Disney on Ice: Was Walt Disney Frozen For Posterity?

Was Walt Disney’s body frozen after his death? Today we take a look at this long-standing urban legend.

History

Cryonic suspension is the preservation and storage of a person’s remains immediately after death by cooling, preparing, and then freezing the body (or just the head) at subzero temperatures. Cryonic suspension is not a scientifically accepted application of cryogenics; therefore, to say someone is cryogenically frozen is inaccurate. The ideal purpose of cryonic suspension is to preserve the body indefinitely until a time where the body can be reanimated and the disease the person once died from can be cured.

Shortly after Walt Disney died after experiencing acute circulatory collapse due to lung cancer on 15 December 1966, rumors began which eventually developed into a full-blown urban legend that Disney’s corpse underwent cryonic suspension. Despite being unsubstantiated and refuted by his daughter and others, this urban legend has persisted to the present day. The rumor was publicly disputed as early as 1969, when a Disney publicist told French magazine Ici Paris that the rumor was started by a group of Disney studio animators as some sort of macabre prank.

Before she died, Walt Disney’s daughter Diane publicly stated that she doubted her father had even heard of cryonics, much less desired to be frozen. Even Bob Nelson, the former president of the Cryonics Society of California, denies that Disney was frozen. In a 1972 interview for the Los Angeles Times, Nelson stated, “Lots of people think that [Walt Disney] was [frozen], and that the body’s in cold storage in his basement. The truth is, Walt missed out. He never specified it in writing, and when he died the family didn’t go for it. They had him cremated. I personally have seen his ashes. They’re in Forest Lawn. Two weeks later we froze the first man.” Despite variations of the legend claiming Walt Disney’s frozen body (or head) is stored in a vault below the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, Walt Disney was cremated after death and his ashes interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

The first person to undergo cryonic suspension was 73-year-old Dr. James H. Bedford who died of cancer and was shortly thereafter frozen on 12 January 1967, almost a month after Walt Disney had passed away. An unsuccessful attempt had been made in April 1966 on an unidentified woman; however, too much time elapsed between her death and the freezing process for there to be any hope of reanimation. Dr. Bedford’s corpse was almost immediately prepared for the freezing process, and as of 25 May 1991 when he was last examined, he appeared to be in relatively good condition. While Walt Disney did not undergo cryonic suspension, several people in addition to Dr. Bedford have had the procedure in subsequent years. The most notable of these, in terms of public recognition, would likely be Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams.

Bottom Line

Walt Disney was cremated and his ashes interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. His body was never frozen; however, a small number of people, including baseball legend Ted Williams, have been frozen in hopes of future reanimation.