Yo…
Have you watched Fincher’s Zodiac?
You know this right? The Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who murdered at least five individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969. He used a .22 caliber handgun in most of his attacks. Old news, yeah?
Arthur Leigh Allen is the only person ever named by the police as a Zodiac suspect. And we’ll never know for sure as Allen died in 1992. (Dude missed all the Marvel movies.)
It’s possible Arthur Leigh Allen could be The Zodiac Killer. There’s compelling coincides and exciting elements that defy easy explanations…in many ways he fits like a recovered Cinderella pump.
Ultimately, the primary reason why we’ll never know with total certainty is because…there is no smoking gun.
To effectively identify The Zodiac Killer there must be clear and conclusive DNA evidence and if possible: a reliable witness or two.
If Arthur Leigh Allen is The Zodiac Killer: what’s the smoking gun that proves it?
The Smoking Gun: Holmes to Nixon
The 1893 Arthur Conan Doyle short story The Adventure of the Gloria Scott depicts a young Sherlock Holmes solving his first professional case.
“[W]e rushed on into the captain’s cabin, but as we pushed open the door there was an explosion from within, and there he lay wit’ his brains smeared over the chart of the Atlantic which was pinned upon the table, while the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow.”
That quote is where smoking gun is Hello My Name Is… introduced into our pop culture. The idiom is afoot!
However, it was Nixon’s Watergate scandal that firmly lodged "smoking gun" into our pop culture lexicon.
A New York Times article written on July 14, 1974, notes the main question members of Congress were asking as they considered impeaching President Richard Nixon was: “Where’s the smoking gun?”
It’s the exact same issue as The Zodiac Killer. Nixon was guilty of doing…something but what exactly?
10 days after the NY Times smoking gun question article; on July 24, 1974 the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release his White House Tapes.
(Nixon installed a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office. He basically bugged himself.)
The White House released the subpoenaed tapes on August 5. One tape documented the initial stages of the Watergate coverup with Nixon’s approval. That infamous tape became known as the Smoking Gun Tape.
The Smoking Gun Tape doomed Nixon. It was definitive proof he lied and he was involved in the cover up.
(Nixon lied badly too: when the Smoking Gun Tape came out and he was confronted with the truth—he not only knew about the Watergate burglaries he also approved the plans—he went with I had a “lapse of memory.” Dude…that’s your cover story? All that CIA and all that FBI just down the hall and all you can come up with is “lapse of memory”?!)
Nixon resigned on the evening of Thursday, August 8, 1974.
Members of Congress rightly demanded: “where’s the smoking gun?” They got an accepted and comprehensible answer.
All of Richard Milhous Nixon’s political support vanished. And then…so did he.
Behold the mighty power of the Smoking Gun Tape.
The Smoking Gun: UFOs
Just this week on Nova PBS’ popular science TV series the episode was What Are UFOs? Of course I watched. Nova is scientifically grounded so it’s a much more rational approach to the strangeness of our universe.
The UFO documentary opened with this startling stat: “Since 2023, military and commercial pilots have reported seeing 801 objects they couldn’t identify.” Yo.
Objects could mean UFOs, perhaps extraordinary military tech, it could be a bizarre anomaly in nature or it could be…UFOs.
The reason why we can’t establish if UFOs are authentic is we’ve failed to establish a definitive smoking gun.
If you show video proof…what is the obvious rebuttal? “Videos can be faked”. And that’s valid.
(Thing is most people are not clever enough to know what to look for when they say videos can be faked. Do shadows and light align properly for example? For someone to reject video proof…that’s an ambitious counter-argument. They’re saying they’re knowledgeable about astronomy and what unfolds in nature in addition to being able to expertly analyze video for inconsistencies. That’s a lot to buy when someone is selling a loud no.)
Eyewitness accounts then, right? Err: we dismiss these people as crazy. Attention seekers.
What then is the smoking gun to prove—beyond all reasonable doubt—UFOs are real?
There’s something out there…but is it The Truth?
We’ve failed to identify our smoking gun up front. Therefore we struggle to establish impressive validity. Some of the proof may indeed be coherent evidence.
But until we agree on a straightforward smoking gun it’s all just speculation and emotional hyperbole.
The Smoking Gun: Jim Morrison
On July 3, 1971 Jim Morrison—lead singer of The Doors—died unexpectedly in a Paris apartment at the age of 27.
The official cause of death was listed as heart failure although no autopsy was performed as it was not required by French law. (You can also go with Morrison died of a heart failure brought on by a heroin overdose.)
Jim Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971 where the plan was to write poetry. And maybe get clean?
Again: dealer’s choice. The Doors kicked Morrison out of the band. Or he left the band. Or the band was on a break. Or all of the above?
Jim Morrison—lead singer of The Doors—was buried on July 7th and there were only four mourners to attend Morrison’s burial at the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.
Hardly anyone had seen the corpse.
I ain’t a mathematician but this ain’t adding up.
I fully, truly and honestly have never believed Jim Morrison—lead singer of The Doors—died on July 3, 1971.
I’m saying he faked his own death.
And I don’t have a smoking gun to prove it. Until now?
Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison is a 3-part docuseries written and directed by Jeff Finn.
For over 10 years Jeff interviewed Jim’s friends and family, lovers and much more in order to arrive at The Truth.
Or perhaps a truth: Jeff believes like I do: Jim Morrison didn’t die in 1971.
Aside No.1:
My logic is simple: Morrison "died" in Paris.
Think of all the strange and unresolved deaths that unfolded before Jim’s. Elvis…how many Elvis sightings did we get after he died?
James Dean (1955), George Reeves (1959), Marilyn Monroe (1962)…hell: I’ll even toss in JFK (1963). All puzzling and mysterious deaths. Yet, what do they all have in common? They all died in America.
When you’re that famous it’s hard to fake your own death and successfully get out of America. (One possibility for the numerous Elvis sightings.)
But Jim Morrison? He died in Paris. One of the few celebrities to die outside America. And even in the ‘70s Europe was slowly being connected by train. You know how many villages there are in Paris? And outside of Paris? You can easily disappear in Europe: fade to black.
If you’re gonna fake your own death you do it in Europe.
Aside No.2 (related to Aside No. 1):
This is a strange reflection on fame, isn’t it?
How famous was Jim Morrison in 1971? The Doors performed on Ed Sullivan. They hosted numerous sold out concerts. By the early ‘70s the band had sold millions of albums. People knew The Doors.
Cancel Culture is trash morality for many reasons but it’s flat out stupid because it overlooks the obvious: once you become famous you’re famous forever. You can’t become un-famous.
That doesn’t mean you remain endlessly popular or relevant but you’re famous forever.
If you’re in a bar and you meet Vanilla Ice aren’t you tempted to take a picture? Or tell your friends? Vanilla Ice sucks, hasn’t made a hit record in decades yet…he’s still famous.
At a comedy bar, after his stand-up show I ended up having drinks with Screech from Saved By The Bell. You’re famous forever.
So, how famous was Jim Morrison?
Could the average person in 1971 see Jim in a bar and know who that was? Everybody knew Elvis…look how many movies and TV specials he made. The Doors less so. Hmm.
Jim Morrison—lead singer of The Doors—faked his own death.
Think of Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison a 3-part docuseries as one of Robert Stack’s classic Unsolved Mysteries episodes. Finn painstakingly makes a strong case. This isn’t a conspiracy theory, rather this is a mystery: a cold case. One that is gonna heat up.
Aside No.3 (related to Aside No. 1):
In my conversation with director Jeff Finn I pointed out…many people he interviewed for Before the End are seniors.
Jim Morrison was born on December 8, 1943. Which would make him 81 in 2024.
One of the smoking guns I’ve established for all conspiracy theories…from the Roswell incident in 1947 to JFK’s assassination in 1963 to Jim Morrison faked his own death in 1971 is…seniors.
The reason that people keep secrets and initiate coverups is because they have something to lose. They don’t want to die via cut car brakes or slip in the shower.
We’re a society that is hostile to whistleblowers.
Most of the recent whistleblowers lead terrible lives. Edward Snowden is barely 40 years old and forced to live in Russia. Thanks for sharing global surveillance programs many run by the NSA. Instead of a stamp he gets stamped.
But with seniors? The End is near. Their kids are grown. Is the CIA really gonna take out a senior? The urgency of the coverup is gone…count how many people related to the JFK coverup have died. Some seniors have a desire to get their affairs in order. By the time you’re 70 or even 80 you should have a will, right?
Maybe the memory is not as strong but I’ll always trust seniors. Seniors is one one of the key reasons why I’m sharing this puzzling doc.
If Jim Morrison would be 81 in 2024 that means many of his contemporaries are his age. Jeff Finn talked to people in their late 60s, early 70s.
Currently, you can see Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison on Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) services: Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play etc.
As I made clear: before watching Before the End I honestly believed Jim Morrison faked his own death.
Check out the My Summer Lair conversation I had with Jeff Finn about his reasonable documystery.
It’s entirely based on that premise: we agree Jim didn’t die in 1971.
Cue…The Graveyard Poem…
But…what does that mean?
Is Jim Morrison still alive? In the early 2000s I visited Paris and pilgrimaged to the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.
It’s a strange feeling going to visit a grave of somebody you’re convinced is still alive.
I turned away from that grave in Paris; I felt unsettled. I didn’t feel satisfied and I had trouble accepting the narrative I was doomed to inherit.
There had to be something…else.
As you’ll here in this MSL conversation with filmmaker Jeff Finn: we talk about David Bowie and Elvis and Jim Morrison and The Zodiac Killer and UFOs. (Specifically the famous Barney and Betty Hill incident from 1961.)
Truly these are Strange Days. “The future’s uncertain. And the end is always near.”
On January 23, 2025 shortly after returning to The White House (and oddly fulfilling a campaign promise) President Trump signed an Executive Order ordering the director of national intelligence and attorney general to spend the next 15 days coming up with a plan to release the remaining JFK files.
And a plan to release the RFK and MLK files within the next 45 days. Yes!
Under the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, the government was previously required to release all documents related to the assassination in 2017.
Sadly, President Trump has said that he was convinced to block some of the remaining files. (I dunno what that means.)
We’ll see what happens now. (Would be nice to get UFO files released as well. For now JFK and MLK files are acceptable.)
Of course JFK is a 1991 political thriller film written and directed by Oliver Stone. Stone became the de facto JFK public expert. (Also released in 1991 was The Doors also written and directed by Oliver Stone. Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison was (and is) incredible).
Upon hearing the Trump news about the JFK files, Oliver Stone released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter:
“President Trump deserves praise for yesterday’s executive order declassifying the still closed records in government files on the assassination of John Kennedy, an event which occurred 61 years ago,” wrote Stone in a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter. “Those files should have been released in October of 2017. President Trump deserves further credit for going beyond that, and ordering the release of still classified files on the Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations.”
Wait for it…
Continued Stone: “No one expects there to be a smoking gun ‘he did it’ document in those files. But from what previous writers understand, there will be information that will contribute to a more informed mosaic of what happened in those cases.”
Boom! There it is: smoking gun. Talking about JFK via Oliver Stone director of The Doors. It’s all connected.
I Stand By My Guns Talking About All These Smoking Guns…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
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