From the March 18, 1895 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Muncie Ind.–An undertaker at Red Key claims that he has secured a secret from an old hermit which promises to revolutionize the art of embalming. He learned it of an ancient man who lives in the mountains of West Virginia, in a lonely cabin, and residents of the neighborhood believed him insane and that his house was haunted. A visit to the hermit’s house was paid by the undertaker and a friend. The floors of the two lower rooms of the cabin were carpeted with the finest rugs made from the skins of animals and preserved by the hermit. The rugs consisted of the skins of coons, cats, snakes, frogs, minks, etc. The skins were perfectly preserved and were as natural as if just taken from the animal. Upstairs were three bodies, which the hermit said he had obtained years ago. They looked as if death had come but yesterday. The hermit also had bodies of different animals all looking as natural as life. The first experiment with the fluid will be made in a medical college in Baltimore, Md.”