On April 8, 1994, the body of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain was discovered in a room that sat above his detached garage. Cobain had been described as “the voice of a generation.” Now he was silent, courtesy of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
However, almost a quarter of a century later, many still question the verdict of suicide. Here are some of the strange facts.
No fingerprints on the gun
According to investigation records, there were no usable fingerprints recovered from either the shotgun that Kurt allegedly used to end his life or on the shells that had been loaded into it. Given that Kurt was not found wearing gloves, and the gun lay on his lifeless chest with his left hand clasped around it, they should have been present in several places.
Furthermore, there wasn’t any hint of gun residue that would have been present on Cobain had he fired the weapon.
Perhaps as a further twist, the gun in question was found to have been freshly loaded with three shells. While this is only circumstantial (and admittedly not very convincing), given that the assertion was that Cobain had obtained the shotgun in the immediate run-up to his death in order to kill himself, it was odd that he would load it with three shells instead of just one.
The strange suicide note
The suicide note that Kurt left appears to be quite a thought-provoking, well-planned piece of writing. It has been argued by some who have studied it (and many have) that the note doesn’t make any mention of suicide at all until the last four lines. Until then, it speaks mainly of his love for music but no longer having a love of performing it. Many believe the note was actually talking about his intent to leave the band—something which he may have planned to forward to the media in the days that followed (assuming that theory is correct).
What makes those last four lines even more interesting is that the handwriting appears to some to be written by someone else. The note has been analyzed by many experts, and the findings seem to be pretty much split down the middle. Some say it is the same handwriting; others are certain that it isn’t and insist that another person added the last four lines after Cobain’s death
The unexplained cigarettes
Strangely, a different brand of cigarette than the ones that Cobain smoked were found in the ashtray in the room where his body was discovered. (Cobain’s brand was also in the ashtray.) Whoever may have smoked that other brand of cigarette has never been identified.
Too Much Heroin In His System
It has been argued that not only would the amount of heroin, and Valium to boot, that was found in Cobain’s system likely have left him unable to pull the trigger of a gun, but it would almost certainly have killed him. In his paper
“Dead Men Don’t Pull Triggers,”
Canadian toxicologist Roger Lewis argued this point passionately, stating it would have “either immediately rendered him incapacitated and in a comatose state or killed him instantly.”
Although Lewis stopped short of saying that Cobain was intentionally drugged and murdered, he would stand by his claim that Cobain didn’t pull the trigger on the gun that killed him.Many who dismiss these claims point to the experiments of Dr. Colin Brewer, who, after orally taking up to two times the amount of heroin that Cobain had in his system when he died, was still able to comprehend and even balance on one leg. However, there is a difference in intensity between orally administered doses and injections of “street” heroin. The arguments on this one are strong on either side.
Read more shocking details about Cobain’s strange death The mysterious death of Kurt Cobain