The Doors' Jim Morrison Bust, Missing Without a Trace, Discovered by Police After 37 Years

Disappeared Without a Trace Around May 1988
Numerous Theories Swirled Over the Missing Bust

The bust of Jim Morrison (1943?1971), the legendary lead singer of the rock group The Doors, has been found by French police 37 years after it was stolen. On May 19 (local time), Yonhap News, citing a report by Le Figaro, stated that the Paris police had discovered Morrison's marble bust, which disappeared from P?re Lachaise Cemetery in Paris in 1988. According to Le Figaro, an officer from the Paris Police Department's Financial and Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit came across and recovered the bust by chance while executing a search warrant in connection with a fraud investigation.

Morrison was found dead at the age of 27 on July 3, 1971, from a heart attack caused by a drug overdose in the bathtub of his apartment in Paris, France, and The Doors disbanded two years later. Photo by AFP and Yonhap News

The bust was covered with graffiti by fans and had its nose broken and missing, just as it was when it was stolen on May 9, 1988. The bust was created by Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin and was erected in 1981 at Jim Morrison's grave site in P?re Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, ten years after Morrison passed away. Fans of Morrison and The Doors from around the world who visited Paris wrote messages of tribute or their own names on the bust as a form of mourning. When the bust vanished without a trace in May 1988, all sorts of speculation arose among The Doors’ fans. Some rumors claimed that two devoted fans removed the 128-kilogram bust and escaped with it on an electric bicycle, while others suggested that French authorities had hidden the bust somewhere to protect it from excessive attention by fans.

This bust was covered with graffiti by fans and had its nose broken and missing, just as it was when it was stolen on May 9, 1988. The bust was created by Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin and was erected in 1981 at Jim Morrison's grave site in P?re Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, ten years after Morrison passed away. Photo by AFP and Yonhap News

Meanwhile, The Doors, led by Morrison, were a legendary American psychedelic rock group that defined the 1960s. By 1971, they had released seven official albums, leaving behind songs such as "Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm," and "The End." As the leader and vocalist, Morrison was the "face" of The Doors, captivating young people in the West?where the Vietnam War and the spirit of the 1968 Revolution were in full force?with his destructive stage presence and rebellious gestures. Morrison was found dead at the age of 27 on July 3, 1971, from a heart attack caused by a drug overdose in the bathtub of his apartment in Paris, France, and The Doors disbanded two years later.