Offers to blast Hunter's ashes from cannon

In his will, Hunter Thompson specified he wanted his ashes blasted from a cannon (going out with a bang not a whimper). Dozens of cannon owners, from Civil War re-enactors in Pennsylvania to an Eagle pilot, who has specified in his own will that he be shot posthumously from a cannon, have offered the use of their weapons to Thompson's family. A California company, Angels Flight Inc., is offering to blast Thompson's ashes into the wild blue yonder in a 21-gun cannon salute or to shoot them off in a fireworks display. A Steamboat Springs radio station plans to shred some of Thompson's books and blow them into the sky from a cannon in a confetti of words on March 5, the same day Thompson's family and close friends will gather in a private ceremony of commemoration at an Aspen bar. Read here.

Apparently his suicide was very much planned. Thompson's widow, Anita, and adult son, Juan, said: "It is entirely fitting that Hunter, as a master of politics and control, chose to take his life on his own schedule by his own hand, rather than submitting to fate, genetics or chance." Full discussion by his family here.