Long Lost Kurt Cobain Death Scene Photos

Cobain suicide scene. Photo via Seattle Police Department.

Kurt Cobain was the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the Seattle-based rock band Nirvana. Nirvana served as outlet for millions of people the world over with their music and their passions. The last few years of Kurt Cobain’s life were filled with drug addiction and the media pressures surrounding him and his wife Courtney Love.

On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead in his home in Seattle. His death was ruled by authorities as a suicide by self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

The circumstances surrounding Kurt Cobain’s death have fueled much analysis and debate.

In anticipation of the 20th anniversary of his suicide, Seattle Police Department Cold Case Detective Mike Ciesynski reviewed the case file in anticipation of media inquiries about Cobain’s death, and discovered four rolls of crime scene photos that were never developed by investigators due to the rampant conspiracy theories and the high-profile nature of the case.

While there is no new speculation on the cause of death—“It’s a suicide. This is a closed case,” says Ciesynski—the haunting photos have now been released, and we are faced with the question of what to do with and make of them.

Each of the 34 snapshots is faded, ghostly and poignant in its own way. A messy cigar box filled with needles and a spoon, and Cobain’s original suicide note grab your attention first. But look deeper and the other images have an even more nuanced story to tell. A detective leaning against a wall, exhausted, lost in thought. A hazy, rain-slicked shot of the home’s exterior. A haunting cracked door that presumably leads to Cobain. A six-legged wooden stool eerily inscribed with “Now You Have Many Legs to Stand On.”

Eggleston and Shore perfected this style in the 1970s by finding the mystery in everyday items. Under their lens, simple shots of hamburgers and couches unlocked exotic details. That story-within-a-story quality is the same one found in these anonymously photographed crime scene pictures. It’s shocking to think these were nearly lost for good.

First published at Salon by Patrick Wensink