This is not the end, my only friend. A research into motivations of The Doors’ fans to visit Jim Morrison’s grave at Père-Lachaise.

Death-related tourism, or often called dark tourism, has attracted the attention of many scholars. Different theories try to explain why tourists want to visit dark places. Yet, actual motivations to participate in the subfield grave tourism remain under-examined. An interesting example of grave tourism are the millions of tourists that visit Père-Lachaise in Paris each year. Many famous people are buried in this cemetery, including Jim Morrison. In 1971 he was buried there, and the grave of the lead singer of famous band The Doors is the most visited grave worldwide. However, the motivations of fans of The Doors to visit his grave have not been researched. What motivates international fans of The Doors to visit Jim Morrison’s grave at Père-Lachaise in Paris? Researching motivations is a fundamental task to get a greater understanding of this dark tourism practice. Qualitative research methods have been chosen to fill the gap in the literature, since there has been much written about the practices of fan-tourists. Until now, the actual motivations or experiences of these people have often been generalised, so by conducting thirteen interviews, a voice will be given to these people. The results of this study show that the fans had a wish for several years to see Morrison’s grave themselves. One of the main motivations is to further expand their para-social relation at the site, as for many of the fans it is the only way to meet and thank Morrison personally for his art. Many of the fans have been following The Doors after Morrison died, so they feel his auratic presence at the gravesite. Paying respects or taking a photo with the grave is important for them, it connects them even more to him as a person. The fans’ visual observations of the site, such as the graffiti or overall state of the grave, were disappointing. They expected more spectacle, because of Morrison’s association with rock and roll. However, seeing many other fans at the grave was received well and gave physical form to the community that is normally invisible. Being able to talk about Morrison to other fans and connecting with them was an important motivation to travel. Being at a cemetery did confront the visitors with death, and this draws back to the theory of Seaton about dark tourism, but the visitors also became more aware of human mortality and made them think about life. In terms of the reflection, the visit provided an opportunity to be confronted with personal catharsis and it was even experienced as a rite of passage into a deeper layer of the fandom.