Hunter S. Thompson suicide?

[Dave's PA Rental]

Just heard it on another message board...said the AP was running the story...

[Rikk]

Wow.

Did they say how? I'm sure they don't know why yet.

[Dave's PA Rental]

Drudge report has it now...

[Diamondjimi]

Found it.........He was a true original......R.I.P.
Posted on Sun, Feb. 20, 2005





Author Hunter S. Thompson kills himself

Associated Press


ASPEN, Colo. - Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of journalism in books like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.

"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff's officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.

[rustoffa]

He was always playin' with guns.

Have they said definetely suicide?

That's weird, doesn't seem to fit with his mantra.

RIP nonetheless, a talented writer.

[Satan]

Once again Hell's gain is the Earth's loss. Sorry, mortals http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/images/smiley_evilFrown.gif

[manwiththedogs]

Author Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

26 minutes ago

By CATHERINE TSAI, Associated Press Writer

DENVER - Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of fictional journalism in books like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," fatally shot himself Sunday night at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.


Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.


Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff's officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.


Juan Thompson found his father's body. Thompson's wife, Anita, was not home at the time.


Besides the 1972 drug-hazed classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." The central character in those wild, sprawling satires was "Dr. Thompson," a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.


Thompson is credited with pioneering New Journalism — or, as he dubbed it, "gonzo journalism" — in which the writer made himself an essential component of the story. Much of his earliest work appeared in Rolling Stone magazine.


"Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist," Thompson told the AP in 2003. "You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it."


An acute observer of the decadence and depravity in American life, Thompson also wrote such collections "Generation of Swine" and "Songs of the Doomed." His first ever novel, "The Rum Diary," written in 1959, was first published in 1998.


Thompson was a counterculture icon at the height of the Watergate era, and Richard Nixon once said he represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character."


Thompson also was the model for Gary Trudeau's balding "Uncle Duke" in the comic strip "Doonesbury" and was portrayed on screen by Johnny Depp (news) in a film adaptation of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."


Other books include "The Great Shark Hunt," "Hell's Angels" and "The Proud Highway." His most recent effort was "Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness."


His compound in Woody Creek, not far from Aspen, was almost as legendary as Thompson. He prized peacocks and weapons; in 2000, he accidentally shot and slightly wounded his assistant, Deborah Fuller, trying to chase a bear off his property.








"

[Matt White]

A true AMERICAN original.

[blueturk]

That's hard to believe. I just can't see him going out like that...but R.I.P. to a true fucking american original.

[LoungeMachine]

Too weird.

First, I change my avatar to him 3 days ago after rereading The Great Shark Hunt, and now he's dead on my birthday.

I loved Gonzo. There's no fucking WAY this is a suicide. Who kills themselves with a blast to the chest?

Besides, as russtoffa said, not his M.O.

damn, man.

I was out to dinner with my wife when I overheard it at another table. This cannot be true......

[bueno bob]

MSN news is running the same story, suicide...

[Nickdfresh]

Another great American author goes by his own hand:
http://www.pku.edu.cn/life/xuehui/yasp/pic-sheyingdashi/yousuf%20karsh/Ernest%20Hemingway,.jpg
http://www.lasvegassun.com/from.ed/1996/nov/26/photos/P000007839.jpg

Sad, sad, sad....

[academic punk]

see ya, Hunter. watch out for the bats.

[Nitro Express]

The guy was brilliant but I always thought he was a fucknut. He's the only guy I can think of that drank mucho alcoholic beverages while playing around with multiple guns in front of him.

I grew up with guns, shot guns eversince I was 8 years old and know enough about them to know, as soon as you get sloppy, as soon as you get too overconfident with them, the chances of accidents increase.

I love whiskey and tequila but I sure as hell am not setting up a whole fucking bar at the gun range. Thompson would sit there and drink while he shot his guns. Only a fucknut does that.

It still could have been a gun accident. Did he leave a suicide note? Who's to say the dude just didn't get drunk, thought the pistol was unloaded and dropped the hammer with the barrel pointed in the wrong direction?

[Nitro Express]

This dude commiting suicide shocks me as much as Wendy O' Willams commiting suicide. Both were strong willed people but also fucking nuts. I hope to see both on the otherside though. I though both were entertaining as hell.

[Mezro]

People throw the word "genius" around way too much.

Mezro...in Hunter's case, it was merited...RIP...

[jojo2371]

yeah this sux ,he didn't seem the type that would check out that way ! still one of my favorite writers though !!!

[LoungeMachine]

I'm telling you.....

The truth will come out. This was NOT a suicide

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
I'm telling you.....

The truth will come out. This was NOT a suicide

Bush did it.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Bush did it.

Only because HST was about to write that he supplied Junyor with all of his blow in the 70's;)

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Mezro
People throw the word "genius" around way too much.

Mezro...in Hunter's case, it was merited...RIP...

:cool:

Wild Turkey, Lines, Keylime pie, and Grapefruit in Heaven tonight.

[Roth & Roll]

The whole suicide angle doesn't sit well with me either.
I have a feeling we will be hearing plenty of consipiracies in the next few days, weeks, and maybe even months.

Either way a literary giant is gone. I just finished reading "The Rum Diaries" and still can't understand why no one would publish it for over 30 years.

I'm also going to miss reading his Page 2 columns over at ESPN.com

R.I.P.

[jojo2371]

only way i can see him committing suicide is if he found out he had terminal cancer or something along those lines and decided he was gonna go out on his own terms and not let an illness eat him up ,you know what i mean

[POJO_Risin]

His page 2's were classic...

my best friend...and editor and freelance writer in Denver is looking into this...my best friend got me into Hunter about 10 years ago...I read "Fear and Loathing" in a few hours...and was hooked ever since...

He's had an ecclectic career...and on the outside...it doesn't fit his M.O.

but...for some reason...when I saw that's what happened...I wasn't that surprised...

[Rikk]

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
His page 2's were classic...

my best friend...and editor and freelance writer in Denver is looking into this...my best friend got me into Hunter about 10 years ago...I read "Fear and Loathing" in a few hours...and was hooked ever since...

He's had an ecclectic career...and on the outside...it doesn't fit his M.O.

but...for some reason...when I saw that's what happened...I wasn't that surprised...

He was apparently in a lot of physical pain at the time. This idea is often forgotten about in a lot of suicides. Hell, COBAIN was having constant searing pains in his stomach that he claimed only heroin would cure. Some say his stomach pains brought his mood down enough to make me want to kill himself.

Maybe Thompson's extreme pains after recent hip-surgery warped his thinking enough to want to end it all?

[POJO_Risin]

Here's his last page 2:


Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray

By Hunter S. Thompson
Page 2

The death of professional hockey in AMERICA is a nasty omen for people with heavy investments in NHL teams. But to me, it meant little or nothing -- and that's why I called Bill Murray with an idea that would change both our lives forever.

It was 3:30 on a dark Tuesday morning when I heard the phone ring on his personal line in New Jersey. "Good thinking," I said to myself as I fired up a thin Cohiba. "He's bound to be wide awake and crackling at this time of day, or at least I can leave a very excited message."

My eerie hunch was right. The crazy bugger picked up on the fourth ring, and I felt my heart racing. "Hot damn!" I thought. "This is how empires are built." Late? I know not late.

Genius round the world stands hand in hand, and one shock of recognition runs the whole circle round.

Herman Melville said that in the winter of 1914, and Murray is keenly aware of it. Only a madman would call a legend of Bill Murray's stature at 3:33 a.m. for no good reason at all. It would be a career-ending move, and also profoundly rude.

But my reason was better than good ...

* * * * *
BILL: "Hello?"

HST: "Hi, Bill, it's Hunter."

BILL: "Hi, Hunter."

HST: "Are you ready for a powerful idea? I want to ask you about golf in Japan. I understand they're building vertical driving ranges on top of each other."

BILL (sounding strangely alert): "Yes, they have them outdoors, under roofs ..."

HST: "I've seen pictures. I thought they looked like bowling alleys stacked on top of each other."

BILL: (Laughs.)

HST: "I'm working on a profoundly goofy story here. It's wonderful. I've invented a new sport. It's called Shotgun Golf. We will rule the world with this thing."

BILL: "Mmhmm."

HST: "I've called you for some consulting advice on how to launch it. We've actually already launched it. Last spring, the Sheriff and I played a game outside in the yard here. He had my Ping Beryllium 9-iron, and I had his shotgun, and about 100 yards away, we had a linoleum green and a flag set up. He was pitching toward the green. And I was standing about 10 feet away from him, with the alley-sweeper. And my objective was to blow his ball off course, like a clay pigeon."

BILL: (Laughs.)

HST: "It didn't work at first. The birdshot I was using was too small. But double-aught buck finally worked for sure. And it was fun."

BILL: (Chuckles.)

HST: "OK, I didn't want to wake you up, but I knew you'd want to be in on the ground floor of this thing."

BILL: (Silence.)

HST: "Do you want to discuss this tomorrow?"

BILL: "Sure."

HST: "Excellent."

BILL: "I think I might have a queer dream about it now, but ..." (Laughs.)

HST: "This sport has a HUGE future. Golf in America will soon come to this."

BILL: "It will bring a whole new meaning to the words 'Driving Range'."

HST: "Especially when you stack them on top of each other. I've seen it in Japan."

BILL: "They definitely have multi-level driving ranges. Yes."

HST: (Laughs.) "How does that work? Do they have extremely high ceilings?"

BILL: "No. The roof above your tee only projects out about 10 feet, and they have another range right above you. It's like they took the façade off a building. People would be hanging out of their offices."

HST: "I see. It's like one of those original Hyatt Regency Hotels. Like an atrium. In the middle of the building you could jump straight down into the lobby?"

BILL: "Exactly like that!"

HST: "It's like people driving balls from one balcony to the next."

BILL: (Laughs.) "Yes, they could."

HST: "I could be on the eighth floor and you on the sixth? Or on the fifteenth. And we'd be driving across a lake."

BILL: "They have flags out every 150 yards, every 200 yards, every 250 yards. It's just whether you are hitting it at ground level, or from five stories up."

HST: "I want to find out more about this. This definitely has a future to it."

BILL: "They have one here in the city -- down at Chelsea Pier."

HST: "You must have played a lot of golf in Japan."

BILL: "Not much; I just had one really great day of golf. I worked most of the time. But I did play one beautiful golf course. They have seasonal greens, two different types of grass. It's really beautiful."

HST: "Well, I'm writing a column for ESPN.com and I want to know if you like my new golf idea. A two-man team."

BILL: "Well, with all safety in mind, yes. Two-man team? Yeah! That sounds great. I think it would create a whole new look. It would create a whole new clothing line."

HST: "Absolutely. You'll need a whole new wardrobe for this game."

BILL: "Shooting glasses and everything."

HST: "We'll obviously have to make a movie. This will mushroom or mutate -- either way -- into a real craze. And given the mood of this country, being that a lot of people in the mood to play golf are also in the mood to shoot something, I think it would take off like a gigantic fad."

BILL: "I think the two-man team idea would be wonderful competition and is something the Ryder Cup would pick up on."

HST: "I was talking with the Sheriff about it earlier. But in one-man competition, I'd have to compete against you, say, in both of the arts -- the shooting AND the golfing. But if you do the Ryder Cup, you'd have to have the clothing line first. I'm going to write about this for ESPN tonight. I'm naming you and the Sheriff as the founding consultants."

BILL: "Sounds good."

HST: "OK, I'll call you tomorrow. And by the way, I'll see if I can twist some arms and get you an Oscar. But I want a Nobel Prize in return."

BILL: "Well, we can work together on this. This is definitely a team challenge." (Laughing.)

HST: "OK. We'll talk tomorrow."

BILL: "Good night."

So there it is. Shotgun Golf will soon take America by storm. I see it as the first truly violent leisure sport. Millions will crave it.

* * * * *
Shotgun Golf was invented in the ominous summer of 2004 AD, right here at the Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colo. The first game was played between me and Sheriff Bob Braudis, on the ancient Bomb & Shooting Range of the Woody Creek Rod & Gun Club. It was witnessed by many members and other invited guests, and filmed for historical purposes by Dr. Thompson on Super-Beta videotape.

The game consists of one golfer, one shooter and a field judge. The purpose of the game is to shoot your opponent's high-flying golf ball out of the air with a finely-tuned 12-gauge shotgun, thus preventing him (your opponent) from lofting a 9-iron approach shot onto a distant "green" and making a "hole in one." Points are scored by blasting your opponent's shiny new Titleist out of the air and causing his shot to fail miserably. That earns you two points.

But if you miss and your enemy holes out, he (or she) wins two points when his ball hits and stays on the green.

And after that, you trade places and equipment, and move on to round 2.

My patent is pending, and the train is leaving the station, and Murray is a Founding Consultant, along with the Sheriff, and Keith Richards, etc., etc. Invest now or forever hold your peace.

* * * * *
As for Bill's triumphant finish at Pebble Beach, I am almost insanely proud of him. He is an elegant athlete in the finest Murray tradition. Bill is a dangerous brute with the fastest reflexes in Hollywood, but he is suave, and that is why I trust him even more than I trust all his brothers. Yes, I say Hallelujah, praise Jesus. Where is Brian? I will need him for this golf project, if only to offset Bill's bitchiness. We will march on a road of bones.

OK. Back to business. It was Bill Murray who taught me how to mortify your opponents in any sporting contest, honest or otherwise. He taught me my humiliating PGA fadeaway shot, which has earned me a lot of money ... after that, I taught him how to swim, and then I introduced him to the shooting arts, and now he wins everything he touches. Welcome to the future of America. Welcome to Shotgun Golf.

So long and Mahalo.

Hunter.

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was born and raised in Louisville, Ky. His books include "Hell's Angels," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," "The Great Shark Hunt," "The Curse of Lono," "Generation of Swine," "Songs of the Doomed," "Screwjack," "Better Than Sex," "The Proud Highway," "The Rum Diary," and "Fear and Loathing in America." His latest book, "Kingdom of Fear," has just been released. A regular contributor to various national and international publications, Thompson now lives in a fortified compound near Aspen, Colo. His column, "Hey, Rube," appears regularly on Page 2.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here's to you Rube...

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Rikk

Hell, COBAIN was having constant searing pains in his stomach that he claimed only heroin would cure. Some say his stomach pains brought his mood down enough to make me want to kill himself.



Cobain was murdered.

[Rikk]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Cobain was murdered.

I hate Courtney. But I still don't believe that.

[Nickdfresh]

Thompson probably planned suicide
Remains may be blasted out of a cannon

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Posted: 5:13 PM EST (2213 GMT)

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Journalist Hunter S. Thompson did not take his life "in a moment of haste or anger or despondency" and probably planned his suicide well in advance because of his declining health, the family's spokesman said Wednesday.

Douglas Brinkley, a historian and author who has edited some of Thompson's work, said the founder of "gonzo" journalism shot himself Sunday night after weeks of pain from a host of physical problems that included a broken leg and a hip replacement.

"I think he made a conscious decision that he had an incredible run of 67 years, lived the way he wanted to, and wasn't going to suffer the indignities of old age," Brinkley said in a telephone interview from Aspen. "He was not going to let anybody dictate how he was going to die."

Thompson, famous for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and other works of New Journalism, spent an intimate weekend with his son, Juan, daughter-in-law, Jennifer, and young grandson, William, the spokesman said.

"He was trying to really bond and be close to the family" before his suicide, Brinkley said. "This was not just an act of irrationality. It was a very pre-planned act."

The family is looking into whether Thompson's cremated remains can be blasted out of a cannon, a wish the gun-loving writer often expressed, Brinkley said.

"The optimal, best-case scenario is the ashes will be shot out of a cannon," he said.

Other arrangements were pending.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/02/23/thompson.death.ap/index.html

[Nickdfresh]

Thompson shot self while talking with wife
'He set the receiver down and he did it'

Friday, February 25, 2005 Posted: 8:16 AM EST (1316 GMT)

ASPEN, Colorado (AP) -- The widow of journalist Hunter S. Thompson said her husband killed himself while the two were talking on the phone.

"I was on the phone with him, he set the receiver down and he did it. I heard the clicking of the gun," Anita Thompson told the Aspen Daily News in Friday's editions.

She said her husband had asked her to come home from a health club so they could work on his weekly ESPN column -- but instead of saying goodbye, he set the telephone down and shot himself.

Thompson said she heard a loud, muffled noise, but didn't know what had happened. "I was waiting for him to get back on the phone," she said.

Hunter Thompson, famous for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and other works of New Journalism, shot himself in the head Sunday in the kitchen of his Aspen-area home. He was 67.

His son, daughter-in-law and 6-year-old grandson were in the house when the shooting occurred.

Anita Thompson, 32, said her husband had discussed killing himself in recent months and had been issuing verbal and written directives about what he wanted done with his body, his unpublished works and his assets.

His suicidal talk put a strain on their relationship, she said.

"He wanted to leave on top of his game. I wish I could have been more supportive of his decision," she said. "It was a problem for us."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/02/25/thompsondeath.wife.ap/index.html

[Golden AWe]

Has anyone of you read his new book? They say it's good.

He did struggle with some of his books in the recent years, but he di have his moments...

R.I.P.


(fuck off Bush)

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Cobain was murdered.

FORD's a big Cobain fan. You could probably debate that conspiracy theory angle all day long with him. :gulp:

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
FORD's a big Cobain fan. You could probably debate that conspiracy theory angle all day long with him. :gulp:

From what I've heard, that's one conspiracy theory that there may be something too.