Ted Williams: A chilling account

July 10, 2014

Sorry, but there’s really no way to do this respectfully. Every time I try to come up with something, it just leads to puns, innuendo, and euphemism, so I’ll just go with it.

In her recent memoir, Ted Williams, My Father, Claudia Williams has nothing good to say about Alcor Life Extension, while saying almost nothing bad about her brother, John-Henry. (Of course, that’s the elephant in the room; she wants to talk about her relationship with her Hall of Fame father, while all the interviewers want to know is the whole freezing business.)

I picked up a copy of Larry Johnson’s 2009 release, Frozen: A True Story / My Journey into the World of Cryonics, Deception, and Death. Gee, wonder where he comes down on the topic?

To be honest, the only part of the book that interested me was the Williams affair. After reading those chapters, I felt like I need a shower and a stiff drink.

Johnson, a veteran paramedic and former Alcor employee, sought to be a whistle-blower on his former employer, but there’s something so very creepy about the whole affair. The descriptions are extreme, as are some of the hideous photos of decapitated heads and other situations that seem to come out of bad sci-fi films.

The book is written with Scott Baldyga, described in the back flap as follows:

Scott Baldyga grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts, graduated from Boston College, then spent four years as a volunteer, teacher, and professional musician in Kingston, Jamaica. Living in Los Angeles since 1996, Scott has written screenplays for hire and has worked as a writer, script supervisor, editor, and composer for film and TV. Frozen is his first book.

Boswell, he’s not.

I’m not going to go into grisly detail here. Suffice it to say that the authors don’t have any qualms when it comes to shining a light on the botched “surgical” procedures” and organizational malfeasance that went on at Alco0r. Nor does he have very nice things to say about John-Henry and, to a degree, Claudia. Johnson’s comments fall more along the lines of things I’ve encountered before about Ted Williams’ son: the manipulation, the desire to live off his father’s name, the greed and abuse of getting Ted’s signature on as many things as possible, regardless of his health.

So my main question is, where does the truth lie: with Larry Johnson or Claudia Williams?

 

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