The viral ‘Double Rainbow’ guy sadly passed away in 2020, but not before uploading enough content to take his YouTube channel all the way to 2035.
If you don’t know who he is, you probably weren’t doom scrolling online like the rest of us during the pandemic.
On January 8, 2010, Paul ‘Bear’ Vasquez posted his video to YouTube, showing his elation at spotting a double rainbow in the distance.
In the clip, which is over three minutes long, Bear can be heard saying: "Oh my God, it’s a double rainbow" continuously before screaming with joy as he sees it more clearly.
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The viral clip, as of right now has over 51 million views and because of this video, he was able to build a loyal fanbase.
The clip was filmed in his front yard just outside Yosemite National Park in California, where he lived and operated a farm with the help of passing volunteers.
Having originally lived in East Los Angeles and working for the California Conservation Corps before becoming a Los Angeles County firefighter, Bear chose to move to Yosemite two years later in 1985.
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He bought an eight-acre plot before getting a divorce from his wife, with whom he had two children with.
Bear uploaded videos constantly, with all of them detailing his daily life. But fans are just realising that he scheduled thousands in advance before his untimely death in 2020.
On Reddit a user explained that Bear ‘was a prolific uploader and created thousands of videos. He also scheduled 15 years of uploads in advanced before he died, leaving his channel still active now 4 years after his death.’
Commenters were baffled by this and in awe at the same time.
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One person wrote: “I was originally thinking to keep income flowing to the family for long after he's gone.”
As another said: “The other way to look at it is, way to make the most of the time he had.”
Someone else commented: “Man if he’s right about reincarnation he could literally grow up and watch his own videos from a past life as they come out.”
And one user said they’d met his daughter, writing: “I met his daughter one time at a party in Tahoe she was cool, slightly embarrassed by but also proud of her dad’s legend status.”
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In a 2019 video, Bear mentioned he was planning on uploading fifteen years’ worth of videos, and it seems like he was telling the truth as to this day, his YouTube channel is uploading constant content.
Since he gained notoriety with his Double Rainbow video, people were interested in what that moment was like for him.
In a 2014 interview, he explained that he was a very spiritual person, and that "the video is me understanding that I'm in the presence of God".
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He shared that he’s not religious but had previously been living like a starving artist and the video led to him being able to live comfortably again.
However, that all changed on May 3, 2020, when he wrote on Facebook that he felt feverish and was having trouble breathing.
But instead of going to the hospital, he wanted to see what happened as he looked forward to reincarnating and ‘enjoying the ride’.
Six days later on May 9, Bear sadly passed away in the emergency room of John C. Fremont Hospital in Mariposa, California at 57 years of age.
Britt Jones