In 1985, a 175-pound black bear died of a cocaine overdose. The animal found a stash that was dropped from a drug smuggler's airplane. That story is the inspiration for Cocaine Bear, a new movie about a blow-addicted bear that goes on a rampage. Directed by Elizabeth Banks and starring Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and the late Ray Liotta, hits screens February 24. From the New York Times:
Today, the very same bear is said to be on display in Lexington, Ky., at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall. The mall said in an August 2015 blog post that workers there wanted to know what happened to the bear and found out it had been stuffed. The blog post says the stuffed bear was at one point owned by the country singer Waylon Jennings, who kept it in his home in Las Vegas, before it was delivered to the store. (The New York Times could not independently confirm this account.)
What happened to the bear in its final days, or hours, after the cocaine binge is a mystery, but the origins of the cocaine are not.
Mr. Thorton was a known drug smuggler and a former police officer. He was found dead the morning of Sept. 11, 1985, in the backyard of a house in Knoxville, Tenn., wearing a parachute and Gucci loafers. He also had several weapons and a bag containing about 35 kilograms of cocaine, The Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
