By April 1991, Dead was dead, aged 22, having suffered a self-administered shotgun wound to the head and several lacerations to the wrists, inflicted by a hunting knife he had bought that day. He killed himself in a house he shared with the other members of the band in Kråkstad. Apparently he left a note saying "Excuse all the blood." Euronymous took photos of Dead's corpse upon discovering him.
According to Stian Johannsen, who briefly took position as vocalist after Dead's suicide:
"He (Dead) didn't see himself as human; he saw himself as a creature from another world. He said he had many visions that his blood has frozen in his veins, that he was dead. That is the reason he took that name. He knew he would die..."
The ammo used had been sent to him by Bergen, Norway musician Kristian Vikernes (aka Varg Vikernes, Count Grishnackh; ex Old Funeral, sole member of black metal band Burzum, later convicted murderer of Euronymous). Euronymous took a number of polaroids at the scene, some of which later appeared in the booklet of the subsequent Mayhem bootleg Dawn of the Black Hearts. Euronymous was particularly cold and opportunistic about Dead's suicide; in interviews he claimed, speciously, that Dead had killed himself due to the rising popularity of death metal, the American movement Black Metal had risen against. He also claimed to have collected and forged fragments of Dead's skull into necklaces, sending pieces to those he felt 'worthy'.
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One of my fave genres. Regardless, the guy who discovered him also talked him into the suicide and went so far as to get the gun for him. Sad, sad sad case.
Originally Posted by bowieluva
