RIP Stoneman Willie: US mummy buried at last after 128 years
- Alleged thief James Murphy died in jail in 1895, and was accidentally mummified by undertakers after no one claimed his body
- The corpse was later displayed in an open casket, where it has drawn thousands of visitors, including locals, researchers and even children on class trips
After more than a century living with a macabre mystery, the US town of Reading, Pennsylvania closed the casket Saturday on its oddest-ever resident – a mummified man who was finally buried.
Crowds of people have lined up in recent days to pay their respects, snap photos or gaze with bewildered awe on a scene unlikely to ever be repeated in the United States.
“Stoneman Willie” was the nickname bestowed long ago on an alleged thief who died in 1895 in jail and was taken to the Theo C. Auman Funeral Home when no one claimed the body, before being accidentally mummified by undertakers.
“Fast-forward 128 years and he’s still here,” funeral home director Kyle Blankenbiller said ahead of the burial.
At his interment, a crowd gathered under overcast skies, circling around Willie’s black tombstone at a local cemetery for one final farewell.
