What if Jim Morrison had faked his death? I know, I know... here I am jumping on the conspiracy bandwagon yet again.
But honestly, isn't the idea more than a little intriguing? I'd love to think that's what happened. Jim just said "Fuck it all!" and hashed out a crazy scheme. I read he was soon going to serve a six month sentence doing hard time. He had numerous paternity suits and other claims of baby Morrison's on the way - which is in no way hard to believe considering his lifestyle. Those two reasons alone would make anyone want to either kill themselves or just vanish. Jim even joked about faking his death. Ray Manzarek of The Doors once said if anyone were to pull of such a feat it would be Jim.
The only two people who (we know of) that saw the body of Jim Morrison are said to be his girlfriend, Pam Courson, who allegedly found him in the bathtub of their Paris apartment, and some French doctor that wasn't even licensed to practice in France. He signed the death certificate sighting heart failure as the cause of death. No autopsy was ever performed. The coffin (the cheapest pine box available at the cemetary) was purchased by Pam and was immediately sealed shut for a funeral of sorts including Pam and a few other people, none of which were the remaining three members of The Doors. The family was not even notified until days later.
There were a few accounts of witnesses saying they saw Jim Morrison saying goodbye to Pam at an airport just one day before his "death". Jim was also said to be at the Pere la Chaise Cemetary just one week prior to his alleged death. He even picked out his own plot!
Now to prove I'm not entirely crazy here is information that just doesn't jive with this theory. Though tumultuous, I truly believe Pam and Jim truly loved each other. Sure there was a lot of infidelity... A LOT! But it was the sixties, wasn't it a drug induced fuck-fest free for all?
Back to my question. If Pam were "in on it" then why did she die from a heroin overdose three years later? From things I've read it seems Pam just never recovered from Jim's death and spiraled out of control ultimately suffering her own sad and lonely death. Her death was not a hoax. It would be romantic to think otherwise. That it was all part of Jim's big plan. For Pam to just deal with his death her way with drugs and alcohol but really waiting for her chance to escape with Jim.
But then again, maybe he didn't want anyone. She knew the truth... she couldn't handle it and she wanted out. End of story.
I'm arguing with myself here... brilliant!
I want to believe it, I want it so badly to be true. The "Jim sightings" are as lame as they come. A business man living in Louisianna? A horse breeder in Oregon? I don't know. Then there is the infamous ghost photo. I do love a great ghost photo and this one is just beautifully eerie.
I watched a documentary last night. It's called "When You're Strange". Johnny Depp narrated it which was a cool little bonus. I really enjoyed it. It was full of photos and footage I have never seen before. It also had nearly constant music in the background. And not weird instrumental grocery store versions of their songs like some documentaries have. It was live, raw and uncut. It also had all these clips seemingly of Jim but weird first person shit I couldn't understand. I kept saying "WOW! That actor looks just like Jim!!" I couldn't get over it. In my mind there was no way this could be footage from something else it just fit too perfectly into the movie. Then through hours of reading blogs and articles and going through youtube videos I stumbled across the director, Tim Dicillo's own blog and read a bunch of which he wrote during the showing of the film at Sundance. Apparently I wasn't the only one thrown. The way he compiles it makes it look as though the news is just learning of his death as he is parading around the desert then hitchhiking, getting a ride then suddenly the driver. I was so confused.
Back in 1969 Jim Morrison made a film called HWY, it has not been widely viewed. I watched about ten minutes worth and became quite bored actually. But THAT was the footage used in Dicillo's documentary and it works so well! It truly is an amazing film about one of the most fascinating men who ever walked the earth. Watch it!
Well, we will probably never know the truth. Where would the fascination be if we did, the sheer romanticism of the idea? We're better off in the dark.
