Weird History
The Somerton Man
A perfectly dressed unknown man found dead on an Australian beach in 1948, a torn scrap of Omar Khayyam in his pocket, his identity unknown for 70 years.
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On December 1, 1948, an unidentified man was found dead on Somerton Beach near Adelaide, Australia, perfectly dressed in a suit, his causes of death unclear, his identity unknown. All his clothing labels had been removed. His pockets contained a torn scrap of paper with the phrase 'Tamam Shud' (Persian for 'it is ended') torn from the final page of a rare edition of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. The book was eventually found; its back page contained a phone number, another woman's number, and a seemingly encrypted message that has never been decoded. For 75 years, his identity was unknown. DNA analysis in 2023 produced a tentative identification — but also deepened the mystery.
The Somerton Man case combines an unidentified death, a rare book, a possible code, a mysterious woman, and Cold War espionage speculation into one of the most compelling unsolved mysteries of the 20th century. The man was approximately 40–45 years old, physically fit, and well-dressed. The autopsy found no clear cause of death, though the pathologist suspected poisoning by an undetectable substance. The torn 'Tamam Shud' scrap linked to a copy of the Rubaiyat found in a man's car; inside the book was a phone number belonging to a nurse named Jo Thomson, who denied knowing the dead man but appeared distressed when shown a plaster cast of his face. Her son Robin Thomson had unusual physical traits suggesting a possible biological connection to the Somerton Man.
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The Tamam Shud Code
The five lines of capital letters found in the back of the Rubaiyat — WRGOABABD / MLIAOI / WTMTSTMPB / MLIABOAIAQC / ITTMTSAMSTGAB — represent one of the most examined and never-solved cryptographic puzzles in forensic history. The best-supported theory is that it is an acrostic code: a system where each letter represents the first letter of a word in a message, using a one-time pad key. If so, it is essentially unbreakable without the pad. Alternative theories suggest it is a simple substitution cipher, a phone book code, or personal notation with no encoded meaning. ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) examined it during the original investigation and declined to comment on their conclusions.
Cold War Espionage and the Spy Theory
The espionage hypothesis holds that the Somerton Man was a Cold War intelligence operative — possibly a Soviet agent or double — killed by undetectable poison in a targeted assassination. The evidence is circumstantial but consistent: all clothing labels removed (standard spy protocol); the code in the Rubaiyat matches intelligence tradecraft; nurse Jo Thomson later admitted she knew who he was but claimed she could not say; and ASIO's investigation file remains partially classified 75 years later. The postwar period (1948) saw intense Soviet-Western intelligence activity around Australia, particularly near Woomera in South Australia, where Britain was conducting classified nuclear and missile tests.
Forensic Genealogy and the 2023 Identification
In 2023, forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick and Professor Derek Abbott announced a tentative identification of the Somerton Man as Carl Webb — an electrical engineer from Melbourne born in 1905 with a failed marriage and no obvious reason to be in Adelaide. The identification used forensic genealogy: mitochondrial DNA extracted from a hair preserved in a plaster cast made of the dead man's face was matched to living relatives through consumer DNA databases, and the family tree traced backward. The same technique that caught the Golden State Killer was applied to a 75-year-old cold case — producing the closest thing to an answer the case has ever had, while leaving the fundamental questions unanswered.
Tamam Shud and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The phrase 'tamam shud' — Persian for 'it is ended' — was found on a scrap of paper torn from the final page of a rare edition of Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and concealed in a secret pocket sewn into the Somerton Man's trousers. The physical copy of the Rubaiyat was eventually located — a man said he found it in his car near Somerton Beach around the time of the death. Inside the back cover: a phone number (traced to a woman known only as 'Jestyn'), and five lines of capital letters never deciphered. The coded letters (WRGOABABD / MLIAOI / WTMTSTMPB / MLIABOAIAQC / ITTMTSAMSTGAB) have been analyzed by GCHQ-affiliated cryptologists and remain unbroken — possibly a one-time pad cipher, a book code, or deliberate nonsense.
The Autopsy: What His Body Revealed and What It Did Not
The Somerton Man's autopsy was conducted by Dr. John Dwyer on December 1, 1948, and its findings have been interpreted and reinterpreted for over 70 years. Physical examination found a man of 40-45 years, excellent physical condition, enlarged spleen and liver, congested stomach, and blood in the stomach lining consistent with poisoning — yet no conventional poison was identified. Dwyer initially suspected digitalis (a heart medication undetectable by 1948 toxicology) or a synthetic toxin. No injection marks were found. The manner of death was officially recorded as 'unknown' — a rare designation reflecting Dwyer's genuine inability to identify a cause despite his certainty that death was not natural. Modern forensic re-examination of autopsy notes has suggested the findings are consistent with acute heart failure or with certain undetectable poisons. The British forensic expert Dr. Rex Lipson, reviewing the original autopsy notes in 2011, concluded the findings were most consistent with digitalis toxicity.
Carl Webb: What the 2023 DNA Identification Actually Told Us
In 2022, University of Adelaide professor Derek Abbott and a team of forensic genealogists used mitochondrial DNA extracted from the Somerton Man's exhumed remains (exhumed in 2021) to build a genetic family tree. They identified the man as Carl 'Charles' Webb, born in Melbourne in 1905 — an electrical engineer and instrument maker who had lived in various Australian cities. The identification was publicly announced in late 2022. Webb's biography, reconstructed from public records, reveals: he had been married (his wife Dorothy later remarried); there is no clear explanation for why he was in Adelaide or who might have wanted him dead; and his identity raises rather than answers most questions about the case. The Jestyn connection — the phone number found in the Rubaiyat — was registered to a woman named Jo Thomson, not directly to anyone named Webb. Whether Webb knew Thomson, why he was in Adelaide, and how he died remain completely unexplained.