DIGITALIS OVERDOSE AUTOPSY, A COMPARISON

A DIGITALIS MASSIVE OVERDOSE
EXAMPLE AUTOPSY REPORT

Following the last post regarding the finding of Cleland's notes, the document you see below is an autopsy report that dates back to 2010. You will read the results and there differences apparent between these results and those from the Somerton Man's autopsy.

There may be valid reasons for the differences, for example, the drug, Digitalis, may have changed significantly since 1948 and the effects of a massive overdose could likewise have changed. But, those changes need to be researched and explained so that we may better understand the process.

View below and download the pdf here..

CLELANDS NOTES FOUND

J.B. CLELAND, PATHOLOGIST

For some time now it has been thought that the notes made by JB Cleland, the pathologist in the Somerton Man case had been lost.

However, a sharp-eyed member of the big footy forum on the Tamam Shud case, BlueE, dug really deep and found a reference to the notes in an Adelaide Library. Clive was able to get access to the Notes yesterday and has forwarded them to me earlier today.

There are some extremely interesting issues raised in this set of notes including the fact that there were bloodstains on the back of the mans neck and shirt, Cleland questioned whether it could have come from the mortuary slab and wondered who would have undressed the man.

He also thought it unusual that a man should choose a fairly busy location at the foot of the steps to quietly end his life. A very good point.

I have included copies of the notes in this post below:

Will be spending more time on the notes to see whether we can decipher a little more :) All input appreciated.

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE DEAD MEN.. PART 1.

THE THIRD DEAD MAN

On December 5th 1948 the body of 

Michael Goreloff was found..

Thanks to the tireless work of REDACTED, this new breakthrough could lead us to uncovering links between The Somerton Man, Tibor Kaldor and now Michael Goreloff. 

Brief Background

Michael was a White Russian who had arrived in Australia with his soon to be wife in 1925 from Japan. They later married in Melbourne. He was found dead on December 5th, 1948 in Prince Edward Park Sutherland, New South Wales. He had a rope wrapped twice around his neck, he was found near a small sapling a bough from which had been broken, his right wrist had been cut probably with a razor.

On November 17th, 1948, Michael had left his Elizabeth Bay home early to go to his job as a Chef at the Hotel Astra in Campbell Parade, Bondi. He was particularly good at his work and was being paid the princely sum of 20 pounds a week, a huge wage for those times. He did not arrive at work and he never returned home alive again.

In Sydney in those times, the White Russian community had been highly suspicious of the communist Reds and tensions were high between them. It was thought that Michael had been engaged in discussions with Reds and had attended a number of meetings with a group at a Sydney cafe. Something went wrong and Michael was taken,  it is thought that he was murdered by a 'Britisher'. (An interesting word, you'll find it was used in the Somerton Man's inquest papers.)

The Coroner believed that the sapling near which Michael was found, wasn't of sufficient height or strength to have allowed the man to hang himself. In fact, he commented that if this man was going to kill himself he would have chosen a much stronger tree. The first inquest was adjourned.

Some 3 years ago I wrote a post on the topic of the division between the White Russians and The Communist Party, read more  here:...

WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?

In that first two weeks of December 1948, we have three men who turn up dead apparently from suicide and each in questionable circumstances. Two die by Poisoning, and codes found with them, we are currently researching the files regarding the cause of this third death. There are so many questions and leads to be followed up.

Michael has been placed first with a date of 5th December 1948, we put him there because at this time we do not have a confirmed date of death. For example, it could be that Michael died soon after his disappearance on 17th November 1948.

These killings certainly have the hallmarks of an espionage case, we shall see.

Redacted has been a long-time follower of the Somerton Man case, we have in common a belief that that case and this were the results of the actions of foreign agents. There is much more to follow as our joint research progresses but for now, this stunning information gives the whole SM case an intriguing new twist. There is much more to come and I am looking forward to working with Redacted and Clive on this fascinating new aspect to the SM case.

INTRODUCING A MR. FEDOSIMOV

BORIS FEDOSIMOV 2012

Is this a relative of the man that appears in our photograph below? Given that the Fedosimov surname is not particularly prevalent in the USSR or anywhere else for that matter, we would hope to be able to acquire more information on this man and his ancestors. He may or may not be related to the Pavel Fedosimov whose name appears in United Nations records and certain CIA documents that show his name as a diplomat in Libya in 1957.

I don't see any particular resemblance between the man above and the image below and he may not be related to our United Nations man either.

The big question remains, is the man in the image below the same Pavel Fedosimov that we traced to the UN and to a diplomatic posting? If he is and we can show photographic evidence to that effect then we will of course remove him from our list of candidates.

If that photographic evidence is not forthcoming or, alternatively, if we find evidence that we have two different men, then he will remain as a prime candidate.

This is the man who was named as Pavel Fedosimov by the TASS news service in 1947. At this time we have little further information about Boris but we will update you as and when any information comes to light.

A note for those new to this part of the case, in the Cold War it was common practice on all sides to use pseudonyms to further muddy the waters around the various activities of the intelligence agencies. Indeed, it was often the case that when a 'diplomat' moved from one location to another, he changed his name and passport details. They even changed their cover names regularly.

COMPARISON

PAVEL FEDOSIMOV, HIS REAL NAME?

PAVEL  IVANOVICH FEDOSIMOV

This is a close up of the man who was referred to as Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov in the tag that accompanied this image. And this is this picture is the man I believe is the best candidate to be the Somerton Man. It is worthy of note, that this is the only known picture of Fedosimov, despite many attempts to track down other photographs after 1947, none have been found. The name crops up several times but no photographs are known to exist apart from this one.

The big question is this, is Pavel Fedosimov his real name or did he just make use of it, was he using a pseudonym? Throughout history those engaged in espionage had a habit of using the manes of others. Whether that was Louise de Bettignies AKA Alice Dubois in WW1 or Aleksander Fomin the name known to have been used by Alexandr Feklisov, the handler for Rosenburg and Klaus Fuchs 

A lot of work has been done by this blog in uncovering as much information as possible about Fedosimov, it started with a reference from Senator Cavanagh in the Australian senate to a book called  "THE ATOM SPIES" along with his thoughts that Australia had become the dumping ground for dead spies. The book reference turned out to describe a meeting between NKVD courier Harry Gold and a big man with broad shoulders, large hands and who walked 'on his toes' at the Earl Theatre in the Bronx on December 26th, 1946.

Perspective is Reality

A question of height.

Harry Gold was of short stature, about 5 feet 2 inches, and from that perspective Gold in a later interview put the man at over 6 feet tall probably 6 feet 4 inches. Put your self in Gold's position,  a darkened foyer, a tall man walking on his toes and wearing a hat, how tall would he have looked and how tall was the Somerton man?

Measured on the slab, the Somerton Man was said to have been 5 feet 11inches in height. Now, let's stand him up straight against a wall and have him stretch up to his full height. How tall would he be now? Over 6 feet and closer to 6 feet 1 inch in height. Now put on a pair of shoes, his new height, 6 feet 2 inches. Now give him a hat and have him walk on his toes and there you have the very tall man that Harry Gold saw. No smoke and no mirrors, just plain straightforward logic.

Vassiliev's Notes

In Vassilev's notebooks, (https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/86/vassiliev-notebooks) a record of a vast number of KGB agents. Fedosimov is mentioned as someone who was suspected as being about to betray the motherland, he was a likely defector.

The Pobeda Affair

Along with a number of other Russian diplomats and employees, 'Fedosimov' was due to depart New York on the Pobeda on 30th July 1948. Whilst his name appears on the passenger list, none of the outbound passenger certificates were in fact signed for that trip.

Importantly, three others were also on the passenger list for the Pobeda, Mrs. Kasenkina and a couple, the Samarins. These three were teachers at a Russian run school for children of Soviet officials. They did not board the ship and defected to the US amidst a storm of political controversy and protests from the Russians.

When the ship, having been delayed for several hours due to the hunt for the defectors, eventually left, it headed for numerous ports including Batumi in Armenia. There were many American Armenians being repatriated to their home country on board. It had left Batumi heading for its final port of call, Odesa, a short 24-hour journey. Some hours into their trip, a major fire occurred onboard killing 2 crew and 40 passengers.

Stalin was furious making it clear that he believed there to be American Armenian spies who had been onboard and who had caused the fire. Amongst the dead was a prominent ex Chinese Nationalist deputy leader to Chiang Kai-shek, by the name of Feng Yu Hsiang. This dealt a major blow to Russias attempts to join forces with the growing Chinese Communist leadership.

John Earle Haynes

Eminent Cold War Historian, John Earle Haynes, made mention of Fedosimov and his use of a cover name MAJ and then later thought to be STEPAN. Most interestingly he states that FEDOSIMOV may have been a pseudonym. Whilst it is not certain, it is yet another step that keeps 'Fedosimov' at the top of the list of candidates fro the Somerton Man.

SUMMARY

To date we have been able to:

1. Establish the description of Fedosimov to be a close match to the Somerton Man

2. We have established that the man known as Fedosimov was suspected of being a likely defector

3. We now have some evidence that suggests the name Fedosimov may well have been a pseudonym

Significant progress has been made and we continue our research work in an effort to uncover any photographs of Pavel Fedosimov after July 1948 and other lines of interest.

With many thanks to Clive Turner for his massive efforts and support in this project.

"ANY FOOL CAN COMMIT A MURDER BUT IT TAKES AN ARTIST TO COMMIT A GOOD NATURAL DEATH.."

INSIDE THE NKVD POISON FACTORY
'THE CHAMBER' (KAMERA)

Since the early 1930's, the Russians had been experimenting and developing poisons and weaponry at a number of secret locations with one specific purpose in mind, assassination.

One of these establishments was focused purely on poisons and poison delivery techniques.

SOURCE DOCUMENT

Some background, following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1964, the CIA undertook an investigation into the capabilities of the USSR in an effort to ascertain whether the Russians had the capability and to carry out the killing. The report has been released by the CIA and it describes, in some cases in quite fine detail, methods, poisons, and equipment created and used by the Soviets up to 1964. Much of what you will read here comes from that document.

"EXECUTIVE ACTION"

'Executive Action', was also known as 'Liquid Affairs' within the ranks of the KGB and coincidentally 'Wet Jobs' within allied agencies. These were State-sanctioned and executed assassination operations. 

Their targets ranged from normal soviet citizens to high profile defectors and would-be defectors, non-resident within the USSR. It was the latter that caught my attention as you might expect.

The Poisons

"The Chamber" (Kamera). This laboratory conducted experiments on prisoners and persons subject to execution to test the effectiveness of different powders, beverages, and liquors, and various types of injections, as well as research on the use of hypnotism to force prisoners to confess. Besides its staff, only certain high-level persons were permitted to enter its premises.

Delivery methods included in food, cigarettes and of special interest, a great deal of effort went into the development of poison vapours.

Whichever was used, the selected poisons were generally undetectable. and medical examiners were often fooled into believing that the deaths that occurred were from natural causes.

 Political

Until the 1950s' it was accepted practice in the NKVD to carry out any overseas missions using indigenous agents, non-Russians, as they were most concerned about removing themselves from the actual act of assassination.  Most countries in which they had an interest in those years, had quite large and well organised Communist Party organisations, in Australia, we had the CPA. It was from the ranks of such groups that potential assassins were recruited and trained in the use of sophisticated poisons and other weapons.

'Comments made by state security defectors Petr Deryabin and Yurv Rastvorov in 1954 about what the Soviets would or would not do are still of interest. Both believed that the Soviets would murder one of their officials on the verge of defecting if that were the only way of preventing the act. 

The same would apply to a Soviet official who had just defected if thereby state secrets could be preserved, and if they believed that killing him would not bring about a more adverse situation in terms of politics and propaganda than already existed. Deryabin and Rastvorov doubted, however, that the Soviets would murder an official who had been in non-Communist hands long enough to have been exploited for intelligence and propaganda purposes. 

While both granted that in particular cases the Soviets might go to any extreme, they both believed, generally speaking, that the adverse propaganda resulting from such an act would negate its original purpose. On the other hand, Khokhlov, who might have been in a better position to know, has stated without qualification that the Soviets would continue to assassinate defectors in the future. The threat of Soviet executive action against defectors is also considered a real one by Reino Hayhanen, who defected from the KGB in 1957. '

Poison Delivery

First, let's briefly consider the information provided by the CIA on poison delivery techniques.

There appears to be no consistency in the use of poisons by Soviet intelligence to cause disability or death, or in the repetitious use of any one drug. Chemicals which have been used in cases known or suspected to be Soviet-instigated include arsenic, potassium cyanide, scopolamine, and thallium. Other likely substances are atropine, barbiturates, chloral hydrate, paraldehyde and Warfarin. Combinations of two or more substances may also be used, which further complicates diagnosis and tracing.

As you would expect, the various poisons and techniques were developed over a period of time, thus tools used in the 50s had their origins in those that were used in the 40s. One such tool was a vapor generating canister:

'The weapon used to assassinate Rebet was a light-weight aluminum cylinder, 15 to 18 cm. long and approximately 3 cm in diameter, weighing about 200 grams. The cylinder was divided into three separate chambers, one of which contained liquid poison sealed hermetically into a plastic-type ampule container under low pressure. (At normal temperatures the poison would evaporate, disappearing without trace in about two minutes.) 

The three components could be assembled by means of a thread which allowed one part to screw into the other. The first component was the poison ampule portion, the front end of which had a fine metallic screen. The poison ampule fitted solidly against the walls of the metal cylinder. The center component contained a piston and a piston arm which extended into the third or activating component. The latter contained a spring-mounted activating arm which, when drawn back, armed the weapon. The releasing arm was appended to the third component at an angle, and was attached to the activating arm by means of a releasing catch. A small safety arm permitted the weapon to be placed in the safety position. The third component also contained a few grams of powder.

The maximum effective range of the weapon was about one-half meter; at one and one-half meters the effect of the vapors would be questionable; and at two and one-half meters, the vapors would be totally ineffective. (The assassin was instructed to fire the weapon only inches from the face.)

The weapon was activated as follows: The activating arm was pulled back and the safety released. The weapon was then activated. It was held in the palm of the hand in such a fashion that it fired when the user pressed the releasing arm towards the activating arm. The releasing arm, when pressed, acted upon the releasing catch, permitting the spring-held activating arm to fly forward against the small charge of powder. The exploding powder (which made a noise approximating the sound of a loud handclap with the hands cupped) drove the piston arm forward, causing the piston to strike against the poison ampule. The poison was thus driven out through the fine screen in the form of a liquid spray.'

Conclusion

Was a similar, but earlier developed, weapon to this canister deployed and used on the Somerton Man? How could that be if it was totally undetectable?

What of the strange case found by Ina Harvey the receptionist at the Strathmore Hotel, she thought it was some kind of needle, and this canister was only 3 cm in diameter?

I suggest that you refer back to the information that tells us that they would use a combination of poisons to further conceal the true nature of death. It had to look like a suicide and the death of the Somerton Man certainly meets that criteria plus the added confusion and uncertainty of just where and how he died.

In my view, this was the work of a professional team, supervised and trained by the NKVD but executed by someone within Australia. Our victim, I believe, was a Russian defector, a diplomat, one who failed to board the MV Pobeda in New York on July 30th, 1948. He was a senior consular official, a major in the NKVD and he was suspected of being about to defect according to Alexsander Vassiliev's notes. He used the name Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov. We have only one, 1947, photograph of Pavel and his description, he is a very close match to the Somerton Man.

So, there we have it, a plausible and possible scenario that ties the Somerton Man, the CPA, the NKVD together and one that demonstrates the skills, tools, and techniques known to have been employed by the NKVD.

But what of the other players?  More on them in an upcoming post.

"ANY FOOL CAN COMMIT A MURDER BUT IT TAKES AN ARTIST TO COMMIT A GOOD NATURAL DEATH.."

SOMERTON MAN: THE 1958 INQUEST FINDINGS PLUS DOWNLOADS

SOMERTON MAN INQUEST FINDINGS

In this 1958 document, the Coroner presents his findings having reviewed the case from 9 years previously, the 1949 Somerton Man Inquest, and he clearly states:

"I am unable to say who the deceased was. He died on the shore at Somerton on 1st December 1948. I am unable to say how he died or what was the cause of death"

There are a number of people who comment on this subject and each has their own views. Many are highly critical of the Coroner because, in their view, he either failed to take into account the depositions of witnesses or had apparently changed his mind in the 9-year time window between the 1949 hearing and the 1958 inquisition findings.

Here's the thing, the Coroner reached his conclusions with a decided advantage over all of us. Firstly, he was there in the courtroom and he got to ask questions of witnesses and to listen as others asked questions of witnesses. Currently, we don't have the transcript of who asked what questions of which witnesses. 

Logic says if we don't have that information then we really can't question the findings.

If you read carefully now through the indications given by the Coroner in 1949, he makes it quite clear that he was unable at that time to establish who the man was and how and where he died.

THE 1949 INQUEST INDICATION

In opening the first part of the inquest in 1949, he provided information about a REPORT WHICH INDICATES the listed points, those were n NOT his findings.

Philip's Doc

This document is an excellent overview of the SM inquest and autopsy.

KGB: Spets Byuro Assassination and Poisons

Several items of interest in this document. In particular, read page 7 regarding the killing of Soviet defectors.

1. 1949/58 inquest documents

2. Philips Report, Somerton Man Inquest Proceedings & Autopsy Notes

3. Example Digitalis Autopsy

SOMERTON MAN: STATISTICALLY SPEAKING...

SOUTH AUSTRALIA  CITY CORONER'S DISTRICT
INQUEST RECORDS BY CATEGORY 1949

These records include brief details of each death, some of which required an inquest and others that did not as you will see:

You can see from these statistics, that during 1949, the City Coroner's Office dealt with 500 deaths. Of that number, 124 deaths required an inquest and 90 of those were males.

Suicides

Of the total of 90 male deaths dealt with by the Coroners Court, only 2 were cases of suicide by poisoning and one of those was carbon monoxide poisoning. 7 other deaths were male suicides but did not require an inquest.

There was 1 accidental poisoning case, male, that required an inquest.

There was 1 accidental Carbon Monoxide poisoning case, male, in the report

Somerton Man Case

Interestingly the Somerton Man is listed separately as a 'Probable Poisoning'.

No deaths requiring an inquest were categorised as murder.

The 1948 Year

In 1948, the City Coroner's Court dealt with 79 male deaths that required an inquest, 2 of which were poisoning. 1 female was murdered by poisoning in 1948.

Conclusion

1. Suicides by poisoning were very uncommon, only 1 recorded instance of poisoning by substance was dealt with by the City Coroners Court in 1949. In 1948 there were 2 male poisonings that required an inquest.

2. The fact that the Somerton Mans case was listed in a category of its own underlines the uncertainty of the cause of death.

SOMERTON MAN: AND THE POISON USED WAS?

EXTRACT FROM CIA FILES

Tetraethyl Lead, the poisoner's poison. This could have been the poison used to kill the Somerton Man. Fast-acting and untraceable, the poison can be administered one drop at a time or in heavier concentrations. It kills quickly and efficiently and leaves no trace.

Does this mean the CIA had a hand in SMs death? Not necessarily but they certainly knew how.

These documents were found amongst the MK ULTRA and MK DELTA projects released under FOI in 1977.

Here's the link to the original document

And here's the link dating the existence of this known poison

Professor Stanford Hicks would not have known of its existence and specific use when he gave evidence at the inquest in 1949, this was top secret information that was originally released in Russia and then later the CIA made use of the technique.

Would this also explain the high concentration of lead found in the hair samples from SM?

Byron, your thoughts would be appreciated, I think you touched on this in the past somewhere.

THE POISONED MAN: THE TIMELINE REVIEWED

THE POISONED MAN

These are the two images of the man from the 1949 Inquest papers.  those with photographic experience will notice the colouration changes over the face, for example in the full face you will note a darker patch just beneath the hairline and similar changes in shade in the profile image from the forehead down to the chin.

Not for the squeamish but there are basically two ways that a skull cap/top can be removed to access the brain. One is to cut the skin just below the hairline then use a small saw to remove the top of the skull. In this case, following the removal, the skull top is placed back roughly in position and the skin is stitched back along the forehead. The other method is to cut the skin and peel it forward over the face that cut is higher and behind the hairline and then replace it, it is a somewhat tidier way of completing the exercise. Of the Post Mortems I have attended, the vast majority used the first method. Looking at these images I suggest that was used on the Somerton Man and that the resultant changes to the image were to cover the presence of unsightly stitches.

THE TIMELINE & EVENTS

(Byron your input will be valuable again!)

As per our previous posts on this subject, we know the following:

1. The estimated time of death was approximately 2 am on December 1st 1948

2. According to pathology,  the food contents, nominated as potato, in his stomach had been there for between  3 and 4 hours.

3. That puts the time of his meal at between 10pm and 11 pm on 30th November

4. He had a partially smoked cigarette resting between his cheek and the lapel of his coat, it had been smoked over the halfway mark and had apparently self-extinguished. 

5. We know that a cigarette takes approximately 5 minutes to smoke fully and it takes one minute to self extinguish if not being puffed.

6. We know the man was a moderate smoker according to the evidence, there were nicotine stains on his fingers

7. We know he had a cigarette packet, Army Club brand, in his belongings when found

8. This Army Club Packet contained 7 Kensitas cigarettes. 

9. The partially smoked cigarette was never checked against the contents of the packet and neither was it tested for any noxious substances.

10. As an aside, which may or may not be of significance, cigarettes at that time were rationed.

11. We know that there was lividity on the back of the man's neck:

Livor mortis starts in 20–30 minutes, but is usually not observable by the human eye until two hours after death. The size of the patches increases in the next three to six hours, with maximum lividity occurring between eight and twelve hours after death. The blood pools into the interstitial tissues of the body. The intensity of the color depends upon the amount of reduced haemoglobin in the blood. The discoloration does not occur in the areas of the body that are in contact with the ground or another object, in which capillaries are compressed

12. This lividity strongly suggests that the man was lying flat at the time of death, he had been dead for at least 8 hours when this condition was noted by the certifying Doctor so it was close to its maximum extent.

Some Thoughts and Questions

1. If the man had eaten between 10 pm and 11 pm, where did he get the potato from and what form was it in? It would seem that he may have been somewhere other than the beach at that time. Potato is not something you would carry around with you, seated at a table perhaps, but seated with your head against a sea wall? Unlikely I think.

2. Given that the man was lying flat when he died, how did that cigarette get to be on the lapel of his coat when he was found with his head and shoulders resting against the sea wall? If he was placed there, after he died, and it is looking increasingly likely that he was,  It's difficult to imagine a situation where that could have happened accidentally. The cigarette would have fallen off his coat one would think.

3. As per point 2. That cigarette could have been placed there by another, it could well have been the last cigarette the man smoked but someone placed it there for a reason. One such reason would be to have people believe that where he was found was where he died.

4. The presence of lividity poses a question and an answer. If the man was moved by others and amongst those others was a person with any medical knowledge, that person would have known that the lividity would have given the game away. That was not the case, whoever it was that played a part in the moving of the body, did not appear to have any medical knowledge.

5. As for the matches, the Coroner having questioned the witnesses, believed there was a packet of matches in the man's possession.

6. The search of the area did not reveal any other cigarette butts nor dead matches, not even the one used to light the man's last cigarette.

7. The questions are straightforward:

• We do not know for certain which poison was used, given that our timeline is correct, of the suspected poisons, how long would each take to cause the man's death?
• The food was in the stomach for 3 to 4 hours, could the poison have been in the food? 
• Could the food have been taken either before or after the poison was administered? 
• Was there a hard to detect poison that could have been delivered by the cigarette? (Not at all certain that if someone had poisoned him, that they would have left a deadly cigarette with the body)
• Was the 'hard to detect' poison Tetraethyl Lead? A substance reportedly used by the CIA to eliminate people quickly whilst leaving no trace?

IMPORTANT NOTE: TETRAETHYL LEAD POISONING

Regarding hard to trace poisons, amongst the notes that were released in the late 40s were those discussing Project MK ULTRA and Project MK DELTA. They dealt with the use of mind control techniques and drugs. One section of the notes went on to deal with 'How to murder someone without leaving any visible marks'. Amongst other things, such as Rivea Corymbosa seeds, these notes described a high octane fuel additive called 'tetraethyl lead' which when dropped on the skin kills very quickly without leaving an obvious trace. Could this be the reason for high levels of lead in the samples of hair taken from the man?  Exposure to high levels of Xrays was another method under consideration.

A CONCLUSION OF SORTS

From all of this, my thoughts at this stage are that part of the answer is that the man died elsewhere that night, labels and other items that might have helped identify him were removed at that location. He was transported to the beach by others and placed against the sea wall with care being taken not to disturb the ground around him and to put in place the partially smoked cigarette. He could have been lowered from the top of the small sea wall onto the sand beneath. I think this exercise occurred sometime after 2 am and before 4.30 am whilst it was still dark. Sunrise in Adelaide on December 1st, 1948 was 4.55 am.

He was a big man and I suggest that two strong people would have been needed to carry him down to the beach, probably from the back of a car, he would have either been carried down the steps or just to one side and out of camera shot, there was a pathway leading down to the beach.

The photo below was taken in 1948, I have removed two people in the pic., you can clearly see the Home and the pathway down to the beach. The steps by which the SOmerton Man was found is out of camera shot to the right of this image.

Any thoughts?