One of rock and roll's strangest events played out today in 1973 when Gram Parsons was set ablaze in Joshua Tree National Park. Lucky for Parsons (or unlucky, depending on your point of view) he was already dead at the time.

Parsons overdosed on morphine, ludes and booze the previous day and his body was being prepared to be flown to New Orleans for burial. Parsons had previously asked his managers, Phil Kaufman and Michael Martin, to spread his ashes in Joshua Tree when he died. Two incredible coincidences conspired to almost allow that to happen.

First, Parsons died in the nearby Joshua Tree Inn. Second, Martin conveniently owned a hearse. Martin and Kaufman got rip roaring drunk and headed to the airport in the hearse. Upon locating his body they convinced the airline to release Parsons to them.

After securing the corpse they drove to Joshua Tree, dumped some gasoline on the casket, lit a match and hightailed it out of there.  They caused an accident on the way back to Los Angeles and they were nabbed by the police and placed in cuffs. Somehow, Kaufman and Martin wriggled out of the cuffs, jumped back in the hearse and gave the coppers the slip. They were eventually caught and charged with grand theft, among other things. The duo received rather light sentences and essentially only had to pay for Parsons proper funeral in New Orleans.

Gram Parsons is most widely known for his work with The Byrds on their "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" album and through his own band The Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as his solo albums. Despite being a pioneer of the country rock sound that later bands like The Eagles would emulate, Parsons is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was 26 years old when he died.