New Questions About Jim Morrison's Death
07-12-07, 05:50 AM
#1
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
New Questions About Jim Morrison's Death
New Questions About Jim Morrison's Death
PARIS (AP) - The official story goes like this: On the last night of Jim Morrison's life, the rocker went to a movie in Paris, listened to records, fell ill and died of heart failure in his bathtub at the age of 27. But rumors have always swirled around the death of The Doors frontman and, 36 years later, a former Paris nightclub manager is telling a different story.
In a new book, Sam Bernett says that Morrison died in a toilet stall of his club after what he believes was a heroin overdose.
He writes of his shock on finding Morrison's body: "The flamboyant singer of 'The Doors,' the beautiful California boy, had become an inert lump crumpled in the toilet of a nightclub." Bernett, whose French-language book is called "The End: Jim Morrison," says he believes two drug dealers brought Morrison's body back to his apartment.
Bernett, who was in his early 20s when Morrison died in 1971, went on to become a prominent radio personality, rock biographer and a vice president of Disneyland Paris. Though he was pestered for years by reporters investigating Morrison's death, he kept his story quiet until his wife suggested writing a book last year.
"For me it's a very bad (memory)," Bernett told The Associated Press.
Rumors have long suggested that Morrison died of an overdose and that he had fallen ill at the nightclub, but witnesses did not come forward.
Patrick Chauvel, a noted war photographer and writer, sometimes helped run the bar at the club. He recalls giving a hand to men who were carrying Morrison in a staircase there.
"I think he was already dead," said Chauvel, who considered putting the episode in a 2005 book before his publisher cautioned against it. Chauvel said he thought an ambulance would have been called if Morrison were still alive.
"I don't know," he said. "It was a long time ago, and we weren't drinking only water."
An official at the Paris prosecutor's office said it was very unlikely the case on Morrison's death would be reopened or that anybody could be prosecuted in the affair, because the statute of limitations - the time limit on legal proceedings - had run out.
Stephen Davis, the author of "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend," says he would not rewrite history because of the new book. Based on his reporting, he believes Morrison did overdose at the club, but that it was shortly before his death - not the same night - and that he survived the experience.
"It just seems likely that if he died in the toilet of a nightclub, it would have come out before now," Davis said.
Morrison came to Paris in March 1971 at a troubled time in his life. At a 1969 concert in Florida, he was accused of exposing his genitals to the audience. He was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity, and the episode led to promoters canceling concerts and earned the band a stream of negative publicity.
Morrison left for Paris with his appeal pending. There, he lived in a Right Bank apartment with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, and he wandered the streets, sightseeing and toting around a plastic bag containing his writings. In Paris, he gained so much weight as to become almost unrecognizable, and his health suffered.
He also partied. Morrison spent "practically every night" at the Rock and Roll Circus, the hip Left Bank nightclub that Bernett managed, where stars like Roman Polanski and Marianne Faithfull were regulars, Bernett said.
At around 1 a.m. on July 3, 1971, Morrison went to the club and was joined by two men - drug dealers who sold him heroin for Courson, Bernett said. At one point, Bernett noticed that Morrison had disappeared. Later, the bouncer broke down the door of a locked toilet stall, and they discovered Morrison unresponsive, Bernett said.
Bernett says he asked a doctor, a club customer, to examine the singer.
"When we found him dead, he had a little foam on his nose, and some blood too, and the doctor said, 'That must be an overdose of heroin,'" Bernett said. Bernett added that he did not see Morrison take any heroin that night but said the singer was known to sniff the drug because he was afraid of needles.
Bernett says the two drug dealers insisted Morrison was just unconscious and carried him out of the club. Though Bernett says he wanted to call the paramedics and authorities, the club's owner ordered him to keep quiet to avert a scandal.
Bernett believes the dealers brought Morrison's body home and dropped it into the bathtub, a last attempt to revive him.
Morrison's girlfriend, who died three years later of an overdose, told police an entirely different story.
Courson said the couple went to the movies and out for dinner that night, listened to records and fell asleep. According to her testimony in police records, Morrison awoke in the night feeling ill and took a hot bath. Courson said she found him dead in the tub.
Morrison was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery, in a small ceremony without fanfare, on July 7, 1971. No autopsy was ever performed.
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/200...D8QAOB980.html
PARIS (AP) - The official story goes like this: On the last night of Jim Morrison's life, the rocker went to a movie in Paris, listened to records, fell ill and died of heart failure in his bathtub at the age of 27. But rumors have always swirled around the death of The Doors frontman and, 36 years later, a former Paris nightclub manager is telling a different story.
In a new book, Sam Bernett says that Morrison died in a toilet stall of his club after what he believes was a heroin overdose.
He writes of his shock on finding Morrison's body: "The flamboyant singer of 'The Doors,' the beautiful California boy, had become an inert lump crumpled in the toilet of a nightclub." Bernett, whose French-language book is called "The End: Jim Morrison," says he believes two drug dealers brought Morrison's body back to his apartment.
Bernett, who was in his early 20s when Morrison died in 1971, went on to become a prominent radio personality, rock biographer and a vice president of Disneyland Paris. Though he was pestered for years by reporters investigating Morrison's death, he kept his story quiet until his wife suggested writing a book last year.
"For me it's a very bad (memory)," Bernett told The Associated Press.
Rumors have long suggested that Morrison died of an overdose and that he had fallen ill at the nightclub, but witnesses did not come forward.
Patrick Chauvel, a noted war photographer and writer, sometimes helped run the bar at the club. He recalls giving a hand to men who were carrying Morrison in a staircase there.
"I think he was already dead," said Chauvel, who considered putting the episode in a 2005 book before his publisher cautioned against it. Chauvel said he thought an ambulance would have been called if Morrison were still alive.
"I don't know," he said. "It was a long time ago, and we weren't drinking only water."
An official at the Paris prosecutor's office said it was very unlikely the case on Morrison's death would be reopened or that anybody could be prosecuted in the affair, because the statute of limitations - the time limit on legal proceedings - had run out.
Stephen Davis, the author of "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend," says he would not rewrite history because of the new book. Based on his reporting, he believes Morrison did overdose at the club, but that it was shortly before his death - not the same night - and that he survived the experience.
"It just seems likely that if he died in the toilet of a nightclub, it would have come out before now," Davis said.
Morrison came to Paris in March 1971 at a troubled time in his life. At a 1969 concert in Florida, he was accused of exposing his genitals to the audience. He was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity, and the episode led to promoters canceling concerts and earned the band a stream of negative publicity.
Morrison left for Paris with his appeal pending. There, he lived in a Right Bank apartment with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, and he wandered the streets, sightseeing and toting around a plastic bag containing his writings. In Paris, he gained so much weight as to become almost unrecognizable, and his health suffered.
He also partied. Morrison spent "practically every night" at the Rock and Roll Circus, the hip Left Bank nightclub that Bernett managed, where stars like Roman Polanski and Marianne Faithfull were regulars, Bernett said.
At around 1 a.m. on July 3, 1971, Morrison went to the club and was joined by two men - drug dealers who sold him heroin for Courson, Bernett said. At one point, Bernett noticed that Morrison had disappeared. Later, the bouncer broke down the door of a locked toilet stall, and they discovered Morrison unresponsive, Bernett said.
Bernett says he asked a doctor, a club customer, to examine the singer.
"When we found him dead, he had a little foam on his nose, and some blood too, and the doctor said, 'That must be an overdose of heroin,'" Bernett said. Bernett added that he did not see Morrison take any heroin that night but said the singer was known to sniff the drug because he was afraid of needles.
Bernett says the two drug dealers insisted Morrison was just unconscious and carried him out of the club. Though Bernett says he wanted to call the paramedics and authorities, the club's owner ordered him to keep quiet to avert a scandal.
Bernett believes the dealers brought Morrison's body home and dropped it into the bathtub, a last attempt to revive him.
Morrison's girlfriend, who died three years later of an overdose, told police an entirely different story.
Courson said the couple went to the movies and out for dinner that night, listened to records and fell asleep. According to her testimony in police records, Morrison awoke in the night feeling ill and took a hot bath. Courson said she found him dead in the tub.
Morrison was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery, in a small ceremony without fanfare, on July 7, 1971. No autopsy was ever performed.
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/200...D8QAOB980.html
07-12-07, 06:14 AM
#2
DVD Talk Godfather
This is actually believable. I'm turning 28 this month and it was amazing and a bit depressing to think of Jim, Jimi, and Kurt doing all they did by 27 and then ending their life. 
07-12-07, 09:06 AM
#3
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Originally Posted by The Bus
This is actually believable. I'm turning 28 this month and it was amazing and a bit depressing to think of Jim, Jimi, and Kurt doing all they did by 27 and then ending their life.
I think I'll go write the greatest album ever now, just to get it in on time.
-ringding-
07-12-07, 03:08 PM
#5
Jim Morrison
The Florida born Morrison was fed up with the music industry in LA, so in March of 1971 he packed up and went to live in Paris with his on again/off again partner, Pamela Courson. Jim didn't speak French at all.
Morrison was a rather large shadow of his former self during his final months. Too much booze (he was a confirmed alcoholic), heroin and women. Nice for Pam. There were vague plans for another Doors album, or a tour, but it was never to be.
Jim spent most of his time trolling about the city, seeking the haunts of Baudelaire, Miller and Hemingway, and taking smack. He stayed in the L'Hotel at 13 rue des Beaux-Arts on the Left Bank, in which Oscar Wilde died. He and Pam then shared an apartment at 17 rue Beautreillis, near place de la Bastille, not far from Pere Lachaise. Jim had visited the cemetery only a few weeks before his death. Oscar Wilde's grave had made a big impression. Too bad someone broke it off.
It all ended for Jimbo on July 3, 1971 at 5am. It seems that Morrison had spent the evening at Rock n Roll Circus (now called the "Whisky A Go Go" at 57 rue de la Seine), where he acquired a fix. It was Chinese and very pure. Some would say too pure. There is one story that Jim died in the club, then his body was taken back to his apartment. Officially, he died in the apartment, in the bathtub, from heart failure. He was 27.
Pam reportedly told the police that Jim complained of feeling ill, and asked her to get a bath ready. Minutes later she discovered him, unconscious in the tub. Rub a dub dub. No autopsy was done, and Pam "could not remember" the name of the doctor who signed the certificate. Couldn't she read? See the death certificate in French which states: "Heart problems were aggravated by the abuse of alcohol, followed by an abrupt change of temperature caused cardiac arrest," and the much simpler English version.
On Monday July 5, the rumor started back in the States that Jim was dead. It hadn't been announced yet. Bill Siddon, the Doors Manager called Pam, who confirmed it. He flew to Paris, and when he arrived, Pam showed him a sealed coffin and a signed death certificate. Six days after his death, an official announcement was made to the public. Procrastinate much?
On Wednesday, the coffin was buried secretly in Pere Lachaise. View his grave.
Jim had fantasized about telling the world he was dead, and starting a new life elsewhere. He planned to contact his office by an anagram-name he had devised: Mr. Mojo Risin'. No doubt they would still get daily calls from psychopathic fans.
There is one unconfirmed report that Morrison was seen boarding a plane that weekend.
As you can see from his will, Pam got everything, then she went ahead and died three years later.
It's common knowledge that Jim's grave in Paris has turned into weirdo magnet. People constantly deface it; they leave behind cigarettes, whisky, and condoms, amongst other "treasures." Contrary to popular belief, Pere Lachaise denies that they are evicting its most famous tenant. They do however have a guard posted at the grave, 24 hours a day.
The Florida born Morrison was fed up with the music industry in LA, so in March of 1971 he packed up and went to live in Paris with his on again/off again partner, Pamela Courson. Jim didn't speak French at all.
Morrison was a rather large shadow of his former self during his final months. Too much booze (he was a confirmed alcoholic), heroin and women. Nice for Pam. There were vague plans for another Doors album, or a tour, but it was never to be.
Jim spent most of his time trolling about the city, seeking the haunts of Baudelaire, Miller and Hemingway, and taking smack. He stayed in the L'Hotel at 13 rue des Beaux-Arts on the Left Bank, in which Oscar Wilde died. He and Pam then shared an apartment at 17 rue Beautreillis, near place de la Bastille, not far from Pere Lachaise. Jim had visited the cemetery only a few weeks before his death. Oscar Wilde's grave had made a big impression. Too bad someone broke it off.
It all ended for Jimbo on July 3, 1971 at 5am. It seems that Morrison had spent the evening at Rock n Roll Circus (now called the "Whisky A Go Go" at 57 rue de la Seine), where he acquired a fix. It was Chinese and very pure. Some would say too pure. There is one story that Jim died in the club, then his body was taken back to his apartment. Officially, he died in the apartment, in the bathtub, from heart failure. He was 27.
Pam reportedly told the police that Jim complained of feeling ill, and asked her to get a bath ready. Minutes later she discovered him, unconscious in the tub. Rub a dub dub. No autopsy was done, and Pam "could not remember" the name of the doctor who signed the certificate. Couldn't she read? See the death certificate in French which states: "Heart problems were aggravated by the abuse of alcohol, followed by an abrupt change of temperature caused cardiac arrest," and the much simpler English version.
On Monday July 5, the rumor started back in the States that Jim was dead. It hadn't been announced yet. Bill Siddon, the Doors Manager called Pam, who confirmed it. He flew to Paris, and when he arrived, Pam showed him a sealed coffin and a signed death certificate. Six days after his death, an official announcement was made to the public. Procrastinate much?
On Wednesday, the coffin was buried secretly in Pere Lachaise. View his grave.
Jim had fantasized about telling the world he was dead, and starting a new life elsewhere. He planned to contact his office by an anagram-name he had devised: Mr. Mojo Risin'. No doubt they would still get daily calls from psychopathic fans.
There is one unconfirmed report that Morrison was seen boarding a plane that weekend.
As you can see from his will, Pam got everything, then she went ahead and died three years later.
It's common knowledge that Jim's grave in Paris has turned into weirdo magnet. People constantly deface it; they leave behind cigarettes, whisky, and condoms, amongst other "treasures." Contrary to popular belief, Pere Lachaise denies that they are evicting its most famous tenant. They do however have a guard posted at the grave, 24 hours a day.
I did not realize that he died one month after I was born (June 3).
07-12-07, 03:14 PM
#6
Originally Posted by The Bus
This is actually believable. I'm turning 28 this month and it was amazing and a bit depressing to think of Jim, Jimi, and Kurt doing all they did by 27 and then ending their life.
07-12-07, 04:18 PM
#7
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It's common knowledge that Jim's grave in Paris has turned into weirdo magnet. People constantly deface it; they leave behind cigarettes, whisky, and condoms, amongst other "treasures." Contrary to popular belief, Pere Lachaise denies that they are evicting its most famous tenant. They do however have a guard posted at the grave, 24 hours a day.
I laughed when I was there by some of the tourists that visited including a 75 year old dude that looked like he had NO idea who the Doors were, let alone Jim...
Fabulous Cemetary though....
07-13-07, 10:37 AM
#9
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