The Fatal Game: William S. Burroughs and the Tragic Death of Joan Vollmer
On a balmy night in 1951, a horrifying incident forever altered the trajectory of literary icon William S. Burroughs. His wife, Joan Vollmer, a deeply intelligent and troubled figure in her own right, was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head during what Burroughs described as a botched "William Tell" stunt. In a grim blend of alcohol, recklessness, and tragic absurdity, Burroughs aimed his pistol at a glass of water balanced atop Vollmer’s head. He missed. The bullet struck her in the forehead, ending her life. This incident would shadow Burroughs for the rest of his life, compelling him to flee Mexico, evade justice, and fuel his darkest literary work. But how did such a tragedy come to pass? The story is not just one of a tragic accident, but of a relationship fraught with addiction, legal troubles, and the volatile lifestyle of the Beat Generation.
Born in Loudonville, a well-to-do suburb of Albany, New York, Joan Vollmer hailed from an upper-middle-class background. In the early 1940s, she moved to New York City, where she attended Barnard College. It was during this time that she married Paul Adams, a law student drafted into military service during World War II. With Adams overseas, Vollmer found herself increasingly drawn into the chaotic and rebellious world of writers, addicts, and misfits who would later be known as the Beats.
Vollmer’s fateful connection to this literary counterculture began when she met Edie Parker at the West End Bar in New York City. The two women became fast friends and moved into a series of apartments on the Upper West Side, where their social circle expanded to include figures like William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, and Herbert Huncke. It was an eclectic and troubled group of individuals—writers, hustlers, and addicts—many of whom would become legends of American literature. Vollmer was in the thick of this bohemian lifestyle, her once conventional life rapidly dissolving into a world of drugs, wild ideas, and turbulent relationships.
Upon his return from the war, Paul Adams was horrified by the company his wife was keeping and her descent into drug addiction. He divorced her, leaving Vollmer to navigate her new life alone. In 1945, it was Jack Kerouac who introduced Vollmer to Benzedrine, a stimulant she used heavily for several years. It wasn’t long before she entered into a long-term relationship with William S. Burroughs, who had become a fixture in her life despite their many ups and downs.
Their relationship was far from traditional. Encouraged initially by Allen Ginsberg, who admired both Burroughs' intellect and Vollmer's wit, the couple moved from New York to Texas, then New Orleans, and finally to Mexico City as Burroughs' legal troubles mounted. Vollmer had already experienced intense psychological episodes, once being admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York due to a psychotic break from excessive amphetamine use. Despite their tumultuous relationship, Vollmer and Burroughs had two children: Julie, from her first marriage to Paul Adams, and William S. Burroughs, Jr., born in 1947.
The years leading up to Vollmer's death were marked by instability, drug addiction, and the couple's increasingly nomadic lifestyle as Burroughs sought to escape legal charges for drug possession and other crimes. When the farming venture Burroughs had started in Texas failed, the family moved to New Orleans. However, even there, trouble followed them. Burroughs was arrested for heroin possession, and during a search of their home, the police discovered incriminating letters from Ginsberg, hinting at a marijuana shipment. Facing serious jail time in Louisiana's Angola State Prison, Burroughs fled to Mexico City. Vollmer and their children soon followed, settling in a foreign land where they hoped to avoid further legal entanglements.
By the time of her death, Joan Vollmer’s physical and mental health had deteriorated significantly. In part due to her heavy drug and alcohol abuse, Vollmer had aged beyond her years. She had also recently recovered from a bout of polio that left her with a limp. Despite her once sharp intellect and wit, Vollmer was now described by friends as erratic and prone to self-destructive behaviour. Her relationship with Burroughs had grown increasingly strained. When Allen Ginsberg visited Mexico City in 1951 with Lucien Carr, he was alarmed by Vollmer’s condition. She expressed bitterness about Burroughs’ frequent absences, his continued drug addiction, and his lack of affection. At the time, Burroughs was pursuing a romantic relationship with a young man in Guatemala, leaving Vollmer and the children alone.
In September 1951, shortly after Burroughs returned from his South American trip, tragedy struck. Vollmer’s death, whether an accident or a consequence of the couple's increasingly dysfunctional relationship, left a devastating mark on all involved. According to the official version, Vollmer was killed while balancing a glass on her head as Burroughs attempted to shoot it off—a dangerous game inspired by the legend of William Tell. However, other accounts suggest that Burroughs gave conflicting stories, including one that he accidentally fired the gun while attempting to sell it to a friend. The truth remains elusive, clouded by the couple’s addiction, the chaos of the moment, and Burroughs’ attempts to avoid prosecution.
Burroughs was arrested and held on murder charges but managed to evade serious consequences thanks to bribes and legal manoeuvring. His brother travelled to Mexico City with thousands of dollars in hand, securing his release on bail. However, Burroughs never faced the full weight of the law. He fled back to the United States, and in absentia, Mexican authorities convicted him of manslaughter, sentencing him to a two-year suspended sentence. Vollmer, meanwhile, was buried in Mexico City. Her children were sent back to the United States, with her daughter Julie being raised by her first husband Paul Adams, and her son William Jr. going to live with Burroughs' parents.
Joan Vollmer’s life, so intertwined with the early Beat Generation, ended at the age of just 28. Her story is often overshadowed by the men who surrounded her—Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg—but she was a crucial figure in their world, a sharp, independent woman whose life unravelled due to addiction and the toxic relationships that came with it. For Burroughs, her death was a haunting catalyst that drove him deeper into his writing. He would later claim that he might never have become a writer if not for her death, stating that the tragedy had brought him into contact with the "Ugly Spirit," an entity he would battle for the rest of his life. Whether or not this is true, Joan Vollmer’s death was a turning point in Burroughs’ life—a moment from which he could never fully escape.
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