Lex 18 News
Every decade has a generation defining moment. From the Moon Landing, to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, these events shaped the world into what it is today. A few days ago in Lexington, Kentucky, another one of these moments took place. Like the giant squid before it, we’ve finally received confirmation of THE coke bear. Never head of Coke Bear? I hadn’t either up until a few minutes ago, but here is the basic gist of it:
The bear’s story dates back to 1985, when Andrew Thornton, a true Kentucky Blue Blood, turned drug smuggler parachuted to his death over Tennessee with cocaine strapped to his body.
A black bear ate 75 pounds worth of cocaine that Thornton dropped in Georgia’s Chattahoochee Forest.
The bear overdosed and died from the estimated $15 million worth of cocaine.
The Cocaine Bear was stuffed and sold to the great Waylon Jennings, who didn’t even know the Cocaine Bear’s story; he was just a collector of such items.
Jennings sent the bear as a gift to his friend in Nevada. When that friend died, “Pablo EskoBear,” as he is now known, was then sold to a pawn shop.
I can’t tell you my favorite part of this story. Was it the fact that a black bear overdosed on $15 million worth of coke? Could it be the fact that ‘Outlaw Country Superstar’ Waylon Jennings seemed to be a collector of animals that have overdosed? (Rumor has it that he had a mountain lion that overdosed on crystal meth.) Or is it the fact that the bear is referred to as ‘Pablo EskoBear?’ The only thing that is absolutely clear, is that the only thing that would be more terrifying than a bear attacking you, would be a coked-up running straight at you.