Australia Australia - Tamam Shud Case - Male, Dec 1948

[Doeologist]

I read the test results against the strands of hair were inconclusive. If Rachel is his granddaughter (odds are she is), then the direct DNA match on the Somerton Man will result in the same Family Trees.

The only difference is that you'll have a refined determination of the degree of familial match that's could be somewhat better that a general 1st to 2nd cousin match or equivalent to professor Julian Randolph Pleasants. If the equivalent is basically the same, then you're just confirming you had the right family tree and the right branches were looked at.

P.S. Professor Pleasants' mother was listed as a ballet dancer in a local ball, which I believe was a costume ball, so I'm not saying she or TSM or any of her brothers or relatives were ballet dancers.

 

[Victoria Chambers]

Anybody think that SM could be the much documented 'Nowhere Man' aka Everett Ruess, author, poet, artist. American who was fluent in Navajo. Son of a Unitarian Minister and a dancer/artist. Everett vanished in 1934 aged 20yrs. Everett dreamt of travelling the world and was something of an avid explorer. His poems read as though they were written for/by SM regarding his death and place of. Everett created some beautiful wood carvings, block stencils and clay modelling. Very intriguing character who has been the focus of films, documentaries, songs etc. Everett amassed a vast volume of biographical journals of his travels. The cave carvings of NEMO 1934 are attributed to Everett. The resemblance to SM, I think is as good as any. Images in circulation do show Everett to have similar features to those we see in SM ie teeth and ears! I think they could be 1 and the same person. Has this ever been considered before?

 

[Sikkim]

I've read a little about Everett Ruess. I don't think it's him. He probably would have been a bit too young to fit Somerton Man's reported age and I don't see a huge physical resemblance. I think Ruess probably drowned or succumbed to the elements in the US. Anything is possible but I'd be shocked if he made it to Australia

 

[Doeologist]

They both look Germanic to me. Rachel Egan's family tree, on the male side, shows an American line named Swope, which is derived from the German Schwab. Mary Mathias' mother was a Swope.

It's good to consider people presumed to have died elsewhere. Pseudocide is always possibility when there's spying involved, which might be happening here.

Here's the family tree published in 2015. It leaves out a couple names and only puts living child but Alban Pleasants and Mary Mathias only had one surviving child. He died in 2010 so he wouldn't be a "living child". I don't know if they skipped a generation in the tree. That would throw a monkey wrench into the matter. But it does say child so I assume that's what they mean, even if he was dead.

After years of forensic investigation, Somerton Man's identity remains a mystery (Part 2: DNA, isotopes, and autopsy) (phys.org)

 

[Victoria Chambers]

I've read a little about Everett Ruess. I don't think it's him. He probably would have been a bit too young to fit Somerton Man's reported age and I don't see a huge physical resemblance. I think Ruess probably drowned or succumbed to the elements in the US. Anything is possible but I'd be shocked if he made it to Australia

I really wanted to share an image of Everett as a child, but it says the file is too large. The picture is of Everett sat at a wooden table concentrating on a sculpture in his hands. It shows perfectly his left ear which is very different to the rest of us ears. It also shows him to have long, almost feminine finger nails, which I found to be strange for a boy, but more so, for a child. I think the more time spent looking at Everett, the more similar he looks to SM man. If you're interested, the picture is printed in Nowhere Man. The disappearance of Everett Ruess. Salt Lake Magazine.

 

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I think you will find they (the possible family) had to raise the funds themselves, the South Australian Government said they would not pay for the exhumation, that may explain the delay.

Somerton Man to be exhumed by police in attempt to solve mystery

ABC news article confirming exhumation.

Excerpts from the above quoted link...

'Somerton Man researcher Professor Derek Abbott, who has spent years investigating the case and has long campaigned for an exhumation, said he was excited by the development.

"I knew it would happen one day," he said.'

...and...

'The Attorney-General previously told the ABC the State Government had offered its conditional support for an exhumation, provided it was privately funded.'

It's not as though this exhumation were a police initiative. They had plenty of opportunity to exhume but they didn't. So the title of the ABC news article 'Somerton Man to be exhumed by police in attempt to solve mystery' is misleading.

 

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Missing Pieces: The Curious Case of the Somerton Man (2018) - IMDb

South Australian documentary. Before you click the link take a guess at who gets top billing on the title page.

 

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(I still think he's Carl Thomson!)

Knowing who he is isn't going to solve this case, entirely.

 

[dotr]

I really wanted to share an image of Everett as a child, but it says the file is too large. The picture is of Everett sat at a wooden table concentrating on a sculpture in his hands. It shows perfectly his left ear which is very different to the rest of us ears. It also shows him to have long, almost feminine finger nails, which I found to be strange for a boy, but more so, for a child. I think the more time spent looking at Everett, the more similar he looks to SM man. If you're interested, the picture is printed in Nowhere Man. The disappearance of Everett Ruess. Salt Lake Magazine.

Nowhere Man - The Dissapearance of Everett Reuss • Salt Lake Magazine

Everett’s early attempts at clay sculpting—influenced by his artistic mother—no doubt. Image Courtesy: Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah

 

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Knowing who he is isn't going to solve this case, entirely.

SAPOL have never been convinced the man witnessed at the seawall that afternoon was the same man found deceased that same location early the following morning. Suggestion for this case is a cluster of illegalities may have been committed. May have. IMO, simply knowing the identity of so-called Somerton Man will not resolve this case in its entirety.

 

[Doeologist]

Robin Thomson also had that ear feature so it stands to reason he might be the Somerton Man's son and the DNA test on Rachel is reliable. Prosper Thomson was said to have been doing some shady deals with the American Birch brothers. They had a half brother named Rupert Birdy Kern who shows up on a Family Tree file for Rachel Egan's familial DNA match.

Here's his son Eldon Kern who died in Saipan in WWI. The Kerns are distantly related, too distant barring illegitimacy to be TSM, but Eldon shared the same ear feature.

 

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After years of forensic investigation, Somerton Man's identity remains a mystery (Part 2: DNA, isotopes, and autopsy) (phys.org)

"It turns out that the Somerton Man had unusual ears in that his upper ear hollow (the cymba) was much larger than his lower ear hollow (the cavum).

It may have appeared so, post-mortem.

 

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Somerton Man
Carl Bernard Thompson

 

[Victoria Chambers]

One does wonder how 'rare' SM features really are. People tend not to inspect 1 anothers ears for comparison and when you consider between only 2 - 3% of the global population having green eyes.. I must know at least 1% of that entire population! Being green eyed myself, its not that rare to me. But as far as we do know, the code was not actually in SM possession? Was it actually written in the book or was it an indentation, having been writ on paper that rested on the book? I know a UVA lamp was used to see it more clearly. This would mean the letters/code we see were penned by somebody on the case - no proof whatsoever of SM ever writing it? Looking at what he did have possession wise, (since the sewn pocket linked to the thread in the case) it would appear his passion or hobby was related to creating art. But where is the art? Was he making/selling pieces to get by? I also dont get what did Jestyn have to lose by admitting she knew him, especially decades after in later life? It makes no sense. The suspense is killing me at this point!

 

[Sikkim]

I always wondered if he even was the one who wrote in the book, or if he just stole/borrowed/found the book and the writing came from the person who owned it before

 

[GirlMarlowe]

One does wonder how 'rare' SM features really are. People tend not to inspect 1 anothers ears for comparison and when you consider between only 2 - 3% of the global population having green eyes.. I must know at least 1% of that entire population! Being green eyed myself, its not that rare to me. But as far as we do know, the code was not actually in SM possession? Was it actually written in the book or was it an indentation, having been writ on paper that rested on the book? I know a UVA lamp was used to see it more clearly. This would mean the letters/code we see were penned by somebody on the case - no proof whatsoever of SM ever writing it? Looking at what he did have possession wise, (since the sewn pocket linked to the thread in the case) it would appear his passion or hobby was related to creating art. But where is the art? Was he making/selling pieces to get by? I also dont get what did Jestyn have to lose by admitting she knew him, especially decades after in later life? It makes no sense. The suspense is killing me at this point!

That is a very good point! I remember being surprised to read that green eyes were “rare”, especially with a red hair combination.

 

[Kemug]

That is a very good point! I remember being surprised to read that green eyes were “rare”, especially with a red hair combination.

Are we saying that SM had green eyes? Or just speaking about facial characteristics? PS one of my grandsons has green eyes, he has quite a lot of Scottish blood. His father's brother also has them.

 

[dotr]

Are we saying that SM had green eyes? Or just speaking about facial characteristics? PS one of my grandsons has green eyes, he has quite a lot of Scottish blood. His father's brother also has them.

Several of my close family members have green eyes... thinking about the speculation that Talmud Doe might have been a dancer and wondering now if maybe he was a highland dancer?!

Giphy

 

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His eyes were blue.

 

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Station hand with boot in stirrup, example.