He was 67. The date was February 20, 2005. Hunter S. Thompson—the man who invented Gonzo journalism, the guy who spent a year with the Hells Angels and somehow lived, the person who redefined political reporting by treating it like a hallucinogenic fever dream—sat down at his typewriter in Owl Farm. He didn't write a manifesto. He didn't draft a grand political statement or a final "fuck you" to the establishment. Instead, he wrote a brief, rhythmic, and hauntingly athletic note. Most people call it the hunter s thompson suicide letter, but it actually had a title: "Football Is Over."
It wasn’t a cry for help. It was a cold, calculated exit strategy.
For decades, Thompson had been the ultimate survivor. He’d survived more drugs than a pharmacy, more whiskey than a distillery, and more close calls with the law than most career criminals. But by 2005, the "Good Doctor" was tired. His body was failing him. He’d had back surgery, a broken leg, and a hip replacement. The man who lived his life at 100 mph was suddenly stuck in the slow lane, and he hated it.
Honestly, if you knew Hunter, or at least the version of him he projected to the world, you’d know he was never going to let nature take its course in a hospital bed. He was always going to pull the trigger himself.
What the Hunter S Thompson Suicide Letter Actually Said
The note was written four days before he took his life. It was short. Just a few lines. It read:
"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Laughing. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody. 67. You are getting greedy. Act your old age. Relax — This won't hurt."
It’s heavy stuff. But it’s also remarkably consistent with the way he wrote his entire life. He liked short, punchy sentences. He liked numbers. He liked the idea that he was in control of the narrative. To Hunter, reaching 67 was an overstay of his welcome. He’d done what he came to do. He’d written Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He’d changed the face of the Rolling Stone. He’d turned himself into a folk hero. Why stick around for the decline?
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The note was found by his wife, Anita, later. It was left on a clipboard. It’s strange, kinda, how a man who wrote millions of words ended his life with such a sparse handful. But maybe that’s the point. When you’ve said everything you have to say, you don’t need a long-winded closing argument.
The Myth of the "Boring" Life
A lot of people fixate on the word "boring" in the hunter s thompson suicide letter. How could his life be boring? He was living in Woody Creek, Colorado, surrounded by peacocks, guns, and a constant stream of visitors. But "boring" wasn't about the world around him; it was about the world inside him.
Thompson was a performer. He played the "Uncle Duke" character for so long that the line between the man and the myth totally blurred. By 2005, the performance was becoming a chore. He was in constant physical pain. The "bombs" and "games" he referred to weren't literal—though he did love literal explosives—they were the rituals of his chaotic life.
He felt he was becoming a burden. "No Fun — for anybody." That’s the line that hits the hardest. It shows a rare moment of empathy, or perhaps just a brutal assessment of his own utility. He didn't want to be the aging lion who couldn't hunt anymore. He wanted out while the memory of the beast was still fresh.
The Context of Owl Farm
To understand the end, you have to understand Owl Farm. It wasn't just a house; it was a fortress. It was where he felt safe, and it was where he chose to end it while his son Juan and his grandson were in the other room. That detail has always been controversial. Some people see it as an act of extreme selfishness. Others, like Juan Thompson, have spoken about it as a moment of profound intimacy—the idea that Hunter wanted his family close when he made his final move.
Juan actually wrote a book about it called Stories I Tell Myself. He describes hearing the "click" of the typewriter and then the gunshot. He thought a book had fallen. When he realized what happened, he didn't call the police immediately. He walked out, checked on his father, and eventually fired a shotgun into the air in a "Gonzo" salute. It was a weird, tragic, very Thompson-esque scene.
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Misconceptions About the Note
There are a few things people get wrong about the hunter s thompson suicide letter.
- It wasn't a sudden whim. He had been talking about suicide for decades. He once told an interviewer that he would feel real trapped if he didn't know he could commit suicide at any moment. To him, the "exit door" was a source of comfort.
- It wasn't about depression in the clinical sense. While he certainly struggled with his demons, his final note suggests a rational (in his mind) cost-benefit analysis. He’d had his fun. The fun was over. Time to go.
- The "Football" thing wasn't just about the sport. While he loved the NFL, "Football Is Over" was a metaphor for the season of his life. The season was over. The playoffs were done. No more games.
Ralph Steadman, the illustrator who worked with Hunter for years and probably knew him better than anyone, said he wasn't surprised. He’d been expecting the call for twenty years. Steadman’s art always captured the jagged, frantic energy of Hunter’s mind, and he saw the ending as the final jagged line on the canvas.
Why We Are Still Obsessed With It
Why are we still talking about this twenty years later? Because Thompson represented a type of freedom that feels impossible now. He was a man who lived entirely on his own terms. The hunter s thompson suicide letter is the final piece of evidence of that autonomy.
In a world where we are all tracked, monitored, and encouraged to "age gracefully," Hunter’s exit was a violent rejection of the status quo. It was messy. It was uncomfortable. It was quintessentially Gonzo.
There's also the mystery of the "Relax — This won't hurt" line. Was he talking to himself? To his family? To us? It’s a strangely gentle way to end such a sharp note. It’s almost like he was trying to comfort the people he knew he was about to devastate.
The Aftermath and the Cannon
If the letter was the final word, the funeral was the final exclamation point. Hunter had requested that his ashes be fired out of a 153-foot cannon shaped like a double-thumbed Gonzo fist. And Johnny Depp—who had become close friends with Hunter while filming Fear and Loathing—actually paid for it.
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On August 20, 2005, they loaded his ashes into the cannon while "Mr. Tambourine Man" played and red, white, and blue fireworks lit up the Colorado sky. It was the most expensive, ridiculous, and perfect funeral in the history of American letters.
The note was the "how" and the "why," but the cannon was the "what now." It turned his death into a legend, ensuring that the hunter s thompson suicide letter wouldn't just be a footnote in a coroner's report, but a piece of literary history.
Lessons from the Good Doctor
What can we actually take away from this? It’s easy to romanticize the lifestyle, but the reality was a man in significant pain who felt his time had passed.
- Control over narrative: Hunter wrote his own ending. Whether you agree with it or not, he remained the protagonist of his own story until the final second.
- The cost of the "Wild Man" persona: Living at that intensity has a physical and mental price. The "bitchy" and "boring" comments in his letter suggest a man who was exhausted by his own reputation.
- The importance of a clear exit: Even in his final moments, he was focused on clarity. "No more games."
If you’re looking into the life and death of Thompson, don’t just stop at the suicide note. Read Hell's Angels. Read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. Look at the way he dissected the "American Dream" and found it rotting at the edges. The letter is just the period at the end of a very long, very loud sentence.
Practical Steps for Understanding Thompson’s Legacy
If you want to go deeper into the history of the hunter s thompson suicide letter and the man who wrote it, here is how you should proceed:
- Read The Kitchen Readings by Zac Van Patter. It’s a boots-on-the-ground look at Hunter’s final years at Owl Farm, written by someone who was actually there. It strips away some of the myth and shows the man.
- Watch the documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. It features the only authorized footage of his life and includes interviews with everyone from Jimmy Carter to his ex-wife Sandy.
- Examine the handwritten draft of the note. You can find images of it online. Seeing the actual scrawl on the page gives you a much better sense of his state of mind than just reading the transcript. The handwriting is steady. He wasn't shaking.
- Listen to the "Gonzo Tapes." These are hours of recordings Hunter made while reporting. They show the process behind the madness and help explain why he felt so "bitchy" when he could no longer work at that level.
Hunter S. Thompson was a lot of things—a genius, a madman, a drug addict, a visionary. But at the end of the day, he was a writer. And like any good writer, he knew that the ending is the most important part of the story. He made sure his was exactly what he wanted it to be.
Football is over.
Note: If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. You can call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org in the US and Canada, or call 111 in the UK. These services are free, confidential, and available 24/7.