The Somerton Man: An Unsolved Puzzle by the Sea

Disappearance — ABikram Mondal

The Somerton Man: An Unsolved Puzzle by the Sea

On the morning of December 1, 1948, two men walking along Somerton Park Beach in Adelaide, South Australia, made a discovery that would haunt police and amateur sleuths for generations. Lying against the seawall, perfectly positioned to be seen but not easily dismissed, was the body of a man. He was well-dressed in a suit, tie, and shoes, a cigarette resting on his collar. His hands were clean, his shoes polished. There was no sign of a struggle, no obvious cause of death. This was the beginning of the Somerton Man mystery, a case that has defied easy explanation for over 70 years.

The Initial Discovery and the Tamam Shud Clue

The initial police investigation was meticulous, if ultimately frustrated. The man carried no identification. His clothing labels had been removed, a detail that immediately raised suspicion. In his pockets, investigators found an unused train ticket from Adelaide to Henley Beach, a bus ticket, two combs, a packet of chewing gum, and cigarettes. Curiously, no wallet or cash was present. Dental records yielded no match, and fingerprints were equally unhelpful. Even a public viewing of the body failed to identify him.

An autopsy revealed a man in excellent physical condition, likely in his 40s. His cause of death was officially listed as unknown, though theories ranged from poisoning to natural causes. The lack of any struggle, the absence of identification, and the removed labels all pointed towards a deliberate effort to obscure his identity and the circumstances of his death.

Months later, in April 1949, a crucial new piece of evidence emerged. Inside a small, secret fob pocket sewn into the man's trousers, police found a tiny, rolled-up piece of paper. On it were printed two words: 'Tamam Shud'. This phrase, meaning 'finished' or 'ended' in Persian, was identified as the final words from 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam', a collection of quatrains by the 12th-century Persian poet. This discovery shifted the entire investigation, injecting a layer of literary intrigue into an already baffling case.

The Rubaiyat and the Code

The police launched a public appeal, asking anyone who owned a copy of 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' with the final pages torn out to come forward. Remarkably, a local man did. He had found a copy of the book on the back seat of his unlocked car, parked near Somerton Beach, around the same time the body was discovered. The book had the 'Tamam Shud' page missing. This particular edition, published by Whitcombe's and Tombs, became a central piece of the puzzle.

Inside the discovered book, on the back cover, police found handwritten annotations. These included a phone number and what appeared to be a coded message. The phone number belonged to a nurse named Jessica Thomson (later known by her married name, Jessica Powell), who lived in Glenelg, not far from Somerton Beach. When interviewed, Thomson initially denied knowing the man or owning the book. However, witnesses later reported seeing her with a copy of 'The Rubaiyat' and described her as visibly shaken when shown a bust of the Somerton Man. She reportedly told detectives she had given a copy of the book to a man named Alfred Boxall, who was alive and well, and still possessed his own complete copy of the book. This left investigators with a significant contradiction.

The coded message in the book consisted of five lines of seemingly random letters:
WRGOABABD
MLIAOI
WTBIMPANETP
MLIABOAIAQC
ITTMTSAMSTGAB

Despite extensive efforts by cryptographers and intelligence agencies, this code has never been definitively cracked. Theories have ranged from it being a simple mnemonic, an elaborate spy code, or even nonsensical scribblings. The 'spy theory' gained traction, suggesting the Somerton Man might have been an agent, perhaps poisoned, and the 'Tamam Shud' a final, cryptic signal or a message about his mission's end.

Jessica Thomson, the Dancer, and the Child

Jessica Thomson remained a figure of intense speculation. She was a professional dancer, and her connection to the 'Rubaiyat' and her proximity to the beach were never fully reconciled with her denials. Years later, her daughter, Kate Thomson, revealed that her mother had learned Russian and had a secretive past. Furthermore, Jessica Thomson's son, Robin, who bore a striking resemblance to the Somerton Man (particularly his ears, which had a rare congenital condition shared by the deceased), was born in 1947, a year before the body was found. While Robin denied being the Somerton Man's son, the physical similarities and the timing added another layer of intrigue to the case.

Recent Developments and a Proposed Identity

For decades, the case remained cold, periodically resurfacing in public discourse and captivating new generations of mystery enthusiasts. The limitations of 1940s forensic science meant many avenues were simply unavailable to the original investigators. However, the advent of sophisticated DNA analysis offered a new hope.

In 2018, Professor Derek Abbott, an electrical engineer from the University of Adelaide who had been deeply invested in the case for years (and later married Jessica Thomson's granddaughter, Rachel Egan), began a concerted effort to exhume the Somerton Man's body for DNA testing. The exhumation was granted in 2021.

In July 2022, Professor Abbott announced a significant breakthrough. Working with American forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick, he claimed to have identified the Somerton Man as Carl Webb, born in Melbourne in 1905. This identification was made through extensive DNA analysis of hairs found on the body, cross-referencing with genealogical databases to build a family tree, and eventually locating Webb's descendants. According to Professor Abbott's research, Carl Webb was an electrical engineer and an avid poet, though little else is known about his life. He reportedly had a brother-in-law named Thomas Keane who lived near Somerton Beach at the time of the discovery, suggesting a possible reason for Webb's presence in the area.

While Professor Abbott's findings are compelling and have garnered significant media attention, official authorities, including South Australian police, have maintained a cautious stance. They have acknowledged the research but stated that further verification and official confirmation are required before formally identifying the Somerton Man as Carl Webb.

The possibility that the Somerton Man was simply a man named Carl Webb, a bit of a loner who wrote poetry, as suggested by some of the recent reporting, stands in stark contrast to the dramatic spy theories that captivated the public for so long. It suggests a more mundane, albeit still tragic, end to a life. Yet, even with a name, many questions persist. If he was Carl Webb, what was he doing on Somerton Beach? Why were his clothes tampered with? Why the 'Tamam Shud' note and the unbreakable code? And what was his connection to Jessica Thomson?

The Somerton Man continues to be an enigmatic figure, a silent sentinel on an Australian beach, his story still incomplete. Perhaps one day, the remaining pieces of this intricate puzzle will finally fall into place, revealing the full truth behind his mysterious end.

Fact check. The body of an unidentified man was found on Somerton Park Beach in 1948, with a scrap of paper reading 'Tamam Shud' found months later. DNA analysis in 2022 by Professor Derek Abbott proposed an identity of Carl Webb, though this has not yet been officially confirmed by authorities.

Sources and further reading

A factual retelling drawn from public reporting on a real case. Where a claim is unproven, it is flagged. Please verify with the linked sources.

The Somerton Man: An Unsolved Puzzle by the Sea