X-Message-Number: 13178
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 13:36:27 +1100
From: Damien Broderick <>
Subject: Leary

Sorry if this is an old urban myth, but here's an exchange between a guy
and me: him, then me, then him again. Anyone know better?

=============================

>>{Leary]'d actually had a bunch
>>of cryopreneurs lined up, camped there in the house in fact, waiting
>>for the moment of his death to chop off his head and dunk it in liquid
>>nitrogen! Tragically, Leary mentioned suicide once too often, and the
>>litigation-shy freezermen packed up and fled--or so I believed.
>>In looking up the details for this email, I discovered that his head
>>has indeed, apparently, been cryo-preserved!

>The impression I get (from cryonet etc) is that Tim earlier expressed his
>plain wish to be cryo-preserved, and was signed up for the Dewar, so indeed
>there were cryonics staff on hand, but his house was full of New Age
>dipsticks (duh) who talked him out of it at the last minute. Not even a
>head job.

On this much we concur. (I'm basing my story on what I read on Leary's
homepage, leary.com, before it was pulled down.)

>his house was full of new Age dipsticks (duh) who talked him out of
>it at the last minute.

leary.com claimed the cryo guys had left after Leary talked of active
euthanasia to allow his head to be preserved while he was dying, instead of
after death, which spooked them badly. Of course, whoever put that up on
the site may well have been a New Age dipstick.

>Not even a head job.

As I say, I did think it had all fallen through (that seemed to be "the
official word" from his site), but apparently the film _Timothy Leary's
Dead_ has a closing shot featuring his frozen head (cf.
http://www.macfaq.com/journal/leary.html and
http://highwired.infoplease.com/ipea/A0195653.html
for example). So, I might get to meet the old madman one day after all--and
maybe chat about the greatest trip of them all! :)

=================================

Damien

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