It was February 20, 2005 when he ended his life and about two decades later, the case will be reviewed at the request of his widow, Anita Thomson. Research will not include a relics as his author had been cremated and then launched in the sky of Colorado with cannon – this was his desire and his good friend was acting.
According to the sheriff of the Colorado County County, there is no new evidence to indicate a criminal activity, but “by bringing an external body for a new look, we hope to offer a definitive and transparent review that will provide peace to his family and the public.”
Four shots were in total. The first, the one who started the dance of gunpowder, was heard from the kitchen; it looked more like a massive book falling on the floor. The three that followed came from the courtyard. Hunter S. Thomson, the legendary journalist and writer had just committed suicide in his sixty -seven and his son, Juan, who was on the farm to visit him, bid farewell to him, just as his father lived.
At that time, the magazine published what his friend, Douglas Brinkle, claimed he was a suicide note. “No more games. No other bombs. No more walking. No more fun. No more swimming. Sixty -seven. These are seventeen years after fifty. Seventeen years of what I wanted or needed. They are boring. I’m constantly moaning. It has no fun, for anyone. Sixty -seven. You become greedy. Do according to your age. Calm down. It won’t hurt. “
The special and quite impatient Thomson had threatened to commit suicide in the past and, according to his friends, was a man who did what he was saying. In the last years of his life he suffered from serious health problems, recovered from hip and waist surgery, and had recently broken his leg. He also fought with alcohol and drug addiction as well as depression.
The decision to review the conditions of a death after twenty years is undoubtedly strange. Neither Anita nor the Gonzo Foundation – the non -profit organization he founded to protect Thomson’s legacy – have given some explanation. Soon from now, of course, a book by Thomson will be released with his letters, and there are a few who argue that behind his widow’s request, a communication trick is hidden in order to rekindle the interest in the author.
Who was Hunter S. Thomson
Hunter Stockpick Thompson was born in Louisville, Kentucky on July 18, 1937, and while often involved in quarrels, he developed a deep love for writing. Growing up, he built his reputation as a riot, escalating his extracurricular activities from more innocent pranks, such as emptying a truck with pumpkins in front of a hotel, to microphones, vandalism and eventually robbery. At that time, he also developed a lifelong attraction for weapons and a taste of drugs and alcohol.
In his last year in high school, Thomson was confronted with the law and was arrested several times. His illegals, in fact, led him to prison for a few weeks. The judge in the robbery case then gave him the choice between the prison or the army. Thompson chose the second and in 1956 was ranked in the US Air Force.
After completing basic education, Thompson was placed at Eglin base in Florida, where he worked as a sportswriter for the Command Courier newspaper. His behavior, however, was considered marginal even for the toughest officers, so he received premature dismissal in 1958. Although his military career ended, a legendary future in journalism awaited him.
Οι Hell’s Angels
In the following years, Thompson traveled across the country by working for small newspapers and for a while as an assistant to Time magazine. He also spent some time in Puerto Rico, a worker in a sports magazine – the autobiographical novel “The Rum Diary”, which was finally released in 1998, belongs to that period.
Although his habits often cost him jobs, they also made him known. In 1965, he was assigned by The Nation an article on the Hells Angels motorcycle club. , spent a year with the infamous gang, found swollen cheekbones after beating and finally wrote about his overall experience in the book “Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs” (1967).
The first person’s narrative and the combination of journalism with literature were put on the map, and as a push that refuses to separate the cork table, he still shows the way to young journalists to this day, twenty years after his death, along with the New Joye.
The rejection that was converted to success
With the proceeds from “Hell’s Angels”, in 1967 he bought a band on the outskirts of Aspen in Colorado, which he called “Owl Creek”, moving there with his wife Sandy Koklin and their son, Juan. Despite the seemingly family conditions, Thomson showed no intention of pressing a brake. He was constantly traveling for many magazines, covering themes such as the Hippie Movement, the Vietnam War and the 1968 electoral campaigns, writing with his characteristic, subversive style.
Among the most famous texts of this period were “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved”, one that more concerned with the follow -up experience than the race itself. It was published in June 1970 in Scanlan’s Monthly, with illustrations by British artist Ralph Steadman and was considered the first example of what is now known as “Gonzo Journalism”, the style of journalism that places the journalist at the center of history in an extremely personal and participatory way.
However, his new success did not calm the rioter inside him. In 1970 he decided to shake the US by descending for the sheriff of County Pungi in Colorado, with the Freak Power ballot paper. His agenda included relaxation of drug penalties, renaming Aspen to “Fat City” and replacing asphalt roads with lawn roads. He was marginally, but his article on the campaign, “The Battle of Aspen”, was published in the Rolling Stone. Thompson maintained his relationship with the magazine for most of his life and wrote perhaps the most important text of his career, “Fear and paranoia in Las Vegas”.
For the rest of his life he continued to write -mainly about ESPN -, though much of his published work came from his most productive periods.
In 1971, Sports Illustrated asked Thomson to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race in the Nevada desert. Although he traveled there to watch the event, the text was rejected. Instead of winners and losers, he wrote an uncontrolled story impregnated with substances for Alter Ego, Raul Duke and his lawyer, Oscar Acosta, who wandered Las Vegas in search of the American dream.
Eventually, the text was published in Rolling Stone and expanded into a book entitled “Fear and Loaothing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream” (1972). With Ralph Steadman’s illustrations again, it was critical and commercial. In 1998, the work was transferred to the cinema by Terry Giliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benisio del Toro.
Speed has been reduced, death caught him
Drunk by his new reputation, but also of the many substances, Thompson took over the cover of Richard Nixon’s election campaigns (his biggest political enemy) and George McGoten for the Rolling Stone. Subsequently, his texts were gathered and published in the excellent book “Fear and Loating on the Campaign Trail ’72”.
However, at that time his harsh way of life began to burden his work. He was sent to Zaire in 1974 to cover the famous boxing race between George Forman and Mohammed Ali, but Thompson, instead of watching the ropes shaking up, spent his time in the hotel pool, where he had thrown half a kilo of marijuana. The article was never written, like many other texts that started but abandoned. In 1980, Sandy’s wife separated him.
For the rest of his life he continued to write -mainly about ESPN -, though much of his published work came from his most productive periods. From 1979 to 1994, Random House released four volumes of its texts entitled “The Gonzo Papers”, and in 2003, a year that married Anita Bezmak’s assistant again, released the semi-autobiographical “Kingdom of Fear”.
By 2005, Thompson had become depressed, frustrated by the world around him, tired of old age and suffering from many health problems. On February 20, 2005, he was set on his head, following the same path as his literary hero, Ernest Hemingway.
