, 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.000 I thought that would get to you Las Vegas. Baby. Well, anyway, 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.720 this kid, Kevin Curtis, all right, my dude raised in Tupelo, 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.880 Elvis impersonating child prodigy. All right. Now, when I say 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.840 he was steeped in Elvis, his mama was like dunking 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.040 him in the legacy of Elvis. Right, he imagine him 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.280 as a donut and Elvis is the hot coffee that 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.000 mama do. Just dunk, dunk, dunk. Right now, his mama Eloise, 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.640 she'd drive her boy to Memphis, Tennessee, Homa Graceland and 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.280 she'd pay to have a tiny Elvis suit be made, 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.360 a custom made suit for her son, the child prodigy. Right, yeah, 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.200 the suit handcrafted by Elvis is official suit maker. 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:27.800 So is he young Elvis or old Elvis? 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.480 I think you would do kind of if he's doing 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.560 the suits. It's Vegas Elvis, it's older. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:35.920 Like you got to you gotta keep an eye on 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.199 this kid when he goes to the toilet. 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.400 Now, his mama always she didn't just get him the 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.560 handcrafted Elvis official suit maker suit. She also to pair 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.200 with that bespoke Elvis suit. She paid to have a 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:52.040 custom belt made by Elvis's official belt maker. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.760 No way, this is like the Queen and the Royal family. 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:58.320 They have like all the official totally perfum exactly. 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.400 So now you gotta imagine like a big old karate 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.640 champion style belled and crusted in rhyanestones and then shrink 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:07.640 that down to kid sized, right. Now, pay for all this, Eloise. 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:09.800 She would take out personal loans for this trip. It 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.800 was three eight hundred and twenty five dollars. 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:12.280 Oh my god. 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:14.080 Yeah, but you have to understand, Eloise, she had a 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.959 special connection with the King. She met him once. Oh 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.720 oh yeah, no, and Elvis had performed at the Louisiana 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.160 hay Ride. She you want to carry him around on 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:23.960 her head? I think so. She actually mentioned that in 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.760 her diary. Now, this was in his early fame days, 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:28.640 when he was coming up. You could still catch Elvis 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.280 at a hay ride. This was nineteen fifty four. It 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.000 wasn't like seventy No, it wasn't like seventy one hay ride. 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:34.080 No. 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.520 So anyway, so these the two clicked when they met 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.720 at the hay Ride. Years later, I mean decades later, 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:41.600 when he was on his way out, you know, when 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.920 he's all bloated, chomping on pills. Did he die seventy seven? Okay? 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.880 I believe, I'm not certainly, I believe seventy seven. So 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.960 this is like shoot Out your TV era Elvis. Right, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.520 Elouise was in touch with him at this point of 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:57.000 his life, and Elvis would call her and then he'd say, oh, 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.000 pray with me, and they would sit on the phone 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:00.960 and pray together. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.560 So okay, so I thought he was like I thought 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.679 it was like she had a tying daily moments. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:09.560 Elvis is on the phone again, I'm gonna go greet 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.360 by Bible boy. I want to pray with the King. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:12.800 Wow. 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.080 Now so special bomb with the King. Right, So she 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.640 turns her son into like the princeling and she like, 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.160 you know, eventually, interestingly, he was also a prince fan. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.480 Huge prince fan was the Kevin Curtis. He would do 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:29.800 like prince impersonations as well. Did he evolved into Prince No, well, 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.360 she want him to be become the prince to the king. 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:37.120 Right, he did Elvis impersonations and then he later did Prince. 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.960 Yeah, he went from king to Prince that. Yeah, the 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.760 kid had professional pipes. He could sing. This guy, Kevin Curtis, 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.000 he could. He could front a band, right, and it's 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.320 a town he retained into adulthood. He can still sing 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.839 right now. As an adult. He expanded his repertoire of impersonations. 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.600 He did a really solid version of Buddy Holly. 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:55.080 Oh. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:56.880 He also, as they said, he did the Prince songs. 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:58.560 He also does a wicked kid rock. 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.000 He's like a musical rich Yes, he's just. 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.720 A little jukebox of impersonations. But you know, but you know, okay, 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:06.880 the thing about kid rock that always find funny is 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.320 he seems like he's from Mississippi, even though the dude 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.280 was raised really wealthy outside of Detroit. Yeah, but yet 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.920 you think, oh, rural South. He's a fancy lad who 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.280 went south totally, I don't. I mean, we know about that. 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.640 But anyway, so before my dude grows up and leaves 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.240 town as he's a small South behind as a teenager, 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.960 he lost a girlfriend who was his fiance because it's 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.880 the South, and uh, you know, before they could wed, 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.040 she died in a car accident. Yeah, and he was driving. 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.440 It was really tragic. Sent him into a downward spiral. 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:36.720 Then he leaves home, right, so at this point he's 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:38.640 kind of broken. He ends up living in his car 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.680 in Chicago. He's eating out of supermarket dumpsters, which you know, 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:43.920 unless you're one of those like radical freakings, not the 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.960 best way to live. So he leaves Chicago, returns home 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.480 to the South. He returns to Tupelo, Mississippi by then 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.720 his late twenties, he does what others do in the South. 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.880 He gets married, he starts a family, has kids. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.760 You know, hebrush sorry Southerners. 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.360 Well, no, I'm just saying it's far more common than like. 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.920 And then in New York or San Francisco, people don't understand, 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:04.880 like you have a lot of social pressures like, well 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.600 you back home, we come down to church, will meet 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.000 you a nice girl. I mean that is a very 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.480 common thing. Doesn't matter black, white, or indifferent. It's very Southern. Right, 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.200 So he gets himself a good job as a janitor, 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.640 which he spun into a business where he'd hire others 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:20.600 to fulfill janitorial contracts. Now he's living the dream. He's 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:24.480 working making money off of other people's labor, the American dream. Right, 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.280 He's at home lounging. Other people are getting paid and 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:29.280 he's getting paid off their work. Oh, he loves it. 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.920 And also, meanwhile he's pursuing his career as an Elvis impersonator. 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.520 So living, right, you have to have your hobby. Well, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.120 he and his older brother Jack, they had a group 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.880 they call themselves Double Trouble. Oh like Stevie Raveon, Yeah, 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.360 kind of. But if you're wondering off. They performed and 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.280 dressed as Elvis, not as Stevie. 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:51.920 Ravon and what's his brother's name something Va Yeah, mister Vaught, 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:52.600 Jimmy Vaughan. 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.440 There you go go. Nice job. So they were brother 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.400 Both brothers dressed and performed as Elvis, but one was 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.760 young Elvis. It's like Jailhouse Rock era Elvis. The other 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.840 one was vegas Ol Cats in the Cradle, yes exactly. 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.600 But Elvis once in Rhymestone once got like the black 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.600 hair all greased up. Anyway, So young and old Elvis 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.120 double trouble right. Then fate played a hand. Kevin Curtis 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.600 had a new janitorial contract at a hospital. One day 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.600 he sees something that would ever change his life. Elizabeth. 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.360 The year was nineteen ninety nine. It was December seventeenth, 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.200 the elbos impersonator. He walks in that his day gig. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.800 You know, he's buffing the floors in North Mississippi Medical 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.560 Center and tupelow and he's trying to clear the sump 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:33.520 pump drain and you know that's no fun, right, So 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.560 he's down there trying to clear the sump pump drain 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.360 in the floor and he spots something that horrified him. 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.160 As Kevin recalled later on, my whole life turned on 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.520 a dime. Yeah, right, take a break. When we get back, 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.560 I'll tell you what Kevin Curtis saw that forever changed him. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:48.120 Excellent. 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:09.600 All right, we're back, Elizabeth. 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:10.679 You know what I was just thinking? 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:11.600 What were you thinking of? 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.560 How crazy would it be if someone was on PCP 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.879 and they saw Double Trouble performing? 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:23.480 Why would the PCP factor because it would get frame damn. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.720 So they'rething so thrown by it they figure they're hallucinating. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:28.280 They go home and try to fight one of the 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.840 elvis is because they can't both be real. Only one 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:32.000 Elvis is the true Elvis. 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:33.200 He tries to eat their feet. 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:36.840 I'd worry about what you think about when we're on breaks. 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.000 You know, you gotta think about something, all right. So 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:40.920 it's nineteen ninety nine, Yes it is. You're going to 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.720 party like it's nineteen ninety nine. It's December seventeenth. Okay, 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.000 bout to be y two k right, kookie, everybody's like 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.760 on edge. Kevin Curtis is working in a hospital, one 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.720 of his janitorial contracts that told you about. While he's working, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.080 he's asked to leave his usual gig. They're like, normally 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.320 he'd be like slopping a mess on the er floor, 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.199 you know, scooping up blood and the mop. Yeah. Anyway, 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:02.679 and this night he's asked to go clean up a 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.919 different sort of mess. It's actually rough business, Elizabeth. As 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.280 Kevin Curtis, he recounted in an article with a GQ magazine, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.919 he said, I'm slipping and sliding in blood and guts. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.399 After three hours, I'm dehydrated, sweating, burning up. Gotta have 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.480 something to drink, right, So he's down there and mopping 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.520 up whatever this mess was. He goes on the hunt 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.520 for like a doctor pepper or something cold like that. 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.200 Pops open a fridge. There are no cold drinks, Elizabeth, 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:26.400 none whatsoever. No doctor pepper for this poor man. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:28.400 What kind of hospital is instead? 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:30.880 Peering back at him was a severed head. Oh. 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:32.960 I thought you're gonna say he found like a rabbit 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:33.760 human hybrid. 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.280 No, but that'd be great though. No, he said, it's 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.480 just this man's head and the back ahead. So as 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.080 Kevin Curtis remembered it, quote, first thing I saw was 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.439 an arm wrapped in a plastic with a barcode and 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.920 a leg wrapped in plastic. The whole bottom portion of 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:51.080 the refrigerator's legs, arms, feet, hands, and eyes and a brain. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.080 Oh at the eye level of the fridge was the 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.480 severed heaven of a man I'd seen alive in the 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.560 er a couple nights before. Oh no, right, so he shook. 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.920 He's absolutely just beside himself. The fridge is chocol block 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.879 with chilled body parts. Horrifies him to his innocent cores. 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:12.800 Right then things got worse, I think, Kevin Curtis, you would. Yeah. 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:14.560 This is the next night. He's back at where Kevin 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.920 gets called upstairs for a meeting in an executive's office. 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.879 He's escorted there by security. And this is not just 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.840 any executive's office, Elizabeth. He was taken to the hospital 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.159 CEO's office. Yeah, a man named Jeff Barber. So this 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:28.840 cat Jeff the barbar beef Cake, the CEO of the hospital. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.160 He's not alone in his office for five other men. Yeah, 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.240 they all had suits on. Look an official. They have 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.880 some legal documents on a table. Kevin was told he'd 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:39.800 need to sign the documents because he was, in a word, 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.119 a little bit reluctant when he was told this. It 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.920 says Paul K. Curtis agreed that on December the seventeenth, 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:47.439 I was in an area of the hospital I was 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:49.240 not authorized to be in and I'm going to be 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:53.640 suspended without pay. Well, this batter is being investigated, Kevin Curtis, 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.160 He didn't come into that. No, no, no, he done 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.879