Graceland opened her doors to fans for tours 42 years ago, yet there are still many rooms that aren’t open to the public.
The most famous unseen space is the upstairs of the mansion where Elvis Presley died, but some secret spaces have only been witnessed by fans on virtual tours.
Express.co.uk took part in one previously, when on-site archives Angie Marchese took a live-stream camera inside the mysterious laundry room.
This spot is located in the basement alongside the TV room and pool rooms; spaces which can be visited on the regular tour.
When there in person, fans often ask what’s behind an opaque window in the Jungle Room just up the stairs. Well, that’s exactly where the laundry room is located.
Before entering the unseen washing space, Angie shared with us: “Every house has a laundry room and recently somebody asked me about laundry at Graceland and who was in charge of doing it. When Elvis first moved into Graceland, of course, Gladys did all the laundry and she would hang it outside to dry.”
Elvis’ mother Gladys, who died in 1958, never did quite adjust to the family’s newfound wealth. The traditional lady liked the simple things of life, preferring to sew up her old dresses rather than let her millionaire son buy her fancy new clothes. So it’s no surprise she enjoyed tending to the housework she was used to, despite maids being employed in the mansion.
Angie added: “After [she died] most of Elvis’ clothes, especially in the sixties and seventies, went to the dry cleaners. Opening the door to the mysterious unseen space, the Graceland archivist said: “It’s not very fancy, but it’s a laundry room.”
If anything, Graceland’s laundry room is mostly what you’d expect, from containing sinks, a dryer and a water heater to air and heating units. But also just behind the door is an electrical entertainment system that is used to this day.
On the entertainment unit, Angie said: “So if you ever hear music at Graceland being played through the speaker system, this is how we play it. We do use Elvis’ original speaker system – that’s wired for sound with this system.”
The entertainment system is where Christmas music CDs are played from during the festive season that can be heard around the mansion.
