"Somerton Beach Mystery Man", Transcript, Broadcast 15 May 2009. [98] Abbott believes an exhumation and an autosomal DNA test could link the Somerton man to a shortlist of surnames which, along with existing clues to the man's identity, would be the "final piece of the puzzle". On the inside back cover, detectives read through indentations left from previous handwriting: a local telephone number, another unidentified number, and text that resembled a coded message. [44], In 1994, John Harber Phillips, Chief Justice of Victoria and Chairman of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, reviewed the case to determine the cause of death and concluded that, "There seems little doubt it was digitalis. For the next 70 or so years, speculation and increasingly outlandish theories dominated discussion of the Somerton Man. Professor Abbott, who last week spoke to the ABC about his work, added "the final pieces of DNA proof came into place" on Saturday, "triangulating to Charles Webb". Authorities said if sufficient DNA evidence can be obtained, they will attempt to identify the man and where he came from. 28 February 1918: H. C. Reynolds identity card issued. Australia's Greatest Mystery The Somerton Man - Medium [33], Cedric Stanton Hicks, professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Adelaide, testified that of a group of drugs, variants of a drug in that group he called "number 1" and in particular "number 2" were extremely toxic in a relatively small oral dose that would be extremely difficult if not impossible to identify even if it had been suspected in the first instance. In July 1949, a local man came forward with a copy of The Rubiyt that hed found tossed into the back of his car around the time of the Somerton Mans death. The divorce was granted in April 1952. Another couple who saw him from 7:30pm to 8pm, during which time the street lights had come on, recounted that they did not see him move during the half an hour in which he was in view, although they did have the impression that his position had changed. Still, she denied knowing the man, and authorities didnt press her on the issue. 8:30a.m. to 10:50am: The Somerton Man is presumed to have arrived in Adelaide by train. [7] He was clean-shaven[7] and carried no identification, which led police to believe he had committed suicide. [52] In an interview many years later, Paul Lawson, the technician who made the cast and was present when Thomson viewed it, noted that after looking at the bust she immediately looked away and would not look at it again. I solved it when I was looking back at my old notes on the tamam shud code, which had a solution. Mystery of Somerton man's identity solved after 73 years, researchers in Australia say Cryptic clues about man found on an Adelaide beach in 1948 spawned theories of jilted lovers and cold. Astonishing Legends. 5 Unsolved, Weird Disappearances of People: What Happened? Derek Abbott, a physicist and electronic engineer at the University of Adelaide, and Colleen Fitzpatrick, a forensic genealogist who specializes in using DNA to solve cold cases, identified the Somerton Man using hairs caught in his death mask. 14 October 2019: Attorney-General of South Australia grants conditional approval for The Somerton Man to be exhumed in order for a DNA sample to be obtained. The Tamm Shud case, also known as the Mystery of the Somerton Man, is an unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead at 6:30 am, December 1st of 1948, on the Somerton Park beach, just south of Adelaide, South Australia. Australia Exhumes the Somerton Man, and His 70-Year Mystery This week the police disinterred a body, found on a beach in 1948, that has puzzled investigators for decades. Also written on the back cover was the phone number of young nurse later identified by Abbott as Jo Thomson who lived a five minute walk away from where the man was found dead. The pathologist, Dr. Dwyer, concluded: "I am quite convinced the death could not have been natural the poison I suggested was a barbiturate or a soluble hypnotic". 1 December 2 a.m.: Estimated time of death. Abbotts research was undertaken with American genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick. What was his cause of death? 'Somerton man' mystery is 'SOLVED': Extraordinary twist in Australia's most baffling death 70 years after he was found dead on a beach with a coded note in his pocket. He said he had tracked down and spoken to Mr Webb's living relatives. The case of the Somerton Man In 1948, the body of an unidentified man was found on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. Contrary to Abbotts initial suspicions, the new DNA survey showed no genetic ties between Egan and Webb, definitively proving that Robin was not Webbs son. Johnson identified himself at a police station. [110] Initially there were no known pre-death photographs of Webb, but further investigation uncovered his likely presence in a 1921 Swinburne University football team photograph, though the image did not identify Webb directly,[112] and in November 2022 Australian Story revealed photographs of Webb from the 1920s found in a Webb family photo album. [106] While much of the DNA is degraded, in February 2018, the University of Adelaide team obtained a high-definition analysis of the mitochondrial DNA from the hair sample from Somerton Man. Feltus believed Thomson knew the Somerton man's identity. This ticket is the first sold of only three issued between 6:15a.m. and 2 p.m. by the particular ticket clerk for the Henley Beach train. (Cryptography experts contend that the string of letters dont actually constitute a code; Abbott, for his part, tells ABC they probably represent the first names of horses Webb bet on. When Littlemore suggests in the interview that there may have been an espionage connection to the dead man in Adelaide, Boxall replies: "It's quite a melodramatic thesis, isn't it? The time is estimated by a "quick opinion" on the state of. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, Body exhumed in hope of solving Australia mystery, Explosion derails train in Russian border region, Banana artwork in Seoul museum eaten by visitor, Donald Trump arrives in Scotland on golf visit, NFL player's daughter, aged two, drowns in pool, Indian 'killer' elephant relocated to tiger reserve, Ding becomes China's first male world chess champion. Read about our approach to external linking. Interestingly, the book contained several handwritten annotations, including a suspected code and the phone number of a nurse, Jessie Jo Thomson, who lived near the site where the body was discovered. There was blood mixed with the food in the stomach. [21], An autopsy was conducted, and the pathologist estimated the time of death at around 2 am on 1 December.[15]. The man was well-dressed and had no obvious injuries, but an autopsy . Code experts were called in at the time to decipher the lines, but were unsuccessful,[42] and amateurs also attempted to crack the code. [note 3]. [18] All labels on his clothes had been removed,[16][19] and he had no hat (unusual for 1948) or wallet. [note 4] Thomson told police that, after the war ended, she had moved to Melbourne and married. [45], An investigation had shown that the Somerton man's autopsy reports of 1948 and 1949 are now missing and the Barr Smith Library's collection of Cleland's notes do not contain anything on the case. There was congestion of the pharynx, and the gullet was covered with whitening of superficial layers of the mucosa with a patch of ulceration in the middle of it. His history and the autopsy findings suggest he committed suicide by poisoning himself.[113]. [77] The two were found by Neil McRae[note 7] of Largs Bay, who claimed he had seen the location of the two in a dream the night before. How muscly calves and a little girl who loved ballet could solve the The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. [110], Carl "Charles" Webb was born on 16 November 1905, in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne,[110] the youngest of six children of Richard and Eliza. The couple moved into a flat in Bromby Street, South Yarra. One newspaper article refers to the book being found about a week or two before the body was found. Did he die by suicide? [3][4] South Australia Police and Forensic Science South Australia have not verified the result, but South Australia Police said they were "cautiously optimistic" about it. "It's an story that has captured the imagination of people across the state, and, indeed, across the world - but I believe that, finally, we may uncover some answers," South Australian Attorney General Ms Chapman said. 16 November 1905: Carl "Charles" Webb born in Footscray, Melbourne, Victoria. Tragic End To Four-day Search For Father And Son, "BOXALL ALFRED: Service Number NX83331". [32] He added that this evidence fitted in with the theory that the body may have been brought to Somerton Park beach after the man's death, accounting for the lack of evidence of vomiting and convulsions, which are the two main physiological reactions to poison. [32] The contents of the boy's stomach were sent to a government analyst for further examination. On December 1, 1948, the body of a man was found on Somerton beach. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. [42] (Subsequent research suggests that her future husband, Prosper Thomson, was in the process of obtaining a divorce from his first wife in 1949, and that he did not marry Jessica until mid-1950. A month after his death, police found a suitcase believed to belong to him at the Adelaide Railway Station. The railway station bathing facilities were adjacent to the station cloak room, which itself was adjacent to the station's southern exit onto North Terrace. Somerton Man body-on-the-beach mystery solved as family - YouTube The man was well-built, about 40 to 50 years old, 1.8 metres tall, and had grey-blue eyes and gingery-brown hair that was greying at the sides. And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand [97], In March 2009, a University of Adelaide team led by Professor Derek Abbott began an attempt to solve the case through cracking the code and proposing to exhume the body to test for DNA. [114], Forensic Science South Australia, who were still investigating, declined to comment on Abbott's findings. The man's body was found on 1 December 1948 on Somerton beach in the South Australian city of Adelaide. I was convinced that he was from Europemaybe a displaced person after the Second World War [who] was here alone. The autopsy also showed that the man's last meal was a pasty eaten about three to four hours before death,[8] but tests failed to reveal any foreign substance in the body. He had no wallet, no cash, and no ID. "There's lots of. The Egans reported lodging a new application with the Attorney-General John Rau to have the Somerton man's body exhumed and DNA tested. Hicks noted the only "fact" not found in relation to the body was evidence of vomiting. [110], Abbott's research indicates Webb enjoyed betting on horses, thus the coded messages could be horse names. [5], Carl Webbs father Richard August Webb (died in 1939) had emigrated to Australia from Hamburg, Germany. Mangnoson was born in Adelaide on 4 May 1914 and served as a Private in the Australian Army from 11 June 1941 until his discharge on 7 February 1945. The body of a fully-clothed man was discovered by two trainee jockeys near the shore of the Somerton Park Beach, south of Adelaide, on December 1, 1948. In reply, Boxall says "no", and when asked if Harkness could have known, Boxall replies: "Not unless somebody else told her." [75], Following the death, the boy's mother, Roma Mangnoson, reported having been threatened by a masked man who, while driving a battered cream car, almost ran her down outside her home in Cheapside Street, Largs North. Is climate change killing Australian wine? Complete remains of Somerton Man in 'reasonable condition' after exhumation, Nurse driving home from shift among victims of triple-fatal crash involving allegedly stolen car, Lauren Cranston jailed for eight years over one of Australia's biggest tax frauds, 'They will forever know their dad was a hero': 1,000 mourners farewell slain NSW paramedic, Family of man shot dead by police question why they weren't called in to help, There are 11 First Nations MPs and senators. What Remains: S1 E15: The Somerton Man - wondery.com Although it was a very common practice to use name tags, it was also common when buying secondhand clothing to remove the tags of the previous owners. Mystery of Australia's 'Somerton Man' solved after 70 years - BBC He also found no evidence indicating the identity of the deceased. [81], Years after the burial, flowers began appearing on the grave. "I would like to see the toxicology done. 1951: Dorothy Webb reported to be living in Bute, South Australia. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, The mystery death haunting Norway for 46 years, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, NFL player's daughter, aged two, drowns in pool, Banana artwork in Seoul museum eaten by visitor, Donald Trump arrives in Scotland on golf visit, Indian 'killer' elephant relocated to tiger reserve, Ding becomes China's first male world chess champion. Though the state coroner has yet to confirm the pairs findings, Abbott tells the Guardians Natasha May that as a scientist, he is confident in the accuracy of the analysis. acute gastritis hemorrhage, extensive congestion of the liver and spleen, and the congestion to the brain. This would be followed by a crackdown on Soviet espionage in Australia, which was revealed by intercepts of Soviet communications under the Venona project. 16 October 1912: Prosper Thomson is born in central Queensland. An Australian researcher claims to have solved a 73-year-old mystery by identifying a man found dead on a beach, CNN said in a report. "[86], The ID card, numbered 58757, was issued in the United States on 28 February 1918 to H. C. Reynolds, giving his nationality as "British" and age as 18. It bore the phrase Tamm ShudPersian for its finished or its endedand was soon traced to The Rubiyt of Omar Khayym, a 12th-century book of Persian poetry popularized by an 1859 English translation. "The fact he [Thomson] has a rare dental and ear condition matching the Somerton Man appears to be an extraordinary coincidence.". There is a . [68] Detectives from Victoria initially believed the man was from there because of the similarity of the laundry marks to those used by several dry-cleaning firms in Melbourne. Victoria detectives disproved all the claims and said that "other investigations" indicated it was unlikely that he was from Victoria. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. All that could be garnered from the suitcase was that the front gusset and featherstitching on a coat found in the case indicated it had been manufactured in the United States. [36] The paper's verso side was blank. [116] She applied for a divorce on 5 June 1951, citing desertion. Between 11:00a.m. and 11:15a.m: Checks a brown suitcase into the railway station cloak room. On Wednesday, crews began digging at the gravesite, with local media outlet Nine News reporting initial efforts had moved more slowly than expected due to dense clay and uncertainty as to whether the man had been buried in a coffin. )[note 5] There is no evidence that Boxall had any contact with Jessica Thomson after 1945.[55]. [11][12] Witnesses said the body was in the same position when the police viewed it. Walsh had left Adelaide several months earlier to buy sheep in Queensland but had failed to return at Christmas as planned. [66] Any thoughts that a positive identification had been made were quashed, however, when Elizabeth Thompson, one of the people who had earlier positively identified the body as Walsh, retracted her statement after a second viewing of the body, where the absence of a particular scar on the body, as well as the size of the dead man's legs, led her to realise the body was not Walsh. She nursed him back to health, only for him to scold her for it and become more violent. Accounts of conversations between Jessica Thomson and police suggest she told them that she was "married" or "recently married". In his pocket were bus and train tickets, chewing gum, some matches, two combs and a pack of cigarettes. "So When That Angel of the Darker Drink", Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, "World War II Nominal Roll, "Boxall, Alfred", "List of facts on the Taman Shud Case that are often misreported", "Somerton Man identified as Melbourne electrical engineer, researcher says", "Seven-decade mystery of Somerton Man solved", "Professor's 15-year search for answers seeks to crack the secret code to the death of the 'Somerton man' found on an Adelaide beach", Unidentified Body Found at Somerton Beach, South Australia, on 1st December 1948, "Unsolved Death from 1948: The Somerton Man (The Taman Shud Case)", 'Unparalleled Mystery' Of Somerton Body Case, Curious aspects of unsolved beach mystery, Army Officer Sought to Help Solve Somerton Body Case, Unbreakable: Somerton Man's poetic mystery, "Computational linguistic analysis of the Tamam Shud Cipher", "No Sydney Clue to Dead Man Found at Somerton, S.A.", A Body, A Secret Pocket and a Mysterious Code, 30-Year-Old Death Riddle Probed In New Series, "Jessica Thomson's reaction to the dead man's bust", Somerton body said to be that of wood cutter, Somerton Body may be that of station hand. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? The torn-out fragment found in the Somerton Mans pocket perfectly matched a gap on the final page of the discarded copy. Processing the results could reportedly take up to a year. [36] Public library officials called in to translate the text identified it as a phrase meaning "ended" or "finished" found on the last page of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. "I'm hoping, ashis name gets out there, there will be somebody that will have an old photo album in a garden shed somewhere.". A professor who has dedicated decades to solving one of Australia's most enduring mysteries claims he has discovered the identity of the Somerton man. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site status, or find something. Abbott speculates that Carl had may have gone to Adelaide intending to find her. It has been one of the most interesting cases in Australias history. The Somerton Man has been exhumed what happens now? 16 RACHEL EGAN'S DNA LINKED TO PROSPER THOMSON.. by peterbowes on May 31, 2021. Adelaide's 73-Year-Old MysteryThe Somerton Man | Unsettling & Unsolved 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. [65] Police were skeptical, believing Walsh to be too old to be the dead man. [110], Abbott claimed his DNA identification from strands of hair found in the plaster death mask made by South Australian Police in the late 1940s. During their drinking session, the mystery man supposedly produced a military pension card bearing the name "Solomonson". They then used archival records to search for individuals whose biographies mirrored what was known about the Somerton Man. They then tracked down the man's living relatives, using their DNA to confirm his identity. The discovery was made by Mr J. Lyons, of Whyte Rd, Somerton. When Thomson was taken by authorities to visit a death mask of Somerton mans face, the taxidermist present, Paul Lawson, told ABCs Australian Story last year it was obvious she knew the man. A man showed police a 1941 edition of Edward FitzGerald's (1859) translation of Rubaiyat, published by Whitcombe and Tombs in Christchurch, New Zealand. Abbott, who has researched the Somerton Man for more than two decades, met his current wife, Rachel Egan, through the case. Red spy or red herring: Was the Somerton Man a Russian agent, or is there an Irish link? Dubbed by authorities and the press as the Somerton Man, the man was found smartly dressed and slumped against a wall on a beach near Adelaide, Australia, in 1948, leading to a labyrinthine . Or maybe a final goodbye to a lover.. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. Beyond the DNA results linking the Somerton Man to Webb, Abbott and Fitzpatrick found ample archival evidence supporting the identification. This would be consistent with the copy of the Rubaiyat, which also focuses on the subject of death. If the book was found one or two weeks before, it suggests that the man had visited previously or had been in Adelaide for a longer period. 7 p.m.8 p.m.: Various witness sightings. Late 1946: Harkness moves to Mentone to temporarily live with her parents. Lawson's diary entry for that day names her as "Mrs Thompson" and states that she had a "nice figure" and was "very acceptable" (referring to the level of attractiveness) which allows the possibility of an affair with the Somerton man. July 1948: "Prosper McTaggart Thomson, hire car proprietor, of Moseley Street, Glenelg" appears in Adelaide Local Court as defendant in a car sale dispute, dating from November 1947, establishing Prosper Thomson as active in Adelaide from 1947. As Hilary Whiteman reports for CNN, a new DNA analysis suggests the Somerton Man is Carl Charles Webb, an electrical engineer from Melbourne who vanished from the public record in April 1947. [49] Feltus also stated that her family did not know of her connection with the case, and he agreed not to disclose her identity or anything that might reveal it. "It kind of feels like climbing Mount Everest, and having that mixture of elation that you're at the top, but also tiredness and exhaustion," he said. The two daily Adelaide newspapers, The Advertiser and The News, covered the death in separate ways. [24] All identification marks on the clothes had been removed but police found the name "T. Keane" on a tie, "Keane" on a laundry bag and "Kean" on a singlet, along with three dry-cleaning marks; 1171/7, 4393/7 and 3053/7. The Somerton Man was an unidentified man whose body was found on 1 December 1948 on the beach at Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia.The case is also known after the Persian phrase tamm shud (Persian: ), meaning "is over" or "is finished", which was printed on a scrap of paper found months later in the fob pocket of the man's trousers. He buys a ticket for the 10:50a.m. train to Henley Beach but does not use it. [11] In 2009 to 2011, Derek Abbott's team concluded that it was most likely that each letter was the first letter of a word. [75] Lying next to him was his unconscious father, Keith Waldemar Mangnoson. Adelaide's 73-Year-Old MysteryThe Somerton Man - Medium He was put to rest in an Adelaide cemetery under a headstone reading only "the unknown man". South Australia Police have not confirmed the discovery but say they will comment soon. Maciej Henneberg, professor of anatomy at the University of Adelaide, examined images of the Somerton man's ears and found that his cymba (upper ear hollow) is larger than his cavum (lower ear hollow), a feature possessed by only 12% of the Caucasian population. He gave Cleland a piece of paper with the names of the two drugs which was entered as Exhibit C.18. A half-smoked cigarette was resting on his collar, and there was a line from a Persian poem in his pocket - but investigators had no idea who he was. The body of a man found on a South Australian beach more than 70 years ago has been exhumed in the hope of solving one of the country's most intriguing mysteries. Somerton Man: One of Australia's greatest mysteries solved | news.com Read about our approach to external linking. Advertising Notice For decades, authorities, academics and the public alike have traded theories about the identity of the mysterious Somerton Man, whose body was found on a beach outside of Adelaide, Australia, on December 1, 1948. One of the biggest mysteries in modern Australian history may have finally been solved. [B]ut I cannot say whether it was administered by the deceased himself or by some other person.. He was a Russian spy. [82], Former South Australian Chief Superintendent Len Brown, who worked on the case in the 1940s, stated that he believed that the man was from a country in the Warsaw Pact, which led to the police's inability to confirm the man's identity. [13], Another witness came forward in 1959 and reported to the police that he and three others had seen a well-dressed man carrying another man on his shoulders along Somerton Park beach the night before the body was found. Although poisoning remained a prime suspicion, the pasty was not believed to be the source. Learning that Thomson had died in 2007 and Robin in 2009, he set out to find Robins living descendants. The text has not been deciphered or interpreted in a way that satisfies authorities on the case. Its up to the cops to make the legal determination of who this guy was.. Its much more than identifying the Somerton man as Carl Webb, its also solving the mystery of how and why he died that may take years.. (Carls brother Roy also died in a prisoner-of-war camp the same year.) The identity and cause of death of the so-called Somerton man remain unknown. I may have solved the Somerton code, completely by accident! On 26 July 2022, Adelaide University professor Derek Abbott, in association with genealogist Colleen M. Fitzpatrick, claimed to have identified the man as Carl "Charles" Webb, an electrical engineer and instrument maker born in 1905, based on genetic genealogy from DNA of the man's hair. The man was well-built, about 40 to 50 years old, 5. VideoThe secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, LGBT troops take love for Eurovision to front line, Why an Indian comedian is challenging fake news rules. Following a public appeal by police, the copy of Rubaiyat from which the page had been torn was located. (The DNA studied by Abbott and Fitzpatrick came from the Somerton Mans death mask, not his body, and was analyzed as part of a separate, parallel investigation.) Also inside were a shaving brush, shoe polish, a knife, scissors, a screwdriver and assorted attire, some of which was labeled with variants of the name T. [59][60] That same day, The News published a photograph of the dead man on its front page,[61] leading to additional calls from members of the public about his possible identity. ), Others posited that the Somerton Man was a former professional ballet dancer, drawing on the coroners comment that his calf muscles were high and well developed, such as found in women, and suggestion that he had been in the habit of wearing high-heeled and pointed shoes., Perhaps the most convincing theory centered on Thomsons son Robin, whose distinctive ears and teeth closely resembled the Somerton Mans. In 1945, at the Clifton Gardens Hotel in Sydney, she had given it to an Australian Army lieutenant named Alf Boxall, who was serving at the time in the Water Transport Section of the Royal Australian Engineers. [51][56] Boxall was now working in the maintenance section at the Randwick Bus Depot (where he had worked before the war) and was unaware of any link between the dead man and himself. But a number of curious items found on the body encouraged ongoing speculation. Carls oldest sister Freda Grace was married to Thomas Gerald Keane. 1994: The Chief Justice of Victoria, John Harber Phillips, studies the evidence and concludes that poisoning was due to digitalis. A researcher in the case of the Somerton Man says he has solved the decades-old mystery, identifying the figure as a Melbourne-born electrical engineer. | Ive already been on Trove to see if theres any presence of Charles Webb coming up in the old newspapers. [18] The body was then embalmed on 10 December 1948 after the police were unable to get a positive identification. By 4 December, police had announced that the man's fingerprints were not on South Australian police records, forcing them to look further afield. The Decades-Old Mystery Of The Unidentified Somerton Man May Have - MSN [8] A search of his pockets revealed an unused second-class rail ticket from Adelaide to Henley Beach; a bus ticket from the city that may not have been used; a narrow aluminium comb that had been manufactured in the USA; a half-empty packet of Juicy Fruit chewing gum; an Army Club cigarette packet which contained seven cigarettes of a different brand, Kensitas; and a quarter-full box of Bryant & May matches.
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