‘Cocaine Bear’: The wild true story of a drugged-up bear that inspired the film – National

By now you’ve probably heard about the movie. cocaine bearPromotions these days seem more prevalent than cocaine in the 1980s.

And the film’s title pretty succinctly summarizes what it has to offer – there’s a bear, and she’s doing a lot of cocaine.

But what you may not know is cocaine bear Based on a true story.

These are the real events that inspired what is destined to be one of 2023’s wildest movies.

A real cocaine bear dates back to the 1980s (obviously)

In 1985, former drug enforcement officer turned drug smuggler Andrew Thornton (played by Matthew Rhys) is involved in a drug-smuggling operation that involves dropping a package of cocaine from Columbia from a Cessna 404 Titan plane into the Tennessee Valley in Georgia. came up with

But on a flight in September of that year, Thornton dropped several duffel bags containing cocaine (worth about $2 million) from a plane in the air somewhere in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest.

Kentucky.com reports: thornton was frightened Just when I thought I heard federal personnel talking about planes on the radio. Thornton died when he collapsed, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. jumped out of the plane His parachute did not open.

his body I found it on my neighborhood driveway He was in Knoxville, Tennessee, wearing a bulletproof vest, night vision goggles, Gucci loafers, and carrying $4,500 in cash, a knife, and a gun. He also had several bags of cocaine tied to him.

Meanwhile, an abandoned plane crashes into the North Carolina hills.

Meet bears and drugs

Over the course of months, police found discarded cocaine. From here, real-life stories and movie plots start.

trendy now

• Extreme winter weather will hit Canada over the weekend.what to expect

• Polish woman claims to be Madeleine McCann, shares ‘evidence’ on social media

In both the actual event and the movie, yes, the bear got into the discarded cocaine. Fate was definitely not so active.

According to a New York Times report published on December 22, 1985, 175-pound black bear found in one of discarded cocaine duffel bagsconsumes 40 plastic containers of medicine.

Pablo Escovea, as she was eventually named, died of an apparent overdose near where she found the drugs.

A retired coroner who was conducting an autopsy on Esco Bear at the time recently said the bear’s “stomach Literally full of cocaineNo mammal on earth can survive it. Cerebral hemorrhage, respiratory failure, high fever, renal failure, heart failure, stroke. You name it, that bear had it.

Despite the bear’s internal damage, inspectors said they were shocked to find the bear looked so good on the outside that they decided to contact a taxidermist friend. Once Esco Bear was taxidermied, she was gifted to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, reports her Journal of Louisville Courier. on display at the visitor center Behind a plaque that makes no mention of her hard-partying ways.

But this strange and true story does not end here.

Escobear travels across the American South

At some point in the early 1990s, park employees were forced to evacuate the area due to an approaching wildfire. When they rushed to leave, they took away some of the Center’s artifacts, including a stuffed bear. kept them in a nearby town.

However, the artifact soon went missing, and while some were eventually recovered from a Nashville pawn shop, Escobear was nowhere to be found.

Investigation revealed that country singer Waylon Jennings bought Escobear at a pawn shop and gifted it to a friend in Las Vegas. When Escobear’s owner passed away in his 2009, Escobear was sold at a real estate auction for his $200 uncontested bid.

Most recently, an Esco Bear was purchased at the souvenir “Fun Mall”. Kentucky for Kentucky, and for the time being will call the shop home. This store is all about the drugged bear story and sells a lot of cocaine bear merchandise.

She is also available for photo ops and comes with a warning sign hanging around her neck:

“Don’t do drugs, you’ll die like a poor ‘cocaine bear’.

cocaine bear It is currently in theaters nationwide.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.