LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) -- A big warehouse in the heart of Lexington is a museum of weird.
"We call his place the Fun Mall," co-owner Whit Hiler said. "We've got a lot of like oddities in here."
A giant statue of lawyer-on-the-run Eric Conn, Derby hats your girl would never wear and golden chicken wing earrings makes for a lot to look at it, but one creature there is considered the Fun Mall's mascot.
He's a legend at Lexington's Fun Mall.
"He's just this legend," Fun Mall employee Kylie Ryan said.
She's talking about "Pablo Esko-bear," the cocaine bear.
The sign cocaine bear wears around his neck reads in part, "Don't do drugs, or you'll end up dead (and maybe stuffed) like poor 'Cocaine Bear.'"
"Just partied too hard," Hiler said. "Eyes are all red, bloodshot.
"The whole story behind him is just crazy," Ryan added.
It's a story that dates back to 1985 when "Andrew Thornton, who was smuggling drugs, lived here (Lexington) and grew up here," Hiler said.
One night, the narcotics-officer-turned-lawyer turned drug smuggler was aboard a plane, running cocaine from Colombia.
"He actually takes all of his drugs with him, and he jumps out," Ryan said. "He actually lands in front a house and dies on impact, poor thing."
"His bag of drugs ended up in the Chattahoochee Forest, where the cocaine bear found them," Hiler added.
Maybe he was hungry for berries — or perhaps fish — but he found the stash and had himself a final meal.
"He died of renal failure, heart failure, just everything under the sun," Ryan said.
"It's just like a regular death," Hiler added. "They went in and did an autopsy."
The coroner who conducted it knew a guy who stuffed bears. The cocaine bear somehow ended up at country music star Waylon Jennings' place and then in Las Vegas.
"We have a friend that we enlisted to help us kind of track it down," Hiler said.
Call them lucky: The guys at the Lexington Fun Mall brought Pablo back to the hometown of the man who made him the cocaine bear. Today, his likeness is sold on shirts, on buttons, in books and "blow globes."
This is just one of several shirts people buy at Lexington's Fun Mall.
Believe it or not, according to Deadline.com, a movie is in the works. An article says Elizabeth Banks from Pitch Perfect and The Hunger Games will direct it.
"Maybe he'll be able to walk the red carpet one day," Hiler said.
Just another Kentucky star to add to the Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. First Johnny Depp, then Jennifer Lawrence, and now cocaine bear.
If you'd like your own cocaine bear t-shirt, button, or blow globe, click here.
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