Overview of the Unknown Man

On the morning of December 1, 1948, a body was found on the shore of Somerton Beach. The man was resting against the seawall, slumped forward, with a half-smoked cigarette lying on his lapel. He was well dressed, in a suit with shined and heeled shoes- odd attire for a beach on a summer day. There was no sign of violence or a struggle. The man carried no identification of any kind.

The police immediately assumed the man had simply died of natural causes while taking a stroll on the beach. When no missing persons reports matched up with the body they found, they were forced to investigate the matter further. Each clue they found only led to more questions. In the 65 years since the mysterious body was found on the beach, no one has come any closer to discovering the identify of the man, what he was doing on the beach that day, or how he died. Popular theories include a man ending his life in despair after losing his lover and son, or a spy linked to secret codes and mysterious poisons. With so much evidence lost or destroyed over the decades, and everyone close to the case now deceased, it seems unlikely that we will ever know the truth.

Why has this mystery endured so long? After all, many John and Jane Does turn up daily in city morgues around the world. What is so special about another unidentified body, from an era before computers could instantly search databases of fingerprints and DNA, and many bodies were never claimed? Perhaps it's the now famous picture of the Somerton Man, with his haunting eyes that seem to follow you from the page, that captures so many people's imaginations. The cipher found in a book linked to the Somerton Man certainly attracts the interest of many codebreakers, from the amateur to the esteemed. The rumors of Cold War spy agencies and secret poisons excite the imagination of many. Whatever the reason, the mystery of the Unknown Man will likely endure for many decades to come.

From the cover of GM Feltus's thorough book, which can be purchased at www.theunknownman.com By Australian police. via South Australian Police Historical Society

Discovery of the Body

At 7pm on November 30, 1948, John Bain Lyons and his wife were taking an evening stroll on Somerton Beach, a small seaside resort just outside of Adelaide, Australia. They noticed a man lying against a seawall about 60 feet away from them, legs crossed in front of him. He lifted his right arm weakly, before dropping it back to the ground. The couple assumed it was a drunken attempt to smoke a cigarette, and continued on their way.

Around 7:30pm, another couple walking along the seawall saw a man in a similar position. This time they both noticed the man was not moving at all, despite the mosquitoes swarming his face. The man joked that he must be dead to the world to ignore the bugs, but the couple also assumed he was simply in a drunken stupor and moved on.

In 1959, a third witness came forward to share a never-before-revealed story: He had been on the beach in the wee hours of the morning, and seen a man carrying another unconscious man over his shoulder, heading towards the spot the Somerton Man was found. As it was dark, he could not describe either of the men, and it is unknown whether this had anything to do with the case. Because none of the other witnesses saw the face of the man lying on the beach at night, it's possible that he was a different man, and the Somerton Man's body was actually carried to the beach much later that night. There had been no signs of convulsions or vomitting at the scene- common results of poisoning- so it seems plausible that the man had died elsewhere and been carried to the beach.

John Lyons, the same man who had seen the body during an evening stroll with his wife, returned to the beach the next morning for a swim. He met with a friend after his swim, around 6:30am, and they noticed a cluster of people on horseback near the seawall where the body had been the night before. Approaching the group to investigate further, Lyons realized something was wrong when he saw a body in the same position as the night before. He immediately called the police.

The X marks the spot where the Somerton Man's body was discovered. By Australian police. via Wikipedia Commons

Details About The Body

He was 5'11" (180 cm).

He had grey eyes.

His hair was a mousy ginger color, greying around the sides and receding in the front.

He was estimated to be between 40 and 50 years old.

He was uncircumcized.

He weighed between 165-175 pounds (75-80kg).

He was missing 18 teeth, including his 2 lateral incisors, which were most likely never grown in due to a genetic defect.

He had small scars on this left wrist, left forearm, and left elbow.

His hands and feet were clean and callous-free, indicating he did not do manual labor.

Initial Investigation

The body was taken by ambulance to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Dr. John Barkley Bennett examined the body. He proclaimed the time of death to be no sooner than 2am, based on the stage of rigor mortis. (This time of death has since been questioned, as poison affects the process of rigor mortis.) His report listed the cause of death as heart failure, possibly caused by poisoning. The items in the man's possession were also catalogued: an unused train ticket from Adelaide to Henley Beach, a bus ticket from Adelaide to Glenelg, a pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum, some Bryant & May matches, an aluminum comb, and a pack of Army Club cigarettes containing seven cigarettes of another, more expensive brand called Kensitas. The man was smartly dressed in a suit and heeled shoes, but the maker's labels had been snipped out of the clothes. He was wearing a knit pullover and double-breasted coat- strange attire for a summer beach trip- but he was missing a hat- also strange for 1948. One pocket of his trousers had torn, and been neatly repaired using orange thread.

A full autopsy the following day revealed more detail. The man’s leg muscles were noted during the autopsy- they were high and toned, and his feet were oddly pointed. Expert witnesses suggested he had often worn high heeled and pointed shoes, perhaps as a ballet dancer. It was also noted that his pupils were smaller than normal. His spleen was three times the usual size, and firm. The liver was distended with congested blood. His stomach contained more blood, along with the remains of a pasty. These observations strengthened the poisoning hypothesis, but lab tests revealed no traces of any known poison. The pasty was also tested, and came back negative. The attending pathologist, John Dwyer, was astounded that nothing was found. Thomas Cleland, the coroner, later suggested that there were two deadly poisons that decomposed in the body in a short time, leaving no trace: digitalis and strophanthin. Either could have been used in this case, and decomposed before the autopsy was performed.

It was becoming evident that this was not a simple case of a man dying of natural causes while vacationing on the beach. Police took a full set of fingerprints and circulated them throughout the English speaking world, to no avail. Photos were published in all Australian newspapers, and a slew of relatives of missing persons were brought in to identify the body. No one could. This man did not seem to exist in any official records, nor did he have anyone looking for him who was willing to come forward. All leads were exhausted.

Image of the suitcase belonging to The Somerton Man, found at Adelaide railway station. From left to right are detectives Dave Bartlett, Lionel Leane, and Len Brown. By Australian Police. via Wikipedia Commons

The First Major Lead

Police decided to expand their search efforts, as no one who recognized the photo had come forward. Because the man was not dressed for the weather or the location, they assumed he had been traveling. A call for abandoned property was sent to every hotel, dry cleaner, railway station, bus station, and lost property office in the area. The very next day, police received their first break in discovering this man’s identity.

A brown suitcase had been deposited to the Adelaide Railway Station’s cloakroom on November 30, and never picked up. It was now January 12, and the property was considered abandoned. Because so much time had passed, the staff remembered nothing about the person who had dropped it off. However, a search of its contents yielded a promising item. A reel of a rare orange Barbour thread, not found in Australia, was among the items in the suitcase. This thread was a perfect match for the orange thread used to repair the Unknown Man’s trouser pocket. Between that unlikely match, and the luggage being dropped off on the day before the body was discovered, it seemed almost certain that this suitcase belonged to the Somerton Man.

Further investigation, however was disappointing. A label had been torn off of the suitcase, to hide its origin. Tags and labels had been removed from all but three of the pieces of clothing. The tags left bore the name “T. Keane”, but a search revealed no missing person with that name. The police concluded that those tags were left on knowing the dead man’s name was not T. Keane, and they therefore would not reveal anything if found- although it was also noted they were the only labels that couldn't be removed without damaging the clothing. Also noteworthy in the suitcase was a stencil kit that would’ve been used for stenciling cargo on merchant ships; a table knife that had been sawed down; airmail cards that indicated he was sending communications abroad; and a coat with stitchwork identified as American in origin. These items indicated someone who had traveled, most likely on a merchant vessel, but shipping and immigration records revealed no leads.

Discovering the suitcase did clear up a few details about the Somerton Man’s final day. He must have gone to the train station and purchased the ticket to Henley Beach that was found in his pocket. Records showed that the public baths at the station were closed on November 30. The Somerton Man must have inquired to where he could freshen up, been told the facilities were closed, and been sent to the public baths about half a mile away. He headed to the facilities to shower and shave, but the extra walk caused him to miss his train. He decided to take a bus rather than wait for the next train, and bought the bus ticket to Glenelg that was also found in his pocket. This had all happened around 11am on November 30, meaning there were now 8 hours to account for between him leaving the train station, and first being spotted on the beach.

Items in the Suitcase

Dressing gown and cord.

Laundry bag with the name "Keane" written on it.

One pair of scissors in a sheath.

One knife in a sheath (apparently a cut down table knife).

One stencil brush.

Two singlets.

Two pairs of underpants.

One pair of trousers (with dry cleaning marks), with a 6d coin in the pocket.

One sports coat.

One coat shirt.

One pair of pyjamas.

One yellow coat shirt.

One singlet bearing the name "Kean" (without an "e" on the end).

One singlet with name torn out.

One shirt, without name tag.

Six handkerchiefs.

One piece of light board.

Eight large envelopes, one small envelope.

Two coat hangers.

One razor strap.

One cigarette lighter.

One razor.

One shaving brush.

One small screwdriver.

One toothbrush.

Toothpaste.

One glass dish.

One soap dish containing a hairpin.

Three safety pins.

One front and back collar stud.

One brown button.

One teaspoon.

One broken pair of scissors.

One card of tan thread.

One tin of tan boot polish.

Two airmail stickers.

One scarf.

One towel.

An unspecified number of pencils, mostly Royal Sovereign brand. Three pencils were H.

Taman Shud

Although the suitcase was an exciting find, it did little to help identify the man. Months went by with no new leads, until John Cleland, professor of pathology at the University of Adelaide, was brought in to reexamine the body in April 1949. Four months after the body had been discovered, the case took its most perplexing turn of all.

Cleland discovered a previously unnoticed, small pocket sewn into the waistband of the man’s trousers, most likely intended to hold a pocket watch. The pocket contained a tightly rolled piece of paper. Inscribed on the paper, in an elaborate font, were the words “Tamám Shud.” (Newspapers misprinted it as Taman Shud, and the misprint has stuck through the years.) A police reporter for the Adelaide Advisor, Frank Kennedy, instantly knew what the words meant. A twelfth century book of poetry, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, had become quite popular in Australia during the war, especially a translation by Edward Fitzgerald. “Taman Shud” was a Persian phrase that closed the final page of the book, loosely translated to “It is ended” or “The End.”

This discovery caused quite a stir- did the man commit suicide? Was this hidden scrap of paper a final message before taking his own life? It did seem to indicate that the man had known, in some way, that November 30th would be his last day. All identification had been removed from his person and his possessions, and he had taken the time to hide this message on his body. Khayyam’s poems all dealt with romance, life, and mortality. Had the Somerton Man killed himself after suffering a broken heart? The case seemed closer than ever to a resolution- a suitcase had been found, his movements were somewhat known, and it appeared he may have planned his death. But the true twist was about to be revealed.

Police began searching libraries and bookshops for a copy of the Rubaiyat with the same fancy typeset seen on the scrap of paper. Nothing turned up. The search was broadened to include publishing houses, and eventually extended world wide. It looked fruitless. But on July 23rd, 1949, the book was finally found. A man from the town of Glenelg, slightly north of Somerton Beach, brought a copy of the book to the Adelaide police station. The final page, which had contained the phrase “Taman Shud,” was torn out. The font perfectly matched the dead man’s scrap of paper. Testing revealed the scrap of paper matched that used in the book. The Glenelg man explained that just after the body had been discovered in December of the prior year, he and his brother-in-law had gone for a drive in a car he kept parked near Somerton Beach. They found a copy of the Rubaiyat in the back seat of the car, but both silently assumed the other had left it there, and threw it in the glove compartment without another thought. It wasn’t until a news report mentioned the police search for the book that the man realized he might be holding key evidence.

Having the unknown man’s copy of the Rubaiyat, from which he had torn his hidden message, was an exciting break, but seemed to offer little help. Detectives looked for another copy of the book, but none seemed to exist in the world. They now knew it was published by a New Zealand chain called Whitcombe & Tombs, but an inquiry revealed that Whitcombe & Tombs had never published that book in that format. They did publish a similar version with the same cover, but it had a squarer format. No other publishing house in the world published anything that was a closer match. Where had this man obtained his completely unique copy of such a popular book?

The scrap of paper discovered in a concealed pocket in the dead man's trousers. By Omar Khayyam [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

This is a police scan of the handwritten code found in the back of a copy of The Rubiayat of Omar Khayyam, believed to belong to the dead man, found in the back of a car in Glenelg, 1 December 1948. By Australian police. via Wikipedia Commons

The Nurse, The Code, and the Army Officer

Detective Sergeant Lionel Leane wasn’t satisfied that the book contained no additional clues. He examined it closer. There were two telephone numbers listed on the back cover, and he saw the faint impression of other letters, as though someone had written on the final page of the book- the page containing “Taman Shud”- before tearing it out. Ultraviolet light was used to make out what was written. There were five lines of letters, with the second line crossed out. It appeared to be a code of some sort.

Starting at the beginning, the police called both numbers listed in the book. One belonged to a bank, and provided no leads. The second belonged to a nurse who lived very near Somerton Beach. The police agreed to protect her identity, and for many decades she was known only as Jestyn, but eventually it was revealed that her name had been Jessica Thomson (nee Harkness). Jessica was very reluctant to speak with the police, and they seemed reluctant to press her for details. She was, at the time, living with a man who she would later marry. She was very worried about a scandal arising, perhaps because of a romantic affair she’d had with the Somerton Man and kept hidden from her soon-to-be-husband… or perhaps because of links to government intelligence programs and spy networks?

Regardless of her reason for keeping quiet, Jessica denied any knowledge of the case, but did admit to giving a copy of the Rubaiyat to a man named Alfred Boxall. Jessica had been an army nurse during the war, and Boxall an officer. She gave him the book when they met in an army hospital, and had inscribed it with one of the verses of poetry that she signed with her nickname- Jestyn. The police decided the unknown man must be this Alfred Boxall, and were quite disappointed when they found him a few days later, alive and still bearing his copy of the Rubaiyat, complete with Jessica's inscription on the last page. It was not the same unique edition the dead man had possessed.

When the Alfred Boxall lead proved fruitless, Jessica was brought in to the police station to view the body. Upon seeing his face, Detective Sergeant Leane noted that she seemed “completely taken aback, to the point of giving the appearance she was about to faint.” She was only shown a cast that had been made of his face, and not the actual body, so this shock was not due to being faced with a dead body. Even if it had been, as a nurse, she already had experience being faced with death and sickness, so her reaction still would have been suspicious. It was clear to many that she recognized the man, but she continued to deny any connection to him. The only other piece of information Jessica offered was that some time the previous year neighbors had told her a man had come asking for her when she was not home. She wasn’t sure of the date.

With Jessica refusing to relay any information of value, officers turned to the code. With only four short lines to work from, it proved impossible to crack. Naval Intelligence tried to decipher the code. It was published in newspapers for amateur sleuths to take a crack at. The best code breakers from all over the world were called to examine it. No one could give a definitive answer, although many guesses were made. The Navy decided the most reasonable explanation, based on the line breaks and frequency of occurrence of letters, was that the code was in English and “the lines are the initial letters of words of a verse of poetry or such like.” And, despite many ongoing efforts, the trail ended there.

The inscription Jessica Thomson wrote in the copy of the Rubaiyat that she gave to Alfred Boxall By Australian police

Tombstone of The Somerton Man, at his gravesite. He died 1 December 1948 and was buried on 14 June 1949. Bletchly. via Wikipedia Commons

Conclusion of the Investigation

In June of 1949, more than six months after the Unknown Man had been discovered, the body was beginning to decompose. The police had the body embalmed, and made a plaster cast of the head and upper torso. A plot of dry ground was chosen, to help preserve the body in case it was ever necessary to exhume it. The Somerton Man was finally laid to rest on June 14, 1949, with a small ceremony, his name still unknown and his death unavenged. The casket was sealed under a layer of concrete, and in the following decades two other bodies have been placed in this same grave. Flowers were intermittently found on the grave until 1978, although no one ever saw who placed them there.

Jessica Thomson passed away in 2007. Her son Robin, who many believe to be fathered by the Somerton Man, died two years later. Her husband, Prosper Thomson, had passed in 1995. Any secrets “Jestyn” held were taken with her to her grave. The rare copy of the Rubaiyat was lost by police in the 50s, and no matching copy has ever turned up. The brown suitcase was destroyed in 1986. The final results of the investigation, published by the South Australian coroner in 1958, concluded with the line, “I am unable to say who the deceased was… I am unable to say how he died or what was the cause of death.” Requests to exhume the body in order to extract mitochondrial DNA have been denied. Unless new evidence comes to light in the future, or the code is eventually cracked, we will never know exactly who this man was, or what happened to him.

Burial of the Somerton Man on 14 June 1949. By his grave site is Salvation Army Captain Em Webb, leading the prayers, attended by reporters and police. By Australian police. via Wikipedia Commons

Suicide Theory: Heartbreak and Despair

The first of the two popular theories involving the Somerton Man is that he killed himself after being rejected by the nurse. The “Tamán Shud” note in the man’s pocket definitely supports the suicide hypothesis. The Rubaiyat contains poems focusing on living life to the fullest and not being sorry when it’s over. The meaning of the phrase, “ended,” obviously indicates the man was facing an ending of some kind when he tore the scrap out. The labels were not only removed from his clothing, which a murderer could’ve done to prevent identification of the body, but they were removed from his suitcase and all of its contents. He must have done that himself, before leaving the train station. He had no significant bruises, injuries, or defensive wounds that would normally be present if he had been attacked and fought for his life. The pastry that made up his final meal contained no poison. It seemed that, whatever the cause of death was, it was self-inflicted- not administered through force or secretly poisoning his food.

Assuming, then, that this death was a suicide, why did he do it? This brings us back to the nurse, Jessica Thompson. Although the police at the time were respectful of her privacy and did not push her, later investigations have turned up many interesting details about the woman formerly known only as “Jestyn.” In her interviews with police, she claimed to be married, and gave her last name as “Johnson”. Marriage records, however, tell a different story. Jessica was dating, possibly even living with, a man named Prestige Johnson. Prestige had gotten married in 1936, and was still technically married. In 1946, Jessica became pregnant and moved in with her parents. In 1947, she moved to Glenelg and took her future husband’s last name. Her son was born in July of 1947. It wasn’t until three years later, in May 1950, that Prestige’s divorce was finalized and the two of them married.

Jessica claimed the son was Prestige’s, and the two raised him as their own. However, there is speculation that Jessica had been seeing more than one man when she became pregnant. Jessica admitted to giving Alfred Boxall a copy of the Rubaiyat over drinks at the Clifton Garden Hotel in August of 1945. She became pregnant in 1946, well before moving to Glenelg with Prestige. Could she have been dating more men between 1945 and 1946, other than Prestige and Alfred? Even Paul Lawson, who showed her the cast of the body, had noted her “nice figure” and that her level of beauty was “very acceptable.” It’s very reasonable to think she had a host of suitors, one of whom may have been the Somerton Man. He may have believed her son was his, and traveled to Adelaide for a last-ditch effort to win her heart and be with his lover and child. Jessica's neighbor mentioned a man had come asking for her- maybe he did find her, made his plea, and was turned away. In a fit of despair, he wandered the 400m from her home to the beach where he was found, took the vial of poison he had prepared for such an occasion, and collapsed. This theory does support that fact that no signs of a struggle, convulsions, or vomiting were found at the scene- he may have taken his poison at the water’s edge, thrown its carrier into the ocean and begun to convulse and vomit there, before dragging himself up the beach to collapse near the seawall. It's even poetic- facing west, watching the sun set over the ocean one last time. It does, however, seem strange that no one would have noticed such a scene.

The driving force linking the Somerton Man to Jessica Thompson's son is the apparent similarity of many rare genetic traits the two men share. Derek Abbott, a professor at the University of Adelaide who leads a team working on cracking the case, claims to have obtained a clear picture of Jessica’s son, which shows both his ears and teeth. You’ll remember from the autopsy report that the Somerton Man was missing his two lateral incisors due to a genetic disorder called hypodontia, present in 2% of the population. Studying pictures of his ears (found below), it is also apparent that his upper ear hollow, or cymba, is larger than his lower ear hollow, or cavum- another condition found in only 1-2% of the population. According to Abbott, Jessica's son clearly has both of these genetic traits. The odds of this being a coincidence are estimated to be between 1 in 10,000,000 and 1 in 20,000,000. This picture of Jessica's son was apparently pulled from a newspaper clipping, but has not been made available for public viewing.

Spy Theory: Espionage and the Cold War

A number of facts in the case lead many to believe the Unknown Man was actually a spy, and murdered over a piece of intelligence. Of course, all of these facts could easily be coincidences, as there is no hard evidence linking him to espionage.

The Australian government had very recently announced that it would establish a national secret security service, the Australian Secret Intelligence Organization. One of their bases, Woomera, was in South Australia. It was a top-secret missile launching and intelligence gathering site, and was a short train ride away from Adelaide. Based on train schedules and the timeline police established for the Somerton Man’s last day, he easily could have taken a train from Woomera and arrived in Adelaide in time to check his luggage, shower, and head to Glenelg.

The modus operandi of the man’s death also leads to spy rumors. A poison so rare and unknown that it could kill a man, then disappear from his body within hours, so that no medical testing could trace it? It certainly sounds like something the military would develop and use in its espionage network. Thomas Cleland, the Adelaide coroner, did suggest digitalis and strophanthin as possible poisons that could kill a man with no trace, and were available in most pharmacies. It was never proven what actually killed the man, so this is where you can let your imagination run wild. Was it a secret chemical weapon the government had developed? Was it a drug that anyone with know-how and connections could get from a pharmacist? Even if it was a common drug, was it administered because this man was a spy who knew too much? Was it even poison that killed him, or some other cause that simply appeared to be poison?

As a footnote to the poisoning theory, let’s examine the fact that there were no defensive wounds, no signs of a struggle, and no obvious injection site. How, then, was the poison administered, if he didn’t take it himself and it wasn’t in his food? Think back to how the man was found, and what was found on him. He was slumped over with a half-smoked cigarette on his lapel, held in place by his cheek. He had a pack of Army Brand cigarettes, with Kensita brand cigarettes inside. Because of wartime scarcity, it was fairly common to hide cheap cigarettes inside expensive packs. It lent the appearance of wealth without needing to spend the money securing expensive and rare cigarettes. But this man had put expensive cigarettes into a cheap case. What was the reasoning? Could it be that someone had replaced his cigarettes with others that had been laced with poison? Unfortunately, the Australian police disposed of the cigarettes before they could be tested.

One very simple question that lends credence to the spy theory is that no one ever claimed the body. The man’s pictures, finger prints, and physical details were spread throughout the world. If this was a normal man, with an average job, friends, a family… someone would have missed him. Someone would have come looking for him. Someone would have recognized his pictures and come forward, instead of letting the mystery endure for 65 years. Even in his activities throughout the day before he passed, he was only spotted by two witnesses, after he had slumped over on the beach. In most cases, of course, it’s easy to go through a day without being truly noticed by anyone. But if he was a foreigner from a non-English speaking country where the Somerton Man story was not as well-known, it can be assumed that he had a thick accent. A well-dressed man, with a thick foreign accent, wearing a knit pullover and jacket on the beach in the summer, yet missing a hat as was common in that age, eating pastries and walking around for 8 hours, would’ve had to been noticed by someone. He must have either been adept at blending in and hiding his accent, or had somewhere to be between noon and 7pm. If he wasn’t visiting with Jestyn, where was he?

Of course, the strongest sign that this was no ordinary man was the indecipherable code in the unique copy of the Rubaiyat. Intelligence officials and professional code breakers have agreed that this does not appear to be the insane markings of a mad man, as there is a discernable pattern. Yet no one has ever gotten close to cracking the code. There is one explanation that stands above the rest. Spies commonly used “one-time pads” as ciphers. A special edition of a book could be used to encode a message, and the book itself was needed to decipher it. For example, certain letters or patterns in the code would refer to a specific page number and word on that page. If the code used numbers, “37-12” might refer to the twelfth word on the thirty-seventh page. In this case, the letters could have been substituted for numbers, and represent words that could be pulled from the book to form a message. The Australian police lost the copy of the Rubaiyat that was linked to the Somerton Man, and no other identical copy has ever been found in the world. The fact that this book appears to be unique could be explained by it being not a published book at all, but a one-time pad used by a spy ring. Once the Somerton Man had read the message, he tore out the page it was written on and threw the book into the backseat of a nearby car. See “related cases” for more on this theory.

Finally, there is the matter of his clothes and possessions being stripped of any way to identify him. It’s easy enough to infer that if he was murdered, his wallet would have been stolen. Maybe the murderer would even remove the label from his clothes. But his suitcase was checked in long before he died, and it was also stripped of identification. If he was a spy, he would’ve been careful to travel with nothing identifying on him. However, there could be a simpler explanation. During the war, most goods were scarce, including clothing. It was common for people to write their name on all of their possessions. When selling to a second-hand shop or to a friend, though, those name tags would be removed. This man could’ve bought his clothes and suitcase used, explaining why the labels were all cut off. Many of the clothes, and the suitcase, did appear fairly new and not worn-in, so it seems unlikely that they were second-hand, but it is still a plausible explanation.

Related Cases

There have been a few cases in Australia that seem to be somehow linked to the Somerton Man.

Joseph George Marshall: George Marshall was a Jewish immigrant from Singapore, who passed away in 1945, a few years before the Somerton Man was found. Marshall was found in AshtonPark, Sydney, with a copy of the Rubaiyat open on his chest. The death was ruled a suicide by poisoning. His version was published by a London publishing house called Methuen, and was a seventh edition. However, Methuen only released five editions of the book. It appears Marshall’s copy of the Rubaiyat was as unique as the Somerton Man’s was. Perhaps these books were really one-time pads used by this specific intelligence ring to encode messages to each other. Remember that the nurse, Jessica Thompson, gave Alfred Boxall a copy of the Rubaiyat in Clifton Gardens, just two months after Marshall was found dead. Clifton Gardens is next to Ashton Park. (This links the nurse to all three men- she gave Boxall a copy of the Rubaiyat over drinks, her phone number was written in the Unknown Man’s copy of the Rubaiyat, and she was in the immediate area when Marshall was found dead with a copy of the Rubaiyat on his chest. Was Thompson a main link in a spy chain?) Marshall was the brother of the Chief Minister of Singapore. When an inquest was held for his death, a woman named Gwenneth Dorothy Graham testified. She was found dead two weeks later, her wrists slit in a bathtub.





Keith and Clive Mangnoson: This case’s ties to the Somerton Man are somewhat strained. On June 6, 1949, two bodies were found 12 miles down the coast from Somerton Beach. One was two-year-old Clive Mangnoson, found dead and tied up in a sack. His father, Keith, was alive, but unconscious and severely injured. Clive’s cause of death was undetermined, although natural causes were ruled out. Keith was rehabilitated, then sent immediately to a mental hospital. His wife, Roma, began reporting threats she received, including phone calls and a masked man trying to run her down with his car. She was warned to “keep away from the police or else.” She believed the tragedy occurred because her husband had gone to the police to try to identify the Somerton Man’s body, thinking it was a coworker whom he had worked with a few years prior. When he returned from the police station after viewing the body, Roma stated that Keith had appeared quite shaken up, unable to talk about it or take his afternoon tea. On March 21, 1950, Mangnoson escaped from the mental hospital he had been held in. His clothes were found on Henley Beach, where the Somerton Man’s train ticket had been purchased to go. He was captured on April 26, 1950, eating almonds in a rubbish dump. He could not tell police where he had been for the past month. Roma Mangnoson filed for divorce in June of 1953, on the grounds of “habitual cruelty”, although her husband was still being held.

Artist's sketch of the Somerton Man when he was alive news.com.au

H. C. Reynold's ID card, which may be linked to the Somerton Man Cipher Mysteries

Ongoing Investigation

Derek Abbott, an engineering professor at the University of Adelaide, has taken a special interest in the mystery of the Somerton Man. For the past 20 years, he has studied the case intensely, and involved students in his quest. The portrait to the right shows Professor Abbott's most recent update on the case. He realized that an autopsy photo is rarely a good image of what the person looked like while alive, yet the autopsy photo was all that was released of the Somerton Man. He commissioned an artist's rendering of what the man may have looked like while alive, and is hoping the picture will gain traction in the media. Maybe someone will finally recognize him, whether an old friend or someone going through old photo albums or newspaper clippings.

Another recent discovery is that of a US seaman's identification card, found by an Adelaide woman while going through old documents. The card is dated February 28, 1918, and lists the man's age as 18 and nationality as British. The man in the photograph does bear a resemblance to the Somerton Man, and would've been 48 when the Somerton Man's body was found- an appropriate age, based on autopsy findings. There have been many arguments against H. C. Reynolds being the Somerton Man by people close to the case, but a professor who examined the photo finds the theory plausible.





UPDATE: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/new-twist-in-somerton-man-mystery-as-fresh-claims-emerge/story-fni6uo1m-1226766905157

Kate Thompson, the nurse's daughter, has come forward to request the Somerton Man's body be exhumed. She believes her mother was romantically involved with the Somerton Man, and they were both part of a Soviet spy ring. She even believes her mother may have been involved in his murder. Her mother refused to give any details regarding how she knew the Somerton Man before her death, and said only that his identity was known to an authority higher than the police. Kate's suspected half brother, Robin Egan, she believes to be the son of the Somerton Man and Jessica Thompson, and Robin's daughter would now like the body exhumed and tested to see if the Somerton Man is in fact her grandfater.

What did you think of this article?

ABC's Inside Story: "The Somerton Beach Mystery"

MervS on May 28, 2018:

Without doubt the most comprehensive and feasible account that I have read, All credit to the author. While I think that he was murdered, I have a feeling that if it was a 'hit' , he was placed in a position where he had no other choice.

A on August 13, 2017:

What if T. Keane wasn't a name more like a company or a place. That would mean his name wasn't that and he was somewhere before his death....

Wjat would I know on August 03, 2017:

He was a Pole named Jaroslaw Sławomir Krakowski.

Fire Lotus on August 11, 2016:

My take is that this man shipped himself in a crate from his home in response to a lonely hearts correspondence with this nurse. When he actually showed up and was rejected, he became deeply despondent and ended it. The so-called 'code' appears to be what I call thought notes, the first letter of words in stream of consciousness. For example: I cannot believe I traveled all this way to have my heart trampled, would translate to: I C B I T A T H M H T. Like a shorthand for sad ideas you don't want other people to read but strongly want to express.

Gordon332 on March 30, 2016:

That is most certainly amongst the best if not the best description I have ever read on this case. I have been researching it for some 8 nearly nine years and have been amazed at some of the scenarios that some have created.

My focus has been on the hard evidence that has survived, precious little of it I might add.

Amongst the documents, there are quite a few that you would call 'questionable' including the Diary by Lawson, the man who built the plaster cast of Somerton Man. The diary itself has traces of erasures and indented markings as well as a few curious comments including one that talks of the 'disposal of the original body'

The 'code' page is now believed to contain microcode and there are examples of that on an Australian blog. The technique used was called Ink H and was developed by SOE (British Intelligence) in WW2. Essentially what they did was to write individual letters or it could be a verse from a poem in ink, then with a 5H or similar hardened pencil, insert micro letters and numbers into the inked letters. Once that was done they wrote over the pencilled code with another layer of ink. In order to find and read the code, the page containing the concealed writing was immersed in a strong bleach solution. This dissolved the ink but, of course, left the pencilled microcode visible. These letters could be around .5 mm in height, perfectly achievable with practice.

It was this technique which was apparently used to create the Somerton Man code and the blog used that technique with success on the 400 dpi image of the code page. In this case, the bleach removed the lighter shades of ink from a printed out version of the code page leaving the darker areas which formed the real code visible. It's all described on the blog and it something anyone can do. The big task now will be to find someone capable of deciphering the revealed code.

cyp on July 16, 2015:

Based on what I heard and the wonderful research of Derek Abbott I have reached the following hypothesis.

1) The SM knew he was going to die soon (either by an illness or by the hand of someone) and actively searched Jestyn for closure and possibly because he suspected/knew her son was also his.

1.b) alternately he could have search for her for blackmail, but we do not have much reason to believe this

2) He was involved in some dangerous business (spying, black market or something illegal) and Jestyn knew about this but did not want to be involved anymore . (this would explain her reaction at SM's picture)

3) the lifting and lowering of the hand I believe was in fact someone dropping the SM on the location he was found. Weather SM was still barely alive or not is debatable.

4) Somebody involved in the affair had the opportunity to mess with evidence and more precisely with effects on the man. They seem to appear/dissapear all of the sudden

5) Someone with possible connections to the police tried and possibly succeeded to make the identity of SM as hard to establish as possible.

6) The Tamam Shud piece of paper was planted on the corpse after it was f irst discovered. The actual purpose was in my opinion a message to the employers of whoever planted it that all traces of SM identity were erased and that whatever secrets he had are safe. This does not necessarily mean the person that planted the message killed SM. SM might has well died of natural cases maybe even before they had a chance to catch up with him. This piece of paper in my opinion is the single piece of eveidence that points to a cover up.

7) Aparrently based on various details the man had travelled through US, England and Australia so he probably belonged to one of these countries, US beeing the less likely of the three.

8) he most likely served for some time in the war, but not in the front lines (as someone said the evidence point to little physicall work)

9) if we go by the spy hypothesis then the book served as an one time pad or a book cypher. If this is the case without the book any attempt of deciphering it is futile.

10) the train ticket shows that he meant to leave Somerton after talking to Jestyn so a suicide is not probable.

11) the person putting flowers on his grave was probably Jestyn

12) the weird way his musclature presented might provide clues about his occupation (at least the official one). Some people said ballet dancer, but then wouldn't there be a lot of people that would recognaise him?

Derek Abbott seems to think no conspiracy can be concluded and if there would not be for the piece of paper I would agree. Many may say that the man himself put it there. But why would he?

There is one string of events that may make him put the paper there: the paper was a threat that he was finished. That an affair must end and everyone involved must be silenced. But this complicates things much more. I believe that the idea that someone planted it on him as way to signal that all ways to identitfy him are disposed off is the most probable one.

K on February 15, 2015:

I would really like to know if the teller that sold him the ticket (only 3 were sold that day for that route) remembered what type of accent he had? It seems like some kind of foul play was involved as someone took the time to remove his wallet (I.D.) and also take the ticket stub for his suitcase back and remove personal belongings from his suitcase. It could have been done by him, but then why bother even checking the suitcase in in the first place- he could have just chucked it if he knew he wasn't coming back. The removing of the labels isn't too significant to me, I know plenty of people here in southern california who do that including my own brother and his girlfriend. Although it would be interesting to know if this was common in the 1940s (removing labels from clothing for OCD reasons - as opposed to the thrift shop theory).. I'm also wondering why Jessica's daughter was quoted as saying her mother spoke fluent russian whereas the professor said it was more like a couple of words

Kurt Goedel on January 05, 2015:

For clarity, a one-time pad and a book cipher are quite different. One time pads are randomly generated sets of numbers used to encrypt a message. If truly random and only used once they are theoretically unbreakable. A book code is just a reference to a book's page, line and word, easily cracked if you have the book. Of course here, since there was only one copy, now missing, if it is a book cipher, there is no way to decipher the message.

The romantic angle sounds more believable on the face of it, but the fact of two unique copies of the book suggest Russian trade-craft. Maybe it started as spying and ended up a romance unwanted by her, notwithstanding the pregnancy. But if she poisoned him, why would she be so shocked by viewing the cast; after all she would have known he was likely dead. The alternative is that someone else, Russian or allied, did the deed. The style suggests Russia, perhaps tipped off by her that he was losing it or maybe threatening to turn them both in. (That's my two minute conjecture!)

Hendrika from Pretoria, South Africa on November 18, 2014:

For me the scary part of this is that it is possible for someone to go missing without anyone even noticing or caring.

Johnk78 on September 16, 2014:

Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted dekcaaeefbfb

Stella Custos on September 12, 2014:

Great article. I am fascinated by this case. Did you catch Derek's AMA?

http://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/commen...

RMLTX on September 04, 2014:

thank you for your information has been very useful and I hope he does other things like that

Kathryn Grace from San Francisco on August 26, 2014:

Fascinating story! So glad my laptop is down and I have to watch it every second while various utilities run (trying to fix it) so I could take the time to read this in its entirety.

I couldn't help wondering, looking at the seeming starts and stops on the apparent code, whether he was attempting to decipher a code and having trouble getting anything meaningful. He needed the women of The Bletchley Circle to help him out! : )

Also, given the apparent surprise and/or shock reported when Jessica Thompson viewed the cast of the corpse, and later when Keith Mangnoson returned home from viewing it, shaken and refusing to discuss it with his wife, I can't help wondering if both Thompson and Mangnoson knew the man and thought him dead long before his body was found on that beach.

Whatever the case, it is difficult to understand why officials refuse to permit the body to be exhumed and DNA samples taken. That makes the story all the more compelling.

Thank you for a riveting account.

TheSlayer on July 31, 2014:

Just wanted to compliment you on your prose. Exceptional piece of drafting.

Had not considered that the "very acceptable" lady may have been the one to write the code. I always assumed it was the dead man. So perhaps she gave him the book - apparently her way of kissing someone off, perhaps in more ways than one - he read the code (them both being Soviet spies of some sort in deep cover from the war years) - saw the "no need to reply" code at the end of the secret message, meaning don't bother me anymore it's me and not you - tore that page out, threw the book in the good doctor's care while wandering the streets in despair, then had nowhere to go and no money so headed to the beach and the beautiful sunset and took the poison. Or, perhaps she gave him the pasty "for the ride home," he ate it for a late snack, felt too sick afterwards for the ride back to town, went to the beach to settle his stomach, wound up at the rocks, realized what had happened too late and tried to call over the couple but was too weak from the poison, and died right after that.

Anyway, nice job of writing, made me think.

joe hefferon on July 23, 2014:

what ever happened to Boxall's copy of the Rubaiyat?

parwatisingari from India on July 10, 2014:

wow, interesting now shall speculate on this and create a story. :)

bzirkone from Kansas on July 10, 2014:

Really good article. Lots of research and work involved. Great writing.

Beth Perry from Tennesee on May 31, 2014:

What a fascinating case! I had not heard of it before, but wow!

After reading the entire article, my suspicion is that this unknown gentleman, along with George Marshall and the Graham woman (perhaps even Teresa, too) belonged to a quasi-avant garde suicide club. And one of the reasons I feel this way is that an elderly friend of mine possessed a copy of the Rubaiyat much like the one in the photo. She had received it in the late 1930s from a friend after he committed suicide (while they were both in college). From her reckoning, that friend had belonged to such a suicide club (cult).

Whatever the heart lies in the mystery of the Somerton man's death, it was highly entertaining to learn about it! Thanks for sharing.

Kenneth Avery from Hamilton, Alabama on May 17, 2014:

Hi, brokenmeadows,

This was very interesting and thought-provoking. Voted up and away. This would have made a great book. Have you considered writing about these cases?

You are very talented, and I think you could write about anything you like.

I cordially-invite you to check out two of my hubs and then become one of my followers.

That would make me so happy.

Sincerely,

Kenneth/ from northwest Alabama

CSD: Criminal Special Detective on May 11, 2014:

Thank you very much for the information about the murder.

fdsgf on March 17, 2014:

very weird

Patrick64 on February 23, 2014:

This is a fascinating story, I have just seen a replay of a 60 mins Australia story and it rekindled my interest in it. Quite coincidentally as last Friday nights episode of the ABC (Australia) T.V. drama "the Dr Blake Mysteries" had a story which I think may have been based on the case history of the Somerton Man, but the location was changed to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. In the T.V. Drama the man was a thought to be a Soviet spy who as an attaché to the Soviet Embassy had disappeared. The local librarian was one of his lovers and he was buried unnamed. A good hour of T.V. I recommend it.

John Jurgens from Cape Town, Western Cape on February 20, 2014:

Fascinating mystery! The Wikipedia article names the female as "Jessica" not "Teresa" Powell. There seems little doubt that Ms. Powell was connected to the dead man romantically. He, and another man in her life, Alfred Boxall, both had copies of the Rubaiyat. (The essence of the Rubaiyat is 'live for today': a message which chimed strongly with zeitgeist of the 2nd World War.) There seems to be strong indication that Powell was carrying his son. I think it possible that she met with him that day. I am very interested in the pasty. By all accounts, it had been recently consumed. Where did he get it? From her? Did he meet with her over a meal and was he, during that occasion, told that she wanted nothing to do with him and did he then repair to the beach and commit suicide? I think the origin of the pasty is an important clue. I would be very obliged if someone would give me an opinion on this. Thanks.

Glenda on October 18, 2013:

very interesting, I had to read this real mystery. would make a good movie.

Kristy LeAnn from Princeton, WV on October 18, 2013:

This is one of the best hubs I've ever seen on hubpages. :) I had heard of this case but I've never read about it in such detail and I had no idea just how weird this case was. I really wonder what happened to this guy? This is going to bug me forever now. lol

hyp on October 17, 2013:

Interesting story, a good read. Congrats on your Hub of the Day! :)

Fred's Bughouse from near the Equator on October 17, 2013:

Hey this is a great read. Head and shoulders above the usual here. Such a great story, too. Thanks!

Cindy A Johnson from Sevierville, TN on October 17, 2013:

What an interesting hub! Thanks for sharing this intriguing story. I am curious, however, with the term "singlet." What is that?

Heather from Arizona on October 17, 2013:

Congrats on HotD. I've never heard of this before but what a story! I couldn't stop reading. Great job!

Jenn-Anne on October 17, 2013:

Fascinating, well written hub! I had never heard of this story before - what an intriguing mystery! Loved the photos - some of them are very haunting. Definitely voting up. Congrats on Hub of the Day!

Teresa Coppens from Ontario, Canada on October 17, 2013:

Nicely done. Interesting presentation of the facts and theories.

Jason McBride from Salem, Oregon on October 17, 2013:

That was a great hub.

Carlo Giovannetti from Puerto Rico on October 17, 2013:

Really interesting article. The kind of thing that puts the mind into a spin. Also, congrats on HOTD!

Voted UP, Interesting, and Awesome.

Jaye Denman from Deep South, USA on October 17, 2013:

This is quite an intriguing mystery, and all the theories seem plausible. You'd think that even a spy would have family or at least a friend who would recognize his photo from all the ensuing publicity. Puzzling.

Voted Up and Interesting

Jaye

Donna Herron from USA on October 17, 2013:

I've never heard of this case before, but it is an interesting mystery. This is a fascinating hub and I wish there was an ending to who this mystery man was. Congrats on your HOTD!

Samita Sharma from Chandigarh on October 17, 2013:

Your hub is very interesting!

Barbara Fitzgerald from Georgia on September 17, 2013:

His profile reminds me of Richard Burton - a drunk Richard Burton...

Steve Dowell from East Central Indiana on September 17, 2013:

I first learned of this case from a Smithsonian magazine article a couple of years ago and became so enthralled with it that I posted a hub titled "Somerton Mystery" hoping to gain some attention to it and generate some online conversation with the hope of gaining more insight. Lo and behold, there are now 2 very detailed hubs on the topic.

Good job!

BTW - I've gotten some very strange "dialogue" in my comments section from curious readers (mostly unapproved); however, nothing revealing has become of this mind boggler.

jack on September 07, 2013:

who is graham powell?

brokenmeadows (author) on September 05, 2013:

Thanks AussieK, I hadn't noticed I'd said "train ticket" twice instead of one train ticket and one bus ticket. Changed that, and changed pastry to pasty, although every single source I've read has said that the baths next to the train station were closed and he had to go to city baths half a mile away, which is why he missed his train, so I've left that as is.

AussieK on September 05, 2013:

Great summary! Just a few minor points: 1) he had in his pocket a bus ticket from Adelaide to Glenelg, not a train ticket 2) it was a pasty (a folded pastry case filled with vegetables) in his stomach, not a pastry 3) the city baths were right next to the train station, not half a mile away 4) Teresa Powell and Prestige Johnson are aliases designed to protect the real identities of these people.

Seshagopalan Murali from Chennai, Tamil Nadu on August 12, 2013:

Your hub is scary.. and interesting as well. :)

Tim from Los Angeles, CA on August 04, 2013:

I love reading Unsolved Mysteries and this is one of the most interesting cases I have come across.

brokenmeadows (author) on July 30, 2013:

Thanks, Mel and Solaras! I'm thinking of doing a hub series on unsolved mysteries, so its great to know there's interest!

Mel Carriere from San Diego California on July 30, 2013:

You folks down under really do have some mysterious stories to tell, as I am seeing by reading the hubs of the many Aussies that are on Hub Pages. This was a very well researched and fascinating tale. Great hub!

Barbara Fitzgerald from Georgia on July 30, 2013:

Well done and very interesting. I never heard of this before, so it was very intriguing. Thumbs up and Interesting!

R.L on July 30, 2013:

Really excellent summary. Lots of information and a minimum of speculation.