Jim Morrison and the Rock and Roll Circus

A controversial book by Sam Bernett claims that rock legend Jim Morrison died in a toilet stall at the Parisian club Rock 'n' Roll Circus, after what Bernett believes was a heroin overdose.

 

Bernett was the manager at Rock 'n' Roll Circus, a hip hangout on the Rue de Seine where celebrities of the day would rendezvous for live music, poetry readings and a taste of the 60s psychedelic scene. They say that filmmaker Roman Polanski was a regular there. So was Maryanne Faithful, a folk singer-turned actress who had earned a reputation as a muse for the Rolling Stones.

 

Jim Morrison in Paris in 1971, not long before his death.

 

Interestingly, the Stones later produced a video titled "Rock and Roll Circus." I'm not sure if there was any connection with the night club, but it's entirely possible. 

 

Anyway, according to Bernett, at approximately 1 a.m. on July 3, 1971, Morrison dropped in for a visit at the Rock and Roll Circus accompanied by two alleged drug dealers. They all disappeared and  later, a bouncer was said to have broken into a locked toilet stall to discover an unconscious Morrison. 

 

Bernett claims he summoned a doctor who was hanging out at the club to examine the Doors front man.  "When we found him dead, he had a little foam on his nose, and some blood too, and the doctor said, 'That must be an overdose of heroin,'" Bernett recalls in his book. He adds that he did not see Morrison doing any heroin that night, but notes that the singer was known to sniff the drug because he was afraid of needles.

 

Apparently, the two drug dealers insisted Morrison had only passed out, and that they carried him out of the club. Bernett says he wanted to call paramedics to the scene, but the club's owner ordered him to keep quiet to avert a scandal. I guess he sat on the truth all these years (if you believe it) and only came clean recently as he attempted to cash in on a book.

Bernett believes the dealers brought Morrison's body home and dropped it into the bathtub, a last attempt to revive him. The official story (whitewash?) is that the legendary rock martyr went to a movie in Paris, came home, listened to some records and died of heart failure in his bathtub. No autopsy was ever performed.