Hunter S. Thompson once observed, quite astutely, that “Myths and legends die hard in America” and that people “love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality.”[1]
He was absolutely right, yet that didn’t stop him from propagating myths and legends about himself, nor has it stopped generations of fans from perpetuating these, turning him into a nearly mythical figure himself, whose life and work is shrouded in myriad stories too fantastical to be true.
But not all of the myths about Hunter S. Thompson were started by him, of course, and one of the most famous was kicked off – accidentally, I should say – by an early biographer, E. Jean Carroll.
In Carroll’s controversial 1993 biography, Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson, she gave a run-down of Thompson’s daily routine, filled – as one might expect – with cocaine, booze, and cigarettes. That Thompson enjoyed drink, drugs, and cigarettes is hardly a falsehood, as his fondness for these things is well documented, but Carroll’s account of his consumption was always meant to be taken in jest.
In her biography, she made the odd choice to alternate fictional and factual chapters. I say odd, of course, because this is a bizarre way to approach a biography… but those who are familiar with Thompson’s Gonzo writing may appreciate that she was satirising and paying homage to her subject, who almost always blended the real and the imagined in his own writing.
The result was a quirky and original effort at piecing together Thompson’s chaotic life. She combined a wonderful oral biography with bizarre passages about her apparent fantasies of sex with Dr. Thompson. Most readers were less than impressed, and despite the value inherent in her research, the book remains an acquired taste and therefore rather difficult to acquire.
In the first chapter of her book, which was one of the fictional chapters, she described his daily routine thusly:
- 3:00 p.m. rise
- 3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills
- 3:45 cocaine 3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill
- 4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill
- 4:15 cocaine
- 4:16 orange juice, Dunhill
- 4:30 cocaine
- 4:54 cocaine
- 5:05 cocaine
- 5:11 coffee, Dunhills
- 5:30 more ice in the Chivas
- 5:45 cocaine, etc., etc.
- 6:00 grass to take the edge off the day
- 7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jiggers of Chivas)
- 9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously
- 10:00 drops acid
- 11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass
- 11:30 cocaine, etc, etc.
- 12:00 midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write
- 12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies.
- 6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo
- 8:00 Halcyon
- 8:20 sleep
It was pure comedy – a send-up of Thompson’s legendary excess – and so Carroll never expected anyone to believe this. For this part of the book’s dual narrative, she writes from the perspective of her own Gonzo alter ego, Laeticia “Tishy” Snap, who is being held captive in Hunter’s cesspool, wearing only a pair of the author’s boxer shorts. She states his alleged daily routine only to make the point that Thompson should be dead already. If it was not clear enough that this was pure fiction, the schedule is followed by Thompson having a Republican speechwriter snort cocaine off his erect penis.
Thompson’s life was undoubtedly filled with anarchy and debauchery, with no small quantity of drugs and alcohol imbibed, but how anyone could lack the common sense to understand that this routine was fake is beyond me. Yet, like so many butchered quotes from Thompson’s books, this has spread far and wide on the internet. It pops up every six or twelve months, bandied around by unquestioning social media users and even editors and journalists who should know better. Mental Floss, the Independent, and Open Culture have all reported it as the gospel Gonzo truth, while this video of Joe Rogan reading it has gotten nearly 4 million views:
It seems that myths and legends die hard not just because of the extra dimension they provide, but because of the clicks and ad revenue they generate. I personally spoke with and even convinced the editors of [one of the above-mentioned publications] that this story was 100% B.S. but they still refused to amend or remove it because it was so popular. The lie, it seems, was more profitable than the reality.
But who is to blame for all this? If we trace the story back far enough, we find that it was first reported by the Associated Press in March, 1993. For nearly three decades, journalists, bloggers, “influencers,” podcasters, and fans have blindly repeated this silly story without ever bothering to check its origins. At the very least, those editors and journalists should have known better…
Perhaps this is just the natural legacy of Thompson’s Gonzo journalism. He did, after all, specialise in fusing fact and fiction, finding it hilarious to subtly insert hallucinatory or mischievous tales into his writing, but he always tried to do it in such a way that it was obvious to the reader what was real and what was made up. E. Jean Carroll did the same thing, informing her readers upfront that half the chapters in the book were fictional and half were biographical.
Perhaps greed and ignorance have prevailed, or perhaps neither Thompson’s nor Carroll’s work was suited to this era of misinformation. Hunter’s daily routine is now just another silly myth that stands between him and the respect he deserves as a writer. Fifty years after his heyday, he is still viewed as a literary clown. He is not taken seriously as an author and it is partly due to nonsense like this, elevating the “drugs, guns, and madness” schtick that appeals to college kids and dissuades anyone from regarding him as a true artist, which is precisely what he was.
If you want to know the real story behind Hunter S. Thompson’s daily drug use, then check out chapter 4 of Jay Cowan’s excellent book, Hunter S. Thompson: An Insider’s View of Deranged, Depraved, Drugged Out Brilliance. Cowan knew Thompson well and worked alongside him. In “The King of Fun,” the fourth chapter of Cowan’s book, he talks about Thompson’s prodigious appetite for substances like cocaine. You’ll see that whilst his consumption was vast, it was very different to the comical version presented by Carroll.
[1] Hunter, Hunter S., The Great Shark Hunt, (Simon & Schuster, 2003) p.406.
I’ve just completed The Bonfire of the Hamptons, Up &Away and 10 volumes called The Gulag. The Savage Journey into American Justice is my “beat” takeaway.
Hilarious to talk about greed and ad revenue whole slowly building up to plugging your own book.
Thanks for debunking this! I had heard this story so many times and even though I should have known it was fake, I sort of believed it because it was everywhere. I mean, Hunter S. Thompson did take a lot of drugs and was a super wild guy, so it sort of is believable. But as you say it is totally made up! I can’t wait to read High White Notes now.
Not surprised Rogan fell for it but you’d hope at least a few journalists would have figured out it was made up. But then there are so many HST myths flying around the interwebs and even the biographies that I guess people just believe anything about him.
Sorry but where is the debunking? That the girl used Gonzo style to write thearticle? Cuz I wouldn’t call that a debunking. Im sure the account is not 100% accurate of his every day routine but Im pretty sure based on other accounts of Hunter that routine honestly probably isn’t far off. The eating acid daily is honestly the most questionable thing as it wouldn’t work daily. But the amount of cocaine for a drug that only last 15 minutes seems pretty accurate. Ive also heard spoken word account from other people saying he ate and drank a lot. There is not if and or buts about he was a very heavy drinker, pretty sure people have said he would drink 2 bottles of wild turkey a day.
Ive seen plenty of alcoholics drink more than whats been stated above, coke addicts to do more than whats stated above and food addicts to eat more than whats stated. So don’t really see how its outlandish to think someone might actually live like this for a good while and survive. I mean he did coke about 10 times through out a day, which again for a drug that doesn’t last long that doesn’t seem unreasonable. He only smoked what appears to be 8 cigs, which im surprised it not more as some people smoke a pack a day.
He drank 6 or 7 glasses of Chivas, a few maragritas,a Heinekenm, champagne, and Chartreuse, Also 3 or more cups of coffee and probably 3 or more joints.
And throughout the day ate coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter and for the ride home, a snow cone , grapefruit, orange juice, gin, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo
So im just not seeing the debunking here as these things are very humanly possible to do. The only thing that doesn’t add up is you can’t eat acid daily to get an effect. Also the amount of alcohol does seem like a lot but have you ever hung around any type of alcoholic? Some tend to drink a lot. So again unless you can provide account of his routine from people who actually knew him to state this is 100% false I wouldn’t say you have actually debunked anything. Also a account from a doctor who says you would die very quick from this diet. But im sure doctors see people with far more abusive drug and food routines.
I know people who use to snort thousands of dollars worth of Ketamine a month and they were selling it and getting it very cheap. So I would take a longer look into some addicts lives before you act like something like this isn’t humanly possible as im sure you could actually live that way for a good while and not die.
Also Hunters own account of his breakfast is crazier than what she wrote if you ask me.
“I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast. In Hong Kong, Dallas or at home—and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed—breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive: four Bloody Marys, two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crepes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon, or corned beef hash with diced chiles, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, a chopped lemon for random seasoning, and something like a slice of Key lime pie, two margaritas, and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert… Right, and there should also be two or three newspapers, all mail and messages, a telephone, a notebook for planning the next twenty-four hours and at least one source of good music… All of which should be dealt with outside, in the warmth of a hot sun, and preferably stone naked.”
It seems you have missed the mark and that you don’t quite understand what was stated. This wasn’t a daily thing and it wasn’t set in stone. But it wasn’t very far off at all. With substances being substituted for other substances regularly. He was always a step off of this planet. Funny how you claimed to debunk this, but you’re the only one attempting and haven’t backed up anything against plenty of people’s eye witness accounts. Oh well, I suppose anyone can release an article these days.
thanks; I read this article, and couldn’t find any information about it. I do believe it was meant to be fiction, but with a kernel of truth–as you mention at the end of your article.