Jim Morrison's Ghost Turns 40 Years Old

Jim Morrison's ghost has allegedly been hanging around Paris for decades. Since Morrison died on July 3, 1971, his ghost and his legend have only grown in status. In fact, journalist Brett Meisner even claimed that he took a photo of The Doors' lead singer standing at his grave years ago, as apparent proof that he did "break on through to the other side." If he did, then he has officially been there for 40 years, since today is the 40th anniversary of his death.

It is fitting that stories about his ghost has persisted for years, to add to the bizarre, psychedelic legend of Morrison. In life, he was the most out of control rock star in the business, which was quite a feat in the 1960s. He pushed the envelope with his lyrics and behavior on stage- which crossed the line into the leud one night in Miami and got him arrested.

With that kind of on and off-stage persona, it was inevitable that he would flame out when it was all over. Finally, he did on July 3, 1971, as he died in a hotel bathtub in Paris. It may not have been the wild, over the top death that may have been expected from him, yet it did silence one of the era's most distinctive voices- at least temporarily.

After Morrison died, his fame and that of The Doors slowly became bigger than ever. Sales for Doors records went up every year, as death proved to be the best thing that ever happened to Morrison's catalog. The same would later happen to other dead icons like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson years later.

His song "The End" was used prominently in Apocalypse Now- although they didn't use the lyric where he sang about making love to his mother. Oliver Stone recreated the drug-induced era of The Doors in a 1991 film of the same name, with Val Kilmer as Morrison. And Meisner's infamous alleged photograph of the singer's ghost at his gravesite gained a lot of traction, since if any dead rocker could find a way to get photographed, it would have been Morrison.

Living fast, dying young, and then living forever in rock history has been a common trend for musicians, especially back in the early days of rock and roll. Few embodied that cliché like Jim Morrison, as although "The End" technically came for him 40 years ago today, the end of his legend and fame is nowhere near at hand.

Sources

Rock And Roll Bad Boy- "The Ghost Of Jim Morrison Appears In A Graveside Photo Of Brett"

Paranormal Examiner- "The famous Jim Morrison ghost photograph debunked"

Rolling Stone- "He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead: Rolling Stone's 1981 Jim Morrison Cover Story"