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Uri sues over Presley home
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 LONDON and MEMPHIS. Israeli-born psychic Uri Geller, famous for his alleged metal-bending and telepathic powers, bid on eBay for a house once owned by Elvis Presley – and won.
 UK-based Geller, now regarded as a paranormal pundit, together with two business partners, outbid other Elvis fans on the auction site for the property at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis, Tennessee, where he lived for just 13 months in 1956 before moving to his now-famous Graceland estate, where he died in 1977.
But the owners have since sold to someone else, at a higher price, and so Geller and his associates are suing them.
Elvis paid a down payment of just $500 on the four-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow with a swimming pool. The money came from royalties earned on “Heartbreak Hotel” and he lived there with his parents and grandmother.
Half a century later, Geller and his partners – New York lawyer Jim Gleason and UK jewellery maker Lisbeth Silvandersson – bid nearly $1 million for the property. Their winning bid – against 73 other potential buyers – was for $905,100, which is about three times the value of similar properties in the area without such famous associations.
 “This is a piece of history,” Geller told the media, with his usual enthusiasm. “We intend to restore it to its old glory. We would like to bring sick children there, for tours – Palestinian children, Israeli children, American children. Hopefully, one day we might get approval to turn it into a museum.”
According to a Reuters report, Geller said that the Elvis museum would have “all the bizarre things that Elvis Presley believed in”, including his fascination with UFOs. “He was ahead of his time,” Geller added.
He also said he believed the spirit of Elvis had helped him win the eBay bid. Travelling to London on 14 May in the final hours of the auction he heard Elvis’s “Love Me Tender” on the car radio. It was then, according to an Associated Press report, that he knew it was “a done deal”. He believes Elvis was saying: “Don’t worry, you’ll have my house”.
But “Return To Sender” might have been a more appropriate message from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The owners Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman claim that Geller and his associates wanted to change the real estate contract, giving them 60 days to move from the property.
“If they had signed the contract, they would have taken possession immediately,” they told Associated Press. “We couldn’t do that.”
Instead, they have agreed to sell to Nashville record producer Mike Curb for $1 million. Geller’s response has been to take out a federal lawsuit against the former owners, claiming they breached the eBay contract.
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Posted on Monday, September 04, 2006
Category: Paranormal
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