The internet is abuzz with rumours that a picture of Michael Jackson lying lifeless on the autopsy table is currently doing the rounds.

The high-quality photograph – described as “shocking” by those who have seen it - is said to have been touted to TV executives in the US, and other media outlets.

Gerald Posner, writing for the Daily Beast, claims to have tracked down the photograph to a Los Angeles restaurant owner who says it was given to him by a “high-ranking police friend.”

Describing the photograph, Posner writes: “It is of Jackson, his eyes wide open, lying on his back on a metal autopsy table. 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. “

It is unclear whether the current owner of the macabre photograph has been successful in finding a buyer for it.

Should the picture ever reach the public domain, it will not be the first postumous image of the Thriller star to be published.

US OK! magazine provoked outrage when they featured a grainy photograph of an unconscious Michael being taken to hospital via ambulance on the cover of their tribute issue.

Remembering Michael Jackson