Australia Australia - Tamam Shud Case - Male, Dec 1948

[shadowangel]

Another angle to consider is that the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6) absorbed several other intelligence departments following World War 2 and began to concentrate efforts against the Soviet Union. As with other intelligence departments throughout the world, I'm sure that the SIS recruited civilians to assist in intelligence-gathering operations. Some working knowledge of cryptography and crypto-analysis could have easliy been included in the individual's training.
If a mission had gone wrong, and the person killed, its highly likely that the truth of what occured would never be released.

 

[Lyn1001]

(excerpted from Wikipedia)
In April of 1949, he investigating pathologist discovered in the dead man's pants pocket a slip of paper with the words "Taman Shud" printed on it. Meaning "the end", the phrase is from the last page of the poem collection The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam. When this information was made public, a local doctor from Glenelg came forward stating he had found a copy of The Rubaiyat in the backseat of his unlocked car on the night of November 30th, 1948. The book was missing the words "Taman Shud" and tests proved the paper in the dead man's pocket came from the book found by the doctor.
The back of the book contained four faint lines of pencil writing:
MRGOABABD
MTBIMPANETP
MLIABOAIAQC
ITTMTSAMSTGAB
Code breakers have been unable to decipher the code.
Also found in the back of the book was a woman's phone number. When contacted the woman stated she had owned a copy of the book but had given it to an army leiutentant during WWII. The leiutenant was located, alive and well, and still in possession of the book the woman had given him.

Okay, I'm confused. The book was found in the back of a doctor's car, yet they contact teh army lt. the woman claimed to have given the book to and he was still in possession of it? Did she give more than one man a copy of the book with her phone number on it? It says she owned A copy......

 

[gaia227]

What was found in his suitcase is interesting. It seems to be a weird assortment of things. You have felt slippers along with electric screwdrivers and stenciling tools.

Was Taman Shud Man posing as Tom Keane, a sailor? Had he stolen this man's identity? Was the real Tom Keane ever found? His shipmates came forth to look at the body but Tom never revealed himself? I certainly would be curious as to how this dead man ended up with some of my things or at least put my name on his things.
His friends said the clothes were not his.....if that is true then why put his name on them. It seems to be too much of a coincidence that T. Keane's name was found on some of the dead man's clothes, along with instruments a sailor needs when working on cargo ship and the missing T. Keane just happens to be a sailor. Bizarre.

When they say they found red felt slippers do they mean ballett slippers or night slippers?

 

[shadowangel]

Okay, I'm confused. The book was found in the back of a doctor's car, yet they contact teh army lt. the woman claimed to have given the book to and he was still in possession of it? Did she give more than one man a copy of the book with her phone number on it? It says she owned A copy......

I took this to mean that the owner of the book found in the doctor's car must have known the unidentified woman (or at least her phone number), who also at one time owned a copy of the same book. I've never seen it stated that the woman herself wrote her phone number in any copy of the book.
With way too many James Bond books in my mind, I had the thought that our UID may have been looking for a specific copy of the Rubaiyat, tracking down copies for some secret spy reason.

As to the slippers, I always thought they were casual slippers, though I cant find that specifically stated either.

 

[West]

This guy seems like he's straight out of a spy novel.

The ballet theory is very interesting. He could have been single/no family or estranged from immediate family (didnt like him pursuing ballet, not masculine enough etc.) so they weren't looking for him. The troupe goes home to England, this guy stays behind. Maybe its his first season with them, so no one really calls to check up on him until he misses a practice or something. They call his flat, no answer, file a report and it gets backlogged etc. The amount of time between when he was last seen by "friends" or troupe members and when they discovered he was missing could have been days, weeks or months.

Especially if he stayed behind in Australia without leaving that info with someone else, who would even think to check for him there? At the time, passport and immigration information wasn't computerized and I can't even imagine the hassles and red tape trying to find a missing relative in a country thousands of miles from the original home base.

It would be interesting to read the real LE files on this case, I wonder if they ever came up with new theories etc. to explain man's death or if they have had any progress with the code (assuming this is still an open case)

 

[gaia227]

Thanks for bumping West. I really don't have anything to add except this case has always fascinated me.

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

Did the missing sailor have any health issues that were known? Someone comes and visits the grave and leaves flowers, maybe the sailor wanted others to think he was dead. very fascinating case!

 

[West]

http://www.videosurf.com/video/derek-abbott-cipher-cracking-project-stateline-sa-2009-75645499

New video from 2009 from Aussie TV about the case

 

[West]

http://www.videosurf.com/video/the-somerton-man's-suitcase-75960423

Original video from 1970s investigation on suitcase contents, including the original clothes etc. All contents have been destroyed.


http://www.videosurf.com/video/paul...rmer-nurse-sees-bust-of-somerton-man-75593685

Eyewitness reenactment from LE when nurse sees plaster bust of man for first time. Says in the interview the nurse's name is "Mrs. Thompson".

http://www.videosurf.com/video/alf-boxall-and-the-somerton-man-75638336
More on Nurse here.

 

[p7byrd]

It's obvious "Jestyn" knew far more than what she let on, as her behavior when called in to identify the bust is rather strange.

My guess would be some sort of love triangle between the Somerton Man, Alf Boxall, and Jestyn.

 

[*zoe*]

i did a search for any in fo on the taman shud case... didnt know ws had a thread on it!
ever since i stumbled on this case a year ago its fascinated me. so much time has passed, though, i dunno how likely it is to ever be solved. i always wondered how the heck this man has never been identified? i suppose that could be said for so many uid people even now....
i guess i don't have much to say, but, i thought the "discarded" book from which the page of the tamam shud came from in the somerton man's pocket was strange. one man came forward and claimed a copy of the book had been thrown into his car.
the lengths to which people have gone to decode the slip of paper in the somerton man's pocket is really amazing. still no luck, but many theories.

 

[reasypeasy]

I'm from Adelaide. Taman Shud man looks like about half my older male relatives but we don't think he is one of ours. The only people we have missing from that era were lost in Europe during the first world war, and had relatives who were still living here at the time the Somerton man was found and would have asked to see the body if they thought he looked similar enough.

Although I must admit, I have wondered whether maybe he was some other family's long lost son who deserted in WW1 rather than go over the top. Very easy to be presumed dead when all about you are being blown to smithereens at an horrendous rate.

 

[Kat]

I can't offer anything to this thread.

But, I did have a thought. Most men do not dance en pointe, even professional ballet dancers (although there are some exceptions).

However, one of those exceptions can include Russian male ballet dancers. Also male professional dancers who do traditional russian folk dancing. Just some thoughts. I don't know a lot about ballet just what my oldest daughter has spoken to me about in the past. (talking about the possible damage from en pointe dancing to the foot)

I saw this picture. I wonder if it is how his foot looked?

http://www.ourhealthnetwork.com/conditions/FootandAnkle/TailorsBunionBunionette.asp#causes

A bunion on the big toe and a tailors bunion on the little toe can cause the foot to look as was described in the OP. When I was a girl, almost every woman who was middle aged that I knew (family or family friends) had feet that looked like that but theirs did so because of two reasons 1. The area of the shoe where the toes went into was too narrow (pointy toed) and they wore that style for years. 2. High heels along with a pointy toed shoe.

I'd be curious to know if he was a Russian dancer (ballet or folk)?

 

[Kat]

Another link

https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au...ign_review_2009:_Who_killed_the_Somerton_man?

Work done at the University of Adelaide by Professor, Doctor and two honor students.

 

[Kat]

I read the link above and saw that it was hypothesized by the research team at the University that the man's feet could have had those features from "riding boots".

I don't know the history enough about the history of Australia to know if given this man's assumed date of birth (c. 1903) and the years of his childhood or teens, what type of shoes were worn as riding boots?

Are they what we in the USA would consider cowboy boots? pointy toed boots? If anyone from Australia could weigh in I'd appreciate the insight. TIA.

 

[reasypeasy]

I read the link above and saw that it was hypothesized by the research team at the University that the man's feet could have had those features from "riding boots".

I don't know the history enough about the history of Australia to know if given this man's assumed date of birth (c. 1903) and the years of his childhood or teens, what type of shoes were worn as riding boots?

Are they what we in the USA would consider cowboy boots? pointy toed boots? If anyone from Australia could weigh in I'd appreciate the insight. TIA.

In Australia, a man who handles cattle on a farm is called a stockman, a young man training to handle cattle on a farm is called a jackaroo, and a man who drives cattle long distances is called a drover.

I find it sort of difficult to imagine what boots the Somerton man would have worn in his youth if he was a stockman or jackaroo, partly because in the 1930s a manufacturer called RM Williams started making work boots that became pretty much iconic as stockman footwear. How close to the RM Williams styles footwear was before then is hard for me to say.

http://www.rmwilliams.com.au/home.a...departmentproducttypegroupid=9C8322E9C7C024FB

What I do know is that the Australian bush style has always been a lot less flashy than what one might think of as cowboy style.

 

[Kat]

Thank you so much reasypeasy. I didn't just want to hit the thanks button and leave it at that.

 

[RubyRed]

Location on Somerton beach where the corpse was found is marked by an 'X'​

Adelaide Railway Station, where a brown suitcase, believed to belong to the dead man, was found.​

Suitcase and effects, found at Adelaide Railway Station.​

Tombstone of the Somerton Man found at Somerton Beach, Adelaide, at his gravesite. He died 1 December 1948 and was buried on 14 June 1949.​

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Shud_Case
​

 

[RubyRed]

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 (see Taman Shud case). The image was widely circulated in the public domain in newspapers and magazines for the express purposes of identifying the code. Following the disappearance of the book, it is now one of the few images of the code in existence.​

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SomertonManCode.jpg​

 

[RubyRed]

Physical characteristics​

We know he was male.

He was 5 ft 11 inches (180 cm) tall.​

Photo of Somerton man's ear, compared to normal ear.​

Regarding his ears, his cymba was bigger than his cavum. This is a characteristic possessed by only 1-2% of the Caucasian population.​

He has attached rather than hanging earlobes.​

He had grey eyes.

His hair was a mousy ginger colour, turning grey on the sides and behind the ears.

His hair was receding at the front.

His hairline did not have a widow's peak.

His hair was wavy and fairly coarse.

His age was estimated between 40 and 50.

He had normal sized feet (approx. size 8 shoes) and yet his hands were unusually large.

He was clean shaven.

We assume he still had his appendix, as no appendix scar is reported.

We don't know if he had tonsils or not.

He had broad square shoulders, with a narrower waist, and was physically fit.
He had well-developed high calf muscles.

His toes were wedged as if he had worn pointed shoes (perhaps riding boots).

He had very large hands.

Estimating from his height and build, his weight would be approximately 88 kg (14 stone).

He was uncircumcised.

In terms of body hair, we know he was not very hairy. Chest hair and leg hair minimal.

His teeth were natural, but he had 9 teeth missing from the top, and another 9 teeth missing from the bottom. Most of the missing teeth were back teeth.

Two of his missing teeth were lateral incisors. This is quite possibility due to genetic anodontia, ie. he didn't grow those teeth in the first place. It is unlikely that he lost these two teeth by decay or accident. This is supported by Dwyer's statement if one was talking to the Somerton man one would not notice missing teeth.

He had 3 pre-existing small scars on the inside of his left wrist. A one-inch curve scar on the inside of his left elbow. A one-inch scar (that had the appearance of a boil mark) on his upper left forearm.

He had nicotine stains on his fingers.

He had no tattoos.

We assume he did not wear glasses (though if he did, he probably would have lost them at the same time as his hat and wallet).

We don't know if he was right or left handed. But the fact an unfinished cigarette was found on his right collar and that John Lyons observed him raising his right arm, is a probable indication of right handedness. But we cannot be totally certain.

There was mark on his left arm that was too faint to say for certain if it was a vaccination mark. Some people do not have pronounced vaccination marks. If he had served in the war (which is likely), he certainly would have been vaccinated. This also points to him being right handed. His handedness can be determined by disinterring the body and measuring the arms. It is known that your handedness results in 2% extra bone growth in that arm.​

https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au...st_of_facts_we_do_know_about_the_Somerton_Man​