Alcor Cryonics Has Published a Detailed Denial of the False Claims About Abuse of Ted Williams Head

A lot of people are letting misguided emotion and cryonics ick factor guide them into believing the false accusations. It seems clear that the accuser Larry Johnson planned to try to both make a buck out of finding fault with Alcor. It looks like he was also attracted to do it because of the Ted Williams angle. Ted Williams was a his “hero” and he started working their 6 months after Ted was placed there. Larry was at Alcor for 8 months and about half of that time Larry was actively recording and stealing.

ABC confirms that the head freezing was what was ordered. A Huffington post piece talks about how the son of Ted Williams was trashed by sports writers who emotionally did not want Ted frozen.

October 7, 2009: Alcor Response to ABC Nightline

Last night, Larry Johnson appeared on ABC’s Nightline to promote the sale of his book, Frozen: My Journey into Cryonics, Deception and Death.

Mr. Johnson has had numerous opportunities to defend his actions in a court of law — both in Arizona and New York. He has failed to appear in Court in both states and has taken extreme steps to avoid service of process, and yet has no problem appearing on national television to slander innocent people and attempt to destroy a 40 year old nonprofit organization that has worked hard to gain respect among many in the scientific and medical communities.

Nightline made efforts to investigate Mr. Johnson’s many fallacious claims. Mr. Johnson was caught in his own web of deceit when one of his claimed errors in the Ted Williams case was exposed as false. He was also forced to admit that he tried to profit from the death of baseball great, Ted Williams by charging visitors to his website $20 to view alleged photos of Mr. Williams’ cryopreserved head. Such photos, some of which are part of internal case documentation files, were removed from Alcor without authorization by Mr. Johnson.

In his book and during the Nightline segment, Mr. Johnson claimed he witnessed Alcor staff striking Ted William’s head with a wrench. Mr. Johnson, who was an executive with authority over the procedure in question, also claimed he said nothing about the purported incident when it allegedly occurred nor did he bring it to the attention of any other staff or board member. In fact, multiple individuals verified as documented witnesses to patient transfer procedures state without hesitation that Mr. Johnson’s claims are pure fabrication. Alcor’s internal investigation did not reveal any reports or recollections of any Alcor patient ever being struck by a wrench or any other object, accidentally or otherwise. Yet this fictional and unsubstantiated report continues to echo, as if it is fact, over and over again in the media

It is important to note that Mr. Johnson came to Alcor with supposed medical experience, and he was paid and entrusted to improve procedures and ensure the safety and privacy of Alcor members. In his short tenure, Mr. Johnson misappropriated Alcor property for his own financial gain; he invaded the privacy of private individuals by secretly recording their conversations; he absconded with medical records and technical photographs that were taken for documentation purposes and has presented these out of the context in which they were intended in order to make Alcor and its well-founded and documented procedures seem ghoulish in the eyes of the unsuspecting public. Mr. Johnson’s actions violated the trust of Alcor, breached the confidence of its members and damaged the reputation of the science of cryonics.

As Nightline asked in the lead-in to the segment, “is this self-styled whistleblower just out to make money?” The answer is a resounding yes.

Ralph Merkle said that Johnson’s main area of responsibility during his tenure at Alcor in 2003 was the supervision of the cryopreservation of Alcor members. According to Merkle, “Johnson expressed none of his lurid and sensationalistic concerns during his employment — when preventing and correcting any such alleged mistakes would have been a major part of his duties. Only afterwards, when he could profit from exaggerations and misrepresentations, did he start to complain about how Alcor performed cryopreservations.”

Some of Johnson’s most derogatory attacks of Alcor involve alleged mistakes during the cryopreservation of baseball great Ted Williams. Merkle said “It is absurd for Johnson to make these allegations because he had yet to be hired by Alcor when Williams was cryopreserved.

Bloomberg reports that Alcor Life Extension Foundation Inc., the Arizona cryonics company, sued a former employee to block publication of his expose claiming the organization mishandled the remains of baseball star Ted Williams.

ABC Coverage

In one of the most potent allegations in Johnson’s book, he said Alcor cut off Williams’ head without prior approval from his family.

“He was supposed to be a whole-body suspension,” Johnson said. “He was supposed to be in one piece. They got him to the O.R. at Alcor and proceeded to cut through his neck.”

But, in this instance at least, Johnson’s version seemed to be incorrect. ABC News found notarized agreements, signed by Williams’ oldest son and youngest daughter allowing Alcor the option of removing their father’s head. The papers were signed in Florida just after 9 p.m. ET — at least an hour before the operation began in Arizona, according to the log Johnson cites in his book.

Slanted Media Against the Son of Ted Williams
Huffington Post’ Brian Ross: Ted Williams Head: How SI and the Mainstream Sports Media Gave John Henry Williams a Bum Rap

With the Larry Johnson kiss-and-tell book about Alcor Life Extension Labs coming out, the pot is being stirred again about Ted Williams frozen head, and its treatment.

Forget that Mr. Johnson, as COO, ran the lab, and could have cleaned up the very things that he is now lamenting… for profit.

Disregard that Tom Verducci, the sports writer who began ringing the fire bell about Williams’ handling of his father’s remains at Sports Illustrated (SI) did little more than source Bobby Jo Williams-Ferrell and those friends and family who didn’t like the idea. He also did very little follow-up when the court upheld that Williams indeed did co-author this request along with the children to whom he was still speaking.