ALEXANDRIA, VA – This morning I received a photo of Jim Morrison’s grave marker from a friend now living in France. He said he bumped into it while touring the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, the largest cemetery in Paris, but also one of the most famous in the world. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year to the graves of many famous people.
“We also saw the graves of Maria Callas, Frederic Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Alex B Toklas, and, of course, Edith Piaf,” said my friend, retired Naval Captain Marcus Fisk, who regularly writes the “Last Word” column in The Zebra.
Half a century after his death in France, Jim Morrison’s grave continues to be the most visited gravesite in the Paris cemetery. Morrison was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist for The Doors.
Jim Morrison was a military brat. His dad was a Rear Admiral in the Navy, and moved the family around a lot. But Jim graduated in 1961 from George Washington High School, in Alexandria, Virginia, (now a middle school) and that’s why we claim him as ours, though he was born in Melbourne, Florida and lived in many places including California, Texas, and New Orleans during his formative years. While attending George Washington High School, Morrison maintained a grade average of 88 and tested in the top 0.1% with an IQ of 149.
But why is Jim Morrison buried in a Paris cemetery?
According to many accounts, Morrison, who had moved to France, loved walking through the Paris cemetery. His girlfriend, Pam Courson, who later died of a heroin overdose, said he “wanted to be buried there because his idol Oscar Wilde” was interred there.
Morrison’s died at the age of 27, and urban myths surround the cause of his death. Some say it was a heroin overdose, others think he died after inhaling too much ephedrine from an inhaler a doctor prescribed after he had trouble breathing after a fall he took. There is also the asthma theory that days before his death, Jim Morrison purportedly suffered from coughing fits and hiccupping. Supposedly, according to his friend, Alain Ronny, he was coughing up blood.
Others think he may have committed suicide. His last entry, “Last words, Last words, out” was found in his 100-page notebook.
In any case, no one will ever know because there was never an autopsy.
The epitaph on his headstone bears “James Douglas Morrison” and the Greek inscription KATA TON DAIMONA EAYTOY. The literal meaning is “According to his own daimon” and is usually interpreted as “True to his own spirit.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this piece misspelled Pere Lachaise and the surname of Pamela Courson. The errors have been fixed.
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