Timothy Treadwell thought the bears were his friends. Every summer for 13 years, the former heroin addict would fly out to Alaska to spend months camping with the wild grizzlies.
The 46-year-old chatted to, played with and even touched the bears, who he named and classed as his confidants.
Despite warnings from friends and family of the dangers, Timothy believed he was at one with the bears, insisting they were misunderstood.
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But his luck ran out one stormy October evening when, just hours before he was due to be picked up by seaplane to return home for winter, he was mauled to death in front of girlfriend Amie Huguenard, 37, before the bear turned on her.
Air taxi pilot Willy Fulton immediately knew what had happened when he landed at Katmai National Park to collect the duo just 24 hours after last speaking to Timothy.
Instead of finding the pair waiting on the shore, there was an eerie silence and the 'meanest looking bear' sitting atop of a pile of human remains, feeding from a human ribcage.
Tim and Aime's tents were found collapsed and torn with their evening snack lying opened and untouched. Their shoes were laying neatly by the door.
Outside one tent lay a 3ft-high mound of grass, mud, twigs and remains, with ranger Joe Ellis spotting fingers and an arm protruding from the grotesque pile.
Nearby they found what was left of Tim's mauled head connected to a small piece of spine. His right arm was also found, his wrist watch still attached.
But it was the video camera in Tim's tent that would provide the full terrifying picture of what really happened.
Tim recorded all his bear interactions and the ferocious attack was no exception. But in their panic, either he or Amie didn't have time to remove the lens, resulting in six long minutes of blood-curdling audio.
It starts with a frightened Amie asking if the bear is still out there before Tim screams: "Get out here! I'm getting killed out here!"
The tent zipper is heard going as Amie rushes out into the storm and shouts for her boyfriend to 'play dead'. Her screams and shouts appear to work and the bear lets Tim out of its grip, but as soon as she heads to help, it returns, apparently clamping its jaws around his head once more and pulling him towards the undergrowth.
Frantic, Tim screams for Amy to 'hit the bear' and she is heard telling him to ‘'fight back' before attacking it with a frying pan.
Throughout the bear is sinisterly silent, with Tim's shouts giving way to moans before Amy panics and lets out a series of spine-chilling screams.
There the tape runs out.
When the bear was shot, investigators recovered four bin bags full of human remains from the stomach of the 1,000 pound 28-year-old male, who is said to have struggled to feed that season due to his age and broken teeth.
According to Willy, Tim had previously tried to befriend the bear, but it 'never happened'.
The October 2003 attack was the subject of award-winning documentary The Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog, which revealed how Amie was terrified of the bears and thought her boyfriend was 'hellbent on destruction'.
She'd told Tim the trip would be her last and had a new job waiting for her back in California.
As for the tape, he warned that people should 'never listen to this' and it is believed to have been placed under lock and key with one of his friends.
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