Jim Morrison

James Douglas "Jim" Morrison, December 8, 1943 - July 3, 1971.

And here we were thinking you were dead! You're good you.

Career: rock musician. Cause of death: unknown/he's not dead.

Jim Morrison was found dead in the bathtub of his Paris apartment. In Match of that year Morrison had come to Paris, shaved his head, lost a lot of weight, and begun recording with two American street musicians what some have called a collection of "drunken gibberish."


Because the French medical examiner found no evidence of foul play, no autopsy was performed, leaving ample room for speculation as to Morrison's death as well as ample room for the medical examiner to carefully louche and enjoy his Pernod, wax his mustaches, and contemplate baguette.

Heroin. Actually demerara sugar. Neither should be insufflated.

Speculation I: girlfriend Pamela Courson says that Morrison died after accidentally snorting some heroin that he thought was cocaine. Associates Alain Ronay and filmmaker Agnès Varda broke cover 20 years after Morrison's death to state that they arrived at the apartment shortly after Morrison's death. There, Courson told them that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and vomited blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive, aka dead. Ronay's slightly different account holds that Morrison haemorhaged but Courson nodded off before summoning help. Either way, Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death. Again a case of Fearful Symmetry.

Attempting to drink a tube of solid Life.

Speculation II: that Morrison had asthma and had been coughing up and throwing up blood like a right consumptive for months after getting all old school Bohemian in Paris. This theory holds that all-grown-up street-urchinism, not a drug overdose, was the cause of death.

Speculation III: The 1980 edition of No One Gets Out of Here Alive circulated the silly rumour that Morrison was had faked his death, presumably to free him from rock-stardom so he could pursue a more authentic life recording collections of free-spirited (drunken) gibberish with other free spirits (drunks) while consuming cheap, not free, spirits (drinking). The 1995 edition discounted this rumour, if not the price of drink.

Arrested for excessively crossed-eyes.

Speculation IV (hah): In 2007, 'close friend' Sam Bernett resurrected the rumour that Morrison died of a heroin overdose in the Rock'n'Roll Circus nightclub on Paris' Left Bank. The story goes that Morrison bought heroin for Courson at the club but couldn't wait to dig in, did some himself and died in the bathroom. His body was then moved back to his apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the drug dealers. All witnesses were sworn to secrecy, while some immediately left the country.


I'd like to say this is the end, beautiful friend – it ain't, but it'll have to do.

Let sleeping dogs lie.