Thursday 31 January 2013

Somerton Man: The Code Page & Delusions




The exclusive images in this post show you examples of cursive and microscopic writing as used by espionage agents involved in the Somerton Man case and these microscopic writings haven't been seen for more than 64 years.


Maybe the title is a bit harsh for which I will duly apologise but will not alter.

The issue with the Somerton Man 'Mysterious' Code page is that it was really not such a big 'Mystery'. Staff  and Students at Adelaide University have poured hundreds of hours into trying to solve the Code. I have to tell you and them that whilst I have nothing but respect for all of the huge effort that they have put in, it has been off target.

Why? The main reason why is in a clue given some years ago by ex Detective Sergeant Gerry Feltus, the author of the 'Unknown Man' book, (which is 'must' reading for those interested in this case), when he said that Detective Len Brown, a man who was heavily involved in the initial investigation, had told him that the Code page was actually written in the top left hand corner of the back of the book. So, what's so special about that?

Not 'alf..!

Well the 'recommended' code page put out by the University is sized for the top half of the back of the book, hmm, what that means is that the code page that everyone has been recommended to use is actually twice the size that it should be and that in turn means that all of the letters and content of that code has been 'stretched' such that valuable information has been distorted and therefore lost to view.

When you rectify this basic problem by halving the size down from 1802 pixels by 1440 pixels to just 901 pixels by 720 pixels, you not only get a more accurate picture you also, by default, increase the resolution so you pick up much more detail by effectively doubling the DPI resolution. The image above, should you choose to download it, as you may already see has far more detail to investigate and explore.

     Click on this image to enlarge..
The image on the left shows a rectified view and using a simple process that I developed to produce it. What's special about it is  that here you can see examples of extremely fine, micro writing that runs horizontally left to right across the page at the top and above the letters of the code passing through both the first letter M in line 1 and the first letter M in line 3. In the image it looks just like straight lines but it is so much more, it is finely crafted, microscopic writing.

You should also be able to see cursive writing to the left of the first and 3rd letter M.

The big deal about these images are the examples of microscopic writing, this is an extremely rare occurrence. To my knowledge this is the first example of espionage related microscopic writing ever to have been published on the web.




Those tiny lines of micro writing could contain a mass of valuable information about Australia, the A bomb and a whole lot more.

There are more examples of this micro writing on the code page and on other images associated with this case; over the next week or so I will be publishing more exclusive images that will prove once and for all that the Somerton Man was indeed a spy and he died because of it.

To those good people that have been involved in trying to 'crack the code' I am sorry that you have been using the wrong sized code, but for that, I am sure that you would have made huge headway and probably would have had the case solved by now. The great news is that error has now been corrected and I hope you will download the main code image and get to it!

Please register at the top right of this page, we'd love to have you and your skills on board..




Share:

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Somerton Man, The Innocuous Letter Card or was it more than that?



In the suitcase found and associated with the Somerton Man, amongst numerous other items there were some 'Lettercards' these ones of course were the Australian version and the one above is similar to the ones found.

The question is not was this a genuine lettercard, but how could it have been used?

In one of the pages, Secret Writing, there is a document that you can download, it was released in 2011 by the CIA. It talks of microscopic writing and how, using orange colored ink, an agent could write a secret message across the stamp and it would not be visible to the naked eye unless you used a ruby colored lens. This had the effect of making the stamp invisible and the writing clear.

This same document also tells us about the use of any lines found on a document, within them it states, you could 'hide' Morse code' or in the Somerton Man case it could be micro writing hidden within lines or flourishes or even larger letters. There were and are people around who could with the naked eye, write letters as small as .1 mm in height. Look up James W. Zaharee for more on this.

Here's a question for you, on the example lettercard above and if you were a spy, where could you write and hide secret messages?

I hope you register for our blog, we have had an outstanding response in this first week with close to 700 visitors from a standing start. Call back soon!
Share:

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Somerton man, Secret Writing Methods


The CIA recently released a number of documents including some on the topic of 'Secret Writing', we have a special page devoted to these and similar documents and this post is to let you know that a document has been added today. It is an overview document used by the CIA and it describes a range of secret writing methods including microscopic writing.

Follow this link for access and to download the document.
Share:

Somerton Man, Anyone for TEA? More Secret Writing..


To find instances of micro writing in a document or perhaps on a piece of material, is quite a challenge. Having said that  though, sometimes examples literally jump right into view.

This is one of those 'Jump Out' occasions, it is from the dry cleaning mark and this was found between the number 3 and number 0 on the last number set on the marks within the number 305-3/1.

Please click on the image for a larger image.

You can clearly see what appears to be the word TEA and above that in a semi circle you can also make out X6TK, beneath it are the numbers 835 but a little less clear.

To be fair, I have a super close up of this example and what appears to be TEA is in fact 7EA.

This dry cleaning mark has quite a number of examples of micro writing in similar formats to this. I will be adding more of the course of the next few weeks.

Another interesting post about the tools that the Somerton Man had with him and how he carried out his tasks in relation to communicating with his superiors and others will be published this coming Sunday, 3rd February. You'll be amazed.

Share:

Monday 28 January 2013

Somerton Man, The 'Crossed Out Line' Myth?


The 'Crossed Out' line is a myth?

Yes, I believe it could well be.

Let's go back to the time that the SA Police first examined the code page. What they did was, using a UV light or similar, they faithfully traced what it was they saw on the back page of the copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It was very feint and difficult to see and thus in order to view it more clearly they first 'dusted' the page with graphite powder, very fine and of the type used for fingerprinting. This powder found it's way into the indentations that were left by whoever it was, in my view, that formed their miniature writing into the shape of the larger, now more familiar, letters of the 'code'.

Their tracing work, presumably done using a sheet of acetate over the actual image or similar as to write directly onto the page would have been a no no, naturally included every line they saw, this next part is very important, they had no idea when each individual line was created in other words which came first the line or the letters. People have assumed that because it is how they have been conditioned to think, if you see a word or letters with a line through it, it must be a mistake because they crossed it out. Maybe and maybe not.

The lines not only included the shapes of the code letters, they also included the two crossed lines subject of an earlier post, the flourishes as seen beneath the last letter B in the last line of the code, the flourish at the bottom of the page and finally the line that, for various reasons, people have assumed was a mistake and had been crossed out. Put simply, there was nothing to suggest it had been crossed out, it was simply a line on the page that the SA Police traced, but was the line there before the letters or after? I have highlighted 4 aspects of Line 2 below, please click on the image to enlarge:

1. Area one shows a clean break in the line just within the letter 'L'

2. Area two shows a second break in the line just after the first 'I'

3. Area 3 shows a break in the line central to the letter 'A'

4. Area 4. This is interesting because if you incline your viewing aspect slightly to the left and read the first leg of the M from bottom to top you will see the outline of the word 'COMNIV', I did some research and found it is in fact a Russian military term.
Share:

Sunday 27 January 2013

Somerton Man. A Closer View of The Dry Cleaning Numbers

Just time to write a few words today, it's Australia Day long weekend here and it's a busy time. I have been doing some additional work on the Dry Cleaning numbers that were found on the pocket liner of Somerton Man's trousers.

I've marked up one image, it shows the top right corner between the first number '1171/7' and the second one '4393/3'. The area we are looking at lies in between the two, please look for the darker writings within the highlighted areas.
                                                                                              Click on this image to enlarge..

1. Example of cursive writing , 9 distinct rows each running away to the right as part of complete sentences.

2. More cursive writing within and surrounding this highlighted area, some reaches across into the area marked 4.

3. Inside this highlighted area there is a number that you will be able to make out with a magnifying glass if you download and print out the image. The number set is MX25X and immediately above that set you will see *Zcant*

4. Within this highlighted area there is additional cursive writing that has emanated from the box marked 2.

This is the clearest set of micro writing thus far published here. To my knowledge this is the first ever published example that shows how espionage agents communicated secretly in the field.

Please register and sign up at the top right corner of this page, your comments would be very welcome. And please call back, there's lots more to come.
Share:

Thursday 24 January 2013

Somerton Man & The Poem Code. Was Jestyn trained in the use of code and micro writing?


The Poem Code

In an earlier post the issue of the nature of Jestyn's Poem to Alf Boxall was discussed and an image shown that contained an example of micro writing found in that poem.

The question is,  is it really feasible that somehow Jestyn was trained in the use of Code and micro writing, after all one example does not prove that she was, it may be a simple coincidence, somehow the initials shown in the example in an earlier post were created by a trick of the light. If it were not for several other examples of micro writing within the poem then I would be inclined to agree. Come to think of it, if it were not for numerous examples in the Code page and the Laundry tag and the Poem, well then there would be room for some doubt.

If only there were some sort of precedent, if only there was something else that we could use that would back up this almost unbelievable proposition.

Well, wouldn't you know, there is. During WW2, the activities of British and Australian Intelligence Services were closely linked, intertwined is probably a better word. There was this amazingly talented man called Leo Marks, he was a very senior person at Bletchley Park, the UK's code cracking and making establishment.

The closeness of British and Australian Intelligence and Signals services would mean that it would be highly likely that the techniques used and the types of personnel recruited would be very similar in both organisations.

Here's a must read link to a site that quotes some of Leo's work and more to the point it makes specific mention of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry being employed  to encode secret messages and all within the context of something called the Poem Code. Whilst this is not proof positive that Jestyn had learnt these techniques here in Australia, it can no longer be regarded as an outside chance that she was taught, it is now bordering on being a distinct possibility/probability. Proof will yet be forthcoming.

http://www.worldwar2history.info/war/espionage/code.html
Share:

Somerton Man Code Page, Crossed lines completed

There are so many aspects to the Somerton Man Code page and so much that, for all the reasons, has been overlooked. This is image is one example.
                                                                                               Please click on the image to enlarge..
I have isolated the 'crossed lines' that appear at around the centre of the Somerton Man code page. These lines are the result of the SA Police having traced over indentations that they saw on the back of the Rubaiyat. You can see that I have highlighted two extensions to the lines that the Police at the time, given that they did not have the advantage of smart software tools, had missed.

There is something extremely significant about the way that these lines carry on and then meet again to be completed with a final X. Those with a signals or message handling background will immediately recognise what this represents, it is the symbol for ending one part of a message and the beginning of another, in fact I understand it means that the code above the line was the message sent and the code below was the message received. I stand to be corrected on that last point so please sign up and post your thoughts below.

For the record, these lines also contain evidence of miniature writing, the appearance of the additional lines and the X does not mean that micro writing does not exist, it's not mutually exclusive in that respect. It could be that the impression of a two part message was deliberately given for example.

Share:

SOMERTON MAN: Jestyn's Poem to Alf B



The image above had been modified, every letter has been smudged over and the fine detail greyed out. the image was provided by Professor Abbott.  This is not an original image.


 This image had not been modified it was provided by ex Detective Sergeant Gerry Feltus
Please click on the image to enlarge. It is taken from the original page in the Rubaiyat given to Alf Boxall by Nurse Jestyn.

This is a copy of the original book. You might notice that the Abbott book has a different colour which may be due to lighting.




Over the years a lot has been said about Jestyn's poem to Alf Boxall but not a lot has been done in the way of taking a closer look at the poem and how the writing is structured. The poem, as many will know, is Verse 70 from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

This will be a fairly short post in that my aim to show you an image taken from the short dash next to the letter T in Jestyn's signature.

First a comment on the way that the T's were crossed, There are 6 T's in the poem being 2 in line 3, 4 in line 4 and one in Jestyn's signature.  In all 5 cases you will see that the bar is off to the right but in some cases it is higher and in others lower, of particular interest in 4 out of 5 cases it is a short bar and in one case, 'Penitence' there is no bar at all, whilst in the last T in 'Tore', the last word of the poem, the bar is almost 3 times as long as elsewhere.

The inconsistent style aroused my curiosity and thus I decided to take a closer look. I opted to view the T in Jestyn's signature and below is what I found when I took a close up:


You should be able to see a set of initials which I make out to be TK or TH. If these are indeed TK then that would open up some interesting possibilities, these would be the initials of T Keane, the name found on the tie and the laundry bag found in the Somerton Man's suitcase.


The back light effect on this image does make it look rather like a Paddle Pop stick.

In the next post we will be looking at the Somerton Man code page and another set of interesting discoveries related to the supposed 'crossed out' line in the code and a missing line uncovered.



Share:

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Somerton Man Dry Cleaning Marks

Yesterdays post showed some images of the dry cleaning tag found with the Somerton man's possessions. This image is another view of that tag, this time it is of the bottom right corner section or to be precise it is the upright that runs from the bottom right corner.

                                                      Please click on the image to enlarge...

This image is quite a discovery because what it appears to show is an incredibly clever use of micro writing.


The arrows point the direction of the weave of the tags fabric, across and slightly below the top edge as you look at this image you can probably make out what appears to be a neat cursive handwritten word in a dark, almost black, colour. I should point out that this is a negative shot and if you incline your head slightly to the left such that you now view the darker writing outline at an angle of 90 degrees to the arrows, you will find that the cursive word is in fact micro words written cleverly along the weave of the tag's fabric.




The above image has been re-oriented to give a better view of the micro writing:

As far as is known, this is the first time that Micro writing of this nature has been found anywhere.

There is some work to be done to get a better close up and to find out what the words say, as soon as progress is made, there will be another post.

Share:

Tuesday 22 January 2013

SOMERTON MAN Dry Cleaning Marks Close Up

The focus for this blog is not so much the individuals and the theories that exist, it is more about the hard evidence and materials that have survived either in their original form or as a digital image.

Amongst those images is one of a set of 3 apparent dry cleaning marks each having 5 numbers. This post looks at just one of those marks, 1171/7. As you can see below, the stroke mark contains miniature numbers almost within the mark but in some places parts of the numbers seem to overlap the edge of the stroke.

Most of the numbers that comprise the larger laundry marks appear to contain miniature numbers and some letters. More will be posted to complete the series of 3 marks.

              Please click on the images to enlarge....

This is the side by side image so that you can see just where the subject number 1171/7 is located, right at the top of the set of 3.
This is the close up image showing more detail within the stroke, other numbers in this mark also contain smaller numbers.

The questions are who put them there and what do they mean? Are they real numbers or some sort of optical illusion?


More will be published over the next few days and your thoughts and comments are welcome. Please register at the top right of this page.



Share:

Monday 21 January 2013

The Somerton Man Code Page


Please click on this image to enlarge.....
After so many years you would think that the 'Code' found and associated with the Somerton Man would have been 'cracked' by now. But no, lots of attempts by hundreds if not thousands of people from around the world have not as yet managed to find a way to unravel these mysterious code letters.

There can be no doubt that some very serious efforts have been made and this post is in no way meant to detract from all the extraordinarily hard work and effort put in by others. In fact without that I doubt whether what follows could have been discovered.

OK, so what's the deal you may well ask. It's simple, I posed a question some 18 months ago, what if the letters of the 'code' where not in fact the 'code'? What if somehow another level has lain hidden from view for close to 65 years?

That's the approach I took and the image below is part of the result of a detailed, up close examination of each letter that is found on the code page. This is just one of those letters:


This is in fact the letter 'C' the last letter in the fourth line of the code. All that happened here is that the letter was selected, viewed in some imaging editing software, GIMP for those interested, and a few very minor adjustments were made, brightness, contrast and curves. I have made an interesting discovery as to how you can take a fairly small letter, about 5 mm in height, and then effectively enlarge it without running the risk of distorting the image and that's something we will share in the coming weeks. Back to this image, what you can see in the highlighted area running from top to bottom is a name, the name of a person who was associated with the investigations into the discovery of the Somerton Man. It should be said up front that her name being found here does not imply that she had anything to do with this man's demise.

If I can draw your attention to that small serif at the base of the 'C', tucked inside it and at a slight angle you should be able to make out the shape of the letter 'N' the last letter in this persons name. Notice how the serif, which I think was in fact drawn by the Police at the time as they traced what they saw under a UV light, follows the line of the upstroke of the N and then down the down stroke.

What you are seeing here is Micro Writing, a little known but a well used technique by those in espionage and other clandestine occupations. Micro Writing has been recorded as being less than 1/10th mm in height and a record was set in the 1930's when a man, James W. Zaharee achieved the unbelievable feat of writing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on a 3 inch long strand of human hair. In this image the micro letters are sub .3 mm in height

Call back soon because in the next post there will be more information on Micro Writing as well as more examples from the code page and other documents associated with this fascinating case.

Recently I shared some information on Micro Writing with friend and fellow Blogger Andrew May on his Forteana Blog, it's a great blog and Andrew has a nice, easy and informative style.
Share:

ABOUT US and OUR RECORD

Learn more about, when the blog started our location plus a long list of 'finds' and new evidence discovered by this blog