The Strange But True Story of Gram Parsons and His Post-mortem Trip to Joshua Tree

This week celebrates the deathaversary of music pioneer Gram Parsons. Gram was a great musician who gets a lot of credit for popularizing the country rock sound, which would become famous thanks to bands like the Eagles. He had been a member of the Byrds (after most of their big hits had been recorded), co-founded the Flying Burrito Brothers, sang with an unknown talent named Emmylou Harris and was a close friend of Keith Richards. It’s thanks to Gram’s influence on Keith and the Stones that Exile on Main Street sounds the way it does. Gram was hanging out in the French countryside house while the Stones were recording that now-classic album. He was asked to leave, however, because he was taking so many drugs that he was a bad influence on Keith. That’s not the weird part.

Today, he is often remembered for the circumstances surrounding his untimely death. He died on September 19, 1973, in Joshua Tree, which is a desert community just a couple of hours outside of L.A. He liked to go out to the desert, get high, commune with nature and watch for UFOs. That’s not the weird part.

Not long before he died, Gram attended a friend’s funeral and as he watched the casket lowered into the ground, told his buddies, “Don’t let them do that to me. Don’t put me in the ground if I die. I want to be in Joshua Tree and I want my ashes scattered there.” Or something to that effect. Well, as it turns out, Gram must have known his time was coming because not long after that he died in a Joshua Tree motel from an overdose of alcohol and morphine. He just 26 years old.

Gram’s step-father, Robert Parsons, arranged for the body to be shipped to New Orleans for burial. Grams’s good pal Phil Kaufman couldn’t let that happen—he had promised Gram that his body wouldn’t be buried and that his ashes would be scattered in Joshua Tree. So he took matters into his own hands.

Phil and Gram’s assistant (or former Byrds roadie, depending on the story) Michael Martin arrived at LAX and intercepted the casket on the runway. (Don’t mind me, I’m just looking for my friend’s dead body …) Actually, they pulled up in a hearse and pretended to be mortuary workers. Phil and Michael loaded up the casket, contents and all, and sped off to Gram’s favorite place—Cap Rock in Joshua Tree. Once there, Phil’s plan was to cremate Gram’s body so his ashes would scatter to the wind and everything would be hunky dory. So, he doused the casket with gas and set it aflame.

But there was … an issue. Words of advice: Whenever feel the need to steal a friend’s body with the intention of cremating it, well, think it through. You can’t just cremate a body by setting it on fire. A cremation furnace or "retort" is designed specifically for the task. It burns a lot hotter than an average flame, thereby turning a body into ashes. Dropping a match on your drinking buddy doesn’t really have the same effect. Instead of Gram’s body turning into ashes, it just sorta became a half-assed barbeque. Some burned, some didn't. Learn from Phil’s mistake.

Some lucky person got the job of recovering Gram’s charred corpse and sent it back to his seriously traumatized family in the south. Needless to say, the cops figured out who stole Gram Parsons’ body and arrested Phil Kaufman and Michael Martin. (Imagine that investigation!)

There was no law on the books about stealing a dead body in 1973. The only thing the police could legally charge Phil with was the destruction of a casket. For real. He was fined only $750. Phil raised money for the fine by throwing himself a benefit called Kaufman’s Koffin Kaper Koncert. Today he would just set up a gofundme account.

If this story has inspired you, there is a big disclaimer here: Thanks to this incident, it is now illegal to steal a dead body so think twice before attempting it. Or cremating it. It just doesn’t go well.

Today, fans of Gram Parsons and the occasional death hag hike out to Cap Rock to pay tribute to Gram … and the incident. There are flowers, tributes and the mandatory graffiti. The room that Gram died in can still be rented—room at 8 at the Joshua Tree Inn & Motel if you are so inclined. I would highly recommend bringing Lysol and a few extra towels to throw on the furniture. I've seen an image or two of a clothing-optional musician plopped in one chair without a care in the world. You can’t say we don’t love you.

Spend the night on Cielo Drive on Friday the 13th (or Saturday the 14th Oct.). David Oman, producer of the film The House at the End of the Drive and resident of Cielo Drive, just a few houses down from the Tate Murder location, is throwing open the doors to his haunted home one more time. This time you can spend the night in the house next door, 10070 Cielo, where Mrs. Chapman ran to the morning she discovered the Manson related carnage.

You can sleep in that very house. Both David's and the house next door are crazy haunted. TRUE. The all-night package includes the sleep over, a BBQ dinner, all the investigating you can shake a stick at (bring your own equipment or join the group. You'll have plenty of "alone" time). Also included is a screening of the film The House at the End of the Drive, movie swag and a morning brunch. This is better deal than most hotels in LA and this is history.

If you’d like to hear about more dead celebrities, you’re in luck. We just happen to run the Tragical History Tour on a daily basis here at Dearly Departed Tours. For more information, click here.