Editing Gram Parsons (section)

==Death==
{{Main|Death of Gram Parsons}}
In the late 1960s, Parsons began to vacation at [[Joshua Tree National Park]] in southeastern California, where he used [[psychedelics]] and said he experienced [[UFO sightings]]. After splitting from Burrell, Parsons often spent his weekends there, with Margaret Fisher and Phil Kaufman. Scheduled to resume touring in October 1973, Parsons decided to go on another recuperative excursion on September 17. Accompanying him were Fisher, his assistant Michael Martin, and Martin's girlfriend Dale McElroy.

On both nights of their stay, Parsons retreated to the desert, consuming large amounts of alcohol and [[barbiturate]]s, while the rest of the group visited bars in nearby [[Yucca Valley, California|Yucca Valley]]. On September 18, Martin drove back to Los Angeles to resupply the group with marijuana. That night, Parsons challenged Fisher and McElroy to drink with him–Fisher didn't drink and McElroy was recovering from illness. Parsons said that he'd drink for the three of them and drank six double tequilas. The three then went to the Joshua Tree Inn, where Parsons purchased [[morphine]] from an unknown woman; after being injected by her in Room #1, he overdosed. Fisher gave Parsons an ice cube [[suppository]], and then a cold shower and moved him to Room #8. She put him to bed and went out to buy [[coffee]] in the hope of reviving him, leaving McElroy to stand guard. As his breathing became irregular and then ceased, McElroy attempted [[CPR|resuscitation]]. After all  attempts failed, they called an ambulance. Parsons was declared dead on arrival at Yucca Valley Hospital at 12:15&nbsp;a.m. on September 19, 1973.  The official cause of death was an overdose of morphine and alcohol.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtpkCgAAQBAJ&q=%22discovering+that+parsons+had+overdosed%22&pg=PA66|title=The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches|first=Jeremy|last=Simmonds|page=66|edition=2nd|date=2012|publisher=Chicago Review Press|access-date=14 April 2020|via=Google Books|isbn=9781556527548}}</ref><ref name="dope">[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_014.html "What's up with the strange end of country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328235408/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_014.html |date=March 28, 2008 }}, ''[[The Straight Dope]]''; accessed September 24, 2017.</ref> Kaufman drove Fisher and McElroy back to Los Angeles and then dispersed the rest of Parsons' drugs in the desert.

[[File:Gram Parsons Memorial.jpg|thumb|Parsons' makeshift memorial in [[Joshua Tree, California]]]]
Although Parsons had said he wanted his body cremated at Joshua Tree and his ashes spread over the formation Cap Rock, Parsons' stepfather organized a private ceremony in New Orleans and left the body in the care of a funeral home.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Strange Death of Gram Parsons: 1973 |publisher=ByrdWatcher: A Field Guide to the Byrds of Los Angeles |url=http://www.ebni.com/byrds/memgrp6.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990420141112/http://ebni.com/byrds/memgrp6.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 April 1999 |access-date=25 March 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gramparsonsproject.com/ |title=Gram Parsons Project, interview with Phil Kaufman |website=Gramparsonsproject.com |access-date=2012-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303043252/http://www.gramparsonsproject.com/ |archive-date=2012-03-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> But, to fulfill Parsons' wishes, Kaufman and a friend stole both a hearse and his body and drove it to Joshua Tree. At Cap Rock Parking Lot, they poured gasoline into the open coffin and lit it, creating an enormous fireball. They were arrested and eventually fined $750.00, for stealing the coffin. What remained of Parsons' body was buried in Garden of Memories Cemetery in [[Metairie, Louisiana]].

The story brings Parsons fans out to a large [[Glossary of climbing terms#F|rock flake]] known to [[rock climbing|rock climbers]] as 'The Gram Parsons Memorial Hand Traverse'. At some point, someone added a slab that marked Parsons' cremation to the memorial rock; that slab was removed by the U.S. National Park Service and is now at the Joshua Tree Inn.<ref name="billboard">[[Billboard Magazine]] article: "[http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/79020/park-service-mulls-gram-parsons-memorial Park Service Mulls Gram Parsons Memorial].</ref> Joshua Tree park guides are given the option to tell the story of Parsons' cremation during tours, but there is no mention of the act in official maps or brochures.<ref name="billboard" />