The famous hotel that inspired Stephen King to write "The Shining," besides hosting ghost tours on its premises, now gives tours of the International Cryonics Museum located there in its Ice House. It is the first public museum devoted to Cryonics, created in a partnership with the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, most often referred to as Alcor, an American nonprofit, federally tax-exempt organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States.
According to a Wikipedia entry, "As of October 31, 2023, Alcor had 1,927 members, including 222 who have died and whose corpses have been subject to cryonic processes; 116 bodies had only their head preserved. Alcor also applies its cryonic process to the bodies of pets. As of February 13, 2009, there were 33 animal bodies preserved."
By definition, Cryonics is the science of the low-temperature freezing (usually at −196 °C or −320.8 °F or 77.1 K) and storage of human remains, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticism within the scientific community.
A slightly different definition of Cryonics can be found on the museum walls: “the practice of preserving life by pausing the dying process using subfreezing temperatures with the intent of restoring good health with medical technology in the future.”
Cryopreservation for an entire body at Alcor costs at least $200,000, and it costs $80,000 to preserve just a brain. Full-body patients are preserved head down. This unique positioning ensures that the most vital part of the body—the brain—remains cold even if the worst happens and the liquid nitrogen boils off. The cryopreservation process begins as soon as a person is declared legally dead. At this time, their organs are still viable. A cryonics team, usually on standby for up to a week, moves the patient to an ice bath and replaces their blood with an organ-preserving solution. Once the patient arrives at Alcor’s Arizona facility, the team introduces cryoprotectants into the bloodstream to prevent ice crystal formation.
NOTE: No cryonics organization currently knows how to bring life back to its preserved patients. Alcor remains hopeful, expressing “confidence that revival may be possible” in the future. But as of now, the process of reviving these frozen bodies remains uncertain, not to mention the brain’s memory retention remains a complex and uncertain aspect. There is no medical knowledge related to bodily revival as it pertains to neural pathways responsible for memory and consciousness. Would the brain essentially be wiped clean of memories? Would a revived person have to relearn motor functions just as a newborn learns to walk, understand language, speak, etc?
Visitors to the museum are able to view the cryogenic capsule of “Grandpa” Bredo Morstøl, who was frozen at the time of his death in 1989 in nearby Nederland, Colorado. He now "rests" at the Stanley Hotel, (hanging head down as mentioned above) in a 12-foot-tall steel tank filled with liquid nitrogen set to minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. He is considered to be the patron saint of Frozen Dead Guy Days. The lcelebration will take place from March 15-17, 2024. Grandpa Bredo was born in 1899 and died in 1989. February 28, 2024 was his 124th Birthday. "Belated Happy Birthday Grandpa Bredo." You don't look a day over 90!
- MoonJoey
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