A mystery that has stumped Reading, Pennsylvania, will finally be revealed this week when residents bury a mummy that has been on display in the local funeral home for more than a century
Stoneman Willie has been on display at a local funeral home for more than a century (
Image: WFMZ)
The identity of a mummy, nicknamed “Stoneman Willie,” that has been on display at a local funeral home will finally be uncovered Saturday after the mystery man is finally laid to rest.
The previously unidentified mummy that’s been on display at Auman’s Funeral Home since 1895, which amounts to 128 years, will ceremoniously be laid to rest Saturday—where he will finally be identified by funeral home officials after more than a century.
The funeral home was able to preserve his body for more than 100 years because of embalming, which is the process of delaying the decomposition of a corpse in Reading, Pennsylvania.
He will be given a proper burial and have his true name carved in the gravestone. “We don’t like to see him leave. It’ll be strange here without him in the building,” Kyle Blankenbiller, director of Auman’s Funeral Home, said during an appearance on As It Happens.
READ MORE: Body may have been lying dead in bed for 20 years in gruesome discovery inside home
Residents lined up to say their goodbyes to their beloved Willie
(
Image:
WFMZ)
“But the consensus has been within the community — and among our staff, as well — that this gentleman just deserves to finally rest in peace and just have his day.”
Stoneman Willie’s name echoes across Reading. The mummy became somewhat of a local legend as people lined up to watch him participate in sideshows.
This Saturday, Stoneman Willie will finally be identified after 128 years
(
Image:
WFMZ)
When he wasn’t performing, Willie would reside in a private room in the funeral home, which attracted various school trip visits by children who were dying to see him.
“When I was a kid growing up, he was a sideshow freak that people craved to go see,” Charles Adams II, a local historian who will be eulogising Willie at his funeral, said.
“He became a legend, which is fine. I’m very much into legends. But he was a man. He had a mother and a father, friends and relatives we know nothing about. So I think that’s the important thing for the eulogy of what we know as Stoneman Willie.”
Stoneman Willie became a local icon in Reading
(
Image:
WFMZ)
Stoneman Willie and the town of Reading go way back. Willie traveled from Philadelphia to Reading in 1895. He was known as a trouble maker who enjoyed drinking, committing petty larceny and occasionally the art of picking pockets.
One public intoxication incident later, Willie was confined at Berks County Prison. It is said that he died of kidney failure after enduring acute alcohol withdrawal. He gave authorities a fake name, so Willie was never properly identified.
Although Willie wasn’t the most morally-sound individual, Auman’s officials said he cared deeply about his family who he didn’t want to disappoint. Kyle said: “He came from an affluent Irish family, and his brother and a sister both lived in New York,” Kyle said. “And he didn’t want to bring shame onto his family.
Theo Auman, the funeral home’s first director, decided to experiment on Willie’s body. Embalming was a relatively new art at the time, so Theo thought he’d test out a recipe originally created for preserving meat.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Mirror – https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/mystery-128-year-old-mummy-31106483
