Is Jim Morrison Still Alive or Was His Death Actually "The End"?

According to The Mail on Sunday, the official cause of death for singer Jim Morrison was "natural causes." The frontman for The Doors died on July 3, 1971, in his Paris apartment. He collapsed at the age of 27, after several well-documented years of alcohol and drug abuse. Despite that, many still questioned the circumstances surrounding Jim's death. A close friend of Jim's told the outlet that his death was a cover-up.

Sam Bernett, a French-born former New York Times journalist, shared his theory in June 2007, 36 years after Jim Morrison died. Bernett claims the singer died of a heroin overdose in the bathroom of the Rock 'n' Roll Circus on the French capital's Left Bank, but his passing was hidden from the public to protect the club. That's a far more plausible theory than the ones that suggest Morrison is actually still alive. Read on for more details.

A documentary streaming on Apple Plus posits that Jim is still very much alive and living in Syracuse, N.Y. Jeff Finn is the writer-director-researcher for Before the End, and he believes Jim is actually a maintenance man living in upstate New York.

The series alleges that Jim might have met a man named Frank at Rochester’s Eastman Theater, during which time he got ahold of his ID. Frank is interviewed in the documentary and is not very forthcoming regarding his background and other personal information. This only adds fuel to the documentary fire as Finn suggests this indicates Frank could be an imposter.

The "proof" Finn provides is shaky at best. Apart from Frank's evasiveness regarding his own history, Finn points to a scar on the befuddled man's cheek. Finn believes it's from the removal of a mole that Jim famously had on his left cheek, near his nose. When Finn showed two of Jim's ex-girlfriends a photo of Frank, they burst into tears due to his uncanny resemblance to the late singer. This is circumstantial at best.

Chuck Chao, who has been promoting concerts at Central New York venues for over 40 years, said the idea that Jim is still alive is preposterous. "That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time," he told Syracuse.com. "I think I’ll go out now and tell people Jim Morrison is my neighbor." If anyone has their finger on the pulse of the local Syracuse music scene, it's Chuck.

Because Finn is a Doors superfan, it's hard for him to stay neutral. Like many fans of the band, he was always suspicious about the lack of autopsy, conflicting stories, and the fact that Jim's passport was missing after his death, reported the Daily Mail. Then again, it was 1971 in Paris and the person who died was a beloved artist. Things were messy. However, some of these questions already have answers.

By the time The Doors’ manager, Bill Siddons, arrived in Paris, Jim was already in his coffin. His death was released to the public two days after Jim was buried. When asked about this secrecy, Siddons told Rolling Stone in August 1971 that the details were kept private because "those of us who knew him intimately and loved him as a person wanted to avoid all the notoriety and circus-like atmosphere that surrounded the deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix."