Current:Home > MyEthermac|'Our friend Willie': Final day to visit iconic 128-year-old mummy in Pennsylvania -FutureFinance
Ethermac|'Our friend Willie': Final day to visit iconic 128-year-old mummy in Pennsylvania
Chainkeen View
Date:2025-04-08 05:40:20
A man known as "Stoneman Willie,Ethermac" who died at a Pennsylvania jail over a century ago, has been identified through mummified remains.
After a thorough investigation, Auman's Funeral Home has successfully identified the "Stoneman Willie" body that has been on display for visitors since 1895. The funeral home is now fully prepared to bury the body on Oct. 7, properly.
Visitors can pay their respects to the deceased at Auman Funeral Home from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6. The man's name will be unveiled on his tombstone during the ceremony at a local cemetery.
The deceased's body will be transported to the gravesite, accompanied by a police escort, for the funeral ceremony.
"I think it's the honorable thing to do," the funeral home's director, Kyle Blankenbiller, told ABC News. "It felt good to finally find his identity."
The man was an alcoholic who died of kidney failure at Berks County Prison, Reuters reported. After being arrested for pickpocketing, he provided a fake name and was later referred to as "Stoneman Willie" upon his arrival at the funeral home.
The website Berks Nostalgia reported that the name he gave when he was arrested was "James Penn."
Stoneman Willie boldly admitted to the prison physician, just before his passing, that the name he had provided, James Penn, was a false one. He had given this name to protect the reputation of his brother and sister, Berks Nostalgia reported.
Since the police did not know the man's identity, they could not find family members to take his body, so he was released to Auman's Funeral Home in Reading, Pennsylvania.
He was then accidentally mummified in an attempt to experiment with novel embalming techniques, Reuters said.
Pennsylvania authorities gave Auman's Funeral Home permission to keep Stoneman Willie's body, rather than burying it, to keep monitoring the effects of the embalming technique.
The funeral home informed Reuters that Willie's hair, teeth, and skin are well-preserved.
"We don't refer to him as a mummy," Blankenbiller told Reuters. "We refer to him as our friend Willie. He has just become such an icon, such a storied part of not only Reading's past but certainly its present."
In tribute to his public viewing, Stoneman Willie was clothed in 19th-century garb, a Facebook post from the funeral home mentioned.
During his burial on Oct. 7, Stoneman Willie's real name will be publicly revealed and inscribed on his headstone.
More:Oklahoma woman sentenced to 15 years after letting man impregnate her 12-year-old daughter
veryGood! (23)
Related
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- Senator’s son appears in court on new homicide charge from crash that killed North Dakota deputy
- Stock market today: World shares are mostly higher as Bank of Japan keeps its lax policy intact
- Stock market today: World shares are mostly higher as Bank of Japan keeps its lax policy intact
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Google to pay $700 million in case over whether its app store is an illegal monopoly
- Artificial intelligence can find your location in photos, worrying privacy experts
- Many kids are still skipping kindergarten. Since the pandemic, some parents don’t see the point
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Google's Android app store benefits from anticompetitive barriers, jury in Epic Games lawsuit says
Ranking
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- Bangladesh minister accuses country’s main opposition party of arson after train fire kills 4
- A boycott call and security concerns mar Iraq’s first provincial elections in a decade
- Is black tea good for you? How about herbal? Here's what to know about health benefits.
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Actor Jonathan Majors receives mixed verdict in criminal domestic violence trial
- BP suspends all oil shipments through the Red Sea as attacks escalate
- 400,000 homes, businesses without power as storm bears down on Northeast: See power outage maps
Recommendation
NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
Serbia’s ruling populists say weekend elections were fair despite international criticism, protests
Charmed’s Holly Marie Combs Confirms Alyssa Milano Got Shannen Doherty Fired
CBP to suspend border railway crossings at two Texas border bridges due to migrant surge
Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
First cardinal prosecuted in Vatican's criminal court convicted of embezzlement
The best movies and TV of 2023, picked for you by NPR critics
Rural Arizona Has Gone Decades Without Groundwater Regulations. That Could Soon Change.