Ted Williams' Head Reportedly Severed, Beaten With Monkey Wrench At Cryonics Facility

Wow, Some reason first thought I had was tricks on the new employees

"Hey Marty if you you want to sit at the good table at lunch your gonna have to stick your tongue on (insert famous persons name)'s forehead and see if it sticks"

wouldn't surprise me if the allegations are true..

people are pretty messed up these days, or has anyone noticed lol

i'm sure there 'might' be some people that started this company believing someday the people could be revived, but i'm willing to bet that some there laugh all the way to the bank

you would have to have some pretty heavy quality controls in place to insure that the 'residence' there were not being mistreated

people are treated worse or just as bad in nursing homes, and their still alive..its sad really

reply to post by AllSeeingI


I grew up in MA (now I am in PHX ironically), so when this first went down after Ted passed, it was a huge story and his Son was demonized! His head was not severed after he was stored. Ted's son only elected that his head be stored...so, the severance portion of the story is dramatics. However, the remainder of the story is true I bet.

What if they can revive ted, but they do not have the capability of putting his head on another body? What if the company goes under? What if they lose backup power...it is in the desert after all...

I dunno, maybe I've watched too much sci-fi, but I don't think I've ever heard anything good come of a cryonics facility, especially one called Alcor Life Extension.

[edit on 2009/10/3 by Griever0311]

"Did you hear the one about the frozen baseball player, the tuna can and the monkey wrench?"

Sounds like the set-up to a really disturbing joke. How can people make this up? As morbid as it is, I just couldn't stop laughing. This is insanity to the farthest degree.

Good find, OP.

They killed him! Wait, he was already dead. Hmm.. I'm confused.

I think this probably happened but is being greatly exagerrated.

A tuna can is probably the perfect type device to use as a pedestal for a head. Not much surface area to stick, but sturdy enough to hold it. One would think that they properly sanitized them. Why pay a medical supply company $500 for basically the same thing? Invariably though, it would get stuck and require a bit of force to remove. Or as may suggest to the lab, just a bit of heat. It's not like they took the monkey wrench and hit the head over it's skull. It was probably more just a tap or two. Do the same thing with a frozen block of anything and you can get some significant scatter. Regardless, if they they are ever able to bring him back to life, they will be able to fix whatever damage was done to him.

Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical
I think this probably happened but is being greatly exagerrated.

A tuna can is probably the perfect type device to use as a pedestal for a head. Not much surface area to stick, but sturdy enough to hold it. One would think that they properly sanitized them. Why pay a medical supply company $500 for basically the same thing? Invariably though, it would get stuck and require a bit of force to remove. Or as may suggest to the lab, just a bit of heat. It's not like they took the monkey wrench and hit the head over it's skull. It was probably more just a tap or two. Do the same thing with a frozen block of anything and you can get some significant scatter. Regardless, if they they are ever able to bring him back to life, they will be able to fix whatever damage was done to him.

Tap or two? It said gray chunks of his head were flying all over the room..

One would think that they properly sanitized them.

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical


I don't see what you're basing that hypothesis on. If these cretans are grabbing garbage off the floor to use in very expensive cryogenic operations, what makes you think they will go to the extra effort to 'properly sanitize' them? All though you have gone to great pains to explain the usefulness of a tuna can.

I have to wonder if they leave these heads out for use as scratching posts after they're done beating on them with wrenches. Not what they paid for I'm sure!

This is a messed up story, for sure.
I can't believe people would ever even WANT to have the deceased frozen.
Our bodies are composed of too much water for this to be feasable. Maybe in the future when they have learned to instantly dehydrate the body could they store it and maintain some sort of functionality upon thawing. Butas it stands now, the expansion and crystallization of water within the body will destroy cellular tissue throughout the brain.

Sounds kinda silly, but if they were able to revive him, he would be a zombie.

As far as bashing his head with a monkeywrench to remove a tuna can, this sounds like the B Squad at work in this lab.
The whole lab sounds like a rag-tag misfit operation.

I expect they'll catch some heat over this. And perhaps people will wise up to the fact that this won't ever work in its current form and save their money by not freezing their relatives.

reply to post by AllSeeingI


Wow, no this is interesting. A little funny, but interesting.

Originally posted by chiron613

As for the whole technology, it's probably a crock anyway. By the time the person is known to be dead, his brain will have started to die from lack of oxygen. After all, that's how we define death, as brain death. Either they freeze the head when it's still working (he's still alive), or the guy's dead for real and his brain is gone. Even if they go for doing it when he's alive, I can't imagine they are able to decapitate him and get the head frozen in time to save the brain.

This is exactly my feeling on the subject. The way it's done now has always made me think of it as an almighty scam.

I do find the subject hugely amusing though and I've posted a couple of short stories here on the subject.

However, they're nowhere near as bizarre or hilarious as this story.

Having said that, I do feel very sorry for people who go into this seriously hoping that one day they will be revived.

reply to post by AllSeeingI


I don't know which is more insane; that a person would have their head frozen or that a company would be formed to actually do it.

The rich and famous are suckers too it would seem.

October 2, 2009: The Alcor Life Extension Foundation denies the outrageous allegations against it that have appeared in the media this week. Alcor especially denies mistreating the remains of baseball great Ted Williams. Larry Johnson, the ex Alcor staff member who made these allegations, was not employed at Alcor when Williams was cryopreserved. Johnson's previous attempts to profit from sensational and unfounded allegations against Alcor recently resulted in a court order prohibiting him from making further statements about Alcor. "Alcor is actively pursuing litigation regarding these allegations," says Alcor Executive Director, Jennifer Chapman.

Sounds like the gray matter in Johnson's head may be a little frost bitten.

Originally posted by JayinAR
This is a messed up story, for sure.
I can't believe people would ever even WANT to have the deceased frozen.
Our bodies are composed of too much water for this to be feasable. Maybe in the future when they have learned to instantly dehydrate the body could they store it and maintain some sort of functionality upon thawing. Butas it stands now, the expansion and crystallization of water within the body will destroy cellular tissue throughout the brain.

Sounds kinda silly, but if they were able to revive him, he would be a zombie.

As far as bashing his head with a monkeywrench to remove a tuna can, this sounds like the B Squad at work in this lab.
The whole lab sounds like a rag-tag misfit operation.

I expect they'll catch some heat over this. And perhaps people will wise up to the fact that this won't ever work in its current form and save their money by not freezing their relatives.

I don't think PEOPLE want their deceased frozen; the deceased THEMSELVES were making those arrangements... cryogenics is the latest fad for wealthy atheists who hope to get a second shot at life that way. I personally know someone who is determined to have himself frozen after death, in the hope that future technology will be able to cure whatever he died of.

reply to post by sylvie


I thought it was reported that it was Williams' son that had him frozen.
Either way, it is silly.
They won't be able to fix the fact that every cell in your body is destroyed in the process of being frozen.

ummm...now they are reporting this on CNN????
I thought this was bunk~~~~

So something that happened in 2002 is now "Breaking News".

This story is almost as old as Ted Williams.

Glad to find this already posted...

Quite honestly, this tale of Ted Williams' head sounds more like fiction than most actual fiction.

I would say unbelievable, but these days I am starting to believe that just about anything is possible.

What is sad to me, is that I do not understand why Ted Williams had his head frozen, but if it was in the hope to someday be reanimated, I imagine the abuse done to his remains would prevent that due to various damages.

One can hope that the wishes will be followed after death, but this case is proof that those given the task may actually do worse thinsg than you could only imagine.

I am no Ted Williams, but I hope for better...
DocMoreau

Ted Williams was a force.
Back in the days when you had summer day games I went
with a neighbors grandmother, she was up for this opportunity and
must have been a long time fan who knew the game of being a
fan in the seats.
Well there was plenty of seats on the Boston side of the field
where we sat.
Well all of a sudden the crowed fell silent.
I look down at the home plate and there was Ted Williams.
The next thing was the crack up the bat for a hit ball.
First ball game, first big batter.
I can't even recall all the Mantle at bats.

Life is better than frozen.
Doesn't sound like the process is that good.