Something similar happened in 1969 in Cruger, Mississippi, (Holmes County), when a pre-Civil War casket was dug up on Egypt Plantation containing the very well preserved body of a teenage girl in a red dress - today she is known as the "Lady in Red:"
Mystery Shrouds the Lady in Red In April 1969, on Egypt Plantation near Cruger, Mississippi, workmen unearthed a surprising discovery while digging a septic tank line with a backhoe in a vegetable garden: a casket, which later investigations indicated had been buried there since before the Civil War. When the casket was first discovered, the woman inside it was described as “miraculously preserved, wearing a red dress, her long auburn hair and beautiful skin that of a young woman.” The casket, which funeral home workers described as “very, very expensive,” was made of cast iron and lined with glass, custom-made to fit her small frame. Prior to the Civil War, such caskets were used in order to preserve the body. Alcohol was poured over the body, and a glass sheet was sealed on top. The dress of the "Lady in Red" was made of a beautiful brocade, the type worn by aristocratic women of her day, and her shoes were "tiny, low broad heel boots, forming a slipper, the fabric of silk or leather going almost to the midcalf"—a popular shoe worn during the 1830s and 1840s. She was also wearing white gloves. So, who was this aristocratic Lady in Red? There are several theories, but none has been proven. It is possible that she was a member of the Ricks or Hyman families, which owned Egypt until 1907. However, until the present owners–the Thomas family–purchased the land in 1919, none of the owners actually lived on the land, so it is unlikely that one of them would have been buried there. Another theory is that the woman became ill aboard a river boat on the Yazoo River, and after dying, was brought to the popular river landing at Egypt and buried nearby. She might also have been a victim of the yellow fever, which was common in the Delta in the late 1870s. It was required that a victim of the yellow fever be buried on the spot to prevent the disease from spreading further. The true identity of the Lady in Red will most likely never be known. Whoever she was, she was moved to a new resting place in August 1969. Following a court order, she was buried in a pauper's area of the Lexington Cemetery.