You Can See the Real Life Cocaine Bear on Display in Kentucky
Sometimes reality is stranger than Fiction.
Cocaine Bear Movie
If you would have told me there was a movie about a bear that does cocaine and goes on a killing spree, as the tagline says "he's out for blood and blow." Cocaine Bear hits theaters today (February 24th). And what's even wilder, it's loosely based on real events.
Watch the trailer below but warning it is NSFW.
The Real Cocaine Bear Story
Here's where fact is stranger than fiction. According to an article from Insider, in 1985 the body of a convicted drug smuggler was found in a Knoxville, Tennessee backyard. Strapped to his body was 77lbs of cocaine and a parachute. Investigators believed he was on a drug flight, and smuggling drugs back into the U.S. and that the drugs were offloaded over the forest with the intention to collect them later. Unfortunately, a black bear found the cocaine before anyone else. I say unfortunately because what happened to the bear is actually pretty sad, the bear ingested the cocaine it found, and ended up dying of an overdose. Insider.com says:
In reality, investigators found an empty duffel bag believed to have contained cocaine alongside the remains of a bear that apparently died of a multimillion-dollar high in December 1985. Investigators said the bear had been dead for about four weeks before it was found in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia.
88lbs of cocaine was found scattered across the forest, and it's estimated the cocaine was worth about $20 million. That is the real story of Cocaine Bear, no murderous rampage or anything like that, just a curious bear who died due to human negligence.
You Can See the Real Cocaine Bear in Kentucky
This is yet another weird twist in the saga of the real-life Cocaine Bear, his body is now stuffed and on display inside the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall located in Lexington, Kentucky. They even have Cocaine Bear merchandise, which you can purchase on their website, here.