The Cult of Jim

There have been many rumours about the late James Douglas Morrison, lead singer of the Doors.

The official story tells us that Morrison died of heart failure in his bathtub in Paris.

Others would tell us that Morrison actually died of a heroin or coc aine overdose at an infamous Parisian night-club.

Still others claim that Jim was the victim of occult forces that targeted him for death.

"... even more incredible were theories that Morrison
had somehow been "murdered" through "supernatural means".
While Jim was fascinated with the occult, it is quite an
assumption that a jealous rival or jilted lover could cause
his death in a Paris bathtub by stabbing a Voodoo doll or
melting down a Doors album while chanting a curse."

"... Another supernatural-based theory is that
Morrison's body had been driven to great extremes by the
spirit of the shaman he believed had entered his body as a
child on that New Mexico highway. When this spirit or a
demon its talents to influence the world, it abandoned Jim
and left him a physically wasted and mentally exhausted man
who felt betrayed with no desire to go on..."
-- Riordan and Prochniky, pp. 466, Break On Through, Morrow NY, 1991

Then there are the stories that Morrison never died at all and faked his death to become Mr. Mojo.

It is known that Jim Morrison had repeatedly planted the seeds which would lead to this sort of speculation -- that he had somehow faked his own death and dropped out into a new identity. At the Fillmore in San Francisco in 1967, Jim started suggesting that he should pull a "death stunt" to bring national press attention onto the band. This was when he came up with the "Mr. Mojo Risin'" anagram which would be used after he "split to Africa" and wished to secretly contact friends.

Morrison also told Danny Sugarman and Jerry Hopkins on more than one occasion that he could see himself "radically changing careers, reappearing as a suited and neck-tied businessman." Jack Holzman's assistant Steve Harris even remembers Jim Morrisonn asking what might happen if he were to suddenly "die"... how
might it affect business, record sales, the press, and would people believe it? With confidant Mary Francis Werebelow Jim "entertained long conversations about how the Disciples had stolen the body of Christ from the crypt, jokingly calling it the
"Easter heist," etc."

Link

Repeated sightings of Morrison seem to bolster this theory.

Sightings of Morrison frequenting gay clubs in L.A.

The radio station in the MidWest that claimed to receive a late night visit from Morrison.

To me, the most fascinating story relates to a man named James Douglas Moirrison and the Bank of America.

The LA Free Press and several wire service reports described
someone in 1973 appearing on several occasions in San Francisco.
There Morrison was involved with business and banking
transactions with the Bank of America of San Francisco. The
employee that handled the transactions, Walt Fleischer, confirmed
that someone resembling Morrison and using that name was indeed
doing business at the Bank of America. He did add that he "was
far from sure that this was the 'dead' artist" as Morrison showed
no identification. Could this be because a photo ID was already
on file at the bank, with the name James Douglas Morrison? Yes,
it is still on file.

Link

"The first one I remember was a beaut... He surfaced
in San Francisco shortly after Morrison's death and began
cashing checks in Morrison's name. He was not writing bad
checks, mind you; it was his money he was spending. It was
just that he was dressed as Jim would in his 'leather
period', and that he told everyone that he was indeed the
'dead singer' - Rolling Stone, September 17, 1981.

Was there a group of Morrison look-a-likes running around trying to convince people that Jim was really alive? If so for what purpose?

During the first few years surround Jim Morrison's "death" a
number of interesting articles surfaced. These cited references
showing various intelligence interests either in Morrison's
underground activity; his "death" or that intelligence had even
masterminded Morrison's death itself! One of the more explicit
appeared in the Scandinavian magazine Dagblatte. This article
detailed French intelligence efforts to assassinate Jim Morrison
in Paris.

(Link Supplied Above)

In the first few years after Morrison's "death" the owner of
B of A Communications, named James Douglas Morrison, claimed to
be operating as an intelligence agent for a number of domestic
and international groups including the CIA, NSA, Interpol,
Swedish Inteligence and others.

The enclosed plates show several documents implicating him in
intelligence circles. JM2 also claims to be the "dead" rock star
and former singer for The Doors. The new JM2 dropped the old JM1
rock and roll identity to become a "James Bond" wearing the suit
and tie that Morrison predicted when he was with The Doors.

In fact JM2 has claimed publicly that there have been
numerous James Douglas Morrisons, and that they all knew one
another and met from time to time to work it all out. The
impersonations were part of CIA sociological experiments like
Artichoke or MK-ULTRA.

Link

A CIA cult of Jim... How creepy is that?

When You're A Stranger

mod edit to use "ex" tags instead of "quote" tags
Quote Reference.

[edit on 13-11-2006 by sanctum]

I put about as much credence and faith in these sightings and theories that Jim Morrison is alive as I do the numerous claims of people seeing Elvis at McDonalds or working for the CIA.

NONE.

~~

just find a legal way to exhume his body

here's a page on
Jim Morrison's Grave
home.flash.net...
(the web page shows 27 pics...gotta know that the # '27' has significance )

so, you can see that there are some people that follow the Morrison drama for whatever reason...but as a massive cult...i'm not so sure of that title

Lets not forget Paul McCartney who died in the sixties from a car accident- and the Paul of today is an impostor.

I think people had a hard time letting go of these people and concocted these fabulous conspiracies about them just to keep them alive!

And not just Rock singers- Buddy Holly, James Dean, and many more. And who can forget JFK? He never died either.

Originally posted by St Udio
but as a massive cult...i'm not so sure of that title

I am not implying that there is a massive cult, but a cult that exists consisting of a small group of look-a-likes that exist within the intelligence netherworld.

In fact JM2 has claimed publicly that there have been
numerous James Douglas Morrisons, and that they all knew one
another and met from time to time to work it all out. The
impersonations were part of CIA sociological experiments like
Artichoke or MK-ULTRA.

According to the linked article there is an impressive amount of evidence that points to someone perpetuating a hoax of some description on the public. The author of the article, Thomas Lyttle (who, by the way is not some crack-pot theorist, but a known artist and survivor of the '60's) writes:

The enclosed plates show several documents implicating him in
intelligence circles. JM2 also claims to be the "dead" rock star
and former singer for The Doors. The new JM2 dropped the old JM1
rock and roll identity to become a "James Bond" wearing the suit
and tie that Morrison predicted when he was with The Doors.

This author has in fact seen what appear to be stacks of
official-looking documents and letters between the CIA, various
government agencies, national news groups like CNN and NBC and
JM2, involving what looked like personal meetings, projects and
ephemera. Of special interest is that when I viewed parts of the
files, all the reports had a paper-thin metallic band affixed to
them with colored UPC bar codes. There is no way for me to
authenticate the claims of JM2, but everything looked extremely
offical and very elaborate.

From about 1972 through 1992 JM2 has left a surreal trail of
paper and appearances all over the world. These include letters
to and from Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards and CIA Director
William Colby, through the Washington, DC law firm of Colby,
Miller and Hanes.

Who has the means to perpetuate such a hoax? Only one organisation that I can think of.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
I put about as much credence and faith in these sightings and theories that Jim Morrison is alive as I do the numerous claims of people seeing Elvis at McDonalds or working for the CIA.
NONE.

Originally posted by dgtempe
I think people had a hard time letting go of these people and concocted these fabulous conspiracies about them just to keep them alive!

I have no doubt that Morrison died in 1971. I also lean towards the belief that COINTELPRO played a role utilizing foreign intelligence organisations. What fascinates me is the attempt by persons unknown to keep the myth of the faked death alive.

Rather than take the easy answer try to actually look into this. You will find a mystery that is far more interesting than a simple "Is he dead or not?"

Even Iggy Pop played a part in this myth:

An LP record called Phantom's Divine Comedy was released also
in 1974. This was rumored to be Jim Morrison singing with an
anonymous band with the names of "drummer X, bassist Y, and
keyboardist Z". The music reportedly resembled Jim Morrison's
sound quite well. All this again added and sparked the rumor
mills, and stirred public fascination.

However, in a 1992 press released from the Zeppelin group, it
is revealed that Morrison pal Iggy Pop was actually doing all the
singing and helping the "hoax" along. This added more fuel as to
how many people were actually involved in maintaining his "death
hoax". Up until the 1992 press release, the record company that
had released Phantom had refused to divulge the names on the LP,
or the singer's name -- which was indeed Iggy Pop.

It is also interesting to note that band-mate Ray Manzarek isn't so quick to shrug off the myth:

Regarding all these rumors, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek
stated: "If there was one guy that would have been capable of
staging his own death -- getting a phony death certificate and
paying off some French doctor... And putting a hundred and fifty
pound sack of sand into a coffin and splitting to some point on
this planet -- Africa, who knows where -- it is Jim Morrison who
would have been able to pull it off."

Or Morrison's best friend:

Jim Morrison's best friend Tom Baker, writing in High Times
(June, 1981) had this to say: "I was very tempted to believe the
rumors that Jim had faked his own death."

Link

Perhaps the myth plays a part in ensuring record sales and cash for the surviving band members?

Danny Sugarman, author of the definitive Morrison biography, "No-one Gets Out of Here Alive." is an interesting character, with ties to the intelligence world.

Morrison biographer Danny Sugarman
told Seymore that he had government documents through
Freedom of Information Act requests for files pertaining
to Morrison's death.

Sugarman is married to indicted Contragate co-conspirator Fawn Hall,
Oliver North's secretary at the National Security Council, who shredded
an 18-inch file of documents linking the Reagan administration to the
diversion of funds from Iran arms sales to the Nicaraguan contras on
November 21, 1986, and quipped before a Congressional committee,
"Sometimes you have to go above the law" (ironic in light of her
admission to the DEA during a federal drug investigation in 1989 that
she "used coc aine many times" in her three years as an NSC staffer) --
and he has concealed evidence that would shed light on Morrison's death.

Sugarman concedes that Morrison's
death "could have involved a number of factors", and
when cornered by Seymore, reluctantly conceded:

You could say that the CIA and other intelligence agencies
may have had a hand in the deaths of Hendrix, Janis Joplin
and then Morrison. Simply for the reason that they were
the leaders of a generation during the 1960s. (11)

* Dr. Derwin, the singer's personal physician, told representatives
of the media industry: "Jim Morrison was in excellent health before
traveling to Paris." (16) Pam Courson, the last person to see him alive,
wrote in her signed statement to Paris police that the night before
his death, Morrison "looked in good health, he seemed very happy". (17)

* No autopsy was performed -- a probable violation of
French law and certain violation of French custom.

* Two persons could answer questions about the odd death:
Ms. Courson died of "apparent overdose" herself on April 24, 1974 --
a few days before a judge would have ruled in her favor concerning
a dispute over the distribution of the Morrison inheritance,
a decision that would have brought her, as Morrison's common-
law wife and sole heir, a quarter of the Doors' income and an
immediate payment of half a million dollars (18) -- and
Dr. Max Vassille, the medical examiner, consistently turns
down all interviews related to Morrison's death.

* Pamela's friends, James Riordan reports in Break on Through,
believe she was murdered: some "suspect foul play, saying that
although Pam had been using heroin, she could not shoot herself up.
She always had to have someone else do it. Whoever did it, they claim,
knew he or she was injecting her with a lethal (dose),", a "hot-shot". (20)

Link



[edit on 13/11/2006 by Beelzebubba]

Here is a link to Amazon.com that has a copy of "The Bank of America of Louisiana" that was written by the infamous JM2. Unfortunately the cover of the book is not supplied. I have a photocopy of it here and will post it when I can get my scanner to work.

Is it Jim or is it Not?, March 22, 2004
Reviewer: Ken Wasky (Thunder Bay, Canada) - See all my reviews
To me this book fully explained why Jim might have faked his death. The constant harrassment from the authorities made his life unbearable as it would any of us. His life became split into two realities. The one which the media made him out to be and his own: deep, creative, exploring. Two Jims, two personalities, intertwined yet separate. One very happy and one very very sad. Reading this book made me understand that he had to disappear. But, is Jim dead or not? Well, we do know there is much mystery about it. This book put my spirit at ease with any of the many possibilities. Mind expanding so to speak! I highly recommend you get this book for it may be the best you ever read.

Amazon Link

[edit on 13/11/2006 by Beelzebubba]