Dr. Bill Beeny

Rev. Dr. Bill Beeny was a singer, right wing activist, and radio host from the St. Louis, Missouri area. He would open a Western themed ghost town / tourist attraction 70 miles from downtown St. Louis to benefit his controversial Missouri Youth Ranch in 1962. He was planning on housing alcoholics in the ghost town for rehabilitation and using them to run said town. In 1964 Rev. Beeny unsuccessfully ran for governor all while being charged with unlawfully maintaining and operating a boarding home for children which would eventually be shut down by the state of Missouri. The same year Beeny would have his church ordination revoked. In 1965 Mr. Beeny organized a right wing group named INKO (Investigate Now King and Others) that would attempt to gather 100,000 signatures seeking a congressional investigation against Dr. Martin Luther King claiming the civil rights leader had communist ties. In 1992 Bill Beeny would open an "Elvis Is Alive" museum and cafe in Wright City, Missouri which contained government documents, pathology reports, DNA testing results and photos all claiming Elvis Presley was still alive and well. in Wright City, Missouri. In 2007 he would put all items in the museum up for auction on eBay and sold for $8,300.