Of the adjectives that emerge most often to describe alleged homegrown American terrorists — loner, outcast, hermit — none neatly applies when it comes to Paul Kevin Curtis.
The Mississippi man who has been accused by federal authorities of sending poison-laced letters to President Obama, as well as to a senator and a judge from his home state, is perhaps best known as an entertainer in rural stretches east of Memphis, along the Mississippi-Tennessee border.
Through decades of dead-end day jobs, Curtis’s mainstay has been night and weekend gigs as a celebrity impersonator. He has dressed up and performed at weddings and at parties as Prince, Buddy Holly and Kid Rock, but most often as none other than Elvis Presley — not just anywhere in Mississippi, but in The King’s native Tupelo.
Curtis and his family and friends have, over many years, amassed a library of videos and photos, many posted online, that show him singing and dancing with a distinctive curled upper lip and thick sideburns.
In one online profile bearing more than 800 photos of himself, Curtis typed this in his biography: “Father/Activist/Singer/Songwriter/Business Owner/Rebel.”
But for the many fun-loving images of his life, a darker world also exists for Curtis, according to frequent writings on social media Web sites, legal records and a lengthy trail of letters sent previously to lawmakers from Mississippi to Capitol Hill.
The man the FBI says unnerved much of official Washington this week, leaving mail handlers, staffers and aides seeing danger in any crinkled or unmarked envelope, was also a well-practiced conspiracy theorist. He wrote online that Elvis-impersonating contests had become rigged and politicized.
His diatribes often revolved around conspiracy theories, on which he blamed many of the malignancies in his life. The broken relationships, the financial duress, the increasing isolation he perceived — all, he wrote, seemed to stem from an episode when he was working in a morgue.
“I’m on the hidden front lines of a secret war. A war that is making Billions of dollars for corrupt mafia related organizations and people. (bone, tissue, organ, body parts harvesting black market),” read a Facebook post apparently authored by Curtis at about 2 a.m. Wednesday – some 15 hours before federal agents apprehended him in his simple brick home in Corinth, Miss.
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The Mississippi man who has been accused by federal authorities of sending poison-laced letters to President Obama, as well as to a senator and a judge from his home state, is perhaps best known as an entertainer in rural stretches east of Memphis, along the Mississippi-Tennessee border.
Through decades of dead-end day jobs, Curtis’s mainstay has been night and weekend gigs as a celebrity impersonator. He has dressed up and performed at weddings and at parties as Prince, Buddy Holly and Kid Rock, but most often as none other than Elvis Presley — not just anywhere in Mississippi, but in The King’s native Tupelo.
Curtis and his family and friends have, over many years, amassed a library of videos and photos, many posted online, that show him singing and dancing with a distinctive curled upper lip and thick sideburns.
In one online profile bearing more than 800 photos of himself, Curtis typed this in his biography: “Father/Activist/Singer/Songwriter/Business Owner/Rebel.”
But for the many fun-loving images of his life, a darker world also exists for Curtis, according to frequent writings on social media Web sites, legal records and a lengthy trail of letters sent previously to lawmakers from Mississippi to Capitol Hill.
The man the FBI says unnerved much of official Washington this week, leaving mail handlers, staffers and aides seeing danger in any crinkled or unmarked envelope, was also a well-practiced conspiracy theorist. He wrote online that Elvis-impersonating contests had become rigged and politicized.
His diatribes often revolved around conspiracy theories, on which he blamed many of the malignancies in his life. The broken relationships, the financial duress, the increasing isolation he perceived — all, he wrote, seemed to stem from an episode when he was working in a morgue.
“I’m on the hidden front lines of a secret war. A war that is making Billions of dollars for corrupt mafia related organizations and people. (bone, tissue, organ, body parts harvesting black market),” read a Facebook post apparently authored by Curtis at about 2 a.m. Wednesday – some 15 hours before federal agents apprehended him in his simple brick home in Corinth, Miss.
Discuss this topic and other political issues in the politics discussion forums.