This is the creepiest thing I've read in a long time

I'd have to agree with you on that.

Anne

[rant on]

I find it disturbing that some people glorify suicide.

"This is a triumph of his, not a desperate, tragic failure," Anita Thompson said by phone.

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He killed himself. And he didn't just take some pills and slip away quietly, he blew his brains out in the kitchen of their home. She thinks sitting at the kitchen table with her dead husband's brain clinging to the walls is "loving"? I think it's horrific. He certainly showed his disrespect for his family by choosing to do this in their presence. What a prince of a guy.

I never read anything by him, never saw Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and given how he chose to end his life, I never will.

[/rant off]

Suicide hurts families enough...but to have your family in the house and your wife on the phone...that's disgusting

I agree...it seems slightly narcassitic (sp?)



Brady H.

It's always sad when someone lets their triumphs go to their head.

Ack----

Shawn

A friend of mine committed suicide about 10 years ago. He called me that day and told me he couldn't come to our dinner. That night he killed himself. We found out later that he called his brother to tell him to come get him first thing in the morning. He wanted his brother to find him. He left a note for each of his best friends, including us. His brother called us the day he found his body and the notes.

My friend had it all planned out. Every single detail. He picked out the suit he was going to wear for his funeral and everything. It was really creepy when you think about it... but being his friend also made me realize that was just him, the ultimate organizer. He organized his own death the way he would a wedding. And somehow I had to respect that...

The lesson is, we all have our own ways of dealing with things, including death (even our own). Who's to say what is right or wrong? And we're not his family -- we don't know what is going on there. Personally, I kind of don't feel one way or another...

When my mother knew she was going to die, she did the same thing--found papers and pictures everyone needed. Made sure we each got what she wanted us to have. She chose a very nice Hospice house. Then she stopped eating and drinking. It didn't take long for her to die.

The thing is, so many kids (Teens esp) think suicide is a glory filled way to go. The ultimate “I'll show them.” I sometimes don't think they grasp just what it is--you're gone, no chance of coming back as you were. And when the media says, oh look how lovely this was--kids who are in need of help or looking for the ultimate way to gain attention (needed or otherwise, in their mind it is) may see that as fuel for the fire.

I want to be remembered, look what I can do, I may not be in control of anything else, but I can control my death.

My ACK was not in reaction to what they did after he died. I chopped my hair off when my mom died. People thought I was nuts. So what?

It's sensationalizing (is that a word?) it that I think is wrong.

Shawn

Mark Anderson said:

It's always sad when someone lets their triumphs go to their head.

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Nice one.


I have to agree with everything Cindy said - if I came home and found TC with a gun in her mouth and her brains up the wall, I wouldn't be too impressed either, regardless of how noble she thought she was being.

SRHowen said:

The thing is, so many kids (Teens esp) think suicide is a glory filled way to go. The ultimate “I'll show them.” I sometimes don't think they grasp just what it is--you're gone, no chance of coming back as you were. And when the media says, oh look how lovely this was--kids who are in need of help or looking for the ultimate way to gain attention (needed or otherwise, in their mind it is) may see that as fuel for the fire.

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That reminded me of a kid in my class at school. He was being bullied and he jumped off the train we took to school (it was in the middle of nowhere) and electrocuted himself on the live rail.

He was fourteen, and every now and then I think of him, and how far school is away now. It's such a small part of your life, and to end his life when in two years we'd have left and all gone to different colleges, jobs etc, he must have been so desperate.
He could have started a whole new life at 16, God, that's still practically a baby.

Just to clarify...

I was not talking about the terminally ill person who takes his/her own life to end the suffering (for themselves as well as their family). Nor was I talking about the person who privately ends his life. I may not agree with their choices, but I do understand that sometimes people feel they have no other option. Thompson chose to kill himself. I have no problem with that.

My issue with Thompson's suicide is the gruesome way he did it, and that he did it in the presence of his family. To me, it wasn't a "triumph," but a cruelty that his family will live with and remember forever.

Ray and Shawn, I sincerely hope I did not offend with my rant. It was not my intention.

CindyBidar said:

I was not talking about the terminally ill person who takes his/her own life to end the suffering (for themselves as well as their family). Nor was I talking about the person who privately ends his life. I may not agree with their choices, but I do understand that sometimes people feel they have no other option. Thompson chose to kill himself. I have no problem with that.

My issue with Thompson's suicide is the gruesome way he did it, and that he did it in the presence of his family. To me, it wasn't a "triumph," but a cruelty that his family will live with and remember forever.

Ray and Shawn, I sincerely hope I did not offend with my rant. It was not my intention.

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I agree. In my background (ancestory) once upon a time it was a nobel thing for those who were elderly or drain on the group to go off and die alone when food was limited. And no matter what his family says--they will forever see that picture in their heads.

Shawn

CindyBidar said:

She thinks sitting at the kitchen table with her dead husband's brain clinging to the walls is "loving"?

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Ok, I'm being pedantic here, but if we want to understand what happened, then we need to discard the myths about 'brains clinging to the walls'.

Committing suicide with 45 calibre handgun does NOT do that.
If you really want to understand what this kind of suicide is like, then check out the 'myth debunking' site 'Snopes': http://www.snopes.com/photos/gruesome/interrogate.asp

WARNING: The link takes you DIRECTLY to a disturbing analysis of this kind of suicide, complete with video.

We want to criticise what happened, then we need to understand what would have happened - not just what we think would have happened.

Mac

I agree with alot of what's been said....in part.

But first, it's a fallacy that the family was there when he killed himself. He was alone, and they came home after he died. The rest?

Well, consider who we're discussing here. Hunter Thompson, right? He went out exactly the way he wanted to. And in order for him to have been married long enough to have an adult son, I would assume his wife was able to deal with his particular brand of insanity.

While I'm not a big advocate of suicide (except in cases of terminal illness), I'm one who believes that this was his right. It was what he wanted. And considering the man's personalilty, it was appropriate.

drgnlvr said:

I agree with alot of what's been said....in part.

But first, it's a fallacy that the family was there when he killed himself. He was alone, and they came home after he died. The rest?

Well, consider who we're discussing here. Hunter Thompson, right? He went out exactly the way he wanted to. And in order for him to have been married long enough to have an adult son, I would assume his wife was able to deal with his particular brand of insanity.

While I'm not a big advocate of suicide (except in cases of terminal illness), I'm one who believes that this was his right. It was what he wanted. And considering the man's personalilty, it was appropriate.

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I think it was a control issue, he wanted to be the one in charge, and yes, considering who we're talking about, I wasn't surprised at all.

However, regarding the wife, she's only in her early thrities, so I'm guessing it was a second marriage. She is quoted saying something along the lines of 'I always knew he'd die before me, but never like this.'

I also read that it's not true he killed himself on the phone, that she was told by someone later, and that his son was in the house, but had thought that a book had fallen off a shelf, that he didn't realise it was a shot.

Just to be clear--LOL

If you want to take your life, then that's your choice. Terminal or not. Period. I don't think kids should "be allowed" that option (terminal illness aside) troubles when you are a teen or preteen when looked back on are laughable. (for the most part)

What I voiced a ACk to was the media "lime light" on the romanticsism of it. And no one would think a gun shot in the house was a "book falling off a shelf."

So I say no to glorifying it--to presenting an idea that my influance troubled kids and adults to take their life. When through some form of treatment or simply by a bit of time the trouble may dim and their life better for it.

Shawn

I couldn't finish the article. Usually an article leaves you wondering about the "whys" of it all. However, you usually don't do anything to actually find out unless the person was a friend or related to you. This one told me entirely too much.

And no one would think a gun shot in the house was a "book falling off a shelf."

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**Sigh** Research. Research. Research.

Before we try and guess what it might sound like, scroll up a couple of posts. Go to the snopes link. If you don't want to watch the video, don't - but listen to it with your eyes closed. Someone committing suicide with a 45 handgun sound just like a "book falling off a shelf". Just a loud 'crack'. Nothing more.

On top of that, you've also got the audio compression used by mobile 'cell phones'. That compression will take any sharp loud sound and make it a lot less distinct.

Mac

It was his son, who was in the house that said it sounded like a book falling.

noting that Hunter Thompson's son, who was in the house at the time, believed that a book had fallen when he heard the shot.

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I have heard a .45 go off in the house, my house, some years ago. While my first thought was not, oh, that's a gun shot--I certainly didn't think it was a book falling.

The point again, is not that he killed himself or how---it's the glory associated with it--the final act of love around it--if you had ever worked with troubled teens you would know that suicide is very often on their minds, as a way to get their parents attention, as a way to stand out in a world they don't understand at that age--it's the ultimate act of control. They don't need any more encouragement in that direction.

Shawn (who does do research)(who has enough life experiences, good and bad, to know a bit about what she is talking about)

also on that clip of the guy in custody, he shoots himself in the side of the head, (temple) not through the mouth. Which is what Hunter S did. A whole 'nother thing. My hubby was an EMT/Paramedic in Iraq, and I have some experiance in that area as well.

Shawn

creepy read but an act of individual choice.

who the hell are any of us to judge hunter's final act? it's not like he issued a press release and summoned the media. was he supposed to become "unfamous" in order to take his own life?

i agree it shouldn't be glorified but, like hemingway, thompson was a larger than life character who lived a dangerous and bold life. and, also like hemingway, he saw a drastic decline in his health and wasn't one to sit around and wait for a slow ugly descent into crippling old age.

if his family chooses to celebrate it, then again who am i to judge? they knew and loved the man, and were closest to his life.