Jim Morrison conspiracy theories including rumours he faked his own death

Jim Morrison was one of the sixties' greatest rock stars as the wild child frontman of The Doors.

Remembered for his chaotic live shows, poetic lyrics and crazy off-stage antics, Jim has gone down in history as one of the most enigmatic frontmen of all time.

But his career was short-lived and he would die at the age of just 27, with his body famously discovered in a bathtub in Paris.

While Jim didn't live a long life, his music has lived on - and so have all the conspiracy theories about him.

Some fans believe Jim faked his own death and they live in hope that he's still alive, while others believe he was murdered or didn't die in that bathtub after all.

Here we look at all the conspiracy theories about Jim and wonder what really happened to The Lizard King...

On July 3, 1971, Jim's girlfriend Pamela Courson found him dead in the bath in their Paris apartment.

By the early seventies Jim had put on a lot of weight and battled drug addiction, and moved to the French capital to get clean, but just a few months later Jim would be dead.

The accepted version of the story of the night of his death is that he and Pam took heroin together, and when he began to react badly to the drug, Pam put him in a warm bath to revive him.

Pam called the emergency services but they failed to revive him and he was pronounced death at the scene, with his official cause of death being listed as congestive heart failure.

Jim's death wasn't announced for six days, and Pam initially insisted to his manager that he was alive before she admitted the truth.

Fans have theorised that Jim didn't die after all, and faked his own death.

Jim had often joked about faking his own death while he was still around and there have been many so-called "sightings" of the Light My Fire singer in recent years.

In 2016 it was claimed he was alive and well in New York, living under the new name William Loyer, who looks remarkably like an older version of Jim.

If Jim really is still alive, he would be turning 77-years-old this month.

Some point out that there was no autopsy performed after he died, but one was not required under French law at the time.

Jim's bandmates Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek disagreed about the rumours Jim faked his own death.

Robby told Classic Rock : "I used to love talking to Ray, and he would always say, 'I wouldn't be surprised if Jim turned up.'

"And I used to think, 'Come on, man, you don't really believe that, do you?’ That was pretty much b******t."

Despite there being a reasonable explanation for it, the lack of an autopsy has led many to believe that Jim was murdered.

Marianne Faithfull claims her ex-boyfriend, drug dealer Jean de Breiteuil, is responsible for Jim's death.

She said she refused to accompany "heroin dealer to the stars" de Breiteuil to Jim's apartment on the night he died because she could "intuitively feel trouble".

The Broken English singer claimed her ex stopped by the frontman's apartment to drop off some heroin just hours before he died but it proved to be too strong and killed him.

Marianne told Mojo : "I thought, 'I'll take a few Tuinal and I won't be there. Jean went to see Jim – and killed him.

"I mean, I'm sure it was an accident. The smack was too strong and he died."

She added: "Poor b*****d. Anyway, everybody connected to the death of the poor guy is dead now, except me."

One of Jim's friends claimed he didn't actually die in the apartment and his body was moved.

Sam Bernett says Jim died in the bathroom of the Rock & Roll Circus club, which Sam was the manager of.

He said Jim showed up at the club looking to buy heroin and took it to the bathroom, which he never came out of.

According to Sam, Jim's dealers wanted to cover up his death so they took him back to the flat, where Pam found him hours later.

Sam told Associated Press in 2014: "The flamboyant singer of The Doors, the beautiful California boy, had become an inert lump crumpled in the toilet of a nightclub.

"For me it's a very bad memory."

Jim is just one of the many famous musicians who have died at the age of 27.

He passed away exactly two years after Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and approximately nine months after the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

The reasonable explanation for this is that rock stars tend to die younger, but many believe it's more than just a coincidence.

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