1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The following episode 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: is satire. It's not true crime. Sorry. It was released 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: on April first, twenty nineteen as an April Fool's joke, 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: and the immediate response on social media was pretty overwhelming, 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: and I freaked out and pulled the episode after it 6 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: had only been live for a couple of hours. Many 7 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: of you disgraced Sense subscribers did not hear it, and 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: you emailed me and tweeted at me asking how you 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: get your ears around it. And for those of you 10 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: who did hear the episode and wrote me to curse 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: me out or were eager to share a laugh at 12 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: your own expense as you found yourself pulled over on 13 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: the side of the road, on the subway, in a bus, 14 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: or in your bed frantically googling for breaking news on 15 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: the identity of the Zodiac killer. I'm sorry, not sorry, 16 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: edited lightly to protect the identity of the victims. Here 17 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: is the episode as it originally appeared, in its entirety, 18 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: including the breathless fake intro that went like this, YO, quick, 19 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: heads up. I recorded this episode quickly last night, trying 20 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: to respond to the breaking news and to contextualize fast 21 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: moving story that's just developing, and to tell it in 22 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: a Disgraceland way. I want to thank Payne Lindsay and 23 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: Donald Albright from Tenderfoot TV for quickly making available their 24 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,279 Speaker 1: source material for their monster season on the Zodiac Killer. 25 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: And also a special thanks to the Vallejo City Chronicle 26 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: for their dogged reporting and for being first to get 27 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: this news out. Also, David Fincher, I'd be nowhere fast 28 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: on this had I not watched your film Zodiac a 29 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: thousand times. Okay, let's get into this special Monday edition 30 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: release of Disgraceland. Buckle up, It's going to be a 31 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: wild one. A singer I'm going to tell you about 32 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: and the crimes he committed were insane. He shot a 33 00:01:57,840 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: random cabby in the back of the head on a 34 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: Sand Francisco street corner. He slashed to death backseat lovers 35 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: and picnicing couples, and for a brief period in nineteen 36 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: sixty nine, his legend gripped the nation. You already know 37 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: him by many names, the Lizard King, Mister Mojo, Rising, Jimbo, 38 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: but never before by his original alternate identity, the Zodiac Killer. 39 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: Until this morning's news started to break. This alternate identity 40 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:26,839 Speaker 1: was the secret. The idea that this worldwide recognizable rock 41 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: star could also be one of America's most notorious serial 42 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: killers was and still kind of is unfathomable. But we've 43 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: seen this kind of double life in our culture before, 44 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: as recently as twenty fourteen, when we learned that a 45 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: star tight End Aaron Hernandez from history's most successful NFL 46 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: franchise in New England, Patriots, was a gangbanging, drug dealing murderer. 47 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,839 Speaker 1: And let us not forget Oj Simpson, America's prom king 48 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,679 Speaker 1: who ended up slashing his way into infamy. It took 49 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: a while, but the unbelievable nature of these stories eventually 50 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: set in and the truth was accepted. It's unclear to 51 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: me how long it will take for us to accept 52 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: the truth of this story, because right now it just 53 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: seems ridiculous that the fame Zodiac Killer was one of 54 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: the most popular musicians of all time a musician. You 55 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: made great music, and that music I played for you 56 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: at the top of the show, And that wasn't great music. 57 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my melotron called mellow 58 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: Fast Waves BK two. I played you that loop because 59 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: I can't afford the rights. It's My Party by Leslie Gore, 60 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of 61 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: weepy jukebox cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was 62 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: the number one song in America on June fourth, nineteen 63 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: sixty three, And that was a day that a pent 64 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: up small town teenager in search of his own identity, 65 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: with a fire in his eyes and a song in 66 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: his heart, struck a deal with the devil that would 67 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: change history forever. On this episode, mellow Fast waves a 68 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: murderous identity crisis, weep be Cheese, one of the greatest 69 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: front men of all time, the Zodiac Killer. I'm Jake 70 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: Vernon and this this disgrace laand fuck you. The kid 71 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: deadpanned to his father. Even in teenage anger, his voice 72 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: was low and broody. His mother did her best to 73 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: ignore the latest in a series of daily tensions between 74 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: her son and her husband by turning up pat boone 75 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: on the transistor radio and busying herself with the dishes. 76 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: The kid was home in Alameda, California, after a year 77 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: of junior college in Florida, and he dared to bring 78 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: up transferring to art school over my dead body, was 79 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: his father's predictable response. His dad was a navyman, a 80 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: rear admiral, and wanted something professional for his son, James. 81 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,840 Speaker 1: If not the military, then law school or an MBA. 82 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: He'd even settle for a liberal arts degree if his 83 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: son promised to get a master's. Later, to James, his 84 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: parent's life was a lie. Raised a military Brat all 85 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: the moving in the new schools, James had seen the 86 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: military industrial borders of suburbia, and he had no place there. 87 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: Without friends and with parents he didn't understand. He was 88 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: thoroughly alienated, and so he turned inward and became an artist. 89 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: His curiosity was bottomless. He read European philosophers Nietzsche and 90 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: William Blake by sixteen sixteen. Have you read Nietzsche and Blake? 91 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: I've tried as an adult, and let's just say I'm 92 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: a little more comfortable with the musings of the great 93 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: American philosophers Daffy Duck and Bill Murray. They're more my speed. 94 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: But by the time James was a senior, his English 95 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: teacher made a habit of researching his student bibliographies to 96 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: make sure James wasn't just inventing type to support his papers. 97 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: The joke was on teach. The citations were real medieval 98 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: pamphlets about demonology, only available from the Library of Congress. 99 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: James was an occasional d student, but only because school 100 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: was a drag. He found it to be crushingly bourgeois, 101 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: just like his family. There's no future in the arts. 102 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: You don't have the talent, the Rear Admiral shouted. Why 103 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: couldn't they recognize the brilliance inside him? He stormed up 104 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: to his bedroom, slammed the door. Fucked them. They didn't 105 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:36,359 Speaker 1: realize their picket fence was a cage. The grand mysteries, 106 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: the dark depths of the universe. James knew that's where 107 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: the truth was. His parents would never look beyond the veil, 108 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: but he would. He'd already started. James grabbed Alister Crowley's 109 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: Magic and Theory and Practice from his bookshelf. He was 110 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: that deep now, the satanist Crowley, the occultist Helena Blovatski. 111 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 1: James wanted to get high, but any smell would tip 112 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: off the Rear Admiral and lead to a good old 113 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: corporal punishment ass kicking, So James had to hang his 114 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: head out of the window to smoke the joint. He 115 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: just rolled his version of howling at the moon like 116 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: his hero bluesman Howl and Wolf. He leaned backwards over 117 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,239 Speaker 1: the sill, sparked the jay, and thought about Wolf's great 118 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: and terrifying song. Evil. Once high, James duck back inside 119 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: and started a new Crowley chapter entitled of the Bloody 120 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: Sacrifice Matters Cognate. He read the first ethical lesson in 121 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: the Bible is that the only sacrifice pleasing to the 122 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: Lord is the sacrifice of blood. For the highest spiritual working, 123 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: one must choose that victim which contains the greatest and 124 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: purest force. Hanging outside of the window, he took another hit. 125 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: The O G. Mendocino weed crossed James's soft palate. The 126 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:51,960 Speaker 1: poetry of dark ritual passed his lips. He had a 127 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: moment of clarity, Pins and needles all around his head 128 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: like a hand rising from his throat to grab his brain. 129 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: His crowned chakra was on fire with the dark spirit energy. 130 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 2: That was it. 131 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: He knew who he was and what he had to do. 132 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: In that instant, he understood the cheat codes written into 133 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: morality by God for those willing to play by the 134 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: devil's rules. James wandered over to his record player and 135 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: put aland Wolf on the turntable. Wolfe's raspy, demonic voice 136 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: and raptured the very stoned young James. But his mom 137 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: would never forgive him for what he was about to do. 138 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: Neither would his father. It didn't matter. He was nobody's son. 139 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: He was no longer their James. He was simply Jim. 140 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,680 Speaker 1: It was June third, nineteen sixty three, and Jim Morrison 141 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: had broken through to the other side and blown the 142 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: doors of his perception wide open. The next day he 143 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 1: took off. Before he split, he lifted the twenty two 144 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: pistol from the family gun cabinet. It was a woman's weapon, 145 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: a historical piece. The rear admiral would never miss it. 146 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: There was a chance he'd missed the rope and the 147 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: jackknife from the garage, where the pair of old military 148 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: issue wingwalker boots that Jim took, But Jim didn't care. 149 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: He bought a ticket on the first thing, smoking a 150 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: Greyhound headed south. The driver parked at a rest area 151 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: overlooking the beach. Ten minutes he hollered next stop, Lompoc. 152 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: Jim looked out his window and laughed dryly at his look. 153 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,959 Speaker 1: He was senior Skip day for the local high school kids, 154 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: and there they were down on the dunes free range 155 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: hunting season. Jim thought all the lush beauty of pure 156 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: American youth. He honed in on a flirty couple walking 157 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,679 Speaker 1: away from the crowd, somewhere private. Jim presumed, He shouldered 158 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: his knapsack and slipped off the bus before he lost them. 159 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: George Hernandez and Melinda Johnson were straight out of Central 160 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: Casting American, his apple Pie high school seniors, already engaged 161 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: to be married, good kids, pure at least for a while. 162 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,080 Speaker 1: Like all kids, they wanted to do what comes natural, 163 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: and that's why it's called what comes natural. They were 164 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: engaged now, and it was senior skip day. One thing 165 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: was indeed going to lead to another thing, and that 166 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: thing made Jim's chest swell with excitement. That thing is 167 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: why Jim stocked Georgia Melinda like pray. Georgia Melinda's pent 168 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: up urges made them the most alive and Alistair Crowley 169 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,319 Speaker 1: had told Jim that if he stole the life from 170 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: them through sacrificial rights, he could steal their life energy, 171 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: bottle it into his own being, make their souls work 172 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: for him from the other side. And with this unnatural power, 173 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: Jim knew he could escape his family's cage and one 174 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: day achieve greatness. He caught Georgia and Melinda in the act. 175 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: Cherry's half popped, he pulled out the dainty twenty two. 176 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:52,839 Speaker 1: Jim had the drop on them. When he emerged from 177 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,319 Speaker 1: the dunes. They saw the gun and pissed themselves in fear. 178 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: Jim held them a gunpoint more them to shut the 179 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: fuck up. He instructed them to get on their feet 180 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: go sit on the drift with a few steps to 181 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: the right. He then clumsily tied them up with the rope. 182 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: It was Jim's first time, just like it would have 183 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: been theirs, and because he was nervous, he got sloppy. 184 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: Georgia and Melinda slipped their bonds ran for it. Jim 185 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: saw his dreams slipping away with every footfall. 186 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 3: Shit. 187 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 1: He planted his father's old wingwalker boots in the sand. 188 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: There were ten and a half, a little tight on 189 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: Jim's size eleven feet, but they anchored him to the 190 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 1: ground like they were supposed to, just like the elegant 191 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: pistol the boots did with the stolen rope didn't got 192 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: the job done. Po po pow went the bullets down, 193 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 1: went George and Melinda. If these kids are re Via Kong, 194 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: Dad would be proud, Jim thought. But no ritual blood letting. 195 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: He couldn't let the kills be for nothing. He took 196 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: a beat, collected himself. There was no time to wallow 197 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: in the mire. Jim dragged Georgie and Melinda into a 198 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 1: rotting bead shack on the other side of the nearest dune. 199 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: Inside their young love would become a funeral byer. Jim 200 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 1: had to stake a claim to this flame fire magic 201 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,440 Speaker 1: transfer the energy of the recently departed to him their killer. 202 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: He took the jackknife, the last of his stolen tools, 203 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: and carved a spell of his own into the soft wood. 204 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: He took the M and the R from his last name, Morrison, 205 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: and brought them to the front to spell mister. He 206 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: took the M and the J from his first name, Jim, 207 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: and added the two o's from Marrison to spell Mojo. Finally, 208 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: he took the remaining letters R, I, S I, N 209 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: and bunched them together to spell risin and there you 210 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: had it, playing as the red on the Devil's dick, 211 00:12:41,640 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: Mister Mojo Rising. In the summer of sixty six, Jim 212 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,960 Speaker 1: hid in his bedroom again, but this bedroom was different 213 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: from his old diggs back at the Rear Admiral's house. 214 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: He was living in a Venice Beach studio apartment. He 215 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: blocked out the windows, listened to the blues, and did 216 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: so much LSD it could reasonably qualify as a main 217 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: source of his bodily fluids. While there, he poured psychedelic 218 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: truth into a small notebook, feverishly drafting poem after poem 219 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: for what he didn't know, but it kept his mind 220 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: off of killing. After the night he disappeared from the 221 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: family house to make his first kill, he returned home. Miraculously, 222 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 1: the Rear Admiral gave in and allowed Jim to transfer 223 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,680 Speaker 1: into UCLA as a film student. He made exactly one 224 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: film while at school, but he did graduate. After graduation, 225 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: his brain scrambled by too much acid and too much 226 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: Alister Crowley, still a slave to the dark arts, looking 227 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: to make his way in the world and to establish 228 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: his own identity. While now on his own, he quietly 229 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: disowned his family and fully embraced the bohemian lifestyle. He 230 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: ran into a college buddy on the beach, a keyboard 231 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,440 Speaker 1: player named Ray Manzaic. He shared his poems with him, 232 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: and Ray recognized him as nothing short of magical. Soon 233 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,440 Speaker 1: Jim found himself and raised little rock and roll combo 234 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: alongside two other inspired musicians, Robbie Kreeger on guitar and 235 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: John Densmore on drums. They called themselves The Doors. Ray 236 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: had met Robbie and John in a meditation retreat, which 237 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: Jim thought was lame. Jim wasn't into this self care bullshit. 238 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: He wanted sensory overload at all times, and we want 239 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: the world, and we want it now. Jim took to 240 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 1: the mic and imagined what Howling Wolf would sound like, 241 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: reciting the evil musings of Alistair Crowley. What came out 242 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: was dark, mystical, poetic, and powerful. Jim's musical inexperience was 243 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,400 Speaker 1: no obstacle. In no time, The Doors became the house 244 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: band at the Whiskey at Go Go Nightclub on LA's 245 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 1: Sunset Strip, opening for every headliner betwe He made twenty 246 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: third in August twenty first, they released their first single 247 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: in November break on Through. Jim had broken through years earlier, 248 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: and he'd tried to hide, but that was impossible. Now 249 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: that he had a stage, The Door Is notoriety spread 250 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: and their popularity exploded. Still, Jim found it impossible to 251 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: get from music what he got from murder. That feeling 252 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: from killing Bob and Linda, he couldn't shake it. It 253 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: was stronger than the feeling he felt on stage or 254 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: in the studio. He loved playing music, but the payoff 255 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 1: was different, maybe because he wasn't as confident a performer 256 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: as one would think. If he had more faith in 257 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: himself as a musician, lives might have been saved. But 258 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: the rear Admiral's words rang out in his drug addled 259 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: head constantly, you don't have the talent son. It fucked 260 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: with Jim, even though he's making a name for himself. 261 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: But for how long Jim's goal was in making do 262 00:15:54,800 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: on Aleister Crowley's promise eternal life, not pop stardom, real greatness, transcendence. 263 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 1: The music just wasn't enough. So just weeks before The 264 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: Door's first single release, Jim felt the need to kill again. 265 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: He drove to Riverside, an LA suburb, his victim would 266 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: be Mary Anne Kate's, another poster child for American beauty. 267 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: A twentieth century fox. She cut his eye at the 268 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: whiskey one night and ever since and is then still anonymous. Downtime, 269 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: he followed her, learned her routines. She was uplate at 270 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: her college library and Jim Morrison was waiting. Raised keys 271 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: played in Jim's mind like the organ at a pagan church. 272 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 1: The demonic voice spoke out in Latin whispered into his ear. 273 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: A man, James, do you renounce the Lord of Christendom, 274 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: god of colonial pigs, imperiod as dogs and capitalists pomp? 275 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 2: I do, Jim whispered back. 276 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: Do you believe this god must be overthrown? I do, 277 00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: Jim said, as he removed the distributor cap from Mary 278 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: Maranne's car, ensuring that her car wouldn't start. He crouched 279 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,160 Speaker 1: down out of sight and waited. Somewhere nearby. A baby 280 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: cried from an open window. Mary Anne exited the library 281 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 1: and mister Mojo ris and hid quietly behind her car. 282 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 1: Coiled in attack move, Mary Anne stepped into her driver's seat. 283 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 1: Her car would start. She realized something was wrong and 284 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:25,159 Speaker 1: stepped out Jim sprang from behind, tackled her, beat her 285 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: perfect body bloody. To Jim and his manic fury, his 286 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: memory wires had crossed. This murder brought on the total 287 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,920 Speaker 1: recalls the Lompock kill from three years before. His brain 288 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: synapses firing off like the familiar sound of those twenty 289 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: two shots from years earlier, replaced by the sound of 290 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: his fist pounding mary Anne's flesh. All he heard were gunshots, gunshots, 291 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: and the voice of the devil whispering in his ear. 292 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: James Douglas, Morrison, do you renounce Jesus Sherry? Joe screamed, 293 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,520 Speaker 1: but nobody came. And then the chaos. His fists on 294 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 1: her flesh sounded like a flurry of gunshots. I do renounce, 295 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: and all his works. His knuckles to her ribs made 296 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: a loud crack. I do renounce that, and all his promises. 297 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: I do renounce that more punches, more cracks, since she 298 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: still hadn't gone limped. 299 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 4: James Douglas, will you pledge your soul to Satan? 300 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: I will it nominated? 301 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 4: Diabli ed feeley ed spirit is Satan. James Douglas going evil, 302 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:34,719 Speaker 4: and may Lucifer. 303 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 2: Be with you hell Satan. 304 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:43,160 Speaker 1: With those words whispered Hail Satan. Jim's transformation was complete. 305 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 1: His soul had been sold for what. It wasn't entirely clear. Fame, transcendence, 306 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: beyond the bourgeois status quo, eternal life, any combination of 307 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: those things. Jim didn't know, but he was certain of 308 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: one thing. The power that raised aged through him at 309 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: the moment was like an electric coil pulled tight from 310 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: the tips of his toes to the crown of his skull. 311 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: It surged and provided a powerful, manic, high voltage confidence. 312 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: It made him feel as though he could do anything. 313 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: Jim thought to himself, that was it. This was what 314 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: all the poets raved about. That feeling, the one that 315 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,920 Speaker 1: the scientists and astrologists could never figure out, but that 316 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: the wordsmiths had on lock, That thing that inspired countless artist, painters, 317 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: songwriters and directors to keep going back to the well 318 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: for to try and to capture, to express that feeling. 319 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:40,159 Speaker 1: This was it love. Jim dropped Marianne to the asphalt 320 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,159 Speaker 1: and slid himself down the side of the car and 321 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: to exceed on the ground next to his kill. He 322 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: was exhausted. He rifled through Marianne's purse for her smokes, 323 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: found one, lit it with her letter, took a deep 324 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: cleansing drag, tilted his head back against the car and exhaled. 325 00:19:57,119 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: He then pulled the small notepad and pencil he carried 326 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: with him everywhere and began writing. 327 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 2: That was it. 328 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: There were no stars, and they were empty, hollow like him, 329 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: But unlike his words, the stars were small. Words were bigger. 330 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: They could be anything, which is what the scientists and 331 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:21,360 Speaker 1: the astrologists never understood about love. With words, the possibilities 332 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:26,200 Speaker 1: for love were limitless. Science was fixed, limiting compared to poetry. 333 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,920 Speaker 1: Science was bullshit. Poetry gave wings to our desires. Astrology 334 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: the zodiac science of compatibility. It was all bunk, made 335 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: up to sell newspapers to board suburban housewives like his mom. 336 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: Could the zodiac science have predicted how Jim now felt 337 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 1: about Maryanne, what she meant to him now now that 338 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: she become his kill? Was the goddamn Sunday morning horoscope. 339 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 1: Going to read Arias is a fellow fireside for you, 340 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison, the Sagittarius, He'll find a worthy partner mentally 341 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 1: and physically. The chemistry between you is awesome, and when 342 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,640 Speaker 1: you pierce her skull with the sharp end of your knife, 343 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:05,399 Speaker 1: you'll know you've found your soulmate. Jim had no idea 344 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: when mary Anne was born, but he knew it didn't 345 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:10,120 Speaker 1: matter for shit. He knew that she was for him, 346 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,200 Speaker 1: his girl, and he knew that their chemistry was quote 347 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: unquote awesome. He pulled her dead body over closer to 348 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,439 Speaker 1: him and placed her bloody skull on his lap. He 349 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: felt for her, He really did something deep, a connection. 350 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: It was different than the feeling he had for George 351 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: and Melinda. That was more bloodlust, craven, clumsy, like it 352 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 1: is when you lose your virginity. With mary Anne, it 353 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,399 Speaker 1: was different. The kill had a rhythm to it, like 354 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: great sex with an experienced partner. Was it because they'd 355 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: hooked up after Jim had formally sealed the deal in 356 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: his mind with the devil, before he'd gotten high on 357 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: satan stoned immaculate into a deeper understanding of the cosmos 358 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: and the power of his poetry, before he fully understood 359 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,399 Speaker 1: the futility of God, science and the stars. And what 360 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 1: did the astrologists know that the poets didn't thing? Jim 361 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: was in love and Satan had his back. Fuck with 362 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 1: the horoscope said mary Anne was his first love and 363 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:11,360 Speaker 1: no disrespect to Georgia Melinda under the empty stars that night. 364 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:16,119 Speaker 1: Mary Anne was Jim Morrison's first Zodiac kill. We'll be 365 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: right back after this word were word like the mister 366 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 1: Mojo Rising carving he'd made after the Georgia Melinda murders 367 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,400 Speaker 1: in Lompoc. Mari Anne's death wasn't tied to the killer 368 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:33,160 Speaker 1: who would become known as the Zodiac for years. When 369 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: Georgia Melinda's bodies were eventually discovered, the Mister Mojo Rising 370 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:41,159 Speaker 1: carving went unnoticed because it had no significance because at 371 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 1: the time, the Doors weren't yet a band, the song 372 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: wasn't yet a hit. It was just a line in 373 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison's head that he would later write into the 374 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,359 Speaker 1: lyrics for the song La Woman. So at the time 375 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: it just looked like some teenage graffiti, and so the 376 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,719 Speaker 1: clue was missed until now. And for Jim Morrison, a 377 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: young man who craved recognition, whose goal it was was 378 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: to be infamous, whose prime motivation for killing in the 379 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,960 Speaker 1: first place was to build an army of souls to 380 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: fight for him in perpetuity to achieve his twisted notion 381 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: of greatness. The fact that authorities were too stupid to 382 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: connect him to those first few kills it really pissed 383 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: him off. It wasn't until nineteen seventy that authorities even 384 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: began to piece together the murders. San Francisco police believed 385 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,280 Speaker 1: the killer racked up five confirmed kills between December nineteen 386 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: sixty eight and October nineteen sixty nine, a couple on 387 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: Lake Herman Road in Benicia, one in Blue Rock Springs 388 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:41,199 Speaker 1: Park in Vallejo, one more in Napa County, and a 389 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: cabby in the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. And 390 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: they didn't even know about Georgia, Melinda, and Marianne. This 391 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: infuriated Jim. He wanted the credit for all those kills 392 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,679 Speaker 1: and then some. He later claimed to the public that 393 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,120 Speaker 1: he was responsible for a total of thirty seven murders. 394 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,120 Speaker 1: Jim couldn't deal with with the slowness of the San 395 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,440 Speaker 1: Francisco detectives, so he did what he did best, turned 396 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: to words, poetry, a twisted poetry, but poetry. Nonetheless, he 397 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: started to write letters to the press to claim responsibility 398 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,160 Speaker 1: for the murders, so the poetry needed to be twisted 399 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: to conceal his identity. Jim Morrison, the fame whor couldn't 400 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: resist the rush of notoriety. These claims came in letters 401 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: called cryptograms, sent to the San Francisco Chronicle and other 402 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 1: newspapers word games like Mister Mojo Rizen, howbeit it a 403 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: hell of a lot more complex. Basic cryptograms are substitution codes. 404 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:39,679 Speaker 1: Each letter replaces another. A's become bees, bees become c's, 405 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,840 Speaker 1: and so on. Jim digging on the maryannekill the ironic 406 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: astrological poetry he penned while she laid dead on his lap, 407 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: Her soul lovingly transferred to his for eternity as an homage. 408 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: Signed his letter with a Z for Zodiac, and he 409 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: peppered his cryptograms with pages full of Zodiac occult symbols 410 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: as a subversive fuck you to the astraelogists from Jim 411 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: the poet, Jim hinted at his cryptogram fascination and the 412 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: doors tuned soul Kitchen. His psychotic pr made the front 413 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: page of the San Francisco Chronicle as well as other 414 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: local papers, taunting the nation into an obsession with a maniac. 415 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: He sent the first cryptogram in three pieces to three 416 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:24,040 Speaker 1: separate California papers, demanding maybe published, or he would drive 417 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: around the state committing random drive by shootings, and it 418 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,920 Speaker 1: worked like gangbusters. All three papers printed the cipher. When 419 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,199 Speaker 1: finally cracked, it read I like killing people. 420 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,680 Speaker 2: It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest, 421 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 2: because man is the most dangerous animal of all the 422 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 2: best part is that when I die, I will be 423 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 2: reborn in paradise and all that I have killed will 424 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 2: become my slaves. 425 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 1: When he went out as a Zodiac, Jim would alter 426 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: his appearance as best he could witness descriptions vary in 427 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: hair color and length, maybe because he had his famous 428 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,679 Speaker 1: locks tied back or under a net or a wig. 429 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 1: The zodiac sketches include eyeglasses, but this was to help 430 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 1: preserve his anonymity as his fame rose. More tellingly, testimony 431 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: puts the zodiac's height at around five ten, and Jim 432 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: was five to eleven Weighed. Estimates for the Zodiac ranged 433 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 1: from one hundred and eighty pounds to two hundred pounds. 434 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,679 Speaker 1: Jim was one hundred and eighty and more when he 435 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: was drinking heavily, which was more often than not. But 436 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,919 Speaker 1: the clue that always tied Jim and the Zodiac together, 437 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: the one we can now fully appreciate, was his dad, 438 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: the rear Admiral and his wingwalker boots, the Big ten 439 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: and a Half's, the ones that left the boot prints 440 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 1: that were found at several of the murder scenes, and 441 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: that led investigators to suspect that the Zodiac had a 442 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,399 Speaker 1: military background. The Zodiac didn't, but his dad did, and 443 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: the boots were the last thing connecting James Morrison aka 444 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:55,199 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison, aka the Zodiac Killer from his old life 445 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: to his new one. He was a killer just like 446 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: dear old dad. Morrison's father, George, had been the military 447 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 1: commander at the Gulf of Tonken, the shady nineteen sixty 448 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 1: four false flag operation by the US government to justify 449 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: escalating the Vietnam War. Yes, Jim Morrison's dad basically started 450 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,440 Speaker 1: the Vietnam War. This is a fact. Look it up. 451 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,760 Speaker 1: And it was a fact that drove Jim crazy. He 452 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: literally sold his soul for his art. But even when 453 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,719 Speaker 1: it came to spilling blood, he was stuck in his 454 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: father's shadow. His new Zodiac persona could never approach that 455 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: body count but he could try. How did he manage 456 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: this double life? It was easier than you'd think. When 457 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: you're a notoriously unreliable rock star, nobody questions it. When 458 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: you disappear for a couple of days between gigs, one 459 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:47,199 Speaker 1: hand washes the other. Let's lay out the timeline. In 460 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: December sixty eight, the Doors played a local show at 461 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: the Forum in Inglewood. Afterward, Jim was on his own 462 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,440 Speaker 1: with no gigs for two weeks. That's opportunity. The band 463 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: had started recording their next album, Soft Parade, and the 464 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: sessions were not going well. Jim needed a fix, that's motive. 465 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 1: One week later, the Lake Herman Road murders happened, with 466 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 1: the killing of Annie Mae Jackson and William Holiday. Then 467 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,919 Speaker 1: on July first, nineteen sixty nine, the Doors returned to 468 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,880 Speaker 1: California from a stint in Mexico City for too much 469 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:22,720 Speaker 1: needed days off. The excruciating half million dollar eight month 470 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: production of Soft Parade was finally wrapped, and Jim had 471 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,439 Speaker 1: a break. And he needed it because he was an 472 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: insecure wreck. He had no idea if the album was 473 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: good or not, and feared, like most sensitive artists, that 474 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 1: the critics would tear him apart. So Jim needed something 475 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: soothing again before the upcoming release, and nothing soothed him 476 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: more or gave him more satisfaction or sense of purpose 477 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 1: than killing than adding to his soul bank. So after 478 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: the recording a soft Parade, he was motivated to kill, 479 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: and with time off, he had the opportunity to go 480 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: out and quench his bloodthirst, which led to the murder 481 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: of Diane Maren only four, nineteen sixty nine in Blue 482 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 1: Rock Springs. After this, the Zodiac placed a phone call 483 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 1: to the cops, another classic element of the serial killer profile, 484 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: a desire to get caught. In that recording. When played now, 485 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: the cadence of the voice, the thinly veiled hidden speech 486 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,080 Speaker 1: pattern sounds a lot like the spoken word poetry of 487 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: one Jim Morrison on his album of Poems in American Prayer. 488 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 1: And with that phone call a line was crossed. The Zodiac, 489 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: the serial killer inside Jim, was done watching Jim Morrison, 490 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: the rock Star inside Jim get the credit. The Zodiac 491 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 1: was more than that, a poet, a soul shepherd, a 492 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: killer's killer, and as far as he was concerned, Jim 493 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: Morrison the rock Star was a phony, a Charlatan whatever 494 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: he was. Jim was lost in a never ending identity 495 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 1: crisis and it was coming to a boiling point and 496 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: this body wasn't big enough for the both of them. 497 00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: At a show in Boston, Jimbo waxed poetic with the crowd. Hey, listen, listen, listen, listen, man, listen, man, 498 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,360 Speaker 1: I don't know how many of you people believe in astrology. Yeah, 499 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 1: that's right, that's right, baby. I'm as Sagittarius, the most 500 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: philosophical of all the size. 501 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 5: But anyway, I don't believe in that. I think it's 502 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 5: a bunch of bullshit itself. But I'll tell you this, man, 503 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 5: I'll tell you this. I don't know what's gonna happen, man, 504 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 5: but I want to have my kicks. 505 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: Before the whole shithouse grows up in flames. 506 00:30:34,400 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 3: All right, all right. 507 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: In the fall of nineteen sixty nine, the Doors were 508 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 1: deciding that a hiatus was needed, ironically for the sake 509 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: of Jim's health. During that hiatus, the Zodiac notunched two 510 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,680 Speaker 1: more attacks in under a month by far As Flashy 511 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: at Tor. For the first, he dressed in a hood 512 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 1: with a zodiac symple on it. Then hogtied and stabbed 513 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,800 Speaker 1: a couple on a picnic Nostalgia perhaps for his first 514 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: time was Georgia Melinda, and the hood was needed now 515 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: because Jim's face was just too damn famous. And for 516 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: the second attack, he blew the brains out of a 517 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: cabby in prosidio heights, tore off the dead man's shirttails 518 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 1: and nailed them with the chronicle as a six souvenir 519 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: fame horror that he was. Both murders preceded the recording 520 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: of the Doors album Morrison Hotel by just a few weeks. 521 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 1: Jim knew he needed to fill the soul bank his 522 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: soul kitchen before the growing studio sessions were to start, 523 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,880 Speaker 1: and inevitably ended with Jim once again landing face down 524 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: in the critics den of soul crushing jackals ever since 525 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:12,240 Speaker 1: Marrison Hotel came out. However, it was the Zodiac and 526 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: not Jim who became all talk and no action. Sure, 527 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: he teased the squares through the cryptograms he'd lay out 528 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: on the newspapers with threats of blowing up buses and 529 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,480 Speaker 1: attacking children, but he never did. Jim even leaked a 530 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: little more Zodiac into his lyrics blood Stains the Roof 531 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 1: and the Palm Trees of Venice, blood and My Love 532 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: and the Terrible Summer. But it was clear the magic 533 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: was fading and the art was winning. Now is Jim's 534 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:40,360 Speaker 1: chance to free himself with this demon, the Zodiac, once 535 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: and for All of Jim's many friends and lovers, the 536 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: only one he trusted was Pamela Corson. She had been 537 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: the first to suggest he should quit the doors, get away, 538 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: focus on his poetry, in other words, get into something real, 539 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: some semblance of her real life beyond the madness of 540 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: being a rock star serial killer. Jim didn't tell Pam 541 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 1: he was the Zodiac. Of course, he didn't have to. 542 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: Even without knowing the truth, it was obvious to Pam, 543 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,080 Speaker 1: as it was to everyone else, that Jim needed help. 544 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: The two made plans to Lament in France, and it 545 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 1: was the escape from the madness of rock and roll, 546 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: and it was the escape from the madness of murder. 547 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: But before splitting, Jim reunited with Ray, Robbie and John 548 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: to record the album La Woman. They must have known 549 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 1: this was the band's last hurrah, even if they didn't 550 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: say it. But when the album was done, Jim flew 551 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 1: to Paris. He'd had it with the stress of it all, 552 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 1: his crisis of identity. Was he a killer or a poet? 553 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: The music and the murders, it was all too much, 554 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: No more souls to claim. He'd claimed enough. The only 555 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:52,240 Speaker 1: soul left up for grabs his own. The official take 556 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: is that Jim Morrison died in a Paris bathtub on 557 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 1: July third, nineteen seventy one, but there's a lot that 558 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: officials in the public never knew. In fact, what Jim 559 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 1: was really doing in that bath was an exorcism. Paris 560 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,319 Speaker 1: was a last ditch attempt to save him from his demons. 561 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 1: Literally cafes accordions all the cliches. Since Pam couldn't know 562 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,279 Speaker 1: the extent of his depravity even in Paris, he had 563 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: to play a cool and wait. He drank less, wrote 564 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: more poems, chilled, but all the while the Zodiac was 565 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:27,759 Speaker 1: screaming out from inside, threatening to burst through Jim and 566 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,360 Speaker 1: grab the world by its shoulders and violently shake it 567 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: into an early grave. It's no coincidence that the final 568 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: Zodiac letter received during The Killer's active period reached the 569 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 1: Chronicle mail room around the same time Jim Morrison fled 570 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 1: the United States. It was the Zodiac's last gasp. After months, 571 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,800 Speaker 1: the night finally came. Jim saw his chance to exercise 572 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: his demons, that escape the madness of living as a 573 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 1: serial killer, to get himself whatever that was James. He 574 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,839 Speaker 1: assumed back Pam would be out with friends. Jim could 575 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,800 Speaker 1: do one last accult riche undisturbed. He would submerge himself 576 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,160 Speaker 1: on the claw foot bathtub like a sensory deprivation tank, 577 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,439 Speaker 1: get fully under the surface, chant an entire original Jim 578 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,240 Speaker 1: Morrison's spell without drowning. When he did it, it was dangerous, 579 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: stuck per forming an exorcism on yourself, but Jim didn't 580 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: see it that way. He didn't want to be the Zodiac, 581 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,439 Speaker 1: so he decided he wasn't. He had made a deal 582 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: with the devil long ago for his fame, but he 583 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:28,920 Speaker 1: had always felt like a fraud because of it. He 584 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: wasn't a rock star. He was a poet all those crimes, 585 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,080 Speaker 1: and that was someone else, entirely, a split personality. So 586 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:40,439 Speaker 1: he wasn't exercising himself. He was casting out it that thing, 587 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 1: the monster. Jim closed his eyes and slipped underwater. He 588 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,280 Speaker 1: sang forcefully enough that the water didn't flood his face, 589 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:51,840 Speaker 1: softly enough that he'd have breath for all the lyrics. 590 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:55,160 Speaker 1: He wished Pam was there with him now, but he 591 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,000 Speaker 1: hadn't shared this with her. It would have been too cruel, 592 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 1: and it was too late. An actor out on loan 593 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: and the loan King do no more performance, just a 594 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,000 Speaker 1: final judgment wake up time. Who the fuck are you? 595 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison? That was for him to know and for 596 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,720 Speaker 1: the rest of us to just find out. Now in Paris, 597 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:21,760 Speaker 1: he broke on through to the other side one last 598 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:26,280 Speaker 1: time in a trance. Passed out, submerged, mister Mojo Rising 599 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,600 Speaker 1: went under the Lizard King, shed his skin, the bathwater 600 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,440 Speaker 1: slip streamed into his nostrils, then his lungs, and just 601 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:38,560 Speaker 1: like that, he was gone. Within hours, Pam found the body, 602 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: and no autopsy was ever performed. Some old timers liked 603 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 1: to think he faked it, that he slipped the bonds 604 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,440 Speaker 1: of fame and wandered the earth like king. But someone 605 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 1: died in that tub. The question is who was it? 606 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison or was it the Zodiac freeing the real 607 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:58,360 Speaker 1: man and leaving the real Jim Marrison and wander on 608 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: after the mysterious events of his death and perhaps his rebirth, 609 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:06,719 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison would have been surprised to learn at how 610 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 1: popular his music and words remained throughout the years, and 611 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,800 Speaker 1: he'd likely also be fascinated that some crazy bullshitter with 612 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,800 Speaker 1: a podcast would someday accuse him of being the fucking 613 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 1: Zodiac Killer as an April Fool's joke, which, of course 614 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:23,560 Speaker 1: is what Yours Truly just did. So poor went out 615 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,439 Speaker 1: for the real Jim Morrison and Happy April Fool's Day. 616 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:47,760 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created 617 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,200 Speaker 1: by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 618 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 619 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelandpod dot com. If you're listening as 620 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,280 Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for some recording 621 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,000 Speaker 1: the show. 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