SOMERTON MAN MYSTERY, A 2014 POST REPUBLISHED

 

FIRST PUBLISHED 13th APRIL 2014
   

UPDATE 20th September 2024

The raw images from which the comparison image was drawn are in the public domain

To the image on the right, I added a 'pixel map' overlay, you'll see it looks similar to a graph page. I did that to assist with various measurements and alignments which I was doing at the time. It's a bit fiddly to do and it took a little time. I am happy to have people use the images from this site but they should as a matter of courtesy acknowledge the source.

(In copyright terms public domain images do not have an owner, when you take public domain images and create a derivative then you own the copyright of the derivative component of that image. for example, the pixel map is a derivative, the file name and structure is my copyright, sounds odd I know but it is fact. You should always check if there is an owner of the copyright of an image or written text to make sure that you don't cross the line. Finding an image on the internet does not mean that you can take it and use it at will, read more here: https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/3319/if-i-use-a-public-domain-image-can-i-own-the-copyright-to-the-resulting-artwork)

It is interesting looking back at 2014, the posts published then and earlier weren't that far off the mark. If you go to the archive item on the Menu bar above, you can select each year and you'll be able to view all of the posts in that year.

       The Real Somerton Man

Some time ago, I posted an article about the profile image of the Somerton Man that was published in 1948 with request for people to come forward if they recognised him:

http://tamamshud.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/somerton-man-was-his-picture-real-or.html

I posed the question, 'Was The Somerton Man's picture real or was it faked?' In todays post I will put forward evidence in the form of another image of SM that supports the view that the original profile image published was in fact faked.

UPDATE: Please visit http://tamamshud.blogspot.com.au/ for the latest images including a grid comparison that shows the major differences between the publicised and lesser-known images shown here.

First let's look at the images posted earlier. I have rotated them so that you can get a better impression of how he may have looked standing up:



This next image shows where I believe the image had been cut and another 'face' had been superimposed and blended into the original, if you look carefully you will see a distinct line commencing mid forehead and running across, down and then out to the mid point on the chin.



Now here's a side by side comparison:


I hope you're still with me because, whilst the image above was taken shortly after the autopsy and had been referred to as 'reconstructed' by the Police, the next image you will see of him was taken after he had been embalmed and in cold storage for about 6 months. Remember that the whole purpose of embalming is to preserve the appearance of a deceased person.

Post Embalming
First let's look at an image of a well known person who was embalmed, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin:




For those who may not have seen him in  life:

The choice of this example was not accidental as you are probably aware there is every reason to believe that the Somerton Man and Lenin had more in common than their both having been embalmed. The point I hope you can see is that you would immediately recognise Lenin in both embalmed and life images as being the same person.

Now here's the image of The Somerton Man after he had been embalmed, in fact this image was taken almost immediately after the plaster bust had been made and there's another intriguing story to tell about that as you will read:

    This is the unpublicised image of SM                        And here's the image that was publicised

 
                               

The same person? I don't think so.

The image on the left is the last to have been taken of SM and the image on the right was prepared some 6 months earlier. How can we tell that we are dealing with an altered image on the right? The Ear, quite scarce in appearance in fact, is exactly the same, you will notice the difference in the hair colour and the facial appearance is quite different in the left-hand image.

All I have done to the image on the left is to resize it to get close to the earlier image, the flattened appearance of the back of SMs head in the left image is due in part I think to there being a pillow in place. He had been dressed for his burial leaving one to wonder whether anyone called by to say their last farewell.

For me this is striking evidence that there had been a massive cover up, there will be those who will say that the facial change in SM between images was caused by the embalming and storage process, I have done some research and that is highly unlikely to have occured. Having said that, if there is anyone with sound evidence to the contrary then please let's have it.

Why The Hurry?
In the notes taken by Paul Lawson, the man who made the bust, he states that his original instruction from the Coroner, Cleland, was to take a cast of SMs skull and to have him buried with that and the real skull was to be kept by Cleland for further study. Lawson was in the process of doing that when the Police arrived at the morgue and stopped him saying that SM had to be buried immediately. In fact he was buried some 6 days later. Why would they do that?