A cast of the head of 84-year-old dead baseball star Ted Williams will go on display September 6 in a New York City art gallery. It is, in fact, a cast of all that remains of Ted, as his head was "clinically decapitated" -- chopped off -- after he died. It was then frozen in a tank of liquid nitrogen in the hope that future medical science would be able to defrost it and bring Ted back to life. Proponents of this procedure call it "cryonic slumber." It is not clear whether the cast was made of Ted at room temperature or at sub-zero.

The cast was made at Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, AZ, which also has the heads and bodies of dozens of other people in icy slumberland. An Alcor logo baseball cap is part of the gallery display, as is an issue of Life magazine with Ted Williams on the cover. One quickly understands that the head is the principal reason for this exhibit, which is titled "The Ted Williams Memorial Display with Death Mask from The Ben Affleck 2004 World Series Collection."

Both Alcor and The Cryonics Institute (Clinton Township, MI) offer tours of their facilities to people with a sincere interest in cryonics, and to prospective customers.

The dead head of Ted exhibit is scheduled to run only through October 1, at First Street Gallery, which puzzlingly is at 526 West 26th St. Gallery spokesman Daniel Edwards says that the head may go on tour after October 1, as "the story concerning the fate of Ted Williams' remains shouldn't be ignored." He promises to "look very carefully at which cities carried the story, and contact museum gallery venues in those communities."

See the update .... [08/31/2005]

February 9, 2010