Bill Hillman, Author Of ‘How To Survive The Bulls Of Pamplona,’ Gored By Bull At Pamplona

Bill Hillman, a 32-year-old Chicago-based writer who co-wrote a book entitled Fiesta: How To Survive The Bulls Of Pamplona, was gored by a bull Wednesday morning, during the running of the bulls in Pamplona.

The northern Spanish city is famous for its week-long annual San Fermin Festival, which features the running of the bulls each morning, when six angry bulls are released into the street and hundreds of people, many of them foreign tourists such as Hillman, run away from them.

The above photo, from the festival’s online site, shows Hillman on the ground moments after being attacked by the 1,300-pound bull, which pierced his thigh twice with one of its horns.

Hillman is said to be a devotee of iconic American author Ernest Hemingway, whose works romanticized bullfighting and whose iconic 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises includes scenes depicting the running of the bulls. Hillman has made the trip to Pamplona and taken part in the bull-running several times previously.

But this time, Hillman fell down while running, and a black bull, reported to be the biggest of the six bulls released Wednesday, gored him. Hillman was initially listed in serious condition and was being treated for his wounds at a nearby hospital, but no official updated information on his condition was available as of late Wednesday morning U.S. Eastern Time.

Another man, a 35-year-old Spaniard, was also gored in Wednesday morning’s run, and was also taken to the hospital in serious condition. Three other men were hospitalized with less severe injures suffered during the run, which lasts only a few minutes before the bulls arrive at the Pamplona bullfighting arena, where they will be killed in bullfights later that day.

Hillman, according to a Chicago CBS News station, also wrote articles offering tips on bull-running for the adventure magazine Outside. Among the tidbits of advice he offered were, “Get an arm’s length away from the wall,” “keep your head on a swivel,” and perhaps most helpful, if somewhat obvious, “run like you’ve never run before.”

Alexander Fiske-Harrison, another co-author of How To Survive The Bulls Of Pamplona, told the Chicago CBS affiliate that he was in touch with Hillman since the goring and that he was having surgery on his damaged leg.

Fiske-Harrison added that Hillman, “seemed okay, indeed happy given the amount of pain killers he was on.”

Since records on the running of the bulls started being taken in 1924, there have been 15 recorded fatalities and hundreds of injuries. Three of the deaths occurred at a point in the run known as the “Telefonica Stretch,” which is the spot where Bill Hillman was gored.

[Image: SanFermin.com]

[Image: Bill Hillman Facebook]