In the early morning of the 1st December 1948 a dead body was found on the beach at Somerton, Adelaide, Australia. The body was of a man, probably aged between forty and forty-five, 5ft 11in tall, with pale, reddish hair beginning to turn grey around the temples.
He was in peak physical condition with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He also had exceptionally well-developed calf muscles (a trait that can be genetic but is often highly developed in dancers and keen runners). He was clean shaven and his hands were largely unmarked or calloused suggesting a man who rarely, if ever, performed manual labour. His feet were average-sized (8) but a little unusual: the little and big toes met together in a wedge shape usually seen in dancers or people who often wear pointed shoes. His teeth were natural, but over the years he had lost nine from the top and nine from the bottom. He had never grown lateral incisors (anodontia). His clothes were smart and of good quality.
He was a little overdressed for an Australian beach at that time of year though. Most locals would have been swelteringly hot in the pullover and overcoat the Somerton Man was wearing.
Police were baffled. No cause of death could be determined, although there were some unusual features in the autopsy:
"The heart was of normal size, and normal in every way ... small vessels not commonly observed in the brain were easily discernible with congestion. 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. The stomach was deeply congested ... There was congestion in the 2nd half of the duodenum. There was blood mixed with the food in the stomach. Both kidneys were congested, and the liver contained a great excess of blood in its vessels. ... The spleen was strikingly large ... about 3 times normal size ... there was destruction of the centre of the liver lobules revealed under the microscope. ... acute gastritis haemorrhage, extensive congestion of the liver and spleen, and the congestion to the brain."
The pathologist was convinced. Despite no obvious cause of death he hadn't died from natural causes: "I am quite convinced the death could not have been natural."
The authorities tried to identify this unknown man. They began to search across Australia for clues to the man's identity. A number of tip-offs came from members of the public with eight people successfully "identifying" the man before realising he wasn't who they thought he was.
The Somerton Man would probably have slipped into obscurity and become just another local mystery if the circumstances surrounding his death hadn't turned out to be even stranger than originally thought.
In January 1949 an unlabelled suitcase was found at Adelaide Railway Station. Among various items of clothing there was an electrician's screwdriver, a modified table knife, scissors and a stencilling brush. It also contained a card of the same orange waxed thread that had been used to repair the Somerton Man's trousers.
Somerton Man's clothes were eventually more closely examined. In a previously unnoticed secret pocket in his trousers there was a small piece of paper. It bore the words "Tamam Shud". This phrase means "ended" or "finished" in Persian and is more correctly written as "Taman Shud" or "Taman Shod". But this particular spelling of the phrase is found on the last line of Edward Fitzgerald's popular translation of The Rubaiyat by Sufi poet Omar Khayyam.
Investigators scrambled to find a copy of The Rubaiyat missing the two words and were amazed when a man contacted them to say that on the 30th November 1948 a copy of The Rubaiyat had been left in his locked car. Bizarrely, the identity of the man and his profession were suppressed at the time and the authorities even suppressed the reason for their suppression. This copy did have the two words missing. Even more mysteriously, on the back pages were faint pencil marks containing a series of sets of letters:
WRGOABABD
MLIAOI
WTBIMPANETP
MLIABOAIAQC
ITTMTSAMSTGAB
There was also an unlisted telephone number that seemed to belong to someone who came to be known as "Jestyn".
Detectives did what any good investigator would. They traced the number to see who it belonged to. "Jestyn" was a former nurse, living near Somerton. When asked if The Rubaiyat had any significance to her she explained that during the War, while working as a nurse in Sydney she had owned a copy of the book. But she had given it to Lieutenant Alfred Boxall in 1945. She had written a verse in the front and signed it with her pet name: "Jestyn".
Police were convinced Boxall was Somerton Man even though "Jestyn" couldn't identify the body from the plaster cast bust or photographs taken before his burial. But, like E.C. Johnson, Boxall turned up alive and well. And while he still had his copy of the The Rubaiyat, the last page was intact.
"Jestyn" was about to be married and asked for her name and reputation to be protected. To this day the identity of "Jestyn" has been kept from the public domain It is believed that in 1947 she gave birth to a son who died in 2009.
Over the years a number of amateurs and professionals have attempted to solve the mystery of the Somerton Man and crack the mysterious code.
In March 2009 Professor Derek Abbott, of the University of Adelaide, Australia assembled a team who are attempting to solve the mystery of the Somerton Man by analysing the code and looking at genetic clues to his identity.
Speaking to Weirld.com about his interest in the case, Professor Abbott said:
"When I first read about the case there was something spooky about it. Then I got fascinated by the 'secret code' that has never been cracked. The more I investigated the case, more and more information kept surfacing. It's almost as if its got a life of its own and it is demanding a resolution ... There is something compelling about giving the man his name back and finding a family connection."
While he's not sure the case will ever be completely resolved he does believe there's a lot to be learnt about Somerton Man's identity:
"We may never be able to solve who killed him or what the code says, however, what I think is solvable is the most important part of this case: finding the man's name and his family tree. I am confident we'll be able to eventually identify him. It's doable."
The team is particularly interested in finding genetic clues to Somerton Man's identity. They hope one day to have permission to disinter the body and take DNA samples that can be compared to available DNA databases. Until that time they're relying on physiological genetic clues that can be found in evidence from the time.
Somerton Man has two distinctive facial features: his anodontia and a large upper hollow (cymba) to his ear compared to his lower hollow (cavum). Professor Abbott claims to have seen a picture of "Jestyn's" son which apparently shows the same features. The likelihood of two unrelated people having these two features is said to be 1 in 10,000,000 and 1 in 20,000,000.
But not everyone is happy with these new investigations. On 8th April 2010 a user added the following to the Wikipedia Discussion page on the case:
“Give it a rest..This was an “event” that occured [sic] over 62 years ago. The university of south australia has invaded the private lives of people who were never charged with doing anything wrong, including the descendants of those people. You would think the university faculty would have better things to do. This article relies entirely on wild speculation, and engages in smear and innuendo by association, by implying they were engaging in some sort of alleged criminal activity or espionage. That's not on. The admins on this site should immediately blank out the personal dates."
It seems that some people would prefer for Somerton Man to be forgotten and his death to remain unexplained.
THEORIES
Over the years a number of theories about the Somerton Man have been suggested.
www.weirld.com investigates...
1.) Somerton Man was a time traveller
This is one of the stranger theories. Some people have suggested over the years that Somerton Man was a time traveller. This explains why his clothes had no labels and why no one could identify him. He was from another time. This could even explain his oddly shaped feet. Perhaps pointy shoes are fashionable for men in his time. It could be that his odd collection of tools were required for maintaining his time machine. Was the code necessary for his return journey?
It's even been suggested that perhaps "Jestyn" was related to Somerton Man (perhaps his great-grandmother) and that's why she was unwilling to reveal more about herself.
Unfortunately, there's no evidence to suggest Somerton Man was a time traveller. And besides, time travel is probably impossible.
Weirld.com Credibility Rating 1 out of 5
2.) Somerton Man was a genetic anomaly, human/alien hybrid or experiment
Somerton Man had some unusual genetic features with his anodontia, large cymba and well-defined calves. The post-mortem pictures also seem to show unusual facial features. It's been suggested that perhaps Somerton Man was genetically altered in some way or even that he wasn't human--perhaps even a human/alien hybrid. This could explain the apparent physiological anomalies.
But, although anodontia can be associated with congenital diseases and syndromes it is present in around 2% of the general population. The same is true of the comparably large cymba. And his calf muscles could be large for a variety of reasons, including just being extremely fit.
Without genetic testing it's impossible to rule out the possibility that he was a genetic anomaly but it seems unlikely. The odd appearance of his face is more likely due to post-mortem changes in appearance, bloating and the effects of embalming.
Weirld.com Credibility Rating 1 out of 5
3.) Somerton Man was a spy
Much of the current evidence points to this theory. At the time Boxall was rumoured to be a spy. There are secret codes and books being mysteriously left in cars belonging to anonymous men. Although apparently keen to solve the crime authorities twice suppressed the identities of potentially important witnesses. Somerton is relatively close to Woomera a missile-launching site also used by intelligence services. And in 1947 US Signal Intelligence Service discovered that Australia had been the source of intelligence leaks to the Soviet Union.
Other deaths have also been linked to Somerton Man and the investigation into his death.
In 1945 Joseph (George) Saul Haim Marshall was found dead in Sydney with a copy of The Rubaiyat next to him. The death was ruled a suicide.
In June 1949 two year-old Clive Mangnoson was found dead in sack at Largs Bay (approximately twenty kilometres from Somerton). His father, Keith Waldemar Mangnosen, was found unconscious next to him apparently suffering from exposure and had to be committed to a mental hospital. The pair had been missing for four days. The coroner couldn't find a cause of death for Clive. Shortly after Clive's death, Mrs Roma Mangnosen, his mother, claimed she had nearly been run down and "the car stopped and a man with a khaki handkerchief over his face told her to 'keep away from the police or else'". Mrs Mangnosen believed that her family were the focus of malign intention because her husband had attempted to identify Somerton Man.
Although it doesn't tell us who Somerton Man was or why he died, it seems highly probably that Somerton Man was involved in espionage.
Weirld.com Credibility Rating 4 out of 5
*Ear picture from wikipedia
