A man is suing an American cryonics company for $1 million after he discovered his father had been beheaded and his other remains cremated.

In cryonics, people pay to have their remains deep frozen and stored in the hope that one day, medical science will discover how to cure the illness which killed them and bring them back to life.

The body of the deceased, Dr Laurence Pilgeram, was delivered to Alcor Life Extension Foundation for freezing in 2015 after he supposedly suffered cardiac arrest.

But according to reports, a mix-up at a California medical examiner’s office meant that the body languished over the weekend. By the time Alcor took delivery of it on the Monday, it decided to perform a ‘neuro separation’ and preserve only the head.

While Alcor did not explain its action, there is speculation that the rest of Dr Pilgeram’s remains may have been too decomposed to be salvaged.

But when his son, Kurt, received the cremated remains unexpectedly he suffered considerable mental anguish.

According to a legal note: “Alcor has intentionally caused severe emotional distress to Kurt [Pilgeram, the plaintiff] when they cremated his father’s remains and had them shipped to his house in a box without notice. Furthermore, Alcor committed fraud against Kurt when they promised him that his father’s whole body would be preserved and then cut off his head.”