Australia Australia - Tamam Shud Case - Male, Dec 1948

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tamanshudart.jpg
(Photo/oddx.com)

The Zodiac Killer wasn't the only one who loved to use codes. On the morning of December 1st, 1948, a body was found on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. The man's body was in perfect condition, with no injuries to be found. He was well dressed, although all the labels on his clothes were missing. In his pocket was a train ticket to Henley Beach, never to be used. It would be a month later when they would find a suitcase linked to him at Adelaide Railroad Station. Its label was removed as well as those on the articles of clothing inside it. Unfortunately, it led to no clues, just like his autopsy, which reported no foreign substance in his body that could directly link his death to poisioning. A month later they would find the most substantial but puzzling evidence in a secret pocket in the man's trousers. It read, "Taman Shud."

Public library officials called in to translate the phrase. They concluded that it meant "ended" or "finished", which can be found in a collection of poems entitled The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Immediately police ran a nationwide search for the book where this scrap paper was torn from. A man came forward, claiming that he found the book in the backseat of his unlocked car a week or two before they discovered the body. On the back of it was a strange code scrawled out in pencil. A phone number linking to a nurse was also discovered, though the nurse said she had given a copy of the Rubaiyat to an army officer named Alfred Boxall. Both the man who found the book and the nurse denied any connection with the dead man. They never got any further with the case, although many suspect it may have been a suicide since the book's theme was about having no regrets when life ends. Others think he may be a spy. And until there are any breaks in the case, his grave will remain reading, "Here lies the unknown man who was found at Somerton Beach 1st Dec. 1948."

Read more about The Taman Shud Case here.
www.police1.com

10 mysterious police cases that are still unsolved

Everyone loves a good mystery, but what happens when a mystery never has a satisfying ending?
www.police1.com www.police1.com
 
www.abc.net.au

Carl Webb's prisoner-of-war brother bares resemblance to Somerton Man

Researchers have found a photograph of Carl Webb's brother, who died a prisoner of war, and he bares a "reasonable" resemblance to the Somerton Man.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

  • Researchers have named the Somerton Man as Carl Webb
  • A military photo of his brother Roy has a strong resemblance to the Somerton Man
  • He also had the same eye colour as the Somerton Man
 
Seeing his brothers photos, he is definitely Carl Webb. Uncanny resemblance.
It seems he somehow got into a transient lifestyle after leaving his wife, maybe working odd jobs. That explains why there are no public records. From the description of the divorce petition it also seems, Carl may have had an anger management problem and a gambling/horse betting addiction (both may be connected).
The pieces are slowly coming together. I wonder why he died and whether he traveled to look for his estranged wife.

Jmoo
 
If Carl Webb's estranged wife did indeed move to Bute in South Australia, she must have had a reason. Bute is a very small town with a population of 200-300, loved by its people no doubt, but most unlikely to attract a city woman. I think she must have had family there.
 

Somerton Man photo search focuses on Swinburne junior football snap from 1921​


1660568736662.jpeg
The Swinburne Technical College under-16 football team photo from 1921 lists a "C. Webb" — but doesn't identify which one is him. (Swinburne University of Technology/Swinburne Commons)

Amateur sleuthing has produced potentially tantalising new evidence in the hunt for a photo depicting the mysterious Somerton Man when he was alive.

www.abc.net.au

Somerton Man face race focuses on junior footy photo from 1921 — but is he there?

International Somerton Man sleuthing efforts have uncovered a photo of a junior football team from 1921 that could potentially contain an image of the mystery figure when he was just a boy, but the hypothesis remains far from certain.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
This has been the most underwhelming end imaginable to one of the most interesting mysteries of the 20th century.

I didn't for a moment expect he was a spy or any of that nonsense, but you figured if he was identified there would be some cool tie-ins to aspects of the story, maybe he has some children or relatives living who remember him, some interesting stuff would come up in his backstory to help flush out the whole story better.

Instead he's just a generic guy with no close relatives who nobody seems to remember and nobody even has a living photo of.
 
On the contrary, I find the latest findings to be fascinating and in a way much more interesting than I expected.
It's not like a movie where we might be unhappy with the ending of.
This is real life and real people, and it is what it is.
It's purpose is not to entertain us, just to discover the facts.
 
PrimeSuspect said:

Somerton Man photo search focuses on Swinburne junior football snap from 1921​


View attachment 359784
The Swinburne Technical College under-16 football team photo from 1921 lists a "C. Webb" — but doesn't identify which one is him. (Swinburne University of Technology/Swinburne Commons)

Amateur sleuthing has produced potentially tantalising new evidence in the hunt for a photo depicting the mysterious Somerton Man when he was alive.

www.abc.net.au

Somerton Man face race focuses on junior footy photo from 1921 — but is he there?

International Somerton Man sleuthing efforts have uncovered a photo of a junior football team from 1921 that could potentially contain an image of the mystery figure when he was just a boy, but the hypothesis remains far from certain.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
Click to expand...

Based on the odd way that his one ear seems to jut out on the top in the reconstructions and post mortems in the linked story below, I'm going to hazard a guess that he is the individual seated 6th from the left in the middle row.


 
TootsieFootsie said:
On the contrary, I find the latest findings to be fascinating and in a way much more interesting than I expected.
It's not like a movie where we might be unhappy with the ending of.
This is real life and real people, and it is what it is.
It's purpose is not to entertain us, just to discover the facts.
Click to expand...

Oh, absolutely it's real life. And it's incredibly sad that this person was so anonymous that he had no family/friends who could identify him despite the very high profile of the case and no photos and very little first-hand info survives, and this despite coming from a large family. I was sure he had to be a foreigner to explain the inability to identify him.

In a case like the Babes in the Woods from the same era, the resolution was hugely interesting/complicated with a lot of related people still alive, and allowed for the story behind those two lost children to be properly flushed out and understood. In this case, the tracks have been covered with sand and there is just so little information.
 
www.abc.net.au

Researcher believes the Somerton Man was found in late nephew's clothes

Researchers uncover more details of Carl Webb, who they say is the Somerton Man, including images of his nephew and other members of the Webb family. They believe the Somerton Man may have been wearing his nephew's clothes when he was found in 1948.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

I refer to link in above post, #717.

"While police are still running their own independent investigation into identifying the Somerton Man after exhuming his remains last year..."

Police conduct investigations as per public service. Somerton Man remains were exhumed at cost to private citizen Derek Abbott.

"Professor Abbott has been piecing together the life of Carl Webb in an effort to understand how and why he may have died."

<modsnip - discussing referring to a non-approved link>
 

Unearthed records a step closer to solving decades-old mystery of Somerton Man’s death​

Old university records may hold the key to unravelling the mystery of the body found in Adelaide in 1948 that remained unidentified for decades.

A 101-year-old junior football club photo and university enrolment records are among more evidence coming to light that could piece together who the mysterious Somerton Man was.

Earlier this year, University of Adelaide professor Derek Abbott claimed to have identified the man as Carl “Charles” Webb after forensic analysis from a plaster “death mask”, spurring a race to find out more information about the man’s life.

A photo of Swinburne Technical College’s under-16 football team from 1921 resurfaced in August, when keen-eyed observers noticed a “C. Webb” listed on the team sheet.

While it was speculated that this was the same Charles Webb whose body remained unidentified for over 70 years after it was found at Somerton beach, the names in the photo are in no particular order.

For this reason, while the photo fascinated the group of sleuths who have dedicated years to tracking down the identity of the mystery man, it was not possible to entirely determine which boy in the photo was C. Webb, nor whether it was the same Charles Webb.

Newly-uncovered records from Swinburne University of Technology, however, have supported the theory.

The forensics experts used hairs taken from a plaster ‘death mask’ to analyse his DNA.

They used that DNA to build an extended family tree, and were finally able to identify the Somerton Man as Mr Webb on Saturday.
 
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