Walt died on December 15, 1966 in Los Angeles. Less than a month earlier, he had been diagnosed with lung cancer – the famous producer was an inveterate smoker who smoked a pipe in his youth. Although surgery was performed to remove the tumor and a large part of one of the lungs, it had metastasized. The filmmaker wanted to spend as much time with his family as possible, but collapsed at his home on November 30 and was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph. There he died two weeks later – the cancer led to cardiogenic shock.
Where did the rumor that Walt Disney was frozen after his death come from?
Nicholas Barber in one of the episodes of the program created for the BBC dealt with this mysterious and imaginative topic. To the disappointment of many admirers, a British journalist stressed that there is absolutely no evidence that Walt Disney wanted to be frozen in a cryogenic chamber. And he adds that there is irrefutable evidence that Walt Disney was cremated after his death and his ashes rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery in Glendale, California. The words of Disney’s daughter, Diane, have also been noted in numerous sources. In 1972, she emphatically emphasized in her biography that her father had never even heard of cryogenics and certainly never expressed a desire to have his body frozen.
Today, it is difficult to determine exactly where this sensational rumor came from. Some say it’s the work of the animators who used to work with the famous producer, Barber reports. The portal, in turn, reports that the first rumors about the freezing of Walt Disney’s corpse were to be spread by a reporter working for the tabloid “The National Spotlite”. He was supposed to sneak into the hospital where Disney died and make his way to the morgue in disguise. There, he allegedly saw the body of the famous manufacturer sealed in a cryogenic cylinder – these reports have never been confirmed.
In 1969, first the French magazine “Paris Ici” and later “The National Tattler” were to inform readers that Disney was to be defrosted in 1975 – the same newspaper published a text in May 1955 entitled “Without arms and legs, the human centipede is a husband and father,” Alessandra Gorla points out in the text on the to page. Rumors about the producer’s freeze were also spread by former studio employees, and quotes from these anonymous “experts” in the 1990s were reprinted in several highly unauthorized and extremely unreliable Disney biographies.
What made the urban legend of the freezing of Walt Disney’s body one of the most popular and completely fabricated rumors of the second half of the 20th century? This thread is also analyzed by BBC specialist Nicholas Barber. He points out that although it was a science fiction idea, there were many factors that made it easy for people to believe in it. First, Walt Disney was a visionary and a man who showed the whole world the power of his imagination. Secondly, Disney was also very wealthy and willingly invested in modern technologies – that’s why his studio was developing so dynamically, and besides, more and more innovative roller coasters and other attractions appeared in Disneyland. Cryogenics didn’t seem to conflict with the image much.
From rumor to conspiracy theory
Barber also recalls that around the time of Walt Disney’s death – in the late 1960s – cryogenics was something that scientists were particularly interested in. In 1964, Robert WC Ettinger’s book “The Prospect of Immortality” caused a great sensation. After reading it, a certain Bob Nelson became president of the California Cryogenic Society. It was Nelson who told the LA Times in 1972 that Disney wanted to be frozen, but they couldn’t get the papers out in time. He was probably just trying to promote his business, but his statement undoubtedly contributed to the fact that Walt Disney’s name was associated with cryogenics for many years.
Barber also notes that the rumor about Disney’s body being frozen is so deeply rooted in the collective imagination that it has led to another conspiracy theory. This assumes that Pixar made a film in 2013 (the original title is “Frozen”), so that after entering the search term “Disney frozen” in the Google search engine, only information about the new production appears. This, in turn, was to ensure that I would not show any results regarding the false theory that many still want to believe.
Scientists are also trying to dispel any doubts. Researcher Michael Hendricks of McGill University in his 2015 article for the “MIT Technology Review” wrote bluntly: Resuscitation or stimulation of frozen, dead tissue that is stored in centers offering cryogenic services is an extremely false hope. This is impossible and is beyond the capabilities of this industry
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
