The story of the demise of Gram Parsons has always fascinated me. Not so much his death (morphine overdose) but what happened to his body after he died.
Some time before he died, Gram Parsons stated that he wanted his body to be cremated at Joshua Tree National Park in southeastern California. After Gram Parsons died, his stepfather decided to have the body sent to New Orleans for a private burial.
Two of Gram Parsons friends, found out about the intentions of his stepfather, and stole the body from the airport, before it could be sent to New Orleans.
They drove the corpse, in a hearse, to Joshua Tree where they tried to cremate it by pouring five gallons of gasoline inside the open coffin and throwing a lit match inside.
The two were arrested several days later for stealing the coffin (there was no law against stealing a corpse) and were fined several hundred dollars.
They were not prosecuted for leaving Gram Parsons remains in the park.
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