Conspiracy Theories

     There are a couple of conspiracy theories about the tragic death of Kurt Cobain. The first theory is that he was a depressed heroin addict who shot himself because he could not handle the fame. The second dreadful theory is that his wife, Courtney Love had a motive and had him killed. 

     The first conspiracy is that the lead singer of Nirvana allegedly took his own life on April 5, 1994 (“Inside the Punk-Rock Romance of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love” 1). He was indeed a legend in his own time; however, he was severely addicted to heroin (1). His childhood was a happy one until the divorce of his parents (1). This led to his depression and his lyrics in his songwriting seemed to show it as such. A month prior to his death, in his hotel room in Rome, he overdosed on painkillers and fell into a drug coma (1). After his recovery, he went to rehab but left early and went back to his home in Seattle where he was found dead by a self-inflicted shotgun wound (1). A note was found near his body, discovered by an electrician that first found him dead (Egan 1). The last two lines of the note read, "I love you. I love you," is what the electrician stated in an interview on Los Angelos television station KNBC (Harrington and Lei 1). It is suggested that Cobain has the suicide gene, meaning depression and suicide run in the family as he has family members that have also taken their own lives (Cross, Heavier than Heaven 1). He was tired of everything going on in his life, such as: mental illness, health issues, and a rocky marriage (Kurt Cobain: Pure Devotion Killed a “Rock Star 1). Could this have led him to suicide? 

     The conspiracy theory that has spread across the world by Cobain’s friends and fans is that it suggests that his wife, Courtney Love, had something to do with his death (Soaked in Bleach 1). She hired a private investigator named Tom Grant to find her missing husband just days before his death (1). He did his own investigation and determined there was significant circumstantial evidence that there was foul play (1). He insists that she played a role in the death of Kurt Cobain (1). 

     All the evidence does not seem to add up to suicide. The position of the gun is not lining up. The Seattle police report states that the shotgun was turned on Cobain's chest with his left hand wrapped around the barrel (Kurt Cobain - Suicide Gun Unveiled 1). There was enough heroin in his body for three people that it would be impossible for him to pull the trigger himself (Baselt 13). There was a suicide note found by the electrician that found the lifeless body and it is questionable as to why did Courtney call an electrician to have an alarm system installed the next morning in the empty, unused room above the garage, coincidentally where Kurt's body was found. Furthermore, the last four lines of the note found at the scene do not match the rest of the handwriting in the beginning of the note (Kurt Cobain’s Suicide Note 1). A practice handwriting sheet was found in Courtney's backpack that mimicked the letters of the note (Murdering Kurt Cobain: Finishing It All Off 1). 

Another reason is that Kurt was planning to divorce Courtney and take her out of the will leaving her with nothing. Courtney’s own father, Hank Harrison, believes she had something to do with it. “She's a psychopath, she has a sociopathic personality like I do. I don't know who killed him. I know who benefited from his death: my daughter, for one,” said Harrison to NBC's Dateline in 2004 (Nye 1). Such evidence gives reasons to believe that this could be a homicide rather than a suicide. 

     The Seattle Police confirmed Cobain's death as a suicide. Following his death, conspiracy theories that Cobain was murdered were spread and reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, partially due to an Unsolved Mysteries episode dedicated to Cobain's death. (“FBI Quietly Releases File on Suspicions Raised About Kurt Cobain’s Death” 1). Hopefully, the truth will come to the surface with solid evidence proving the actual cause of death but for now, it remains a disturbing mystery for the legacy of Kurt Cobain.