Round 128 years in the past, a petty thief, identified to locals as ‘Stoneman Willie’ died of kidney failure in a Pennsylvania jail on November 19, 1895. He was by chance mummified by a mortician experimenting with a brand new embalming method, in keeping with BBC.

Wearing a swimsuit with a bow tie, the person had been on show at Auman’s Funeral House within the small metropolis of Studying. His hair and enamel stay intact, and his pores and skin has taken on a leathery look.

Earlier than he died he gave authorities a fictitious title upon his arrest, his true id stays hidden.

In line with Reuters, the funeral dwelling had petitioned the state for permission to maintain the physique as a substitute of burying it to watch the experimental embalming course of.

The funeral dwelling mentioned that they had been capable of establish the person’s title and can reveal it later this week once they lay the physique to relaxation. There’s not a lot details about him past his Irish roots.

“We do not check with him as a mummy. We check with him as our good friend Willie,” Kyle Blankenbiller, the funeral director advised Reuters. “He has simply change into such an icon, such a storied a part of not solely Studying’s previous however actually its current.”

Native residents gave “Willie” a memorable send-off with a vibrant parade that included a motorbike hearse carrying his casket.

Willie will make his remaining journey on Saturday, October 7 by way of the streets of Studying. He will probably be buried at a neighborhood cemetery, and at his graveside, the funeral dwelling will reveal his actual title.