CARL WEBB IS NOT THE SOMERTON MAN....LATEST PHOTOGRAPHS UPDATED 21st NOVEMBER 2022....

  ....CARL WEBB CAN NOT BE THE SOMERTON MAN...

Images of the Webb Family Members ex ABC TV

The image on the left shows the Somerton Man's Left Ear.

The image on the right shows Carl Webb's Left Ear

They may be taken at slightly different angles but the structure of each ear is completely different. 

Here's a cropped image that brings both examples closer together:

In the above, you can see that Carl's left ear is a different shape and is flatter to the head than the left ear of the Somerton Man. You can also see that the Somerton Man's ear is square into the side of his head while Carl's is nowhere near as pronounced.

Whilst further work needs to be done, it is even at this stage, very clear that these ears do not match. They are not from the same person.

These images tell us that Carl Webb cannot be the Somerton Man

An earlier draft of this post suggested that there may be a hoax involved, in hindsight that was wrong because it implied that Professor Abbott and Dr. Colleen Mckenzie may have been involved. Let me clarify my view on this. I do not think that either Professor Abbott or Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick took part or contributed to any deliberate action to manipulate or mislead.  I think that they used every honest endeavour to get to the truth but, in this case, it appears clear that Carl Webb has been misidentified as the Somerton Man as the images in this post clearly show.

The issue now is, where to from here?

What we have is a sample of hair that to my understanding was given to Professor Abbott by Paul Lawson, the man who made the plaster bust. Another account says that the hair was retrieved from the bust itself. When I interviewed Paul which I had done a number of times prior to his passing, he confirmed that he had given hair samples to Professor Abbott.

Paul had retrieved the sample from the body on whom he had modeled the bust. He had told me and others that because of the condition of the body, he used post-autopsy photographs to create the face of the man.

The photographs that we have of the man taken just prior to the bust being made, bear no resemblance to the post-autopsy images taken of the man whose body was found on Somerton beach on December 1st. 1948. For the record, the autopsy took place on December 2nd. 1948 and the photographs were taken on December 3rd, 1948. 

Below is a comparison facial image of the post-autopsy photo of the Somerton Man and on the right you see the man just prior to the bust being made by Paul Lawson:

The ears may appear the same but facial features do not match. For the purpose of this exercise, I have named the image on the right 'Carl Webb' if, for no other reason, there is reason to believe that the hair sample came from this body.

The image on the right shows a longer face and a broader forehead.

It is these photographs, amongst other things, that will be the focus of attention in the coming weeks.

As another comparison, here's a photo of Roy Webb, Carl's brother, taken from the same family photograph:

 

The outer line of Roy's left ear, it's very similar in shape and angle to Carl's left ear. It doesn't show as much detail but it is still a worthwhile comparison.

The Somerton Man's ear is cut horizontally into the side of his head and stands proud of the side of the head.

I used the Vance AI enhancer tool on the image from the ABC programme, Australian Story. As you can see it does a pretty good job on the finer details.