'Stoneman Willie,' known as America's oldest mummy, was displayed inside a Pennsylvania funeral home for 128 years before finally being slated for a proper burial.
Stoneman Willie, a person who succumbed to kidney failure in a local jail on November 19, 1895, after struggling with alcoholism, had his body accidentally mummified by a mortician experimenting with new embalming techniques.
His body will undergo its final rites and be transported in a procession to the nearby Forest Hills Memorial Park for interment on October 7th.
In the footage, a man is seen lying in a coffin, dressed in a black suit and bowtie, with preserved hair and teeth, and his skin has become leathery.
Auman's Funeral Home has now successfully identified Stoneman Willie through historical records and intends to reveal his real name when they lay him to rest later this week.
However, very little is known about him beyond his Irish heritage. Over a century ago, when he was arrested for pickpocketing, he had provided a false name, making the man's true identity unknown.
According to historical records, Stoneman Willie was preserved by Theodor Auman, a mortician who was experimenting with innovative arterial embalming techniques, which were still relatively new in the late 19th century. Prior to this, the customary practice involved keeping corpses on ice until the time of burial.
The arterial embalming process involves injecting embalming fluid into an artery to displace the blood, while a drain tube is used to expel blood from the veins.
Local historian George M. Meiser XI informed The Washington Post that Auman concocted his unique embalming fluid recipe, which happened to contain an excessive amount of formalin, a chemical used in the embalming process.
The abundance of formalin resulted in the preservation and petrification of Stoneman Willie's body.
When Stoneman Willie was alive, he was arrested for theft, having been discovered inside a local boardinghouse with a stolen gold watch, razor, and money in his possession. However, he provided a false name, James Penn, so the man's true identity remains unknown.
At the age of 37, he died after battling gastritis, which worsened into acute uremia, a form of end-stage kidney disease.
Watching the video below:
