Pam's Death

[windchime]

Here is some interesting information about her memorial after her April 25, 1974 death.

On 25th April 1974, one of Morrison's old friends, John Mandell, with whom she was living at the time, had found Pamela dead in her apartment, with fresh needle marks on her arm. The medical report states the cause of death to have been an overdose of heroin. Apparently Mandell and another friend, Clifton Dunn, who both lived with Pamela in an apartment at No. 105 North Sycamore on the ground floor, had seen her lying on the sofa, thinking that she was asleep. Both men had prepared supper, and had then tried unsuccessfully to wake Pamela up. The police had arrived soon after, and had found a syringe, but no other drug utensils. It is mentioned in the police report that there had been a "girlfriend" (Diane Gardiner, one of Jim's and Pam's old friends) present at the time when Mandell and Dunn returned to the apartment, who had, however, left shortly afterwards.

Apparently, Mandell (this report was made on the strength of his testimony), who was already known to the police with several offenses, told them that the "husband" of the deceased had died from a heroin overdose in Paris four years earlier, a piece of information that he had presumably got from Pamela. Considering the fact that after Morrison's death Pamela's mental state was extremely unstable, and that she had even told some people that Jim was not dead, and would return in a short while (in addition, she always talked about Jim in the present tense), this information should be treated with extreme care.

On the other hand there are some unanswered questions concerning the last few hours of Pamela Courson. The two reports Mandell gave the police within a few hours time difference present a few oddities. First of all, he mentioned Diane Gardiner being at the apartment on that very day. She left at 6.30 pm in the first version of the report but at 11.00 pm in the second version. Diane herself reported being there last on April 24th, a day before Pamela died. Mandell also said Pamela was drunk that night, but at the autopsy they found no alcohol in her blood. Mandell mentioned he was cooking dinner - in the first report he took 2 1/4 hours to prepare it, in the second he needed only 50 minutes. In the first version, John Mandell and Clifton Dunn are gone for shopping until 9.30 pm, while in the second one Mandell and Pamela are out shopping. And last but not least, in the first version Pamela is seen to be apparently asleep at 9.30 pm, but the second version has her talking to her parents until at least 10.00 pm.

This is from Rainer Moddemann's "Jim Morrison's Quiet Days In Paris" from his fan club "dOOrs Quarterly."

On 29th April 1974 a memorial service for Pamela and Jim was held at the Old North Church in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Burbank. The guests were told not to wear black, and Ray Manzarek played several Doors songs on the church organ, including You're Lost Little Girl. Her body was cremated, and the urn was taken to Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary Cemetery in Santa Ana, near Disneyland. This is where her last resting place is, in the Garden Courts of the cemetery, compartment No. 164. The rarely visited grave is covered in cobwebs, and the small bronze plaque bears the inscription "MORRISON, PAMELA SUSAN, 1946 - 1974". Even in death, her illusion of having been married to Jim Morrison lives on.

For a long time there was a rumor that Pamela had been buried in Jim's grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery. This rumor was based on some of Ray Manzarek's earlier speculations, when in several interviews after Pamela's death he expressed his hopes that the urn would be taken to Paris "It's a Rock'n'Roll love story", he said "They should be together in one grave. Those two belong together". Apparently the Courson family was against this idea, or Jim's parents simply didn't want Pamela to be buried in Jim's grave.



I guess Ray cared enough to go to her funeral and pay respects to the woman in Jim's life. I guess there was more than some would like to believe. So tragic that two such young people fell prey to their addictions and were gone so soon.