Research Questionnaire On Jim's Grave.............

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Questionnaire for visitors to Jim Morrison’s Grave

When I was at Jims grave on Sunday I met a nice Dutch guy called Peter Jan Margry who told me about his research into Fans visiting the grave and the reasons behind it. He asked if I would be interested in spreading word of his research on my sites and I said I would be delighted. I have put the full questionnaire on the post below for you to cut and paste to your own computers. Take the time to check it out and fill it in and send it either to Peter at the email addys below or simply send it to me and I will pass it on.

"For the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam I am doing research into the cults surrounding contemporary heroes and stars. These cults are at least in part a response to processes of secularisation, the decline of organised religion, and resacralisation. One part of my research focuses on the significance of Jim Morrison and his grave in Paris’s Père Lachaise cemetery. During his life Morrison was already seen as a person gifted with special powers, as a ‘shaman’. One of the things I wish to determine is why and with what intentions (spiritual or otherwise) Jim Morrison’s fans, and others, visit this place.

In my research I am not so much concerned with the experiences of individual persons, but more with the general background and developments. In order to describe these, however, it is necessary to ask questions of a large number of visitors on a personal basis. I hope therefore that you will also cooperate in this inquiry.

To get an understanding of all that is happening, it is important to ask a relatively large number of questions. I would like to ask you to answer the ‘open’ questions as well and as completely as possible, although in view of the subject matter that will not always be easy. For some, certain questions cannot be answered fully, or perhaps not at all; in that case, please write ‘n.a.’ (not applicable).

This questionnaire is anonymous; you do not need to give your name and address (although you may, if you wish). The answers will be preserved in total confidentiality at the Meertens Institute, and will only be used in a general and anonymous manner in an article about the significance of Jim Morrison, in relation to his grave.

Answering the questions will take some time. However, it is of great importance for understanding the significance of Jim and his grave, so that how his fans come together there, and their reasons for doing go, can be described as well as possible!

If answering via the web/email, please type your answers after the corresponding questions in the document. For the multiple choice questions, please put an X before or after the “0”. After having saved your answers, please send the document to my email-address.

If you wish, you can print out the questionnaire, and write in your answers clearly. Then please mail the filled in questionnaire to the postal address below.

If you have other remarks, thoughts or additions, you can add them at the end of the questionnaire.
I thank you in advance for your contribution to the study!"

Peter Jan Margry Amsterdam, July 4, 2005

Meertens Institute / Research and Documentation of Language and Culture of the Netherlands (KNAW)
P.O. Box 94264 - NL-1090 GG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
tel. + 31 (0)20 - 462 85 51
fax + 31 (0)20 - 462 85 55
e-mail [e-mail]
Internet
www.meertens.nl
and www.meertens.nl/medewerkers/peter.jan.margry/

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

‘Jim Morrison and his grave’ questionnaire

General

Gender::
0 male
0 female

Year of birth:

Place of residence:

Nationality: Ethnic background:

Education:
0 primary school
0 secondary school
0 vocational training
0 polytechnic / community college
0 college / university

Civil status:
0 single
0 living together
0 married
0 divorced

Principle employment or profession (past or present):

To understand the spirituality surrounding Jim Morrison’s grave, it would be useful to know what religious tradition you feel more or less connected with:

0 Roman Catholic
0 Protestant
0 Islam
0 Buddhism
0 Humanism
0 esoteric
0 Other (please indicate):
0 None

Do you regard yourself as a practising religious person?
0 No, or hardly
0 Yes (please indicate in what way):



1. The person

1.1 When and how did you personally become acquainted with Jim Morrison for the first time?
............


1.2 What attracted you to him most then?
............


1.3 What attracts you to him most now?
............


1.4 What do you feel are Jim Morrison’s greatest qualities?
............


1.5 What is his most important significance for you personally?
............


1.6 Is he significant for you in other ways too? What are they?
............


1.7 Is Jim for you primarily a musician/performer or a writer/poet?
.............


1.8 What feelings does seeing his face or hearing his voice evoke for you?
............


1.9 What feelings do his music and his texts evoke for you?
............


1.10 What means the name ‘Lizard King’ for you?
............





2. The grave (Père Lachaise, Paris)

2.1 When did you first visit Jim Morrison’s grave?


2.2 To date, how many times have you been to his grave?


2.3 On what specific days do you generally go there?


2.4 Why do you visit the grave?


2.5 Does the monument at the grave have any special meaning for you? If so, what?


2.6 Does this place perhaps also have other specific meanings for you (for instance, as a place for meditation, for celebration, for meeting others)?


2.7 Can you describe precisely what you do at or around the grave? Do you perhaps have a regular ritual you perform each time?


2.8 Do you bring objects with you, or leave letters or photographs at his grave? If so, what are these objects, what sort of photographs are they, or in general, what do the letters concern?


2.9 What is your intention, or what is the function of leaving objects, texts or photos?


2.10 Some call the grave a ‘holy place’. Is this true for you too? If so, can you say why?


2.11 There is a tombstone for Jim in Père Lachaise, but what in the immediate vicinity of the grave is actually also part of this special place for you personally?


2.12 Do you prepare yourself in one way or another for a visit to the grave? If so, how?


2.13 Do you go to the grave
0 alone, because
0 with others, namely
0 to meet others there, because


2.14 During a visit to Jim’s grave, have you ever silently expressed personal questions, or concerns for your life or for others (for instance, in regard to problems, etc.)? If so, what sort of concerns were they?


2.15 Have you ever taken home a souvenir or keepsake from Jim’s grave? If so, what?


2.16 What meaning does this keepsake have for you, or what function does it fulfil? Do you do something with it, or does it do something with you?


2.17 For you, what is the significance of all the graffiti in the vicinity of the grave?


2.18 What would you change or improve in regard to the grave and/or the atmosphere around it?



3. Jim in your daily life

3.1 What does Jim mean, or what does Jim do for you in your daily life?


3.2 On what occasions do you play Jim Morrison’s music?


3.3 When did you hear his music for the first time, and what happened then?


3.4 Some fans have said that Jim ‘gives love’. Do you agree?
0 yes
0 no
If yes, can you explain how this love is expressed?


3.5 What objects or things with regard to Jim Morrison do you have at home?


3.6 Do you regularly have something related to Jim with you (photo, text, tattoo, object, etc.)? If so, what, and when?


3.7 Do you perhaps have a photograph or other memorabilia of Jim hanging/standing in your home? If so, what, and where?


3.8 Do you light candles or burn incense by a photograph or image of Jim? If so, when?


3.9 Do you have one or more collections of Jim’s poetry? If so, do you read the poems, and how often?


3.10 Do these texts also help you? Can you explain how?


3.11 Do particular texts have a spiritual significance for you? Can you explain what that is?


3.12 Can you imagine living without Jim Morrison? If not, why not?


3.13 Do you have contact with other Morrison fans? If so, from which groups and where?


3.14 Have you visited other places that commemorate Jim or remind of him? If so, where?


3.15 Have you visited other similar places? (Elvis’s grave at Graceland, Princess Diana’s at Althorp, etc.)? If so, which ones.......


4. Spirituality

4.1 Some claim that Jim possessed spiritual or shamanistic gifts. Do you agree, and why?


4.2 Some Morrison fans say that they are still in contact with Jim. What do you think of that claim?


4.3 Did you have such experiences. If so, can you describe them?


4.4 For you, is there a higher reality in the world, from which higher or divine beings can exert their influence?
0 yes
0 no
If yes, could Jim Morrison be termed a mediator or a ‘higher power’ from the hereafter or heaven, and why or why not?


4.5 If you have answered yes to the previous question: has Jim ever functioned in that way in your own life (help, comfort, refuge, etc.)?


5. Close

5.1 Are you willing to have the written answers you have given above used anonymously for the purposes of academic research?
0 yes
0 no

Place:

Date:

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Anyone wishing to do this questionnaire the answers should be back in by september 2005....