The Strange Death of Music Legend Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons died too young at the age of 26 at the Joshua Tree Inn in the state of California. A problem with drugs proved to much for the singer who was a pioneer in the field of merging country and rock music. He was a member of the well known musical groups, the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Sadly, the singer is more known for his funeral than his music. While drug induced deaths are not uncommon for music performers it was what happened to Parsons after his death that made him famous.

Just as his body was about to be flown out to Louisiana for burial, Parson's road manager Phil Kaufman and his friend Michael Moore stole the coffin that contained Parsons body in it. According to Kaufman, both he and Parsons had made a pact. If either of the two of them were to die first, the survivor would take the other's body to Joshua Tree desert. They would celebrate by having a few drinks and then set the corpse on fire. The Joshua Tree desert was special place for Parsons, he would often get high in the desert with friends and would spend long periods of time looking for UFOs.

According to legend, Kaufman and Martin both got extremely intoxicated and borrowed a hearse. They convinced airport officials that they were there to take Parson's body to another airport. After this was accomplished, they were able to take the body to the desert and light it on fire. They were arrested several days later. Kaufman and Martin eventually plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge for stealing a coffin and were fined 300 dollars apiece. They also were ordered by law to pay $708 to the Yucca Valley Funeral Home due to the damage done to the coffin.
Parsons body was eventually taken to Lousiana where he was properly buried in a cemetery.

Parsons left a legacy of music that is still underappreciated and he died too young before he could achieve mainstream success. Instead he is best known for his final journey in the Joshua Tree desert.