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The Hunter S. Thompson Shrine (Snowmass)Hunter S. (for Stockton) Thompson was a noted Aspen area local who lived in nearby Woody Creek. He was born on July 18, 1937, and committed suicide at his home on February 20, 2005. He was an American journalist and author and is credited as the creator of “Gonzo journalism” which is a style of reporting which blurs distinctions between author and subject, and fiction and nonfiction. He wrote several books, including “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” In 1970 Thompson ran for sheriff of Pitkin County on the "Freak Power" ticket promoting the decriminalization of drugs (for personal use only, not trafficking, as he disapproved of profiteering), tearing up the streets and turning them into grassy pedestrian malls, banning any building so tall as to obscure the view of the mountains, and renaming Aspen, Colorado "Fat City." The incumbent Republican sheriff whom he ran against had a crew cut, prompting Thompson to shave his head bald and refer to his opposition as "my long-haired opponent." Six months after his suicide, on August 20, 2005, in a private ceremony, Thompson's ashes were fired from a cannon atop a 153-foot tower of his own design (in the shape of a double-thumbed fist clutching a peyote button) to the tune of Bob Dylan's “Mr. Tambourine Man” song, known to be the song most respected by Thompson. Red, white, blue and green fireworks were launched along with his ashes. As the city of Aspen would not allow the cannon to remain for more than a month, the cannon has been dismantled and put into storage until a suitable permanent location can be found. According to Widow Anita Thompson, the actor Johnny Depp, a close friend of Thompson (and portrayer of Raoul Duke in the movie adaptation of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”), financed the funeral. Depp told the Associated Press, "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out." Other famous attendees at the funeral included U.S. Senator John Kerry and former U.S. Senator George McGovern; 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley; actors Bill Murray (who portrayed Hunter S. Thompson in the movie “Where the Buffalo Roam”), Sean Penn and Josh Hartnett; singers Lyle Lovett and John Oates; and numerous other friends. An estimated 280 people attended the funeral. The Hunter Thompson Shrine was created on Snowmass on February 20, 2006 (on the one-year anniversary of his death), by a band of his friends and admirers, consisting of five people. They call themselves the "Glorious Leaders of the Underground Movement (GLUM)--The Creators of the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine." They go by the following names: RUSTY HEMATOMA, MISTER Z, R. W. FEATHERSTONE, PHLEGM THROWER, and MR. QUICK. Included in the Shrine are numerous photos, an American Flag, a gloved arm with “Gonzo” written on it, a lizard covered with multi-colored jewels, an air horn, a “Rolling Stone” magazine cover, several newspaper articles, Tibetan prayer flags, The Woody Creeker, a bottle of Mr. Bubbles, and other items. The creation of the shrine was documented in a newspaper article in the Aspen Times newspaper on February 21, 2006, written by Chad Abraham, and entitled "Good Doctor Enshrined at Snowmass." See: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20060221/RECREATION01/102210018&parentprofile=search. (His widow, Anita Thompson, donated some of the items for the Shrine according to this Aspen Times newspaper article.) This Shrine is one of only three shrines whose creation was documented by a newspaper article written at the time; the other two shrines whose creation was so documented at the time of their creation are the Golf Shrine at Snowmass and the Adam Dennis Shrine on Aspen Mountain. In September 2008, the author received an e-mail from one of the creators of the shrine, "Mister Z," stating in part the following:
In this same e-mail, Mister Z sent the author a photo of four of the five creators of the shrine, which was taken in August 2007 during the creators' annual August campout at the Shrine. It is the first photo shown below (on the left) and is shown here with the permission of Mister Z. He also sent two other photos for use on this site, also shown below. When the Shrine was updated and refreshed in February 2007, an article about that was written in the Aspen Daily News on February 21 by Troy Hooper, “Gonzo Fans Pay Tribute to Fallen Author,” see: http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/gonzo-fans-pay-tribu In February and August 2008, and February and December 2009 the shrine was updated again, and it has been updated numerous times since then. In the March 30, 2011 issue of the Snowmass Sun newspaper there is an article that mentions the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine. The title of the article is "A shrine for its time, Golf shrine draws luminaries, locals," and it was written by Madeleine Osberger, Sun Staff Writer. See: http://www.snowmasssun.com/article/20110330/FRONTPAGE/110339987/1064&parentprofile=1039 See this Snowmass Sun article dated November 29, 2011, "Hunter S. Thompson Shrine One of Two Documented," by David Wood, http://www.snowmasssun.com/article/20111129/NEWS/111129983/1064&ParentProfile=1039. This article is set out below at the bottom of this page. Check out this very well-written article about the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine ("Gonzo Shrine in a Snowmass Glade") by Amana Rae. It appeared on February 22, 2012 on this page: Amanda Rae Was Here... http://amandaraewashere.com/post/18111421049/gonzo-shrine-in-a-snowmass-glade. THE HUNTER S. THOMPSON SHRINE ON ATLAS OBSCURA. In July, 2012 a page on the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine on Snowmass was added to "Atlas Obscura" which is "a compendium of the world's wonders, curiosities and esoterica" according to its web site. It was founded in 2009 by Joshua Foer and Dylan Thuras, and "is the definitive guidebook and friendly tour-guide to the world’s most wondrous places. User-generated and editor curated, the Atlas is a collaborative compendium of amazing places that aren't found in your average guidebook." For its page on the HST Shrine, see this link: http://atlasobscura.com/place/hunter-s-thompson-shrine. The Atlas Obscura page on the HST Shrine was written for Atlas Obscura by Rachel James, Home Page Editor; for more on her, see this page: http://atlasobscura.com/user/Rachel. See this CBS Channel 4 Denver article of September 24, 2012 ("Top Literary Landmarks In Colorado" by Deborah Flomberg) which mentions the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine on Snowmass. http://denver.cbslocal.com/top-lists/top-literary-landmarks-in-colorado/: "Hunter S. Thompson Shrine Hunter S. Thompson may be one of the most well-known authors from the state of Colorado. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he briefly lived in Aspen for a while and eventually settled in Woody Creek. Thompson is known as the father of “Gonzo Journalism” and of course he is known for his works “Hell’s Angels,” “The Rum Diary” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” In 2005, Thompson committed suicide in his compound known as Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colorado. He has a devoted following across the nation and a small make-shift memorial in Snowmass, Colorado. In an undisclosed location deep in the woods of Snowmass, the shrine was created in 2006 by a group of people that call themselves the Glorious Leaders of the Underground Movement or GLUM. The simple shrine includes photos, magazine coves, the “Gonzo Journalism” icon, some prayer flags and other small items in memory of Thompson. It is an oddly fitting tribute to Thompson, seeing that you can’t really find the shrine." A November 9, 2012 article in the San Francisco Chronicle mentions and contains a photo of the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine on Snowmass. "A shrine to gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson includes photographs, ephemera, broken whiskey bottles and bullets hammered into tree trunks. It's at an undisclosed location off a ski run at Snowmass." Photo: Bill Fink, Special To The Chronicle / SF. See: http://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Aspen-s-3-faces-Luxe-gonzo-kids-4024463.php. The Hunter Thompson Shrine is on Snowmass. Photos of it are below. If you have any photos of or information about this item that you would like to share for use on this page, please send to the author at AspenShrines@aol.com. This shrine is covered in the book, "Sanctuaries in the Snow--The Shrines and Memorials of Aspen/Snowmass." The book may be purchased on this page on this site: http://www.aspensnowmassshrines.com/index.php?The-Book **********************************************************************************************************************
See the two photos immediately below. The first photo below on the left shows four of the five people who created the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine. They are known as the "Glorious Leaders of the Underground Movement (GLUM)--The Creators of the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine." They go by the following names: RUSTY HEMATOMA, MISTER Z, R. W. FEATHERSTONE, and PHLEGM THROWER. They are also the caretakers of the Shrine. Photo credit to "Mister Z." Click photo to enlarge. The second photo below on the right appeared with an Aspen Times article of February 21, 2006. The caption under the photo reads as follows: "A shrine honoring Hunter S. Thompson was assembled Monday - the one-year anniversary of the author's death - near Gunner's View at Snowmass. (Mark Fox/The Aspen Times)" Click on images to enlarge.
****************************************************************************************************************** All of the photos in the next photo section were taken in February and March of 2006, soon after the Shrine was first installed. Click on images to enlarge.
****************************************************************************************************************** All of the photos that follow in this next photo section were taken on February 22, 2007, showing the additions that were made to the shrine in February 2007, the one-year anniversary of the shrine’s installation and the two-year anniversary of Thompson’s suicide. Click on images to enlarge.
****************************************************************************************************************** All of the photos in the next photo section were taken in February 2008, near the third anniversary of his death, showing additional new items were added to the shrine, including a yellow sack containing spent bullet shells, a bottle of Chivas Regal whisky hanging from a rope in a tree, and many photos, including one of him with his wife Anita. Also a photo of HST with Johnny Depp, and copies of the slip jackets of two books on HST ("Gonzo" and "The Kitchen Readings"). Also, "The Bedford Boys" of Telluride donated some golf shoes to the Shrine. (Two lines in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" pertain to golf shoes: Raoul Duke: [to Acosta] "PLEASE. Tell me you got the f***ing golf shoes." Raoul Duke: "Wear some golf shoes, otherwise we'll never get out of this place alive. Impossible to walk in this muck. No footing at all." To the author's knowledge, this is one of only two shrines which makes scotch whisky available to visitors (the other one is The Golf Shrine at Snowmass). Click on images to enlarge.
***************************************************************************************************************** The two photos in the photo section below were taken by one of the creators of the Shrine, "Mister Z," and are used on this site with his permission.
***************************************************************************************************************** A visit to the Shrine in the summer of 2008 reveals a nice bench to sit on and some other items: Several flashlights, a Chivas Regal box, a bottle that says "Gonzo Imperial Porter" on the label, an article written by Jack Nicholson, and other items. See photos below. Click on images to enlarge.
****************************************************************************************************************** In its February 17, 2009 issue, the Aspen Daily News ran the photo below along with the following copy: "The Glorious Leaders of the Underground Movement (GLUM), the creators of the Hunter S. Thompson shrine, gather for its annual rededication near the Gunner’s View run at Snowmass on Monday. Thompson killed himself on Feb. 20, 2005, which was Presidents Day. “Mr. Z” takes a swig of Chivas Regal which hangs from the tree that is part of the shrine."
****************************************************************************************************************** All the photos in this section were taken between December 2010 and April 2012. Click on images to enlarge.
************************************************************************************************************************ Here is a message the author received on April 2, 2012 from the creators and caretakers of the shrine:
"The Glorious Leaders of the Underground Movement have struck again! We braved lousy snow, bare patches, and tourist gapers, but we were successful in refreshing the HST shrine yesterday. We only skied the second half of the tree run, since the section from the log deck to the road was treacherous. The Shrine Headwall was mostly bare, but there was one narrow strip of snow that made it accessible, and I was (barely) able to ski all the way to the Shrine. Despite the concerns about shrine removal, the HST shrine was alive and well in all of its dilapidated glory. The Chivas bottle had broken - probably from banging against the tree in the wind - so we replaced it with a smaller bottle of Dewar's, still on the string hanging from the branch. We also removed the old flashlights, cleaned up some trash, and removed some old illegible pictures. We then rebuilt the bench, replaced some items, and added a few - including a fake rock that came from the site where they blasted HST's ashes into the sky, and a dry bag containing a copy of The Great Shark Hunt as a start to the HST Shrine Library. Sadly, the branch that held the sequined lizard has been broken off and the lizard is nowhere to be found. Hopefully we'll find it when the snow melts, but I suspect it has been stolen. Attached are some pictures from the event. Enjoy! Mister Z."
Shown below are the photos Mr. Z sent.
Click on images to enlarge.
********************************************************************************************************** Below is the article by David Wood about the Hunter S. Thompson Shrine that appeared in the Snowmass Sun newspaper. Hunter S. Thompson shrine one of two documentedDavid Wood
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| Sanctuaries in the Snow The Shrines of Aspen/Snowmass (Including plaques, memorials, displays And miscellaneous items) All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission from the author. For any such permission contact AspenShrines@aol.com |
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