What Really Happened to Jimi Hendrix
“As you all know, you just can’t believe everything you see and hear, can you?”
When it comes to detailing Jimi Hendrix’s last weeks on Earth, we are faced with truckloads of factual errors (small and large), typos, unsubstantiated rumours, gossip, hearsay, conspiracy theories, myths, rantings, bogus “statements,” facts which have been overlooked or wrongly interpreted, truths or half-truths, pre-meditated lies, a barrage of claims and counter-claims, minor or complete loss of people’s memory, and statements made in one context only to be denied or altered or completely overturned by yet another statement, until, needless to say, 42 years on, fact and fiction have become almost hopelessly blurred, making it at times difficult to determine what really went on, where, on what day, and at what time.
In particular, bogus statements have clouded the issues immensely over the last 45 years. Several of such “statements” simply do NOT EXIST (i.e. they have never been seen by anyone) and were invented by those who are out to put the blame for Jimi’s death with Monika Dannemann. Yet, there isn’t a single shred of evidence or proof to suggest Monika Dannemann had anything whatsoever to do with Jimi’s death.
Unless you are willing to keep a fully open mind on matters regarding Jimi’s death (or even better, forget everything you have ever been told or have read on the subject up to this moment), I’d suggest to S-T-O-P reading any further N-O-W.
When it comes to reporting on Jimi Hendrix matters, I only present F-A-C-T-S (those which can be backed up). You may believe Jimi was a junkie and addicted to hard drugs - fine with me, but show me proof. You may believe Jimi was “murdered by his manager”- fine with me, but show me proof. You may believe Michael Jeffery cashed in on Jimi’s insurance policies - fine with me, but show me proof. You may believe Jimi was death “hours before” the ambulance arrived at 11:27 - fine with me, but show me proof. You may believe Jimi’s body was full of red wine when he arrived for treatment in the hospital - fine with me, but show me proof. You may believe alcohol in combination with drugs are the reason Jimi died - fine with me, but show me proof. THERE IS NO PROOF. Fact.
As you are about the read at the very end of this extract below, the only person responsible for Jimi’s death was Jimi himself. It was Jimi who (voluntarily) took nine ultra-strong [and lethal] Vesparax sleeping tablets and that is the sole reason he died on Friday, 18 September 1970 between 12:00 and 12:15 at St. Mary Abbots Hospital in London. Take nine Vesparax sleeping tablets (the recommended dose was just 1/2 to 1 tablet) and are you are DEATH three to four hours later – GUARANTEED. Sad, of course, but I am afraid that is a fact.
FRIDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 1970
Late in the evening (previous night) or early this morning (between 01:00 and 01:45) Monika Dannemann drives Jimi over to the flat of Pete Kameron (music entrepreneur) in Great Cumberland Place, London W.1. Also present: Angie Burdon, Stella Douglas (wife of Alan Douglas at that time), Burt Kleiner (financier), David Salmon (Wimpy fast-food chain owner at that time), Devon Wilson, and likely a few (unnamed) others.
NOTE: Alan Douglas was NOT present; he had already returned to New York three days earlier.
Monika Dannemann: “After dropping him off, I called half an hour later as Jimi had asked me to. He asked me to call again in ten minutes, which I did and he then told me to come and fetch him. Arriving at the street all the houses in that block looked the same, and as I couldn’t remember the number of the house; I had to call again [from a nearby hotel]; Jimi came out at once. Turning around Marble Arch I asked him if he wanted to pass by the Speakeasy and see Mitch before we went home. Jimi said that Mitch could wait and that he wanted to go back to the flat and spend the time with me. He said to me that he tried to speak to Devon but she was completely stoned and so he would try to speak to her the next day. Mitch wanted to see Jimi, but didn’t. We were supposed to meet him at the Speakeasy, but we didn’t go because Jimi didn’t want to go there.”
NOTE: The most likely reason as to why Jimi wasn’t interested in going into the Speakeasy for a jam was because he simply had no guitar with him as his black maple Fender Stratocaster, of course, was in the Samarkand basement flat. However, it should also be noted that Jimi and Mitch were communicating very little together after Jimi got rather annoyed with Mitch when Karen Davis and Mitch became an “item” during the European concert tour in early September 1970. According to Karen Davis, the only conversation she witnessed between Jimi and Mitch was Jimi saying, Pass me the salt....
Monika and Jimi arrive back at the Samarkand basement flat, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, Kensingon, London W.11) at around 03:00.
Monika Dannemann: “As we got ready for bed Jimi asked for something to eat. I was in the kitchen preparing him a fish sandwich.”
NOTE: Monika clarified this to me in her letter dated 29 December 1994: “True, I said I made a tuna sandwich, but I never said he ate the sandwich. He actually, if you want to know the precise details, only had one bite of it. He didn’t drink at that time any more wine but Coca-Cola.”
Monika Dannemann: ”I got into bed and took one [Vesparax] sleeping tablet... It was already 6:00 am when I took the tablet. I had been sleeping so little these past few days that I had to rest up... To my surprise, Jimi picked up his necklace with the crucifix from the table and put it on. I had never seen him go to sleep wearing his crucifix before... The last time I looked at my clock it was close to 7:00 am. I can only vaguely remember what Jimi said during 6:00 and 7:00 as I was feeling the effects of the tablet. I fell asleep in his arms. I woke at about 10:00 am and Jimi was still sleeping soundly.
“I had some breakfast, and then wanted a cigarette, but found out we had run out. I knew Jimi wouldn’t like me to go anywhere without telling him, but decided it was more important for him to sleep. I made the decision to pop out and buy some cigarettes. I went back to the bedroom, had a close look, and saw that Jimi was sleeping peacefully. When I returned [at circa 11:00] I saw that Jimi was still asleep. Looking closer I saw that he was sick. There was the distinct smell of vomit in the [bed]room and he was not moving.
“I loudly called his name several times while shaking him... yet Jimi wouldn’t wake up. Next I rushed into the bathroom to get some cold water in a glass and poured it over Jimi’s face, but he didn’t react. He was still breathing as calmly as always, though. Suddenly I stepped on something. I looked down and saw a packet of sleeping tablets on the floor, which I picked up to find that all ten were missing... I quickly checked the drawer where he had taken them from and saw that none of the other three packages had been touched... .
“They are in packets of ten and I thought he had taken the lot. But [later] a police officer [John Shaw] found one on the floor [concealed by the edge of the bed]. [Jimi] must have taken them [possibly first two and later seven more, or all nine in one go] shortly after I started to go to sleep... . I knew I had to get help at once and remembered that Jimi’s private doctor was a Dr. [James M.] Robertson. In Germany, in similar circumstances, you call your private doctor first.”
At circa 11:10, Monika phones Judy Wong and asks if she knows the telephone number of Dr. Robertson. She doesn’t, but gives Monika the phone number where to reach Alvenia Bridges. Monika then phones her (at the “Russell Hotel,” 1-8 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London WC.1) for advice.
Monika Dannemann: “Alvenia answered the phone, and I told her that Jimi had taken some sleeping pills and was being sick, and that I couldn’t wake him. She didn’t know the doctor’s number, and suggested I call an ambulance, to which I agreed. Eric Burdon, who was with Alvenia, suddenly came to the phone, saying there was no need to worry and that I should wait and see if Jimi woke up on his own. I said I thought I should call an ambulance at once, and Eric replied, ‘Then call your fucking ambulance.’”
Eric Burdon: “I said he would be okay, but later told her to get an ambulance. I thought he would be all right then... I was thinking, ‘why would anybody want to wake Jimi up?’ He never woke up before noon. She was frantic, so I told her just to walk him round, coffee, splash some water in his face, you know?”
Alvenia Bridges: “While [Monika] was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, she had hidden his guitar... I think he had a little bit of [cannabis]... In those days that was serious business... Anything that would lead them to believe, you know, there was more than just a black man there... She didn’t want [the ambulance attendants] to know who he was.”
Monika Dannemann: “I dialled [from the private direct dial telephone in her flat; the recent rumour that she called from a telephone box is false] 999 immediately [at 11:18], saying it was an emergency, explaining what had happened and asking them to hurry up... [Then] Alvenia rang back and asked me which hospital Jimi would be taken to. I said I didn’t know yet as the ambulance hadn’t come yet, but promised to call her from the hospital on our arrival.”
Circa three minutes later (thus BEFORE the ambulance had arrived), a Police Constable (name unknown; maybe PC Upton?) arrives in a Panda car at 22 Lansdowne Crescent.
NOTE: In 1970 it was standard practice for ambulance control to telephone the local police station and inform them of any 999 calls requesting an ambulance for “out of the ordinary” circumstances.
At 11:27 a Wadham ambulance with Reginald Jones (driver) and John Suau (attendant) arrives at 22 Lansdowne Crescent.
A few minutes later, PC Ian Smith (29 years old in September 1970); attached to Notting Hill Police Station) arrives in a Panda car: “I’ve had a few people coming to interview me. Basically all I can tell them is that I was around at the time. I didn’t see him [in the basement flat]; I was there as they were carrying him out. I didn’t know who he was till later... .”
NOTE: In 1993, Dennis Care showed Ian Smith the text of a “statement” (published in Straight Ahead #43, October 1992; Jimi Hendrix: A Visual Documentary by Tony Brown, p. 125; Hendrix: The Final Days by Tony Brown, p. 139) purported to have been made by him. When shown the “statement” text, “Mr. Ian Smith immediately disowned it.”
Monika Dannemann: “[The ambulancemen] said ‘nothing to worry about, pulse and everything is normal’ – they were not worried one bit. I drove with him; they didn’t put the siren on or anything... They checked his heart and they looked into his eyes. One of the ambulance men turned to me and said he’s just in a very deep sleep; he’ll be walking out of the hospital this afternoon, laughing about the whole affair... I was worried but I was not panicking.”
PC Ian Smith: “When the ambulance left the [Samarkand] scene I do not recall the two-tone horn and blue light of the ambulance being operated.”
Monika Dannemann: “They put Jimi on this [Rumbold stretcher] chair because our basement flat had a spiral staircase and they couldn’t get him up the stairs on a [standard] stretcher. They put the chair in the ambulance and I got in with Jimi and this guy [Suau]; the other one [Jones] was driving. But while we were driving Jimi was sitting in the chair and his head kept falling forwards and this guy [Suau] kept pushing it backwards and it wasn’t until later that I was told that the best position when somebody has taken sleeping tablets and they are sick is to lay him on the floor and turn the head to the side so that the stuff can flow out and they can breathe. Just when we entered the [hospital] entrance the ambulanceman [Suau] started to move fast, and put an oxygen mask on Jimi.”
John Suau (24 years old in September 1970): “I went in first followed very quickly by Reg. To the best of my recollection the door was open when I arrived... But someone must have met me at or near the door... The patient was a coloured man, he was wearing I believe only a pair of trousers [sic] or pyjama bottoms [sic]... He was on the bed, lying on his back [?]; there was vomit around his mouth, on his chest and some on the pillow cases – not masses of it but more than enough to see what had happened... . This patient was still alive, just, but he was pretty far gone... The bladder and bowels had not voided then and neither did they in the ambulance on the journey to the hospital... There was no mess in the ambulance caused by our patient... I also remember vaguely a woman at the Admission Desk [of St. Mary Abbots]; she could only have known where we were taking the patient if she’d come with us or followed the ambulance... .”
NOTE: John Suau: “I was... shown [on 7 July 1993 by Dennis Care] a copy of what I was alleged to have said when I was interviewed about this matter by two women... The vast majority of that document [published in Straight Ahead #43, October 1992; Voodoo Child #27, Summer 1992; Jimi Hendrix: A Visual Documentary by Tony Brown, p. 125; and Hendrix: The Final Days by Tony Brown, p. 137] is untrue and does not reflect what I said at that [telephone] interview.”
Reginald Jones (41 years old in September 1970): “I don’t really remember the Hendrix case that well... Lying on a bed was a coloured chap; I didn’t have a clue who he was then of course. I think he was completely undressed. I carried out the usual thorough check... If there had been no pulse then I would immediately have attempted resuscitation... I didn’t on this patient so there was obviously no need to do so... There was nothing suspicious either... I did the blankets in the usual way... Then we put him in a ‘Rumbold stretcher’ – that’s a fold-up chair-like thing with [two] wheels... [and two] legs... Then we carried him up the steps, into the ambulance and onto the stretcher bed [?]... At the hospital the staff took over... If the woman [Monika] didn’t come with us in the ambulance then I don’t know how she would have known where we went... .”
Monika Dannemann: “Jimi was definitely alive when the ambulance came... .”
The ambulance driven by Reginald Jones (with John Suau, Monika Dannemann, and Jimi in the back) departs from 22 Lansdowne Crescent at about 11:35. At 11:45 the ambulance arrives at St. Mary Abbots Hospital, Marloes Road, Kensington, London W.8.
The level of competence of ambulance attendants (some people term them “glorified bus drivers”) varies enormously and likely even more so four decades ago. They are NOT trained paramedics. For example, J. Suau and/or R. Jones should have put an oxygen mask on Jimi the very second he was put inside the ambulance. Also, ambulance attendants do not transport dead bodies (that is solely a job for the police). IF Jimi was dead the police would have sealed off the flat in order to preserve the scene and secure evidence. They didn’t.
John Suau: “As the ambulance pulled into the hospital [the patient] sighed and stopped breathing... At this stage the ambulance had pulled into the accident bay. The ambulance was met by a nurse or doctor to whom I said ‘he’s gone.’”
After Jimi had been taken into the Casualty Department, he was first seen by Dr. John Herbert Bannister and secondly by Dr. Martin Howard Seifert.
--- MARTIN HOWARD SEIFERT, born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, 16 November 1939.. Primary Medical Qualifications: MB BS. Seifert was registered as a qualified Doctor with the General Medical Counsel in London on 11 October 1965. His name has remained on the GMC register ever since (currently he is practicing as Consultant Rheumatologist in London). ---
Dr. Martin Seifert (30 years old in September 1970): “To say that [Jimi] was dead when they [Suau and Jones] got to the [hospital] is probably incorrect. When they brought Jimi into the hospital there was still some life left in him – which is why we worked so hard on him. We wouldn’t have worked so hard trying to resuscitate him if he was already dead. There was some breathing going on – whether you call that life or not is another story. I worked on him for about ten minutes, and when I couldn’t get him to breathe I then decided to shut down the oxygen and declare that he was dead. I personally couldn’t find any sign of alcohol or anything like that on him when I examined him.”
--- JOHN HERBERT BANNISTER, born in Australia, 1932. Primary Medical Qualifications: MB BS in Sydney, 1965. He was registered as a qualified Doctor on the General Medical Counsel in London on 29 July 1969. His name remained on the GMC register during 1970 and 1971 but there is no mention of him on the 1972 register. (The actual date when Bannister came off the GMC register could not be established.)
In 1972, Dr. Bannister returned to Australia and practiced from 1975 until 1992 as a specialist orthopedic surgeon in Sydney until he was deregistered in New South Wales, Australia, and (permanently) struck off the Medical Register on 28 April 1992 when he was found guilty on three out of six charges brought against him after complaints from two of his patients (Shirley Patterson and Maxwell King) for what the Tribunal described as, “professional misconduct and inappropriate and unethical conduct.” According to the Tribunal, Bannister “has demonstrated a lack of adequate knowledge, experience, skill, judgment and/or care in the practice of medicine.”
Dr. Bannister was also found guilty on several fraud charges. The Tribunal stated: “The persistence of such deceitful conduct over a continuous period of five years from 1986 to 1990 comfortably satisfies this Tribunal on the balance of probabilities that his conduct indicates within his character a marked degree of moral turpitude and, to use the words of s 28(1)(f) of the Medical Practitioners Act, ‘it indicates that he is not of good character.’” NOTE: Dr. Bannister appealed the deregistration decision, but lost.
NOTE: Reporter Ben Hoyle incorrectly claims (The Times, 20 July 2009) that Bannister had been struck off the medical register in Australia only for “fraudulent conduct.”
NOTE: Editor Robert L. Doerschuk incorrectly claims (Musician #207, February 1996) that Dr. Bannister was “disciplined” merely for “an accounting error” and that “No one other than Dannemann has publicly criticized his performance as a doctor.” Instead, two of Dr. Bannister’s patients filed a series of serious complaints against him.
Monika Dannemann: “I went [and talked] to the doctor [Dr. Bannister]; I had taken the [Vesparax] packet with me. He was not very concerned; he was more concerned seeing me and Jimi – black and white – he didn’t like it. ‘We are getting married if you want to know,’ I said, ‘but that is not what it’s all about’ and he kept on asking me questions privately. I said: ‘From now on I want it private.’ He said, ‘All right, don’t worry, we’ll do it private.’ But I found out later, this hospital didn’t treat anybody private; he was just telling me this... I had the feeling, because I was a female, that they didn’t take me serious... I had the feeling with the doctor, because he was more interested, not in Jimi as a patient, he was interested in Jimi and my relationship and I had the feeling that there was some racial feeling. He was not young; he was, I think 40, 45 – around that.”
On 30 January 1992, I received the following (inconsistent) letter from Dr. John Bannister (38 years old in September 1970): “At the time of his death, I was the Surgical Registrar on duty at St. Mary Abbots Hospital. I have in the back of my mind that it was a Saturday [sic – Instead, it was a Friday]; however this may not be the case as I cannot remember precisely.
“I was called to Casualty with one or two Medical Officers. The ambulance had brought in a patient who was unconscious. He was taken out of the ambulance on a trolley and wheeled into Casualty. We attempted resuscitation and cardiac massage. Continual suction of his pharynx and larynx was performed.
“On his admission, he was obviously dead. He had no pulse, no heart beat and the attempt to resuscitate him was merely a formality, an attempt we would perform on any patient in such condition. His mucous membranes in the larynx and pharynx were completely cyanosed and prior to suction there was red wine and gastric contents exuding from his mouth.
“The very striking memory of this event in my mind was the considerable amount of alcohol in his pharynx and larynx, despite suction, and it was obvious that he had drowned in his own gastric contents.
“At the time I was not aware who Jimmy [sic] Hendrix was, but it was pointed out to me soon after. I recall vividly the large amounts of red wine that oozed from his stomach and his lungs, and in my opinion there was no question that Jimmy [sic] Hendrix had drowned, if not at home then certainly on the way to hospital. At that time I felt he had either been on sedative tablets, to sleep or otherwise, and that he had imbibed copious amounts of red wine prior to going to sleep. I would suspect that he regurgitated the red wine and drowned... .
“The scene remains extremely vivid in my memory and I can quite clearly recall the large amounts of red wine causing his hair and clothes [sic – Instead, Jimi was naked] to be matted.”
On 26 February 1992 I received a second letter from Dr. John Bannister:
“I have a very vague recollection of one or even possibly two people in the background at Casualty but no doubt they were asked to wait outside... . May I assure you that although it was obvious that Hendrix had been dead for some time full attempts at cardiac resuscitation were performed... I can recall to this day, that his respiratory tract and his pharynx were full of red wine mixed with gastric contents, and despite rigorous suction of the upper tracts still copious amounts of red wine/gastric contents continued to flow into the suction apparatus.
“I still vividly to this day recall this aspect of the resuscitation and how tragically this man had died, literally drowning himself in red wine. He was lifeless completely and although it is impossible to say how long before he had died, it is my belief that it was not on the way to the hospital. I suspect that it may have been hours and not minutes before.
“I have read the [post-mortem] report of the coroner [sic – Means the pathologist]. I note that he found nearly half a litre, 400 mls, of free fluid in the [left] chest. He does not qualify what type of fluid this is but in an otherwise healthy individual I would have thought that this [is] abnormal. I suspect that this may have been gastric contents. I also note an absence of notation about any wine or similar colored liquid in the lungs or in the stomach. I also find it difficult to believe that a normal Ethanol content was found.
“I take it that the Professor [Robert Donald Teare] when asked about the cause of death was referring to intoxication by Barbiturate [yes - C.G.] or was he referring to alcohol intoxication? [No. - C.G.]
“In my opinion he did not die in the hospital and was long dead before he came out of the ambulance. I do not believe that if he would have been taken to a closer hospital that he would have survived.”
Monika Dannemann: “In regards to Dr. Bannister, what he says makes no sense at all. Both on the account of the death of Jimi and the alleged red wine story.”
Dr. Martin Seifert: “I did not have any idea who he was when he was first brought in and initially I am certain that none of the attendant medical officers or nurses knew who he was. I did not personally see the ambulance when Jimi arrived. It is difficult to know exactly how soon after Jimi arrived that I attended the Casualty Department, as Dr. Bannister and myself were called to the Department as soon as he arrived. I do recall that Jimi was fully dressed [sic] when I saw him. I do not recall any blanket being wrapped around him. When I reached Jimi he was lying on an examination coach; I vividly remember seeing him lying flat on his back at that stage.“
NOTE: Jimi was naked (besides the ambulance blankets that were wrapped around him) when he was transported to the hospital. These blankets would then have been removed from Jimi after his arrival in the Casualty Department.
Dr. Martin Seifert: “My duty as a Medical Registrar was to try to resuscitate any patients coming in who were unconscious. We would have been giving him cardiac massage. I have no idea what Dr. Bannister did at Casualty at that stage. We worked on Jimi for a very short time, probably between five to ten minutes. I do not consider that he had much chance at survival. I never discussed the details concerning 18 September 1970 with Dr. Bannister.”
It is remarkable that Dr. Bannister first claims that Jimi “was unconscious” and a few sentences later in his letter claims that “he was obviously dead.” It’s either “unconscious” OR “dead” – but not BOTH. At any rate, Dr. Bannister incorrectly claims that Jimi was “long dead” or dead for “hours” before he saw him at Casualty in the hospital. Why? Two very simple answers (which Dr. Bannister and several amateur “sleuths” overlooked or maybe never even have heard about):
- If Jimi had been dead for “hours,” rigor mortis would have been noticeable.
Rigor mortis is the muscular phenomenon on a dead body which starts circa 30 minutes after death (it starts with the stiffening of the neck and goes progressively down towards the feet).
- If Jimi had been dead for “hours,” lividity would have been noticeable.
Lividity is the discolouring phenomenon on a dead body which starts circa two hours after death. Once the heart stops beating, blood sinks to the lowest point (or points) in the deceased: if one dies while lying on one’s back, lividity would affect the dorsal areas, while if one dies while lying face-down, lividity would occur on the face.
Dr. Martin Seifert: “When he was first brought to Casualty he would have been triaged by the nurses and possibly the Casualty Officer.”
Hospital nurses, not to mention a Casualty Officer, are fully professional trained paramedics and for any of them not to spot a dead patient with rigor mortis or lividity symptoms is completely out of the question. Next, no doctor in Casualty would engage in resuscitating a dead patient! Besides, IF Jimi was dead on arrival at St. Mary Abbots, he would have been taken straight down to the morgue and not brought into Casualty for any urgent treatment. And finally, for those who still sputter and wish to continue roaming in “long dead” fantasy-land, here is the official clincher:
The Inner West London Coroner’s Officer’s Report Concerning Death (typed up on 30 September 1970 by P. Weyell of the Coroner’s office) states:
“If deceased has been seen by any legally qualified medical man, before or after death, give name and address.”
The details typed in the opposite column are:
“Dr SEIFERT. Hospital, before and after death.”
- “Long dead” theory: dismissed.
Dr. Bannister also incorrectly claims that Jimi’s body was full of “red wine.” If Jimi’s body was full of wine (whatever the colour), the autopsy would have detected that and as such the post-mortem report would certainly have stated a much higher alcohol level than the mere 46 mgs the pathologist, Prof. Teare, actually detected.
Dr. Bannister (in his apparently rusty mind) is surely mixing the “red wine” up with Coca-Cola, which, of course, looks red/brown in colour) as that was the last liquid Jimi drank in the early morning hours of the 18th. Therefore, the Coca-Cola was the “similar colored liquid” Dr. Bannister saw and not red wine.
Stella Douglas: “I don’t know [anything about red wine]... It’s so hard for me to imagine because [Jimi] usually didn’t drink red wine.”
Besides Dr. Bannister, nobody else has ever claimed to have seen any red wine on Jimi. Ambulance attendants Jones and Suau certainly didn’t see red wine on Jimi when they arrived at the Samarkand flat, while Dr. Seifert confirmed in February 2000 (on film): ”I personally couldn’t find any sign of alcohol or anything like that on him when I examined him” at the hospital.
NOTE: Steven Roby & Brad Schreiber incorrectly claim (Becoming Jimi Hendrix, p. 182) that “the autopsy [report] revealed an abnormally large amount of red wine in Jimi’s lungs... .”
- “Red wine” theory: dismissed.
[Suspicious “fact”: when wine comes up in connection with Jimi Hendrix’s final days and death, it’s always supposed to be red. Yet, there isn’t a single photo on file showing Jimi drinking red wine. Instead, he nearly always drank white wine and only occasionally sipped some Mateus rosé.]
In early 1992, Dr. M Rufus Crompton (a former Home Office Pathologist; he was removed in 1993 from that list) was hauled in to go over Prof. Teare’s original post-mortem examination of 21 September 1970. On 28 February 1992, Dr. Crompton (80 years old in 2012; now retired) wrote a letter (partly reprinted in Musician #207, February 1996) with his findings to Harry Shapiro. Dr. Crompton incorrectly claims the following in his letter:
“Hendrix may have realised that he was too high on Amphetamine and looked for a barbiturate [Vesparax] to bring him down.”
Boloney! The likelihood of Jimi being “too high” after taking one ‘black bomber’ and having puffed on a few joints, all of which took place almost five hours before he took nine Vesparax tablets, is extremely remote.
- Hendrix ”smelled of wine and it was on his face and hair.”
Boloney! This is a ludicrous “observation” coming from someone who never even saw Hendrix on 18 September 1970, so how on earth does Dr. Crompton know for a fact (and not based on hearsay whispered into his pathologist-ear or something he deduced from something else he’d read somewhere) how Hendrix smelled that morning or what was on his face and hair?
The last wine Jimi drank was between 23:00 and 01:00, so therefore Jimi simply cannot have “smelled of wine” close to eleven hours later in the Casualty Department. Besides, we know from Dr. Seifert (who, unlike Dr. Crompton, was present that morning with Jimi at Casualty), that there wasn’t “any sign of alcohol” on Jimi.
NOTE: Editor Robert L. Doerschuk incorrectly claims (Musician #207, February 1996), that Dr. Crompton in his 28 February 1992 letter to Shapiro wrote: “5:30 a.m. Possible time of Hendrix’s death.” Dr. Crompton did not write that.
It should be noted that according to a footnote published in Musician #210, June 1996, Dr. Crompton “now is on record as saying that it is impossible to ascertain the exact time of Hendrix’s death.” Since no reason for Crompton’s U-turn was stated, I wrote him a registered letter on 6 November 2010 and asked for his explanation. Crompton failed to respond.
It has been incorrectly claimed by London Ambulance Service HQ (in a press statement issued by Press and Public Affairs Manager David Smith, dated 3 January 1992) that “there was no one else, except the deceased [sic], at the flat when they [the two ambulancemen] arrived.”
If “there was no one else,” how did Reginald Jones and John Suau gain access into the basement flat? It was either Monika Dannemann or the already present PC who showed Jones and Suau inside.
Dee Mitchell [real name: Dolores Ann Cullen] wrote the following to Monika Dannemann in late 1995: “I spoke to ambulanceman John Suau three times... I wish I could sum it all up for you easily, but the problem is he said different things all three times... The very first time I spoke to him [in 1991], he said no one else was in the flat but the ‘little girl.’ And when I asked ‘who, if anyone, had come in the ambulance with Jimi,’ he said ‘I think the little girl did, the little blond girl.’ ‘Yes,’ he remembered, ‘she rode in the back of the ambulance.’ By little, he meant petitite, not young child. But I really don’t know about the other times I spoke to him, because I did not ask him about you, only about the treatment and state of Jimi. I understand he [Suau] now will not speak to anyone about it... .”
- “Empty flat” theory: dismissed.
Ben Hoyle (reporter): “Mr. Bannister was the on-call registrar at the now defunct St. Mary Abbots Hospital in Kensington on the morning that Hendrix was brought in. He had no idea who the famous patient was but remembers that he was ‘very long – he was hanging over the table we had him on by about ten inches.’”
Boloney! Jimi was just 5 foot 11 (180 cm) and an examination couch in a hospital is most certainly longer than that.
- “Longest patient on earth” theory: dismissed.
Monika Dannemann: “I went and called up a friend [Alvenia Bridges] to let Gerry Stickells know what was happening. [Shortly after 12:00, Alvenia Bridges arrives (by taxi) at St. Mary Abbots Hospital.] A little later [around 12:15] another nurse [name unknown] came up to [us] and said, ‘I’m sorry, but he passed away.’”
Walter Pryce: “Part of my duty at [St. Mary Abbots Hospital] was to deal with all deceased persons, booking them into the mortuary, [and] safeguarding their possessions... He had a “silver crown of thorns” [crucifix] around his neck on a silver chain. It was prickly and you could see the little marks where it had been around his neck. There was a young girl there who wanted that but of course she couldn’t have it. All possessions have to go to the Coroner and then they go to relatives. In this case the belongings eventually went to his father I believe.”
Dr. Martin Seifert: “As far as relatives or friends were concerned there was nobody, obviously, actually in the room with us as we were trying to resuscitate him. But there was a lot of screaming going on in the background. I vividly remember that. A lady screaming very loudly outside the [Casualty] room. No one would have been allowed to look at him or stand over him. That would never have been done.”
Monika Dannemann: “Dr. Martin Seifert is right to say that it was against the rules for me [and Alvenia Bridges] to see Jimi in the hospital after his death. What he does not know is that the nurse, realising how serious and determined I was, eventually gave in and let me see him, breaking the rules. When I walked into the [small] room [on the ground floor] Jimi was laying peacefully on a table. All of a sudden I felt at ease seeing the peace and happiness he was enjoying. I knew his spirit was happy again... .”
Walter Pryce: “There was no sign of agony on his face which you sometimes see; he was just peaceful. He looked as if he was asleep... His head was bandaged so that his mouth didn’t fall open – that is the usual procedure.”
Around 13:00, Eric Barrett, Gerry Stickells, and Terry Slater arrive (in taxis) at St. Mary Abbots Hospital.
Gerry Stickells: “Somebody [Terry Slater] called me and said ‘there’s a bit of a problem.’ So I went over to [Jimi’s] hotel, ‘cause he was [officially] staying at the Cumberland, and he wasn’t there – bed hadn’t been slept in... So I called somebody else and [was] told what was going on. So I rushed straight over to the hospital... They didn’t say [Jimi] was dead, so I rushed to the hospital. That’s where I found out.”
NOTE: Gerry Stickells incorrectly claims that he called “somebody else.” Instead, it was Alvenia Bridges who called him (on Monika Dannemann’s request).
At 12:45, Dr. Martin Seifert officially pronounced James Marshall Hendrix dead.
Between 13:00 and 14:00, Gerry Stickells officially identifies Jimi’s body.
Shortly thereafter, Walter Pryce moves Jimi’s body to the morgue of St. Mary Abbots Hospital.
At 15:00, PS John Shaw and PC Upton (first name unknown) from Notting Hill Police Station (a.k.a. Notting Dale Police Station), located at 99-101 Ladbroke Road, Notting Hill, London W.11, go to the Chapel of Rest at St. Mary Abbots Hospital.
John Shaw: “Where I saw a lifeless body of James Marshall Hendrix... .”
Sometime between 15:00 and 16:00, Eric Barrett, Alvenia Bridges, Gerry Stickells, and Terry Slater drive (in taxis) together with Monika Dannemann over to her Samarkand basement flat.
Terry Slater: “I noticed a block of hash about an inch square on a table at the side of the bed... I disposed of this block of hash by throwing it into the bushes in the garden.”
Monika Dannemann: “The only bedding that was soiled [was] the pillow cases. Even though they were only slightly soiled I couldn’t look at them so either Alvenia or myself put them out in the garden. The rest of the bedding remained on the bed.”
Cleaner Peggy ******** [surname deleted by me – C.G.]: “On the lawn at the back, close to the windows of the bedroom of the apartment, I found two slightly soiled pillow cases... The pillow cases were slightly soiled with dried vomit; there was not a lot on them but it had dried. [I was] ordered to throw them away and that is what I did... The remainder of the bedding was not soiled in any way – the sheets, bedlinen, and mattress were all perfectly clean. The apartment itself was slightly untidy but clean and it is quite wrong for any person to say the apartment ‘was in a terrible state’ following the death of Jimi Hendrix – it was not.”
Lydia Ranvaud (Samarkand housekeeper): “The two pillow cases were thrown away on the instructions of Mr. Dan Hall but there really was no need to have done this, they merely required washing out... .”
NOTE: Eric Burdon incorrectly claims (Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood by Eric Burdon with J. Marshall Craig, p. 136) that he was present at the “clean-up” operation as well. Instead, Burdon was doing a photo call with War on the roof of the “Russell Hotel” in London WC.1 at that very moment. Besides, if Burdon had been present at Samarkand at that time, he surely would have been photographed by the paparazzi gathered outside Samarkand all afternoon. Countless images taken that afternoon only show Barrett, Dannemann, and Slater, while Burdon is nowhere to be seen.
Kathy Etchingham: “Terry Slater told me that Jimi was lying on the bed dead while they were cleaning the place up.”
Boloney! Instead, the “clean-up” operation took place in the late afternoon (between 15:00 and 16:00), several hours after Jimi had been officially declared dead by Dr. Martin Seifert at St. Mary Abbots.
Monika Dannemann: “Gerry Stickells and Eric Barrett... only were interested in all the messages Jimi had received. Clothes-wise, they didn’t bother at all. And the [black Fender] guitar, that was one of the things they wanted to take... And it was Eric Barrett who sort of said to Gerry Stickells, ‘let her have it.’”
A few minutes later, PS Shaw, PC Upton, and PC Weyell (of the Coroner’s office) arrive at the flat and start their investigation and interview Monika.
John Shaw: “I saw in the bedroom a double bed without clothing.”
NOTE: When Shaw was asked at the Inquest, “Did you notice anything unusual?” he duly replied, “No, everything was smart and clean.”
Police forces have a duty to investigate all sudden deaths. Additionally, all sudden deaths must be treated as “suspicious” until proven otherwise. Therefore an initial police investigation must be completed which amongst other things, preserves the scene and secures available evidence. Thus, the afternoon “clean-up” job (which did not last long as the police arrived only a few minutes later) by Barrett / Bridges / Dannemann / Slater /Stickells prior to the arrival of the police at the Samarkand basement flat was illegal – i.e. disposing of and destroying possible evidence.
Monika Dannemann: “The police arrived, and in tears I tried to tell them what I knew. They looked around the flat and found the one sleeping tablet under the bed. They didn’t ask for any of Jimi’s writings, but they looked through some papers... They didn’t take anything [apart from several blankets] away with them.”
Jackie Leishman (reporter): “Mr. Danny Hall... said he did not know Mr. Hendrix and the first he had known of his death was when police called and took a number of blankets [from the double bed] which they had told him were for analysis.”
Prof. Teare failed to state the results in his post-mortem report of what he detected on the “number of blankets.” However, it’s extremely unlikely Prof. Teare found anything unusual on these blankets. Instead, Prof. Teare should have analysed the “thrown away” pillow cases as these contained traces of Jimi’s dried-up vomit... .
IN THE MEANTIME IN SPAIN... Jim Marron: (manager, Electric Lady Studios, New York): “I was in Spain with Jeffery and we were supposed to have dinner that night in Majorca. He called me from his club [Sergeant Pepper’s] in Palma saying that he would have to cancel. I said, ‘Mike, we’ve already made reservations.’ He said, ‘Well... there is good reason. I’ve just got word from London. Jimi’s dead.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘I always knew that son of a bitch would pull a quickie.’ I was stunned. ‘A quickie?’ ‘Yeah, look at that! He’s up and done it!’ Basically, [Jeffery] had lost a major property. You had the feeling that he had just lost a couple of million dollars – and was the first to realize it. My first reaction was, ‘Oh my God, my friend is dead.’”
Jerry Morrison (office assistant, Michael Jeffery Management, Inc.): “We ran to get a locksmith friend to unlock Jimi’s apartment in the Village to rescue the guitars and tapes, because we knew the leeches had keys; we knew they’d clean the place out. We got there first and took the guitars and everything of value back to the office.”
Alan Douglas: “There was so much bullshit going on in that office with Jeffery. Jeffery had cont[r]acts with all the people that worked around him. He wasn’t honouring the contracts so when Jimi died, everyone who could from that scene burst into his apartment and stole everything... What they were gonna do was rip off all the stuff and then blackmail Jeffery to get the money out of him.”
“MURDERED BY MANAGER” BS James Wright (roadie for The Animals; ran errands for Michael Jeffery) incorrectly claims (Rock Roadie by James “Tappy” Wright and Rod Weinberg, pp. 232-233) that Jimi’s manager “confessed” to him in February 1973 that he had murdered Jimi.
According to Wright, Jeffery told him the following: “I was in London the night of Jimi’s death and together with some of our old friends from up North we went round to Monika’s hotel room [sic], got a handful of pills and stuffed them into his mouth; then we poured a few bottles of red wine into his windpipe... I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more dead than alive... .”
James Wright: “After Jimi’s death, Mike was able to raise a quarter of a million dollars to pay Leo Branton, the Jimi Hendrix Estate’s Lawyer, to buy out Jimi’s interest in Electric Lady Studios. It was becoming clearer that the $2 million insurance policy on Jimi’s life that Mike had arranged was being used to save himself from his debts.”
- All boloney! File: FICTION.
<1> Jeffery was in Majorca, Spain, when Hendrix died in London – as confirmed by Bob Levine, Jim Marron, and Trixie Sullivan.
<2> How did the “murderer(s)” know where Jimi was staying? The only known (official) address for Jimi was the “Cumberland Hotel” but after 14 September he didn’t sleep there any longer since he’d moved in at the Samarkand flat with Monika. Nobody from Jimi’s management knew where Jimi was staying from the 15th onwards.
Les Perrin (Jimi’s UK publicist): “He just disappeared. We [had] been trying to reach him without any success... .”
<3> How did the “murderer(s)” gain access to the Samarkand flat? No break-in signs were detected by the police (note: the front window belonging to the flat at street level was equipped with security railings).
<4> How did the “murderer(s)” manage to force “a handful of pills” and “a few bottles of red wine” into Jimi? Where are the struggle signs on Jimi’s body (note: pathologist Teare failed to detect any)? Jimi was an extremely fit person. Flashback to 4 January 1968, “Hotel Opalen” in Gothenburg, Sweden: Jimi flipped out and smashed up just about everything in sight in a room and it then took three persons to calm him down.
<5> What brand of “handful of pills” did the “murderer(s)” arrive with and stuff “into his mouth” (note: pathologist Teare failed to detect them)? The “murderer(s)” arrived with Vesparax? What a rare coincidence!
<6> Where’s the evidence that the “murderer(s)” forced a “few bottles of red wine into his windpipe” (note: pathologist Teare failed to detect any red wine)?
<7> Where was Monika when the “murderer(s)” arrived and committed their crimes? Making cups of tea for them in her kitchen?
<8> Where is the “$2 million insurance policy on Jimi’s life that Mike had arranged”? It does not exist. The only insurance policy Michael Jeffery had arranged (with Chas Chandler in May 1968) was for $1 million, but on the day Michael Jeffery died (5 March 1973) not a cent had yet been paid out.
Whether it eventually was paid out (and how much), years later (since Michael left no signed will) to Frank Jeffery (Michael‘s father), is unknown.
At any rate, Michael Jeffery never used Jimi’s insurance policy “to save himself from his debts” for the simple reason Jeffery never got his hands on that money.
Bob Levine: “Jimi was murdered!!?? Total bullshit... Don’t believe a word of it!”
- “Murdered by manager” BS theory: dismissed.
COULD JIMI HENDRIX HAVE BEEN SAVED?
The answer to the question, “Could Jimi Hendrix have been saved?” regrettably is just two letters long: NO. When Jimi swallowed the Vesparax tablets (nine in total), he was in serious trouble.
--- Professor Teare incorrectly claims in his post-mortem report that “the [Vesparax] dose was too low to be fatal.”
--- Coroner Gavin L. B. Thurston incorrectly claims in his “summing up” statement that the “dose of pills” Hendrix took was “not large enough to have been fatal and he would have normally been expected to recover.“
ONLY if Jimi had been treated for acute intoxication in a hospital within two hours after swallowing the Vesparax tablets could his life (possibly) have been saved. But since Jimi arrived at St. Mary Abbots Hospital at 11:45, circa FOUR HOURS after he took the Vesparax tablets, his liver was already fighting a losing battle with intoxication and Jimi could NOT have survived.
This means that everything which took place after 09:45 in the morning of 18 September 1970 is completely irrelevant since Jimi’s chance at survival had already reached ZERO at that point in time.
Therefore, it makes not an iota of difference where Monika Dannemann bought a package of cigarettes, it makes not an iota of difference whether the ambulancemen placed Jimi sitting up in the ‘Rumbold’ stretcher chair or in any other position in the back of the ‘Wadham’ ambulance, it makes not an iota of difference if Jimi would have been taken to a hospital closer by, it makes not an iota of difference what took place at the Casualty Dept. in St. Mary Abbots Hospital, while requests for another inquest into Jimi’s death are unnecessary as well.
As few as 9 to 10 Vesparax tablets (NOTE: on their own) are sufficient to produce lethal poisoning.
Just one important question remains to be asked: WHY did Jimi take NINE Vesparax tablets? As he had to press the blister strip nine times in order to obtain nine tablets, he must consciously have known that he was taking nine tablets.
By far the most likely answer is that Jimi wanted to sleep for half a day or so and he just assumed that Vesparax was something similar to Mandrax, a brand of sleeping tablet he had used before. What Jimi did not know nor realise is that Mandrax is nothing whatsoever in strength and composition compared to Vesparax.
By comparison: 32 Mandrax tablets would have been lethal, but sadly JUST 9 Vesparax tablets were already enough to take the greatest guitarist ever to have lived away from planet Earth...Until We Meet Again....
[Results of toxicological investigations on vesparax-poisonings (author's transl)]. [Article in German] Sticht G, Käferstein H. Abstract Concentrations of brallobarbital and secobarbital in 10 cases of acute Vesparax-intoxications are listed for blood, brain, liver, kidney, and muscle. Quantitative determinations in brain give information as to the time of acute poisoning. Muscle is a suitable organ to determine the resorbed quantity of the drug. As few as 10 Vesparax-tablets are enough to produce lethal poisonings.