Our Daily Dead

NY Times
WOODY CREEK, Colo., Aug. 21 - Hunter S. Thompson indulged in numerous hallucinogenic fantasies over the years, but this weekend, one of them morphed into reality: his ashes were blasted into the sky over his farm here, carried by red, blue and silver fireworks in front of a 153-foot monument that Mr. Thompson, the writer and avatar of “gonzo” journalism, designed himself almost 30 years ago.

“I’m not quite sure where he’s going,” Mr. McGovern, 83, mused in his flat South Dakota prairie voice during two hours of alcohol-free tributes. “But I salute you and wish you a happy journey in that land of mystery.”

Mr. Thompson’s family and friends - including Senator John Kerry, Lyle Lovett, Bill Murray, the musician David Amram, Ed Bradley and locals like Bob Braudis, the sheriff of Pitkin County, Colo. - watched Saturday night as his ashes exploded with fireworks, lingered in great puffs of milky smoke, then vanished.

“When the going gets weird,” Mr. Thompson once wrote, “the weird turn pro.”

Loads of Hunter Thompson Stuff on eBay

This entry was posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2005 at 12:00 am and is filed under ODD Guests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

LA Times
Hunter S. Thompson, the counterculture literary figure who rode with the Hells Angels, famously chronicled the Nixon-McGovern presidential race and coined the term “gonzo journalism,” committed suicide Sunday night at his secluded home outside Aspen, Colo., his son said. Thompson was 67.

“Hunter Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek,” Juan Thompson said in a statement. “Hunter prized his privacy and we ask his friends and admirers to respect that privacy as well as that of his family.”

Pitkin County sheriff’s officials confirmed Sunday that Thompson died of a gunshot wound, saying they received a call from his home about 6 p.m.

Friends and neighbors said late Sunday that they were shocked by Thompson’s suicide, but knew he had his demons.

“We don’t know anything about the circumstances surrounding his death, but he was a volatile person,” said Troy Hooper, associate editor of the Aspen Daily News and a longtime friend of the writer. “I was at his house last week and there was nothing in his behavior that was different. He was no more distraught than usual; he was often either up or down.”
Hunter S. Thompson (Twayne’s United States Authors Series)
More Hunter S. Thompson books
Hunter S. Thompson memorabilia at eBay.com

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2005 at 12:00 am and is filed under ODD Guests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.