Illinois Man May Have Been Killed By Bear in North Carolina

There is this documentary on Amazon, Grizzly Man, that follows a man who loved bears so much he wanted to become one. I remember listening to an episode of a podcast dedicated entirely to this bizarre documentary. It was so strange yet I could not stop listening to the hours worth of audio. In the documentary, you follow the extremely dangerous and dumb adventures of Timothy Treadwell, who made yearly trips to Alaska to "protect" bears. These bears were anything but cuddly. And, spoiler alert, it doesn't end so well for Treadwell and his girlfriend, who reluctantly accompanied him on some of these expeditions. This unfortunate story out of North Carolina had me thinking about this documentary.

Authorities haven't released much information about the death surrounding an Illinois man who was camping at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina but they believe a bear was involved, as shared by WREX.

Rangers say his remains were found near Hazel Creek Trail after backpackers discovered an unoccupied tent on Friday and saw the remains “with a bear scavenging in the area.”

The 43-year-old was Patrick Madura of Elgin, Illinois.

Is there a more painful and frightening way to leave this world than a deadly bear encounter? Probably. Between this documentary and this very unfortunate story, I'm cool with being as far away from these monstrous creatures as possible.

JB Love is ½ of  Q98.5's Lil Zim & JB In The Morning, weekday mornings from 5:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.