The Somerton Man is probably one of the most internationally renowned of Australia’s unsolved mysteries. Sometimes referred to as the Tamam Shud case, it involves the discovery of a man’s body on Somerton beach in the morning of December 1, 1948. The case is referred to as such because, some months after the body was found, police uncovered a scrap of paper in the man’s pocket on which was printed: tamám shud. The phrase means “ended” or “finished” in Persian.
Police were unable to identify the man, although his autopsy suggested that he had not died of natural causes but had in fact been poisoned and possibly left at the beach, instead of having died there. Clues on his body seemed to lead to more questions, and it didn’t get any easier when his suitcase was discovered 6 weeks after his body at a train station. The scrap of paper in his pocket came from a rare New Zealand edition of a book of poems, which police tracked down (someone had stashed it in the rear footwell of a car). Inside, they found indentations of other writing, which they believe to be a code or encryption.
The case of the Somerton Man is considered to be one of Australia’s most profound mysteries, and has been since it was first uncovered. Years later, there is no consensus as to who the man was, how he really died, how he came to be at Somerton beach, or where he might have come from. A local woman named Jessica Thomson was linked to the case, but continued to claim she did not know the dead man. Some think he might have been a spy, but the truth is, we’ll never know.
View attachment 138651
View attachment 138652
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12...se-could-be-one-step-closer-to-solved/9245512
