A man who died 128 years ago, will be buried this October in the American state of Pennsylvania. The body of “Stoneman Willie“, as the boy’s body came to be known, was accidentally mummified by a funeral director who was testing new embalming techniques.
“It was an experiment and apparently he overdid it with the formalin (the chemical liquid used). It was a little strong and kind of petrified him,” the local historian said Georg Meister to the American newspaper Washington Post.
The man died of kidney failure in 1895 after being arrested for theft. When he was arrested, the suspect gave authorities a false name, resulting in Willie’s identity remaining a mystery. The relatives of the deceased could not be located at this time.
Exhibition
Willie’s body will be on display at a funeral home in the town of Reading until October 7th before being taken to the local cemetery. The body remained in the care of the Auman Funeral Home in subsequent years. On American television images, Willie appears in a suit and bow tie lying in the coffin, with a red sash over his body.
“We don’t call him a mummy. We refer to him as our friend Willie,” he said. Kyle BlankenbillerDirector of Auman Funeral Home.