The harrowing final words of a man and his girlfriend, who were eaten alive by a bear, can be heard in chilling audio footage.
Timothy Treadwell, known as the ‘Grizzly Man,’ had a passion for bears, which led to his career in environmentalism and documentary filmmaking.
In particular, he focused on the grizzly bears of Alaska’s Katmai National Park.
Treadwell was said to be so comfortable around the creatures that he gave them names and considered them friends.
Yet tragically, his and his partner’s life would end in a horrific bear attack on October 5, 2003.
The committed filmmaker openly expressed his aversion to modern society – he found solace in the wilderness among bears rather than the hustle and bustle of towns and cities.
In the late 1980s, he spent 13 summers in Alaska, camping along the Katmai Coast, renowned for its abundant grizzly population.
Treadwell divided his time between Big Green, a grassy area on Hallo Bay ideal for bear sightings, and Kaflia Bay, a dense and wooded area known as the Grizzly Maze, offering closer bear encounters.
His interactions with the bears, documented on film, often involved risky proximity, including touching and playing with bear cubs.
Despite persistent warnings from park authorities, Treadwell persisted in his pursuit to get up close and personal with the bears.
Ultimately, this led to him meeting his demise.
In October 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were camping in the Grizzly Maze beyond the usual season when they encountered a bear during its feeding period.
It is dangerous for humans to be nearby during this time, even more so for Treadwell with his lack of defensive measures against the predator.
Air taxi pilot Willy Fulton would discover a bone-chilling scene.
Fulton arrived at the campsite in the Alaskan wilderness for a scheduled pick-up after the couple’s bear study expedition.
He would come across a disturbing sight – a massive bear, described as ‘the meanest looking,’ feasting on human remains.
Treadwell and Huguenard’s tent was collapsed and torn, a meal had been left untouched and shoes were laid outside neatly by the door.
But the most disturbing sight was a mound of grass nearby, concealing human body parts, including fingers and an arm.
Investigators would also uncover Treadwell’s severed and mutilated head, along with his detached right arm still adorned with a wristwatch.
The pieces fell into place, painting a gruesome picture of the couple’s fate.
The discovery of a six-minute audio recording, capturing the horrifying sounds of the attack, added another layer of tragedy to the already harrowing tale.
Although Treadwell hadn’t removed the lens cap on his camera, the microphone was still running.
The audio recording from the incident revealed the harrowing cries of the couple as they faced the bear’s onslaught.
Huduenard’s desperate attempts to intervene, followed by Treadwell’s anguished screams, portrayed a scene of unimaginable horror.
Subsequent investigation uncovered that the bear responsible for the attack had consumed a significant portion of human remains.
The tragic incident would become the subject of Werner Herzog’s award-winning documentary, Grizzly Man, which delved into Treadwell’s life and fatal encounter with the bears he had grown so close to.
In the doc, Herzog can be seen with his hands over his face as he listens to the tape recording of Treadwell’s final moments.
The filmmaker advises people to ‘never listen to this.’
He also warns: “And you must never look at the photos I’ve seen at the coroner’s office. I think you should not keep it, you should destroy it.”
In the horrific six minutes of audio, Treadwell can be heard screaming: “Get out here! I’m getting killed out here!”
He encourages Huguenard to ‘hit the bear’ while she urges him to ‘fight back.’
Huguenard hits the animal with a frying pan before her agonizing screams are heard as the tape cuts out.
Listen to the chilling audio in the clip below…
