Graceland emptied out Sunday morning after a bomb threat prompted Memphis Police to sweep the Elvis Presley estate, and officers ultimately found no explosives anywhere on the property. The all-clear came after a tense stretch that sent visitors out of the building while investigators checked every corner of the grounds at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard.
According to Action News 5, Memphis Police responded to the reported threat just after 11:30 a.m. Sunday. WREG's October 8, 2023, account of a separate Graceland threat put the response time at 10:49 a.m. and said officers were “assisting with evacuating the area as a precaution” while the search was underway.
Memphis Police and other law enforcement searched the building in question and the surrounding area before giving visitors the all clear, per the Action News 5 report. Officers ultimately determined the threat was a hoax, Action News 5 reported, and no explosives were found anywhere on the property.
A Separate Threat at Police Headquarters
Investigators believed the May 17, 2026, threat at Memphis Police headquarters was connected to a broader pattern of hoax threats and spoofed calls hitting cities across the country, according to FOX13 Memphis. The station reported that officers and the department's K-9 unit searched the building on North Main Street after a threat came in just before 1 p.m. and found no explosives.
Sunday's evacuation was not the first time Graceland itself has been targeted. A bomb threat was reported at the mansion in October 2023, and no bomb was found that time either, according to Action News 5's earlier coverage. The pattern stretches back further still: on New Year's Day in 2014, guests at the nearby Heartbreak Hotel were forced to evacuate after a bomb threat came in around 9:30 a.m., with police and fire crews surrounding the building. Investigators that day found “no device, no indication of a device,” and guests were allowed back into their rooms after about two hours.
What Remains Unclear
Exactly how Sunday's threat was delivered, who may have made it, and whether anyone has been arrested or charged has not been disclosed in the reporting so far. Neither the exact number of people evacuated from the Graceland property nor the timing of when the site fully reopened to visitors has been detailed publicly. Memphis Police have not issued an independent release beyond the statements relayed to local media confirming the search and its outcome.
