Jim Morrison's grave at Père Lachaise

How he came to be buried in Paris

Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971, at twenty-seven, having largely stopped performing. He was living in a rented apartment at 17 rue Beautreillis in the Marais, writing, drinking heavily and by most accounts trying to become someone other than a rock singer. He died there on 3 July 1971.

No autopsy was performed. The French death certificate recorded heart failure and found no evidence of foul play, which under French law closed the matter — and which is the single root of every conspiracy theory that followed. He was buried four days later, on 7 July, with about half a dozen people present.

What is actually there

For years, almost nothing. The grave was unmarked, then carried a wooden marker, which disappeared. In 1981 a Croatian sculptor, Mladen Mikulin, placed a bust of Morrison on the grave without permission; it was progressively chipped away by visitors taking souvenirs, and stolen outright in 1988.

The plaque you see now was placed in 1990 by Morrison's father, Rear Admiral George Stephen Morrison. It is flat, bronze, and bears the dates and the Greek phrase ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ. It is usually translated as "true to his own spirit", though daimon carries none of the modern English sense of a demon — it is closer to the guiding spirit a person is born with. His father chose it.

The barrier is there because of what happened to the neighbours. Through the 1990s, pilgrims used the surrounding family tombs as noticeboards, covering them with graffiti, and a nearby tree became so caked in chewing gum it had to be cleaned. Those were other people's graves, with other people's relatives in them.

The myths that will not die

That the lease is expiring and he will be evicted. This story resurfaces every few years, usually with a specific date attached. The Morrison family holds a perpetual concession, the same category of tenure as Chopin's or Wilde's. There is no expiry date to run out.

That he is not in the grave. The version usually told involves a faked death and an escape to Africa. The counter-evidence is dull and sufficient: a death certificate, a burial permit, a coffin transported by a licensed undertaker, and a family who have never sought an exhumation.

That the cemetery hates having him. The cemetery's position is more practical than that. Division 6 receives a very large number of visitors in a small space with fragile neighbours, and the administration manages it the way it manages any crowded corner — barriers, signage and, in high season, someone standing nearby.

Finding it, and behaving well when you do

From the main gate, walk up the avenue Principale, take the first significant left onto the chemin Errazu, and look for the small hand-painted arrows that other visitors have left on the kerbstones — the cemetery removes them, and they come back. Division 6 is signed on a post at the corner of each division.

One request, and it is not ours: the graves either side belong to families who still visit. Do not stand on them, do not leave anything on them, and do not add to anything written on them. Chopin is a five-minute walk uphill in division 11, and Héloïse and Abélard are in division 7 just above, so it is an easy stop to fold into a longer walk.