It seems every positive Michael Jackson story is followed by something bizarre and twisted. Just as the concert rehearsal film 'This Is It' premiered around the world to record numbers, a report surfaced saying that an autopsy photo of the King of Pop could be released soon.

Gerald Posner, a writer for the Daily Beast, says he was contacted by a London photo agent -- a man who had previously tried to sell him photos from Princess Diana's fatal car accident -- claiming to have a picture from Michael Jackson's autopsy. The rumored photo was supposedly leaked to a Los Angeles restaurant owner, who's been showing it off to friends, by a "high-ranking police friend."

From there, the story gets even more grisly. Posner says he talked to two people independently who claimed to have seen the photo, which one described as "shocking." "[The photo] is of Jackson, his eyes wide open, lying on his back on a metal autopsy table," Posner wrote, based on the accounts. "The picture is of Jackson's head only, and taken from the corpse's left side, from someone who was standing, and at about a 30-degree angle toward the body. The front of the pop star's skull is shaved. His ashen face is stripped of any makeup. The lips are flat and wide, but without lipstick. A scar, which he had hidden under makeup whenever he went out, is visible on his left check. His tattooed eyebrows are the only other visible mark on his face."

Posner eventually contacted the unnamed restaurateur, who wouldn't offer up any info about the picture and stopped responding after several text messages. The photo is said to be of high resolution -- not a camera phone picture, according to one witness -- and could become a serious police matter. Los Angeles Chief Coroner Ed Winter told Posner that he heard about the alleged photo but couldn't offer any opinion on its legitimacy without seeing it personally. He also noted that several fake autopsy reports have been leaked in the case, casting further doubt about the photo.

Should the photo prove to be real, one British tabloid photo editor told Posner it could be worth up to a $1 million, provided it's legally purchased.