Morrison’s Grave – An Unsolved Mystery

Since we’re running Allan Arkush’s commentary on Oliver Stone’s The Doors this week,  I thought it might be fun to share a story with you. I loved the Doors’ music from the moment I first heard it as a teenager growing up in LA.  It seemed to capture the ethos of the 60s, a time of rule-breaking and rebellion, of limitless possibilities and deep disappointments, a time when you felt that everything you did and every choice you made was important and might make a difference in the world. 

Needless to say when I was in Paris in 1997 for the first time since 1981, I made sure to take a trip to Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery where Jim Morrison and many other poets, novelists, composers and artists are buried.

While there, I took a photo of rock critic, Brett Meisner (now deceased), at Morrison’s grave.  If you look closely you will see a strange and very compelling apparition in the background.  I certainly can’t explain the image but it sure does look like Jim Morrison.

According to Brett, “That Jim Morrison photo has made it around the world a dozen times; the home page of Yahoo twice; and countless articles…” 

Here is a link to the article Rolling Stone magazine ran about the photo in 2009.

I actually had no idea that the photo and story had gotten so much mileage. But I can tell you for sure that I took the photo, though it has been attributed to others, including Tom Petty (!).