Elvis Presley kept many types of animals on his 13.8-acre Graceland estate in Memphis, TN. There have been many stories about its four-legged residents, including horses, dogs, chickens, turkeys, and chimpanzees. However, several of these animal friends who lived with the king of rock and roll were placed in Graceland’s swimming pool for safekeeping, so they wouldn’t leave the property.
Elvis Presley’s home was a sanctuary for his family and quite a few animals
Elvis purchased Graceland and its surrounding property in March of 1957 at the age of 22. He bought the home and adjacent grounds for $102,500, according to the home’s official website. When he made the purchase, Presley was busy working on his second motion picture, Loving You. He placed a $1,000 deposit down as collateral.
Graceland was the second home Presley purchased for his parents, Vernon and Gladys. The first was a home located on Audubon Avenue in East Memphis. However, as Presley’s star grew, that home, unprotected from onlookers, became a mecca for the superstar’s fans.
Presley wanted a more private residence, and he found that with Graceland, which allowed the entertainer to retreat from the public eye. On May 16, 1957, his parents and grandmother moved in while Elvis continued to film “Jailhouse Rock.” Presley did not officially move into the property until June of that same year.
He also went to work filling the home with many kinds of animals, including a mynah bird, a wallaby, peacocks, and squirrel monkey, as reported by Graceland’s official site.
The famous music gates were not on the property when Presley purchased Graceland. They were set in place in April 1957 to keep Presley’s fans at bay. The gates also kept some of his four-legged friends from wandering off the family property.
Graceland’s swimming pool was home to some of Elvis’ furry friends
After purchasing Graceland, Vernon, and Gladys reportedly requested some farm animals to roam the grounds, reported Express. However, the stalls and fences had not yet been built at the back of the property. Therefore, he needed to figure out where to keep his newly acquired donkeys so they wouldn’t wander off the property.
The outlet reported that Travis Smith, Glady’s brother, helped organize all the incoming animals. Travis would go on to become the Head of Security at Graceland.
Travis was desperate to keep the animals in one spot. So he came up with an ingenious idea. He lowered the donkeys into the already dug swimming pool, which was sans water, while the stables and barns were constructed. This way, the animals could wander around but not off.
According to his Memphis Mafia Kid YouTube channel, Elvis’ cousin Billy Smith said, “They put them in the pool and kept them in there for a while!”
Is there a pool still at Graceland?
Graceland’s pool remains on the Graceland property, and the family reportedly still uses it when they visit the home. It is situated just beyond the Meditation Garden, where Elvis, Gladys, Vernon, Minnie Mae, his daughter Lisa Marie, and her son Benjamin are buried.
One of the most common rumors about Graceland is that the swimming pool is shaped like a guitar, but it’s actually kidney bean-shaped. The water feature is about 18 by 36 feet and looks exactly as it did when it was installed in 1957.
