PAUL LAWSON KEPT SAMPLES OF THE MANS HAIR...
As many already know, Paul Lawson, the man who created the plaster bust of the Somerton Man, is in hospital at this time. He was taken in just a few days ago with high blood pressure associated with other issues. The latest news as of last night is that the treatment he has been receiving has greatly reduced the pain he was in and that today, 24th September, he is being transferred to a private hospital in Adelaide.
Just prior to Paul being taken to hospital, he and I had a very interesting telephone discussion about the Somerton Man. He told me that he wanted to get some things cleared up and with that he dropped a bombshell, in fact, more than one. What follows here is a summation of our discussion about the Somerton Man:
1. Paul had taken and has kept samples of hair from the head of the body of the Somerton Man just before he created the plaster bust.
2. I had previously heard that those samples had been given to Professor Abbott but Paul told me directly that that was not the case, he said that the Professor had taken the hair from the plaster bust itself.
3. He gave the hair samples he had taken to a specialist who had analysed them, he was startled by the results because they showed that the man had been poisoned and that there traces of arsenic in the hair samples. Not only that, there were also traces of Strontium 90. The latter would indicate that the man had possibly been near an atomic explosion of some kind. Paul also believed that the man had been heavily sedated and that the Police knew that. He mentioned that they had used another drug, similar to the ones he had used when sedating animals in his work. He couldn't recall the name of the sedative.
4. To Paul, these findings explained the condition of the man's skull. You may recall that Paul had been requested by Cleland to remove the skull and replace it with a modelled version. However, when Paul removed the skin from the man's head, the crown of the skull fell away and he could see that the inside of the skull was perfectly clean, in his view that could only have happened as a result of someone using boiling water to remove any traces of tissue and therefore posion. I mentioned to Paul that I thought it could mean that the original skull had been removed and replaced, he said that was not the case, the skull he saw had been cleaned in place. The Police prevented Paul from doing any further work on the man saying that he was going to be buried the next day. However, it was to be more than a week before the burial took place.
3. He gave the hair samples he had taken to a specialist who had analysed them, he was startled by the results because they showed that the man had been poisoned and that there traces of arsenic in the hair samples. Not only that, there were also traces of Strontium 90. The latter would indicate that the man had possibly been near an atomic explosion of some kind. Paul also believed that the man had been heavily sedated and that the Police knew that. He mentioned that they had used another drug, similar to the ones he had used when sedating animals in his work. He couldn't recall the name of the sedative.
4. To Paul, these findings explained the condition of the man's skull. You may recall that Paul had been requested by Cleland to remove the skull and replace it with a modelled version. However, when Paul removed the skin from the man's head, the crown of the skull fell away and he could see that the inside of the skull was perfectly clean, in his view that could only have happened as a result of someone using boiling water to remove any traces of tissue and therefore posion. I mentioned to Paul that I thought it could mean that the original skull had been removed and replaced, he said that was not the case, the skull he saw had been cleaned in place. The Police prevented Paul from doing any further work on the man saying that he was going to be buried the next day. However, it was to be more than a week before the burial took place.
5. Regarding the man's identity, Paul said that the man was Russianwith a Russian name, and he had heard that from others involved in the case. He also knew that the man had at one time visited Odesa and the rocket range that was not far from that city. (Kapustin Yar). The man had been taken to Kangaroo Island for his safety and it was from there that he had returned to Adelaide by ferry.
6. Regarding the Police photographs of the Somerton Man, Paul was adamant that they had been significantly altered. That could be the reason why many of those who viewed the body mentioned how different he looked to the photographs. Bear in mind that the photographs were published before anyone had seen the body and one article stated that people would be invited to view the photographs at the Detectives offices
I have not seen any documents regarding the hair analysis but Paul says he has them. I have no reason to disbelieve what he has said. I undertook to publish this information knowing that it will raise a lot of questions and many will no doubt disagree with what has been said.
Bear in mind that although Paul is of very advanced years,he still has a sharp mind, he requested that all future discussions with him will need to be recorded and I agreed with that, it would prevent any miscommunication.
THE FOLLOWING IMAGES POSTED
26th September 2021
Please see comments below...
WERNER:
KARL:
Tim, if you like 'intense' Karl has it in spades! Funny how many ears turn out like this. I wonder if he was rebirthed?
The possibility could be that SM met Jessica as a patient, if he was exposed to a radionucle event. However this brings with it a timeline, that argues against any Soviet nuclear experimentation with radioactive material. There are known and documented accidents and tests involving US research that would fit the timeline. The exposure of a plutonium core in Los Alamos on 21/8/1945 & again on 21/5/1946. However we know all but two of the people who were killed or injured. Other than that the other possibilities are the New Mexico test, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Everything else is, I think, after Jessica has conceived. Maybe i t's time to delve through the list of Russians at Low Alamos?
ReplyDeleteThere were some experiments done in Russia in the early 40s but the war took priority until 1944. Experiments took place in Russia with a fully functioning reactor in June 1948. So we have the potential for problems occurring at that time. It would be useful to know how Strontium 90 traces end up in the hair and how long those traces can be transmitted from within the body to the hair, Byron Deveson might have that answer. Other than that there are the Marshall Islands tests in April/May by the US, that would involve US transport from there to Australia.
ReplyDeleteIf there was a romantic involvement, then the US tests would be one timeline. There were the Trinity Tests in the Pacific, Marshall Islands again, they were 1946 I think.
A timeline for each for comparison would be useful but we do need that information about Strontium 90.
It's most likely that SM had his exposure event prior to 1946 to explain why he was visiting RNSH
ReplyDeleteThe July 1946 tests at Bikini Atoll would fit the timeline; that's if there was a romantic involvement.
ReplyDeleteArsenic might indicate that he lived and worked in a gold mining or processing region for awhile. Or that he used used a shampoo containing almond oil
ReplyDeleteHi Pete, We may have to wait a few more days to get the information clarified by Paul. He has improved and is expecting to be released from Hospital sometime in the next week.
ReplyDeleteI recall Prof Abbott's results mentioning Lead Arsenate but I am not sure just what Paul's analysis document will tell us.
He was very strong on the fact that the original images of SM had been altered, I got the impression that the alterations were significant.
If the family from Kangaroo Island identified SM as a defector and former ballet dancer and Paul said SM was from Kangaroo Island but had previously travelled from NY to Odessa then you have SM identified as both an ex ballet dancer and the Russian diplomat PF who he certainly looks like. But if the initial photos are altered it's difficult to identify SM as PF. You'd think that if he was a ballet dancer that could be traced. Also why would the original photos be altered - that would make it difficult to establish his identity, yet they were being released to try and identify the man. Just a few thoughts. Tim
ReplyDeleteTim, It is quite a story and in dire need of being unravelled. I suspect that Paul may have known more but that secret was his to keep. The similarity between SM and PF is quite striking, I found nothing in the various documents relating to PF that suggested that he had a dance background. Having said that, in my view the mans real surname was probably not Fedosimov, there is another name that looks to be a possibility and I will publish that shortly.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your final comment about the photographs and on the basis that this is indeed an espionage case, then deception and confusion would reign, it has done in most other aspects of the case so why not muddy the waters a little further? In one of the press articles, one of the people to view the body specifically said that it looked so different to the photographs. With regard to that comment we would need to get a copy of that article and put a date to it. It could be that the person viewed the body after it had been embalmed and that, I suggest, is when the original skull may have been removed and was thoroughly cleaned. A question being was the original skull replaced into the body or was it another? In either case, and if it had been poorly replaced as Paul Lawson said, that would certainly cause a different appearance to the mans face. Perhaps we will find out more when the DNA and other results are made public, I would be very interested in the new dental charts.
The altered photographs are challenging, for example in the initial post autopsy images, the side profile image is hard to reconcile with the full face pic. The pre burial images are quite different again.
This post was published in 2016, not sure whether you had seen it: https://tamamshud.blogspot.com/2016/02/somerton-man-what-is-wrong-with-these.html
There is another, earlier and more accurate comparison of the images which I will need to dig out.
Thanks Gordon, very interesting. I guess it's also possible that 2 different possible contenders went from NY to Odessa, even if unlikely. I looked at some old photos of Russian ballet dancers online and was surprised at the similarity to SM - they had a kind of intense sensitivity together with a look of physical strength. Tim
ReplyDeleteThere were no Russian dance troupes visiting in the 1940’s, just one from England in 47-48 but with mainly English dancers. I think they did do some Russian dances. As for Soviet spies, apparently Petrov in the mid 50’s offered to reveal an extensive spy network here in Australia but it turned out to be an exaggeration. After his defection apparently there were no prosecutions of Communist party members as a result of his information yet they were the likely suspects at the time. This is just information I got from the internet, so there could be more to the story. Defecting from the Soviet Union began much earlier, but not in Australia and was obviously a very dangerous thing to do. Motives seem to range from a fear of returning to Russia to seeking a new life. If SM was a spy who was led into a trap and assassinated, or who died in an unknown way after defecting, then this is unusual in the Australian context but still plausible.
ReplyDeleteThe ballet dancer theory started with a comment made about SMs leg muscles and was expanded on given Robin Thomson's profession.
ReplyDeleteI took a look for any ballet dancing spy precedents and found two, here's the first:
A ballerina, born and trained in Russia but, incensed by the murder of her parents by the Bolsheviks, in the early 1940s, she went to work for the Germans. She had married a Norwegian and moved to Spain. It was from this country that she had managed to infiltrate MI5 and obtained detailed information on General Auckinleck's plans to liberate Norway which she passed on to her German handlers.
Whilst the Germans considered themselves to be in danger of defeat to the extent that they had made plans to evacuate to neutral Sweden, the British lost that battle due to the intelligence gained by the dancer who went under the name of Marina Lee.
An interesting historical footnote:
According to legend, it was following the British loss in Norway, that Chamberlain was replaced by Winston Churchill.
The next example in the following comment...
Part 2.
ReplyDeleteThe second was a lady known as Vera Ericksen.
Again, initially recruited by the Germans, vera was Russian born and a trained dancer. She and two companion German spies, having been dropped off the coast of Scotland by a flying boat, had paddled ashore near a small town, Port Gordon.
They were quickly discovered thanks to an alert station master who had noticed their wet trouser cuffs and also the fact that they weren't aware that the names on many railway stations had been deliberately changed to confuse enemy agents. That worked and a very neat example of counter tradecraft. When captured they had a pistol, maps and a code disc.
Long story cut short, the trio were arrested and interrogated which resulted in the two males, Werner Walti and Karl Drueke being arrested tried an executed in 1941. But Vera wasn't mentioned or tried. It is thought that she was a double agent. Apparently when first interviewed she had told her captors to 'talk to Captain King a code name for MI5 spy, Maxwell Knight.
One story is that she may have continued her career with MI5 and then retired to the Isle of Wight.
There are examples of senior enemy officers and agents being 'killed only to be rebirth under different names.
I will put the images of the three at the base of the above post, be interested in your thoughts on Karl.
Thanks for all that information. When so much detail about the spies you refer to above becomes public it makes you wonder why SM has never been fully explained. The information about Kangaroo Island from Paul makes sense, and suggests that SM was on the radar of Australian Intelligence but that someone else still got to him. Jessica telling Kate that SM's identity was known higher up the chain of command, to me, suggests that she was not responsible for what happened. But the hidden codes connect a number of people together as you have pointed out. Something else I wonder about is could it be a coincidence that the name Jestyn is also the middle name of a Major in the army at that time? Tim
ReplyDeleteThanks Tim,
ReplyDeleteIt is quite fascinating. People had to keep quiet on so many things associated with the case, even today. Anyone who has been in the services or Police service then and now are fully aware of their duties under what was then the UK Official Secrets Act and its equivalent here in Australia and NZ. I suspect that whatever the circumstances were, they were of considerable importance at the time which doesn't seem to have lessened much.
Regarding the Major, I don't think that you will find any further reference to him on this or other blogs, it was the result of a close family relatives request. His connection if any, was the Regiment and his name. I wouldn't say that he was involved in the events of December 48.
On another matter, have you looked at the hi res image of the torn piece in Photoshop as yet? Worth spending 10 minutes.
This republished post contains much of what some regard as new information, as you can see it is nearly 3 years old. The altered photographs issue has been in contention for a lot longer, 2016 I believe was the first time published on that topic. To clarify on the matter of superimposition and photoshop modifications. Prior to photoshop being available, images were altered in the main by superimposing other full or part images onto existing ones, for the simple reason that photoshop wasn't invented at the time. Most certainly it wasn't in the 40s at the time of SM.
ReplyDeleteWhy would this article have been published in
ReplyDeleteIEEE Spectrum April 2023
(20 March 2023 written article)
says Carl Charles Webb is Somerton Man from DNA
April 2023 print issue as “Finding Somerton Man” Global engineering journal IEEE USA
But the faces of Somerton Man and Carl Charles Webb look like two different people
Seems to me that Mr.Lawson may have had the key to this. He had the closest look at the body and he had to use the autopsy pics to model the face. And the face was of the body that Laurie Elliot had kept in such good condition. What's wrong with this picture?
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting read. Calliong up the anodontia (missing incisors) from a previous failed attempt. This despite the hard evidence of Dr. Dwyer and his dental chart proving beyond doubt that it WAS NOT anodontia.
ReplyDeleteFor those interested, here's a link to the IEEE Spectrum article in the US,
Why would this article have been published in
IEEE Spectrum April 2023
(20 March 2023 written article)
https://spectrum.ieee.org/somerton-man#toggle-gdpr
DAVID MORGAN? What say you?
In that IEEE article Carl Webb and Somerton Man faces are not seen side by side. Put them side by side and they do not seem to be the same person
ReplyDeleteSomerton Man
ReplyDeletewas a spy
Kim Philby
another spy
they were everywhere
Philby song by Rory Gallagher
A good read on this topic is Spies and Sparrows by Philip Deery. A timeline of spying in Australia.
ReplyDeleteYes, a fascinating documentary. The sequence of events started with US agents travelling to Australia to break the bad news. Shades of 1948.
ReplyDelete