The trailer for Elizabeth Banks’s Cocaine BearThis fever dream features a black bear taking cocaine to make it go on a rampage of murder. Trailers reveal that the movie is “inspired from true events,” which adds to the absurdity. Which leads to the perfectly logical question “Wait, so this bear actually did cocaine?”
Yes. Yes. Here’s how it happened.
The true story behind Cocaine Bear It involves millions of dollars of cocaine and a crash on a plane.
The year 1985. The location: Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. The The Associated Press reported the news at that timeInvestigators were looking for cocaine that had been lost in a smuggling operation and found the body of a 150-pound bear. It was accompanied by 40 shredded bags of cocaine. 40 shredded bags with cocaine.
Each package contained one kilogram worth of cocaine. That’s a total of 88 lbs and a value of up to $20 million. According to officials, the bear ate several millions of dollars worth of cocaine. The real Cocaine Bear was not on a rampage, as the movie implies. Instead, the bear died from overindulging such a large amount.
“The bear got to it before we could, and he tore the duffel bag open, got him some cocaine and OD’d (overdosed),” Gary Garner, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told the AP. Investigators believed that the bear was dead for approximately four weeks.
This huge amount of cocaine does not just appear randomly. It did indeed fall from the sky in this instance.
The cocaine that the bear possessed was part of larger smuggling operations. Andrew Thornton, an ex-Kentucky narcotics investigator, dropped the cocaine from a Cessna aircraft. Thornton was killed in Knoxville, Tennessee on September 11, 1985. Parachuting while carrying 77 lbs of cocaine on his body, Thornton was too tired to continue. Unmanned Cessna aircraft crashed in North Carolina an hour after he fell. Thornton was the one who had the key to that Cessna.
The legacy of Cocaine Bear — aka “Pablo Escobear” — endures.
Cocaine Bears are a great place to visit if you’re a new devotee. The Kentucky for Kentucky Fun MallThey claim to have the taxidermied Cocaine Bear in person. It is named Pablo Escobar after the drug lord Pablo Escobar. Sell merch proclaiming it the “ultimate party animals.”
Fun Mall claims this is the original Cocaine Bear. But even if it’s not, it will still be a great experience. The story about how they got the Cocaine BearIt is wild enough that it could be its own movie. According to Fun Mall, the medical examiner that performed the bear’s autopsy had it stuffed and given to Chattahoochee Valley National Recreation Area as an offering. After some time in storage, the bear was finally sold to a country music singer. Waylon Jennings. Cocaine Bear traveled to Las Vegas, before it was acquired by Fun Mall. Since then it has lived in the Fun Mall. Cocaine Bear is not only a legend in crime, but also a traveler’s best friend. Cocaine Bear lived a remarkable life.
Cocaine BearHits theaters February 24, 2023
