Hunter S. Thompson Commits Suicide

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlate...4815089,00.html

Author Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

Monday February 21, 2005 4:46 AM


AP Photo NY124

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - 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 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 time in Las Vegas, he is credited with pioneering New Journalism - or ``gonzo journalism'' - in which the writer made himself an essential component of the story.

An acute observer of the decadence and depravity in American life, Thompson wrote such books as ``Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail'' in 1973 and the collections ``Generation of Swine'' and ``Songs of the Doomed.'' His first ever novel, ``The Rum Diary,'' written in 1959, was first published in 1998.

Other books include ``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.''

 

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Like I said in the other thread:

No fucken way... this is too hard to believe... HST is too strong of a man to go out that way.

The best journalist ever...

Sad day... I love his books.
__________________

I still cannot believe it.

Gonna sticky this for a while.

 

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.

/i/page2/logos/Hey_rube2.gif

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."

 

Hunter S. Thompson.
RIP
Fear and Loath no more.

 

i am shocked and appalled...

 

Oh, my god! I've always thought he'll grow as old as William S. Burroughs. I would've never guess he'll take his own life like that. What a sad day this is.

 

oh man...Reality must bite more than we realise for HST to kill himself

 

I can't even fucking believe it. Not that I knew the guy, but I'd never imagine him dying this way. Maybe from an OD, but not from shooting himself.

 

Yeh, we've put a lot of stress in our reality.
A sado-masochist dream.
It must have all got too heavy for HST.

I know some us here can relate.

 

I can never keep it straight, but was Thompson one of those contributors to Rolling Stone who was always blaming crime on guns? I know William S. Greider did... (but he's a straight-up asshole)...

I know that Rolling Stone will probably run some sort of article that will make it sound like Thompson would never have killed himself but for the "easy availability of guns in America."

Whatever, dude. I guess fame and fortune aren't enough for some people. To leave your shot-ass body for your son to find? What kind of fuckin' asshole does that? I'll tell you what kind: a self-obsessed, egomaniacal, narcissistic one.


-Jeffrey

 

Quite the contrary. As far as I know, HST was pro-gun. (See below.)

 

Probably a terminally ill one. Maybe something like altzhimers disease (sp?) Wouldn't that be an ultimate nightmare for someone such as HST, to slowly lose your mind and not in any good way.

 

it saddens me... he's been sucha big influence for me.. i cried when i heard

 

what a bummer, he was so paranoid about people, perhaps his suspicions were founded in reality after all ......

 

I was very saddened when I heard this news. But I guess there was something that he couldnt find a solution for, as someone said, he probably had a disease that would kill him eventually anyway, and he mustn't have wanted to go like that.
I dont know!
I'm just upset from hearing it.

 

I feel sick about it. I never really thought he had any sort of conscience or guilt or any questions about the way he lived his life. After all was said and done, after he escaped fate and the grim reaper so many times, he ended up with it all. A wife and child. A beautiful home in his idea of paradise. I pictured him braver than this.

But then again, it doesn't surprise me and it almost fits. He would never let God or some higher, more powerful force take him. When he was ready to go, he did the job himself.

Condolences to his family and friends and everyone here who feels as though they've lost a friend.

 

Is it definate it was suicide and not an accident? I mean, he's accidently shot lots of things.
I dunno, he has to be one of my major idols, I can imagine him getting depressed, he did seem like the manic-depressive type to me, but I find it hard to get round the idea he'd kill himself, especially when he got so far.

 

I've never read any of his books, but I was saddened to hear about his suicide. That was so shocking, and... I'm still stunned.