Lionsgate FilmsTimothy Treadwell spent 13 years filming, observing, and interacting with brown bears in Alaska.Timothy Treadwell had a passion for bears. After surviving a drug overdose in the late 1980s, he began spending his summers among the wild bears of Alaska, and he attributed his recovery from addiction to the creatures.But Treadwell didnt just observe the animals. He regularly interacted with the coastal brown bears of the Katmai coast, swimming with them and even playing with their cubs. Rangers repeatedly warned him that he was getting too close to the bears, but he dismissed their concerns, believing he had a special connection to them.Then, in October 2003, he was camping in Alaska with his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, when he was attacked. Huguenard trained in vain to save him, but the brown bear that had mauled Treadwell turned on her, too. By the time help arrived, they had both been partially eaten.Audio from the gruesome attack was captured on a video camera that was rolling at the time. It was so disturbing that Treadwells loved ones destroyed it, ensuring that nobody else would have to endure the chilling final moments of the Grizzly Man.How Timothy Treadwell Became Known As The Grizzly ManTimothy Treadwell was born Timothy William Dexter in the Long Island town of Mineola on April 29, 1957. He developed a fondness for animals from an early age, and he even had a pet squirrel. His childhood was fairly typical, and he had a promising future. As the star diver on his high schools swim team, he earned a college scholarship but then things went downhill.During his time at Bradley University in Illinois, he seemingly had some sort of mental break. He began claiming that he was an orphan and dropped out after just two years. He then moved to Los Angeles with hopes of becoming an actor. He auditioned for the role of Woody Boyd on the sitcom Cheers, but he lost the role to Woody Harrelson. At this point, he officially changed his last name to Treadwell and became estranged from his family. He spiraled into drug and alcohol abuse, and he nearly overdosed on heroin in the mid-1980s. He realized that something had to change, and he confided in his friend, Terry Tabor. As Treadwell wrote in his 1999 memoir, Among Grizzlies, Tabor asked him what he wanted to do with his life. Treadwell replied: Well, this might seem crazy, but when I was young I used to pretend I was a grizzly bear. Ive always wanted to see bears, Terry.Discovery UK/YouTubeTimothy Treadwell became known as Grizzly Man due to his encounters with bears.Tabor encouraged Treadwell to travel to Alaska to fulfill his dream. So, a year later, he did just that. He hopped on his motorcycle and rode thousands of miles to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, where he had his first encounter with a wild bear. Treadwell later recalled:[A] row of thick vegetation and shrubbery next to me began to rustle and then sway violently. I froze in my muddy tracks, eyes bulging as I watched the brush. I broke out in a cold sweat as the weeds thrashed and an enormous fur-clad animal bounded out onto the path. A grizzly! I gazed into the face of a kindred soul, a being that was potentially lethal, but in reality was just as frightened as I was.Treadwell returned to Alaska the following year and had additional close encounters with bears. By the end of that trip, he wrote, he truly felt at one with the grizzlies.Living With The Wild Bears Of AlaskaTimothy Treadwell spent 13 summers in Alaska, often camping along the Katmai coast. The coastal brown bears there are technically the same species as grizzly bears Ursus arctos but grow even larger, with males regularly topping 1,000 pounds due to their rich marine diet.Reweaver33/Wikimedia CommonsA coastal brown bear fishing for salmon in Katmai National Park.Treadwell set up his camp in an open, grassy area that he referred to as the Grizzly Sanctuary. There, he closely interacted with the bears, sometimes touching them and playing with their cubs. He named the creatures that he saw repeatedly, dubbing them Booble, Cupcake, and Mr. Chocolate.He had to use bear mace once after a dangerous encounter, but he felt so guilty about it that he vowed never to carry it again. This concerned the park rangers who had been keeping an eye on him.According to a report by the National Park Service, Treadwell had a long history of engaging in behavior that is considered dangerous while bear viewing, filming, and camping on the Katmai coast.Discovery UK/YouTubeTimothy Treadwell swims with a brown bear.Between 1994 and 2003, Timothy Treadwell reportedly received six citations for safety violations ranging from improper food storage to wildlife harassment. However, Treadwell believed that he had an intimate connection with the bears. When he wasnt spending his summers in Alaska, he was traveling across the country to teach schoolchildren about the creatures and promote environmental activism.Treadwell even credited bears with helping him recover from his drug and alcohol addiction, stating, As long as I drank, it was impossible for me to truly be a responsible defender of bears. But in October 2003, Treadwells overconfidence with the animals resulted in tragedy.The Horrific Death Of Timothy TreadwellIn the summer of 2003, Timothy Treadwell invited his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, to travel to Alaska with him. While Huguenard also loved bears, she was wary of how closely Treadwell interacted with them. By the end of the trip, she was reportedly ready to return home.The two were meant to fly back to California on Sept. 26, but after they ran into trouble with their travel arrangements, they decided to stay another week. An air taxi was scheduled to pick them up on Oct. 6. That morning, pilot Willy Fulton arrived at their campsite but Treadwell and Huguenard were nowhere to be found. Instead, a large male bear was stalking the perimeter.Fulton called park rangers, who flew to the scene to find a gruesome sight. According to the official NPS report, [T]he campsite consisted of two tents that were collapsed and miscellaneous camping equipment. Lying near the pile was what appeared to be a bodily organ, possibly a kidney. Extending out of the dirt pile we observed a human hand.National Park ServiceThe trampled remnants of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenards tent.After searching the area, they also located Treadwells severed head and arms, as well as Huguenards head. While they were at the site, a male bear believed to be the same one that killed Treadwell and Huguenard charged at the rangers, who fatally shot it in defense. Human remains were later found in its stomach.Perhaps most chilling of all, the rangers also found a video camera that had captured audio of the beginning of the attack. As the Los Angeles Times reported in 2003, the tape recorded Treadwell shouting, Come out here! Im being killed out here!Huguenard urged him to play dead, and he asked her to hit the bear with a can. Much of the tape is inaudible, but screams could be heard in the background.The death of Timothy Treadwell was the first recorded bear-related fatality in the history of Katmai National Park. Amie Huguenards was the second.In the end, Treadwell died the way he lived. Grizzly Man was aware of how dangerous his lifestyle was, but his passion for bears outweighed the risks. Im sure he knew all along that he was playing with fire, Alaska State Trooper public information officer Greg Wilkerson told the Los Angeles Times, and that was probably part of the appeal.After reading about the grisly death of Timothy Treadwell, learn about Hugh Glass and the bear attack that inspired The Revenant. Then, go inside ten of the worst deaths in human history.The post The Grisly Story Of Timothy Treadwell, The Bear Enthusiast Who Was Mauled In Alaska appeared first on All That's Interesting.