Frozen Dead Guy Days 2026, Cryonics History, and This Week in Estes Park

Moe Pass stopped by Tuesday morning while I was reading the paper and asked if I had been following the Frozen Dead Guy Days coverage. I told him I had written about it two weeks ago. He said he knew that. He wanted to know if I had thought about what it means that Grandpa Bredo is arguably the best-housed frozen dead person in the world.

I had not thought about it in exactly those terms.

But Moe is a ranger and he notices things other people walk past. So I put down the paper and thought about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. Bredo Morstoel, a Norwegian grandfather sitting in liquid nitrogen in a 1909 ice house at one of the most famous hotels in Colorado, is living, so to speak, considerably better than most of the other frozen dead people in the world.

Some of those other arrangements have been considerably less comfortable.

PULL UP A CHAIR. THIS ONE'S GOOD.

Who Started All This?

Before Grandpa Bredo, before the Tuff Shed, before any of this became a festival, there was Dr. James Hiram Bedford.

Bedford was a psychology professor at UC Berkeley. He died on January 12, 1967, in California, and became the first human being ever cryonically preserved. A small team of enthusiasts showed up roughly an hour after his death and did their best with the equipment they had, which was not much. The procedure was improvised. Nobody really knew what they were doing. They froze him anyway.

Bedford has been frozen ever since. He is the only person frozen before 1974 who remains preserved today.

His body spent the next two decades passing through several informal arrangements, including time in a garage in Topanga Canyon, before his son Norman finally transferred him to Alcor in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1987. In 1991, Alcor moved him into a new dewar, which is when the world got its first look at how he had held up after twenty-four years. The answer was: better than expected, all things considered.

Bedford has been at Alcor ever since. He is now 59 years into his arrangement. Nobody has a date set for the next check-in.

What About Ted Williams?

The most famous frozen dead person in America is not a Norwegian grandfather who liked fishing and hiking.

It is Ted Williams, widely considered the greatest hitter in baseball history. Williams died on July 5, 2002, at age 83. Two of his three children arranged to have his remains sent to Alcor in Scottsdale over the objections of his oldest daughter, who said his actual final wish had been cremation.

The family dispute played out publicly for years. Court filings. News conferences. Competing accounts of what Ted had actually wanted.

The only documentation anyone ever produced showing that Williams agreed to be frozen is a handwritten note, smudged and stained with grease, found in the trunk of his son's car.

Williams is now at Alcor in Scottsdale, in a building near an airport in an industrial park in Arizona. His son John Henry, who arranged the whole thing, later died and ended up at the same facility. Father and son are now in the same room in separate containers.

Williams' oldest daughter eventually agreed to let the arrangement stand. Her one condition was that the family not attempt to sell her father's DNA.

Nobody has built a museum around Ted Williams. Nobody throws him a festival. The city of Scottsdale has not organized a polar plunge in his honor. He is in a building near an airport. He is well cared for. But nobody is buying a ticket to visit.

So How Is Grandpa Bredo Doing?

Dr. James Bedford was the first human ever cryonically preserved, frozen in January 1967. He is the only person from that era still preserved today. Before landing at Alcor in 1987, his body passed through several informal arrangements. Name one of them.

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FROZEN DEAD GUY DAYS 2026 March 27 through 29, Estes Park

Friday, March 27

• Royal Blue Ball at The Stanley Hotel. Live music, immersive entertainment, and ice king and queen costumes. Fancy attire. No excuses.
• Frozen Dead Bar Crawl. Themed cocktails at participating bars around town. Runs 2:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Pace yourself accordingly.

Saturday, March 28

• Cryogenic Cannibal Chase 8K. A morning run through Estes Park in costume. Undead attire strongly encouraged. Personal dignity optional.
• Legendary Coffin Races. Teams race handmade coffins around an obstacle course while shooting hoops through a giant skull. This is a real event. Buck Timber did not make that up.
• Live music all day at the Estes Park Events Complex. Andy Frasco and the U.N., Rick Lewis Project, Polkanauts, Gasoline Lollipops, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and Estes Park's own Buster and the Boomers.

Sunday, March 29

• Polar Plunge at The Stanley Hotel. Jump into freezing water. Grandpa Bredo would respect it.
• Bands and Bloodys Brunch at locations around town. Bloody Marys and live music. The civilized end to an uncivilized weekend.

Getting There Free parking at 691 N. St. Vrain Avenue. Shuttle service through Explore Estes. Details at visitestespark.com.

Tickets and full schedule at frozendeadguydays.com. Save 15% with code COFFIN15 through March 21.

DID YOU KNOW? 

Dr. James Bedford, the first human ever cryonically preserved, spent years after his 1967 death in informal arrangements including time in a garage in Topanga Canyon, California, before his son Norman transferred him to Alcor in Scottsdale in 1987. He has been there ever since, continuously frozen for 59 years, making him the longest-preserved cryonics patient in history.

The only documentation that Ted Williams ever agreed to cryonic preservation is a handwritten note, smudged and stained with grease, found in the trunk of his son John Henry's car. Williams' oldest daughter disputed it for years before eventually agreeing to let the arrangement stand, on the condition that nobody attempt to sell her father's DNA.

Ted Williams and his son John Henry are both currently stored at Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the same building, in separate containers. John Henry arranged his father's cryopreservation and later ended up there himself. Neither has a festival.

Grandpa Bredo is the only cryonically preserved person in history with a festival, a museum, and a daily tour schedule. James Bedford, Ted Williams, and Bredo Morstoel are all at Alcor. Only one of them is in a 1909 ice house next to a haunted hotel with an annual coffin race held in his honor.

Buck's Joke Of The Day

A psychology professor spent part of his afterlife in a garage in Topanga Canyon.

A baseball legend ended up near an airport in an industrial park in Arizona.

A Norwegian grandfather ended up in a 1909 ice house in Estes Park with a museum, a festival, and daily visiting hours.

All three are managed by the same company.

(Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Results vary by location. Estes Park is the clear frontrunner.)

LOCAL HIGHLIGHT

The International Cryonics Museum at The Stanley is the right place to be this weekend if you want the full picture before the festival starts. The tour runs about an hour and puts you in the same room as Grandpa Bredo. Check current hours and pricing at thestanley.com before you go.

Go before the weekend crowds arrive if you can. Bredo will be there either way. He always is.

Before Dr. James Bedford landed at Alcor in Scottsdale in 1987, his body passed through several informal arrangements after his 1967 death, including time stored in a garage in Topanga Canyon, California. His son Norman eventually transferred him to Alcor, where he has been ever since. In 1991 Alcor moved him into a new dewar, giving the world its first look at how he had held up. The answer, according to those present, was better than expected.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

Moe zipped up his jacket and headed toward The Stanley. He said he wanted to stop in and see Bredo before the festival crowds arrived.

I told him Bredo was not going anywhere.

He said that was the whole idea.

Enjoy the festival this weekend. The coffin races are worth watching. The Polar Plunge is worth watching from a reasonable distance. And if you have ever had any concerns about your own final arrangements, a visit to the International Cryonics Museum will give you some useful perspective on what a good outcome looks like.

Stay smart, stay safe, and leave the mountains warmer than everyone you just read about.

- Buck Timber The Mountain Thread themountainthread.com/signup

This account draws from documented cryonics history and public records. The broad facts are verified. The observations are Buck's own. - Buck

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