Jerry Lee Lewis Arrested at the Gates of Graceland (1976)

On November 23, 1976 at Graceland, Memphis tennessee, Elvis' cousin Harold Loyd, the night guard at graceland, called the police complaining of a drunk, pisto wielding man blocking the gates at Elvis Presley's home in a brand new white lincoln continental.

Two police cars arrived at the scene at 2.56 A.M. to find Mr. Lloyd hiding the the gate house. He complained that the man in the car threatened him and told him he was going to 'get in, one way or another'.

Mr Lloyd had noticed that the man carried a gun in his right hand. Police approached the car cautiously. The Lincoln's sole occupant sat staring out the front window.

When the police got to the open driver's side window, they found that the man was Jerry Lee Lewis, balanced on his knee was a chrome-plated, over- under style .38 caliber derringer pistol.

Mr Lewis was helped from his car and the gun was confiscated by the police. he officers noticed that Mr. Lewis was extremely unstable on his feet , his speech was slurred, and his breath smelled of alcohol.

Mr Lewis was apprised of his rights and was arrested for carrying a pistol and being drunk in a public place.

According to Ernst Jorgensen in his book 'Elvis Day By Day', this was the second night in a row that Jerry Lee had shown, telling Harold Loyd that he and Elvis had been trying to get together for a long time. Elvis is said to have watched the 'whole drama on his closed-circuit monitors'.

Here is Jerry Lee Lewis' own account of what happened, as related by Kay Martin: the president of Lewis' fan club .... 'Elvis called him and asked him to come out to the house to talk to him. Jerry was out on the town and by the time he got to Elvis's house, it was much past when Elvis had expected him and Elvis was asleep. Jerry had driven up after a sheriff from MS had given him a brand new handgun, but since Jerry did not have a permit for a concealed weapon, he had it on the dashboard of his car, as the sheriff had supposedly suggested. The guard at Graceland asked Jerry what he was doing with the gun, and sarcastically Jerry said he hadn't brought it to kill Elvis, so the guy should chill out. He didn't. He called the cops. Jerry was PO'ed, but the gun stayed on the dash the whole time. The situation blew over because it was a tempest in a teapot.

The sheriff who had given Jerry the gun cleared it up, too'.