The Venetian explorer Marco Polo wrote in his Journal that during one visit to the Emperors summer palace of Xanadu, Kublai Khan displayed a severed zombie head preserved in a jar of clear alcoholic fluid. (Polo described the fluid as "with the essence of wine but clear and biting to the nose"). This head the Khan stated had been taken by his grandfather Ghenghis when he returned from his conquests in the west. Polo wrote that the head was aware of their presence. It even watched them with nearly decomposed eyes. When he reached out to touch it the head snapped at his fingers.