The photograph surfaced quietly, almost shyly, as if unsure whether it wanted to be seen. A young Elvis Presley, balanced on a bicycle, looking straight into a future no one around him could yet imagine. When Vanity Fair first shared the image in 2014, it was said to have been taken in Tupelo, Mississippi. The details sounded convincing, but something felt wrong. The background did not quite belong to Tupelo. The story, like the boy in the picture, carried a mystery that refused to settle.
The photograph surfaced quietly, almost shyly, as if unsure whether it wanted to be seen. A young Elvis Presley, balanced on a bicycle, looking straight into a future no one…