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A Commentary: The Death of Jim Morrison

“The death of me is the death of rock, and rock is...Dead.”

Those were the words that Jim Morrison articulated at the height of the Doors’ fame, in 1969. It was indeed tragically ironic that Jim’s foreshadowing was in reference to a mere two years down the line, as one of the greatest rock and roll icons of all time quietly passed away in Paris on the first weekend of July, 1971. To this day, the fabled death of Jim Morrison remains an enigma, with so many obvious questions left unanswered and too many false testimonies and confusion surrounding the incident. Of course, time is yet another factor that engulfs the truth; with each passing day, there is less of a chance that any of us will ever know how our beloved Jim Morrison (and to some: IF our beloved Jim Morrison) died.

I will begin by saying right away that I do believe that Jim Morrison is dead, yet I can plainly see how such incredible myths of his existence are prevalent even today. After all, the Parisian police department and those involved with handling a death in the city of Paris mishandled the case to the extent that it should have cost them their jobs. Apparently, no autopsy accompanied the death, as the crew that had arrived on the scene on the morning of July 4th simply accepted Pamela Courson’s (Morrison’s girlfriend), Agnes Varda’s, and Alan Ronay’s (two friends of Morrison’s) testimony of events. One look at Pam’s statement to the police, and it does not require a detective to derive that it is saturated with lies in order to cover up something (possibly her own drug habit). This is obvious from the fact that Pam had lied about Jim’s drug use, as well as his official profession and the nature of the couple’s relationship. This automatically entails that the Parisian police who had arrived on the scene were only bogging the myth of Morrison’s death by unsuccessfully sniffing out a liar.

Now, in no way am I implying that I feel Pam had killed Jim, rather I am suggesting that the major flaw in the investigators’ handling of Morrison’s death was failing to analyze Pam’s story with the required amount of suspicion. This should have been accompanied by a routine autopsy, which would at the very least provide another witness to Jim’s death in the doctor that would perform the procedure. Instead, the result is a second-rate handling of the situation, which according to some accounts, has Pam keeping Jim (packed in a tub on ice) by her bed over the remainder of the weekend. Some attempt at producing a believable cause of death, rather than the “official” reason of a cardiac arrest should have been cited in the police report, but this was not the case. A quick show of hands: Who actually believes that Jim Morrison died of a heart failure? I didn’t think so.

This brings me back to my earlier point about how it is possible for me to see that there are still people, to this day, that seem fully convinced that Morrison is alive in (to address some myths) a jungle in Africa, or as a poet in France. Perhaps if the fans had not found out that Morrison was dead nearly six days after the event, it would have been almost believable. Perhaps if the public had been given some honest explanation as to why the legendary rock star would not be performing any longer, some of the outrageous rumors alluding to Jim’s existence would be lessened. Perhaps if Morrison had not previously hinted at his desire to disappear from the public eye, we would not think it to be possible.

Still, as so many people have pointed out, it could have easily been a possibility that Jim’s death is frauulent. After all, the two people at Jim’s funeral that had not been around on the night that Jim allegedly died were the priest and Doors manager Bill Siddons. Both admitted to have never actually seen the body inside the casket. Of the three others present at the funeral, one, Jim’s girlfriend Pam, died while refusing to speak about it, while the other two, Varda and Ronay, have not spoken about the incident to this day.

So why am I so pessimistic of Jim’s death being a scam? Because, a gut feeling tells me that it would be incredibly hard for any man to run away from his own identity for thirty years of his life. Jim Morrison may not of had it all, but he had too much to let it slip through his fingers knowing that his fate lie in his own two hands. At some point in his hiding period, he would have again craved the superstar treatment that he had grown accustomed to for six years of his life. He would again remember why he wanted to become a legend in the first place, way back in 1965 when he was an aspiring songwriter/superstar in the making. Who can resist the taste of fame once they’ve had a dose of it before? Certainly not any person who has experienced the highs of fame, and certainly not Jim Morrison. That is why I feel that to think that his death is a scam is absurd.

Jim's Death Certificate
Jim's Will
Pamela Courson's Statement to the Police