Local residents gave “Willie” a memorable farewell
About 128 years ago, a petty thief known to locals as “Stoneman Willie” died of kidney failure in a Pennsylvania prison on November 19, 1895. He was accidentally mummified by a funeral director who was experimenting with a new embalming technique, according to BBC.
Dressed in a suit and bow tie, the man was on display at Auman Funeral Home in the small town of Reading. His hair and teeth remain intact and his skin has taken on a leathery appearance.
Before he died, he gave authorities a fictitious name upon his arrest; his true identity remains hidden.
According to Reutersthe funeral home had petitioned the state for permission to keep the body instead of burying it to oversee the experimental embalming process.
The funeral home said they were able to identify the man’s name and will release it later this week when they lay the body to rest. There isn’t much information about him outside of his Irish roots.
“We don’t call him mummy. We call him our friend Willie,” Kyle Blankenbiller, the funeral director, told Reuters. “He’s just become such an icon, such a legendary part of not just Reading’s past but certainly its present.”
Local residents gave “Willie” a memorable farewell with a colorful parade, including a motor hearse carrying his coffin.
Willie will make his final journey through the streets of Reading on Saturday 7 October. He will be buried in a local cemetery, and on his grave the funeral home will reveal his real name.
