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Mortal Musings Podcast: 48. The Death of Timothy Treadwell Part 1
On today’s episode we discuss Timothy Treadwell and his life leading up to his final trip to Alaska. Our oddity today is the story of a Runaway School Bus. Sources: Grizzly Man (2005) https://grizzlypeople.wordpress.com/ https://people.howstuffworks.com/timothy-treadwell.htm https://allthatsinteresting.com/timothy-treadwell https://allthatsinteresting.com/amie-huguenard https://www.espn.com/outdoors/general/news/story?page=c_fea_AK_bear-guru_duped_woman https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/05/03/school-bus-acie-holland-wisconsin/ https://linktr.ee/mortalmusingspodcast https://buymeacoffee.com/mortalmusings
- Duration:
- 52m
- Broadcast on:
- 04 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(speaking in foreign language) - At Sprouts Farmers Market, you'll always find fresh at the same time. (speaking in foreign language) - At Sprouts Farmers Market, you'll always find fresh at the same time. (speaking in foreign language) - At Sprouts Farmers Market, you'll always find fresh at the center of the store. Come in to discover a huge selection of the season's best produce bursting with flavor in every bite. Explore thousands of better-for-you products for every dietary lifestyle, from plant-based and organic to gluten-free and keto-friendly. Scoop up your favorite both nuts, fruits, sweets, and more. Perfect for baking or snacking. Visit your neighborhood sprouts today to explore healthy products down every aisle. This podcast contains graphic descriptions that some listeners may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. Now, with that being said, welcome to the Mortal Meeusings Podcast. - Right, let's do this. (upbeat music) - Do you remember on one of the recordings we did for Patreon, you talked about how you wouldn't want to go to Australia because of black widows? - Yeah, but I also said, I don't know if I'm big in that open my head if there was much of a threat as I think they are. - But me and you, when we wasn't recording, we continued talking about black widows, and I told you all black widows are female, and you said, I don't think that's true. And I said, well, why do you think they're called widows? - Because they killed their mate. - Yes. - Yes. - But the females, the kill false widows, what are the males? I didn't bring this up again. - Mm-hmm. - One of our listeners, Craig, Craig, Craig. - Craig, yeah. - He messaged me out of the blue, and he said, you're right. He said something about black widows, and then I brought up, but I told you, but they're all female, and he said, yeah, that's true. They're all of them are female. They are, if they're black with a red mark on their ass. - So all false widows are female? Or sorry, all black widows are female. - Yes. - So they interbreed with another species. - No, false widows. - Interbreed, is that the right word? - False widows is the male. - No, no, no, no, because you're saying false widows, but that's what we have over here. That's what ours are called as false widows. - No, I think over there, so they'll have black widows. - Yes. - If they have a red mark on their ass, the female. - But they're the ones to be worried about. - But they're all black widows then, but the females are identified by the red marks. That what you're saying. - Yes, but that's what I said to you. - No, you said all black widows are female. And you said, why do you think they're called black widow, or something like that? - Well, let me check, males are a browning color and get eaten by the black widow as soon as they mate. So is a male just called a widow? - False widow. - No, but that, okay, well then there's two different species of spider called false widow, 'cause we have false widows over here. - Yeah, but they're the same. - Our most poisonous spider, which is nowhere near as poisonous as other breeds. - Species. - Species. - Other types of spiders, anyway, species of spiders. Like our most poisonous one, unless you happen to be allergic to it, is gonna irritate you a little bit. - It can put you in the hospital. - If you're allergic, but otherwise, it's gonna be like, oh, that's painful on my leg, but you're fine. Do you get what I'm saying? That's what we know in the UK and Ireland as a false widow. - But I'm guessing that's the male species. 'Cause he said browning color. - I didn't hear anything about them coming over from Australia. Like, is that would be a much bigger concern if we had that, like there would have been a lot more - Yeah, but upper arm, and they're not brown either ones we have. - Yeah, they are. - No, they're not. - They're like different shades of brown. - They're black with like white on them. - No, they're not. - They absolutely are. - Right, I can tell you they're not. I've had many dissolves of my shoes. They're brown with a light brown tone to it. - So I don't know folk all about different species of spiders, right? - You clearly don't know where they're from because you keep, I don't know why, but you keep fixating on Australia for the way it does. - No, because that's what the conversation was, Neil. - The conversation was about my fear of fucking, well, a lot of creatures in Australia, but particularly spiders, yeah. - Yeah. - And I was talking about, it was like a nice, revived type situation where a woman got bit by one who was a big thing and tried to go to hospital. - Yeah. - Yeah, that's what the conversation was about the threat in Australia of like, how dangerous some of the spider bites are there compared to here. - Yeah. - So I don't know why you're trying to turn this on me. - Because you were saying-- - You don't guess like me. - You weren't saying they were female and-- - No, no, my argument was you said all black widows are female. I said, well, how the fuck can they all be female? 'Cause they have to mate. I thought the whole point of a black widow is that, I don't know if I'm saying black widow and false widow interchange would be, I probably am, I apologize, black widow. - Yes. - How can they all be female? 'Cause they have to mate. And the whole point of their name is that because they kill their mate. Where you're saying, no, all black widows are female, and they mate like an interspecies mate with a false widow. - But it's the same species, they're just a different color. - But they can be a different color and still be the same spider. This is where I think wires are getting crossed. I'm not standing by, this is absolutely what it is. I'm standing by, I thought, I'm not standing by it. My belief was they got their name from killing their mate, hence widow. They've killed their mate, they're on their own, they're widowed. Whereas your logic was, all of them are female. I don't understand. - Black widow, right, the conversation was about black widows and black widows only. And I said, they're all female. Every single one of them, female. - But now you're saying-- - And you looked at me like I was a fucking idiot and then he messaged me and basically said exactly what I'd said. - I'm sorry, does Craig study spiders? Does he know all about them? - It's probably around them. - No, I'm not saying he could well be right. Like I said, I don't know anything about this. But have you gone and looked this up? - Absolutely not, it's a good word for it. (laughing) - I'm not saying I'm fucking right. I know, I don't know anything about them. But you said a few different things here in the sentence, or in this conversation, between no, no, you identify the females 'cause they have red on them. They go, no, no, no, they're a different thing. The males are brown. But no, no, no, they're the same spider. I'm getting very confused here. - If it's a black spider with a red arse, it's a female. - Right, yeah, okay. - If it's a brown, it's the male. - Yeah, but you said that all black widows are female. - Yes. - I thought a black widow is a species of spider. - It is, eighth of it, like-- - No, but that's what, this is where the argument is coming in here. I thought a black widow was a type, that was a species of spider, yeah? - Yeah. - Whereas you're saying no, I assume the point you're trying to get to is no, it is not a species of spider, it is the female of that species of spider. - Yes. - It's a more cutie name given to her because she kills her mate. - It's not a cutie, it's fucking savage. - But again, you actually haven't looked into this at all. You're just taking someone's word for it. I'm not saying you're wrong. - Absolutely took his word for it. - I don't know his knowledge. - He's very creditable. (laughs) - He could be, I don't know. But my point being is, this is how rumors start. This is how dangerous people get, end up on juries and people get sent to fucking death row because of people like you. Well, so-and-so told me. - I think, I think this is a lot of life. - I think we need to move on. So. - Well, yeah, I think we do. You're absolutely right because you don't actually know what the fuck you're talking about, you just want this to be the case. - I do. - And I don't know. All I said was I think this. - I do, you prick. 'Cause I stood at it in school. - School. - In school. Yeah, yeah. - So we'll move on. - Mm-hmm. - We'll stick a pin in this. What we're covering today. - Today we are going to be talking about the bear enthusiast, Timothy Treadwell. - Idiot. - You don't know anything about him. Have you ever even heard his name before? - No, but he's sniffing around bears. Leave him alone. - You like bears. - Leave him all alone. - You like bears. - Yeah, and I won't go and pat one on the fucking head. - Would you, would you not like to? - This is the sort of idiot who watched Paddington Bear as a kid and was like, I want one. - Here's the thing, right? This episode is basically the result of a crossover of Travis the Jimp and Death and the Wilderness. It was, okay, I initially looked at this. I was like, oh, I could do that as like an oddity. I was like, no, no, there's too much. I'll do it as a mini. And then I was like, no, no, no. This is gonna be a main episode. And I tried to do it then also, you know, maybe part of... - Can I ask one question about this guy? I don't know anything about him. I can't even remember his name, what you just said. - Timothy. - Oh, okay. I was gonna say, bet his wife. - He is, yeah? - Yeah. - With blonde hair. - Because there's only the whites. No one else would go and look at a bear. Is it a grizzly bear? - It is. - Look at a grizzly bear and go, I want to befriend that. - Do you know grizzly bears or just brown bears? - Yes. - Mm. - And the fucking enormous. - They are, they're big lads. - Like, imagine one headbutt in you. - I'd rather not. - But yeah, it's just, I'm gonna befriend that bear. I'm gonna tame that bear. No, you're not. No, you're not. - Do you ever look at some bears? I don't know if you ever see this, but I do. You look at them and some of them, they're kind of like, you know, cute, almost heady bear looking. You know, big fluffy head and all that. And then some of them kind of look like that. - Not one. - Some of them kind of look like they've been, you know, if you draw a bear, if you've got a kid to draw a bear, kind of like it's been drawn slightly wrong. Like the way they're snouts. - Yeah, they look like they got something wrong with them. - Yeah, these kind of like it's slightly odd. - I've never once looked at a bear and gone, that looks cute. - No, I'm serious to the sum. I think meant more like black bears. Sometimes they're snouts really long and stuff. They kind of look. (speaking in foreign language) (upbeat music) - At Sprouts Farmers Market, you'll always find fresh at the center of the store. Come in to discover a huge selection of the season's best produce, bursting with flavor in every bite. Explore thousands of better-for-you products for every dietary lifestyle, from plant-based and organic to gluten-free and keto-friendly. Scoop up your favorite bulk nuts, fruits, sweets and more. Perfect for baking or snacking. Visit your neighborhood sprouts today to explore healthy products down every aisle. - Do you know what I mean? - Polar bears have a long snout. - But they don't look as odd. Actually, no, sorry. Looking into it, like, do you know how different in size and all male-to-female polar bears are? - No. - Like huge spoken difference. No, no, no, just a male-to-female polar bear. It's a really big difference. I didn't realize that. They actually look really different in the face as well. - To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen two polar bears together. They're usually on their own. - Well, are we sure they're the same species? - Right. You don't know what the term stick a pin in it means, obviously. So, Timothy tried befriending a bear. - Well, not just one bear, Neil. - Oh, fuck. - Timothy Treadwell was born on the 29th of April, 1957, to parents Val and Carol Dexter. As I'm sure you've guessed, he was actually born Timothy Dexter, but he would later change his surname to Treadwell, which was a family name on his mother's side. - His mother's maiden name. - It's set on his mother's side. So I don't know if it's his... No, it may not be her maiden name, it could be her mother's name, or her fucking whoever. - Oh, okay. - Timothy was one of five kids and grew up in Long Island, New York. During his childhood, much like his adulthood, Timothy was set to have loved animals and even kept a squirrel as a pet. - A squirrel. - A squirrel? - I won't say it like that. Squirrel. - Squirrel. - Squirrel. I can't say it. Like I can't say it's squirrel. - That is one word. I 100% say it correctly and you bastardize it. - No, I 100% admit I say it like Americans. They say squirrel. - No, it's a squirrel. - No, this is what I'm saying though. They say squirrel. And like British people in Irish will all say squirrel. - It's not a squirrel. - Squirrel. I like it kind of just sends like a noise, isn't it? Squirrel. Growing up, Timothy was athletic and excelled as a diver for a school swim team, even attending college on a diving scholarship. - I bet that came in and do it bears. - Well, unfortunately, while in college, Timothy suffered from an injury to his back, causing him to lose his scholarship and have to return home. - And his mind, so that's why he went and hung around with bears. - Well, don't you think that's fucking like desperate? If you lose, like I understand, you know, the sports scholarship thing, I get, you know, whatever. But because you've been injured to no fault of your own, well actually I don't know if in this situation will happen, but it could be through no fault of your own. You lose your education. - But I absolutely agree with it. - Do you? - Do you know how much money these universities and colleges invest in sports? - But that's not, I don't think that should mean someone doesn't get an education. - I think that's insane to put sports ahead of an education. - But you're there on the premise, but you're gonna win points for their teams and-- - Yeah, but I look at it as, right, he got in, he got injured, it wasn't his fault, no, gives his backsees. Type of thing, let them have the education. - Well, no, because they need to make room for someone who can actually scar him some points now. - I think we need to make room to decide for people who are educated. - Well, what-- - Am I that, I don't mean that like, if you haven't got to college-- - I do. - What they could do is, so the failures of the different, like, so I say, New York, for instance. They have a school, and it's only a little school, and it's just for the dropouts who can't do the sport anymore and they can't be educated in that college or university. - Like a community college, like people. - Yeah, but it's all people who quit the sport and lost the scholarship. - I think you're a dick. - I think more people will agree with me than you. - Well, I think that-- - It's a lot of money invested in sports in America. - I fucking know, they're nuts about it. - Yeah. - But I think that's disgusting, that you would deprive a person of an education, regardless of if he's been injured. He earned the spot there, and I stand firm, no gives his backsees. - Like, this is how to look at it with Americans and how they commercialize sport. What was I watching? It weren't that long ago. That lumberjack competition where they were cutting wood with chainsaws, and they were getting, like, marked on the technique, speed. That's commercialized, there's beer sponsors and stuff. There's a lot of money invested in someone cutting wood. That's a sport. - But you're standing firm, that sport is more important than education. - For someone who's there on a sports scholarship, absolutely. - Okay. - So, regardless of how Neil feels about it, I'm sure this was a blow to Timothy. He probably felt like he knew what direction his life was going in, and suddenly that's it, where he thought he was heading was just gone. - Sorry, just going back to the scholarship as well. I'm not a bad guy here. - I'm not saying you are. - There's two butterflies fucking on the window. (laughing) - I'm not a bad guy here, I'm just, I'm being real with it. - No, no, I know. - Because the reason why they're on a scholarship, they're getting it for no, because of their sports skill. So, they probably said, well, you can't play sports anymore, so that's the scholarship going out of the window, but can you pay? Can you pay for the-- - Okay, well, what if we met in the middle, if it was up to us, we were out in the middle, right? So, you lose your sports scholarship. - Yeah. - So, like half price commission, which is still a ridiculous amount of money. Would you accept that? 'Cause he did get into the college, it's just because of unforeseen circumstances. - He only got into the college because it weren't because of his brains, it was because of his spot. - Yeah, but we don't really do this over here. - No, it's twisted, it's fucked. - No, I don't get it, but as far as I'm aware, you still have to do well, like it's not like you can just, you know, fucking, what's the word? Sale buy on your athletic ability. You still have to keep your grades up and do good. So he has to-- - Yeah, you don't have to do it yourself, but yeah, you have to hand in good grades. - Yeah, yeah, exactly, you have to hand in the good grades. Yeah. So anyway, after that setback, at the age of 20, Timothy decided to move to California in search of a fresh start. Now, while out there, he got himself an agent and began to pursue a career in acting. What? - How's this going to grizzly, but is it a fucking wire? - We will get there, yeah, but this was a bit of backstory. Like I said, his life changed from what he thought it was gonna be. - Yeah. - No, you're not impressed so far with Timothy. - Immediately, I wasn't. - So like I just said, got into acting. This was around the time that he actually changed his name. So I assumed it was for that, you know, it's very common for people in the entertainment industry to go by a different name. - Yeah. - While out in California, he did get onto a show, Love Connection. You familiar? - No, is it like Love Island? - It's, yeah, it's like, well, it's not like Love Island. It's a dating show. - Okay, like blind date. - Yeah, more of that kind of a setup. - Harder, hard. (laughs) What's the fact of that? (laughs) You lot love her. - I don't. - Brits, are they fucking lost in the black? - I feel like they stand there. - Timothy also auditioned for the role of Woody Boyd in Cheers, but lost out to Woody Harrelson. He did already have the name to be fair. - Yeah. (laughs) - He said that as if like, yeah, come on, Timothy. Get with it. (laughs) Yeah. And Timothy was said to have took this rejection very badly. He was devastated. He thought this could have been his big break. Now feeling hard done by for a second time in his life, he began to spiral. He was struggling with alcohol addiction, which would then lead to drug abuse. And at one point, had a near fatal overdose. - See, why do you, as an Irish person, say alcohol addiction? Pissed, alcohol, alcoholic? - Yeah. - Why do you have to say alcohol addiction is pissed? - Well, I mean, it is an addiction. - Is on piss. - On piss. Well, again, I think we've mentioned this before. In Ireland, we don't tend to say that alcohol addiction tend to say, you know, has a bit of a problem for the drink. It's fun to the drink. - Slave to the drink. - It's just slave to it. - I think, I think in Sheffield, it'd just be, it'd be mainly on piss. - Ont. - Pissied. - He's ont piss. Now, after this, Timothy decided it was time to reevaluate his life and sort of take on a new persona. - What's that, I wonder? - And we're not at bears just yet. - Oh, oh, he starts off small with wolves. - No, he claimed to have been an orphan from Australia. - What? - Yeah, I said a new persona. It was the whole new thing for Timothy. - Wait, is this like I identify as a chair? He's identified as an orphan. - No, no, he was just lying to people. - Oh. - He went as far as actually researching the area which he claimed to have been from. In an attempt to make his story more convincing. People didn't buy it though. They said his accent was sauce as fuck. - Yeah. - Years later, when one of his friends was actually asked about this whole Australian orphan situation, he was asked, did it bother you that he had lied about it? And his friends response was basically, no, because he was never harmful with his lies. It was all about him and how he wanted to be portrayed. - I think a lie is a lie. But obviously there's ones what are more vindictive. But why are you lying? - Well, I mean, here's the thing, right? Was he kind of in the bar, having a laugh, putting this accent on, pretending this was him, or was he pretending to be someone else in a relationship? And do you know what I mean? Was he building this fake life with someone? That's a bit fucking different, you know? - What would you do after eight years? My accent just completely changed and now I've never lived in Britain. - I'm actually from Landan. - Yeah. - But those around him described him as someone who was troubled. He would even describe himself in that same way. At one point, he was prescribed anti-depress and stood with ever-changing moods. But he didn't like taking them. His reason being was that he felt as though he needed to experience the ups and downs and that he did not want a middle ground. Jule Pavlevak was Timothy's ex-girlfriend and longtime friend with who he co-created the Grizzly People Organization. - Grizzly. - Grizzly. Timothy and Jule had met while they were both working in a themed restaurant. After she had gotten in trouble for starting a small fire, Timothy kind of ran in and was like, "Oh my God, was that you?" and it was kind of like kindred spirits. Both messers. What have you? - Both messers. She set a fire. She's an ass-ness. - It was. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't word that very well. It was one of these things like a medieval themed restaurant and apparently she had to wheel in this big thing of soup and they would light a fire underneath the soup and like cookish in like this... - Cast iron yolk. - Yeah. So she put a bit too much lighter fluid and like set the table on fire or something like that. She didn't mean to. She wasn't just like fucking light it up. You know what I mean? - Bad enough. - It's bad enough. But either way, Timothy was like, "That's fucking gas that you did that." - Gas is funny. - Have we never used the word gas? - No. - Okay, yeah, gas is like, gas crack. Go phone. Hello there. - Go this. - It's funny, that's... You're a man of few words, aren't you, Neil? Jule described Timothy as definitely having a darker side and that he had a sense of justice that was his own. Now you know how I feel about that. That vigilante type shit. Taking shit in your own hands. - It works sometimes. - Jule recalled how they used to go to the Van Nuys courthouse to watch people get sentenced. - I, yeah, that sounds a good idea. - I think a lot of people do it. A lot of people go to the courts and just see the proceedings. - It's like going to airport and watching planes take off. - Kind of, but it's people in shitty situations. - Yeah. - Well, she said she thinks that Timothy did this in order to remind himself of what would happen if he ever did go too far and go to that kind of darker place. - Yeah, but yeah, going back to that, like, wow. - Yeah, no go on, yeah. - Going back. - I can just tell you've locked onto that in your mind. You're zoned out with this story for a minute. - Cool. - ADHD, yeah. - Yeah, going back to that, we're watching people getting sentenced. That's something we should all do. If you're having, say like us, if we had a bad day at work, go to court, I was watching when we get sentenced go, well, I'm having a shit day, but nothing like that. I'm not that guy. I mean, you make it sound so callous, but I get what you're saying. It's to put things into perspective of-- - You could go and watch executions and be like, well, these are really fault. I'm fine. - Wow. I get what you're saying though. It's just putting things into perspective that, you know, you're petty little shit and it could be someone in a lot more dire situation. It's in the scene. There's a feather. There's a feather in the seam under your arm. - I'm feeling the seam and going under your arm. - I'm going up and following the seam. - That's your side. - I'm following the seam. - You're under arm. What the fuck? - You and I'm stupid, fuck. Right, lads, please stick up for me here. She fucking insisted, but we get duck feather cushions. I had to, like, we used to have duck feather, we used to have duck feather pillows. - Yeah. - Until I said, get them fucking out. - But this, I-- - Getting stabbed in logo, stabbed in head, and now we've got duck feather cushions on sofa. I've just had to pull one out of me. (laughs) I've just had to pull one out of my armpit. - I gave you that the pillows in the bed are, like, memory found ones, yeah? - Mm. (speaking in foreign language) (upbeat music) - At Sprouts Farmers Market, you'll always find fresh at the center of the store. Come in to discover a huge selection of the season's best produce, bursting with flavor in every bite. Explore thousands of better-for-you products for every dietary lifestyle, from plant-based and organic to gluten-free and keto-friendly. Scoop up your favorite bulk nuts, fruits, sweets, and more, perfect for baking or snacking. Visit your neighborhood Sprouts Today to explore healthy products down every aisle. And why the fuck can't I have the cushions at least? Be the duck feather. - I'll just give you a prime example. I've just spent five minutes while trying to record an episode and I'm pulling it at me armpit. - What the hell are you doing with it? I've seen the way you focus, even the way you mangle them for compillos, right? You're, like, I've got them in, like, a fucking headlock. So that's why they're underneath. You're fucking arms and shoddy. - No, I ain't got it from the pillow. I got it from the cushion. - You're the same guy. Go out there and look at that fucking cushion. I guarantee it's in, like, there's not a little fucking little ball and look at mine, it'll just be straight. - Only women who like duck feather. - It's only assholes who make this big of a deal out of a fucking cushion. - I just kept polyester. - Yeah. - Right, so I'm ready to do the rest of the episode now. - Now, like we mentioned earlier, Timothy had loved animals from a young age and his love of animals was what inspired him along with Joel to find the Grizzly People organization. And their aim was the preservation of grizzly bears, their habitats, and their, quote, harmonious relationship with humans. In 1989, Timothy traveled to Alaska for the first time where he was stuck. - Yeah, I'll have one. - Yeah, I was, yeah. It was also the same year that Timothy traveled to Alaska for the first time where he would stay at the Katmai National Park and live amongst the bears. Timothy credits his time out in the wilderness as a thing that really pulled him out of his addiction. There was something about being out in the wild and around grizzly bears that he just fucking loved. - I would love, like, I love the idea of being around the grizzly bear, cuddling up to it, stroking it, but it's not gonna happen. If I went there with grizzly bear, it would rip my fucking face off. - Well, I mean, I think with him, he viewed it as a more simplistic way to live and he said himself, he felt more comfortable around bears than he did humans. See, I don't see it as a simplistic way. I see it as a way of committing suicide. - Same thing with the death in the wilderness episode. Same thing with this. It may be more simplistic in some aspects, but it's a lot more brutal, harsh. - Yes. - You know what I mean? - Challenging. - Mm. Mm. I like it, dear. - I don't mind it. - Timothy described his first time being in close contact with a grizzly as like looking into a mirror. - No, so he's an ugly bastard as well. - I really can't stress it. He was so invested in these bears. He would want to spend 13 summers living with them. So he was dedicated. He was about to bed with the bears. - Wait, you're speaking like someone from ancient times, 13 summers? - Yeah, I mean-- - You mean 13 years? - No. No, it's like they used to say 13 winter. I've survived three winters. - No, no. He lived in California. - Yeah. - But every summer he would travel to Alaska and spend the summer there. - So six weeks, time. - What, six weeks? - Yeah, so when you're at school-- - No, no, in the UK, no, that's in the UK. Over here, in the Republic of Ireland, you get three months off, two months in primary, three months in secondary. - Six weeks. - Yeah, but user deprived of proper holidays. - Yeah, but we leave school at 16. - Burdick. During his time spent in Alaska, Timothy filmed over 100 hours of these bears, even giving them names. Be ready for the names, 'cause they're coming at you now. - Okay. - Mickey. (laughs) Hatchet. Oli. The Grinch. Demon. And Melissa. - So I'm guessing it's demon who fucking kills him. - No. Downey. Sergeant Brown. Mr. Chocolate. Tabitha. And of course, Saturn, who he describes as the Michelle Pfeiffer of the bears. - What does that mean? - That she was a beautiful bear. - And demon was an evil looking bastard. - I assume so, but mean looking. Michelle, what's the same Michelle Pfeiffer? - Saturn, the Michelle Pfeiffer of the bears, was like the one that the bears were scrapping to mate with or something, I think. You know, it's that kind of-- - Tabagoum. - Yeah. She was stunning, apparently. Now, in some of the footage that Timothy had shot, you can see him standing there and there's a bear just in the background behind him. This bear was the Grinch, okay? He stood there and he's saying, she's one of the more frequent bears that he sees. He says that she's about five years old and that she has a bit of an aggressive attitude. He then says, if I turn around too much, she'll bite me. She then starts walking up behind him. As she gets closer, Timothy flinches at her and he says, don't do that. He repeats himself while pointing his finger at her, basically like she's a fucking bald child. - Yeah. - He then says to her, it's okay, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Literally like me talking to Norman, like it's proper, I love you, like, you know what I mean? Think of like pressing like a teddy bear stomach and they speak. - Yeah. - I love you that he's proper like, I'm sorry I shouted at you, I am so sorry. - Which I think shows weakness 'cause while you're apologizing for shouting, they've done something for you to shout. - Yeah, like she was about to buy him, he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is his own fault then. He went, no, no, no, he won't be disciplined with him. - It wasn't the Grinch. - It doesn't matter, he's shown, no, he's shown, he's shown, he's apologized for scolding them for trying to buy him. So they don't think they've done anything wrong. - Possibly, or they're bears and they're just like, what the fuck was up with this guy? Maybe they're not that, like, thinking about that deeply. - Mm. I don't know. So I think they could be, I don't know. So as you can see, Timothy is incredibly passionate about these bears and he believes that bears are misunderstood. And with the knowledge that he'd obtained, he would travel to schools to educate people about bears and free of charge, again, he was just so passionate about them and wanted people to know the source. - In watching footage of Timothy, there's some funny moments, like when he's fucked, sorry. - When he's what? - I was about to say, like when he's fucking sculled in the bear, he's like, boss, I don't really bad moment. - In watching the footage of Timothy, there's some funny moments, like when he fucking sculls a bear. - And then I apologize for that. - And then, yeah, profusely. Mistake number one. I'll point out his mistakes. - Okay. So mistake number one, not that he sculled the bear that he apologized to just go, okay. - Should've dug one in after sculling. - Dug one in, like hit the bear job. - Yeah. - There was also some sweeter moments to be seen, like when Spirit the Fox interrupts his filming to stop by with her pups to greet Timothy. She literally comes into the shot with her pups, just comes over to him as like-- - A dog. - No, Fox, Spirit the Fox. - Why are you calling it a pup? - Her pups. - The cubs. - Pups, aren't they? - Foxes don't have pups. - I thought they were pups. 'Cause a fox is kind of a dog, isn't it? - No. - Yeah, they're pretty close to dogs. - Of course it's all a fucking coyote. When a fucking dog. - But coyotes are like dogs as well. Just a bit rough wearing the edges. - A bit. (laughs) You're thinking of liking that. - You know what's funny about that? I wrote cubs when I was writing this, yeah? And then when I checked my notes back 'cause I wrote down what someone had said, they said pups and I was like, oh, it must be pups. Well, anyway, Spirit the Fox stopped by with her cub pups to greet Timothy. - Kids. - The youngins. - Little chabbies. - Chabbies. Another moment is when Timothy wakes up and there's a fox asleep just outside his tent. Like I mean, completely relaxed. Think of like Norman passed out in the end of the bed. And as he comes out of his tent, you see another fox sash on top of his tent who he then goes over to and boops on the nose. Basically, Timothy is just so giddy and excited to experience all of this. He's loving it. - Mm, until he wasn't. - Well, it's turning here now. There's another funny moment and that is when Ghost the Fox grabs his hash and fucks off with it. So he starts running after Ghost and you can hear him saying, God damn it, Ghost, where's my fucking hat? If it's in the den, I'm gonna fucking explode. It's not okay to steal it. - Like the Fox is gonna be like, oh yeah, I understand. - It's just the way he says it is so funny to me. He's like, if it's in the den, I'm gonna fucking explode. It's just so fucking funny. But along with the seemingly sweet and innocent moments, there's some more somber or even tense moments. Timothy would often use his camera as a sort of confessional. He would talk about how he felt that he was someone who had been troubled and he would also bring up his drinking. There's also another part where he talks about how he's not good with women. To be honest, it started to sound a little inselly to me. I wasn't like keen on it. - At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub bully? Well, if you're installing a new conveyor belt system, dealing with the different components can sound like you're speaking a foreign language. Luckily, you've got a team ready to help. Granger's technical product specialists are fluent in maintenance, repair, and operations. So whenever you wanna talk shop, just reach out. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it. Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-granger, clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. Another moment is when he finds the remains of a cub, which a male had killed in order to stop the mother from lactating, in turn, speeding up the process to start mating again. Men. Or when he finds the remains of a cub that had been eaten by another bear. And there's nothing left to it. It's pretty much just a skull. Yeah. Which apparently cannibalism does happen amongst bears, but as far as where it's more of a last resort type of thing. Erm, I don't know about that. I heard, no, no, no, I heard it's the same. It's just as popular with the bears as we're lions. If a male-- A lion's bad for it? Are you fucking joking? No, I'm not. Lion, so if you have a male going into Newland, it will kill all the cubs to start fresh. They don't want someone else's cubs being around. They only want their own. Yeah. Bears are the same in the wild. No, we're talking about cannibalism. I don't know about eating them. They kill 'em. Yeah, but cannibalism. Oh, I was talking about killing. Like I said, as far as I'm aware, it's more of a last resort they need to each. OK. So they'll turn to cannibalism. Yeah, that makes sense. No, it's only the same as they happen without plane crash. They'll start eating each other because it will last resort. Yeah. But either way, that doesn't really matter to Timothy. He goes on a rant about how these bears are starving and they've turned to eating their young and how they desperately need rainfall after the drought. During his rant, he says, I'm like a fucking nut. We've got to have some rain. Let's have some-- Let's have some rain, Jesus boy. Let's have some water, Christ man. Like he's getting very, very upset by all of this. I'm surprised he didn't try doing the rain dance. He might have done. Like he is fucking going off during this rant. And then not long afterwards, it does start to lash down and he's all happy and content again. That's until Timothy finds the remains of a fox. He lays down next to the fox and as he's there and he's talking and he's kind of a little bit emotional seeing the remains. A fly lands on the fox's eye. This upsets Timothy quite a bit. And he says, get out of his eye, friggin' fly. Don't do that when I'm around. I have some respect, you fucker. So white. This is a friggin'-- Yeah, I know. This is a fly landing on a corpse. Do you know what I mean? But to him, it's like that was Jimbo the fox. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, saying something like friggin' is the same as like, what the flip? Yeah, no. Just fucking curse. You'll feel much better. So as you can tell, at times, Timothy definitely becomes a little too immersed in their world. Yeah. Yes, he did want to experience the life of bears. But it's as though he was either not emotionally equipped to deal with the brutality, or that he simply lost sight of the fact that these are wild animals. And nature is fucking harsh as shit. Yep. And you don't mess with nature. It's the reality of the situation. Yeah. It's just-- it is what it is. Something else that becomes apparent is that Timothy seems to have a certain level of self-importance. He regarded himself as the protector of the bears. Mm. [LAUGHING] That note's just great. He films himself ranting about the park service, where he's shouting, fuck you to them, and saying that he's beat them and how they're fucking losers and fucking fucks. Fucking fucks. Yeah, again, like he's just-- he's going off. He's like getting very worked up, very emotional about this, you know? If I ever say fucking fucks, shoot me. Shoot you. Yes. OK. Or friggin', or what the flip. [LAUGHING] Something else that Timothy was also very worried about was poachers. Now, Alaska has a healthy bear population, and poaching actually wasn't a big issue at the time. But nonetheless, Timothy was very concerned about the matter. And at one point during his time there, he finds a message that was left for him on a branch. It reads, "Hi, Timothy. See you in summer 2001." Well, they're mocking him. Well, this is the thing. OK. That could be someone who is a fan of his or whatever, and has, you know, gone on the trip. And be like, oh, I know he's around here, because he tried to be kind of somewhat elusive, he kind of hide back, be around the bears. He didn't want to be around anyone else coming in. Mm. So, yeah, a message left saying, "Hi, Timothy. See you in summer 2001." Timothy reads this, and he then says, "It's hard to say, but it's a warning of a source, and it's obviously here to upset me." Now, it doesn't say, "Hi, Timothy. We're going to fucking kill you." It doesn't say, "Hi, Timothy. You're fucking dead, and we're going to chop your legs off." That-- those were his words. OK. He's clearly very-- he's building it up to be a mass thing. Now, I don't know if it was someone being a bit threatening, or, like I said, if it was someone who just was like, "Oh, hope to see you next summer." Either way, Timothy definitely took it as a threat. OK, so I didn't intend to make this a two-parter. But you're going to. It's actually quite long, and I think we could leave it there for today. And next week when we come back, we will talk about Timothy's final trip to Alaska, and what happened, and the aftermath. So we've got to wait another week. I'm sorry. I really didn't think this was going to be a two-parter. But she's the boss. If she says it's two parts, it's two parts. It's two parts. Well, so far-- so I'll give my summary-- is a div. Not a fan. Of what? Timothy, you're not a fan. I'm not, no. You're asking for trouble. I think the closest you should get to wild animals is safari-- zoo. But that's the closest you should get. I don't think you should be going out into the wild to go and cuddle up with a dead fox. I think he's got some problems. Like I said, possibly just not emotionally equipped to deal with the reality. Absolutely not. So we'll wait a week for part two. Find out what happened to Bologuille. So I hope you've got two oddies. I do. So would you like an oddity? Yes. Runaway school bus. OK, I don't know what that means. Right, so picturesque Glendale, Wisconsin. 14 kids are on the school bus on their way home. The kids noticed that the driver isn't slowing down for the turn that you would usually make on her route. This is when a 14-year-old boy named A.C. stands up and calls out to the driver. I've got your brake pedal. You're looking for this. He then notices that the driver's head has slumped forward and that the driver has fallen unconscious. Now, at first, he didn't know if she was OK or not, because it was said that she was someone who would mess about in joke with the kids. So I thought she might have been like just taking the piss at first. There's a bit of a sick joke. It was just a tad. Well, I mean, if it was a joke, it's really fucking twisted, because at this point, the bus starts to veer off into oncoming traffic. Yeah, it took it a bit far this time. No, it's not funny that. So A.C. is like, oh, shit. And he runs up to the driver, checks if she's OK, and she's fucking out like a light, OK? So he grabs the wheel, straightens out the bus, moves her foot off the acceleration, and steers the bus towards the curb, and hits the brakes. So obviously, all the kids are in shock, and A.C. is still running the show. He tells all the students to call their parents, and he gets his friend to call 911. He then gets off the bus and runs up to his granny's house. She was actually a nurse. So he was like, this fucking young lad is like thinking on his feet. Yeah. He's sorting it all out. The driver's taken to hospital, and luckily, all the kids are OK. Shit up, but OK. And this is where the bus driver sits up and goes, got you? Of course you imagine. You think this is a game? Now, this young lad A.C., his family, actually owns a garage. So luckily, he already knew how to drive him what to do. Like, if you're going to be on a runaway bus as a kid, you want A.C. there. You know what I mean? A.C., so American. But can you believe that, like, that could have been really fucking bad? Yeah. I mean, you were 14. I'm sure you knew how to drive. Yeah. That's a bit. But A.C. did the right way. It was through guidance from his family who knew about cars and shit. Mm. Yeah, it's probably already been doing NASCAR for eight years. Well, A.C. is actually said that he hopes to open his own garage one day and also a barbershop. So he's going to leave fucking busy. Where the fuck is that? A garage and a barbershop. I think, yeah, he cuts hair of, like, family members and stuff. Like, those are his two. Those are his passions, his loves. OK. Cars and hair. Oh. I wish him luck. Well, if one doesn't work out, he's got something else to fall back on. He said, I love being around cars and learning how things work. Like, this yoga just reminds me of you. You're like that. You like to-- right. You wouldn't be comfortable with, like, doing all the research and reading through all this stuff for the podcast, yeah? But if I said to you, toast is broke. Can you take it apart and redo it? TV that time. Do you remember the color has gone fucked on it? Yeah. And you took it apart and you jiggled some yoke and fixed it? It took me an hammer. Whereas I would have just been like, ah, it's fucked. It's fucked. Gotta get a new one. Yeah. Yeah. I've always tried fixing stuff first. Right. So here's the thing. Just said that about A.C. He stopped a fucking runaway bus and all that. The day following the runaway bus incident, A.C. was being interviewed by a news crew because of, you know, his heroic actions. Yeah. After the interview, the news crew's van wouldn't start. So A.C. ran to his dad's car, got the jumper cables out, and had to jump start their van. So fucking A.C. is putting fires out all over the place. How's that? That was a nicer oddity, man. Yeah. For once. You happy with that? Yeah. Got all A.C. For once. Well, I don't know what I want to say about A.C. Praise him, please. Oh, I wish him luck. Last time I told you a nicer oddity, you were like, "He's a fucking jinx." That wasn't a nicer oddity. Everywhere he went, they were fucking destruction. Just because he saved the people in the incidents, it was like, "Yeah, but why are you always there?" What were you doing there? Yeah. Little bastard. Thank you so much for listening. Find us on Patreon, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. If you have a case suggestion or maybe even your own story, email us at mortalmuseingspodcast@gmail.com. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub bully? Well, if you're installing a new conveyor belt system, dealing with the different components can sound like you're speaking a foreign language. Luckily, you've got a team ready to help. Granger's technical product specialists are fluent in maintenance, repair, and operations. So whenever you want to talk shop, just reach out. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it. Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-GRANGER. Clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger for the ones who get it done.