TAMAM SHUD: THE CARL WEBB HEIGHT ISSUE REVIEWED & UPDATED...A surprising set of results..

 

...This post is a result of reviewing the earlier ones regarding the estimated height of Carl Webb. I had missed an important factor in the calculations, simple as it may sound, I had not made an allowance for the fact that in the family photos of Roy and Carl fo the fact that they had their mouths slightly open. They were in fact smiling.

Odd as it may seem when a person smiles, their mouth opens slightly and the jawline drops measurably. 

In the image of Roy above, you can clearly see that his mouth is firmly closed and his height dimension is based on that fact.

Let's run through the information:

1. His known full height according to the Military record on the NAA site was 5 feet 8.5 inches or 1734 mm.

2. A known dimension in this photograph that we can use is the ruler alongside Roy, it shows his height with markers at 3-inch intervals.

3. For the purposes of this post, I have assumed that the 3-inch divisions are measured between the marked lines and not central to each line.

4. The onscreen measurement for the marked 3-inch division is 7.5 mm thus 1 inch equals 2.5 mm, a ratio of 1 inch to 25 mm or 25.4 mm to 25 mm

5. Roy's on-screen head height is 23 mm which when converted to real size using our ratio is 233.68 mm or 9.2 inches

6 We can now calculate a ratio for Roy's head height to full height by dividing his known recorded full height by the head height as in 1734 mm divided by 233.68 mm, giving us a head to full height ratio of 1:7.42

We can carry Roy's known head dimensions forward into the family 'group of 4' photograph seen below:

There is a fair bit of information on the above photograph so I numbered each point to minimise any confusion

1. By dividing the known head height dimension for Roy, 233.68 mm, and then measuring and dividing the photograph height of Roy's head, 41 mm, I arrived at a ratio of 1:5.7

2. Next I measured Carl's head dimension on the photograph which was 42 mm

3/ I then adjusted the head dimension to allow for the fact that Carl's mouth was open.

4. This meant that to get a more accurate dimension of Carl's head we needed to deduct the 2 mm as shown above. 2 mm doesn't sound a lot but when you use it to calculate Carl's full height, it can add 1 inch or more to his estimated actual height. In this case, our adjusted photograph head measurement for Carl is 40 mm. We can then multiply that by our ratio of 1:5.7 which gives us an adjusted Actual height of Carl's head of  228 mm.

5. The next calculation is based on the assumption that Carl's head height to full height ratio is the same as Roy's which is 1:5.7. The calculation is 228 mm X 7.42 which equals 1691.76 mm or 5 feet 6.5 inches, shorter than Roy by a full 2 inches.

6. The apparent difference in height of 2 inches was a puzzle, it relates to an extent because Carl is standing a little further away from the camera lens than Roy. This is a measurement we do not have and it adds an issue of perspective view. An adjustment of 1.5 inches should be made to account for this difference in height between Carl and Roy This gives us an estimated height for Carl of 5 feet 8 inches. 

A FINAL PHOTOGRAPH

There is one more photograph to examine which is a close-up of Carl in which we can measure an item that we can use to more accurately calculate Carl's full height. The main photograph from which the enlargement of Carl's image is the larger friends and family group taken on the same day as the 'group of 4' Webb family photograph.

The image on the right was deliberately darkened so that the collar outline could be clearly seen.

As in the previous images, there is a fair amount of information in the images.

I have used the estimated length of the collar on Carl's shirt to act as a known dimension from which we can then take measurements of Carl's head dimension and estimate his full height from that point.

1. The image to the right shows the ruler against the length of the collar on Carl's shirt. I researched but was unable to find an exact match to the style of the shirt worn by Carl and Roy, I found one or two similar examples. No dimensions were given so I have estimated the length of the collar based on the width of Carl's shoulders and general appearance. The measurement of the collar was 43 mm which equalled 154 mm actual length of the collar. The scale was 1:3.58

2. Using the collar length as the known object in the image I first measured Carl's right ear at 23 mm which when extended using the scale of 1:3.58 gave an ear height of 82.34 mm or 3.24 inches.

3. Next, I measured Carl's full head height in the photograph, I made an allowance for the fact that Carl was smiling and thus his jawline dropped by 6 mm which was then deducted from the head measurement of 66 mm in the photograph. Finally, using a scale of 1:3.58 calculated earlier, I arrived at an estimated height for Carl of  1718.5 mm or 5 feet 7.5 inches.

SUMMARY

I have used estimates in calculating the dimensions of Carl's head, ear, and full height. These were carefully considered and as the final results show, both examples were within 1 inch of each other, which gives me confidence that this exercise is on the right track. 

Based on this work,  I believe that Carl Webb; was probably no more than 5 feet 8.5 inches in height.

The issue now to be faced is the height of the Somerton Man which was initially put at 5 feet 11 inches but is now thought to be less. From calculations done here in recent posts, he was likely 5 feet 10 inches in height. A discrepancy of just 1.5 inches would need to be accounted for.

Is it possible that somewhere in the exercise, a miscalculation has occurred? I would have to answer yes it's possible but I have also checked and rechecked every step.