Four Things We Don't Know About Carl Webb, But Should... Updated Nov 25th & November 30th

There are times that all you have to do to get a better understanding of a perplexing question is to look at it from a different perspective. This post attempts to do just that, look at the issue from a different perspective.

Take Carl Webb for instance, since the claim that he was first made, people have been queuing up with favourite theories and ideas on what they thought he was or did or even appeared. In reality, what they were doing was addressing what they thought they knew. And what they thought they knew was based on what the narrative 'machine' had pumped into the Somerton Man space.

As any seasoned researcher/investigator will tell you, there is a massive gap between imagination and facts.  Don't feel too bad if you've fallen into that trap, many have trod that same path ahead of you, in fact, you might be surprised just who you would find amongst them. I have no problem holding my hand up on that score, but in my defence, it was over 50 years ago as a young and super keen copper. I was soon and rather abruptly put right by my seniors and betters.

But back to Carl Webb and the headline for this post. I mention specifically 4 things we don't know but there are obviously many more. My concern relates more to 4 things about his description that we don't know but really should.

The claim by Professor Abbot that Carl was the Somerton Man was based on DNA analysis. That DNA came from a single rootless shaft of hair that the Professor had in his possession. More on that aspect later. What did that analysis tell us? Why, it told us that with some manipulation of the data, that hair was from a family named Webb and by a process of imputation and deduction as in 'because this particular man had not been heard of nor seen, since 1947 then he must therefore be the Somerton Man'. 

Did you spot what just happened here? No? Let's move on a little further and examine the post title. Just what are the 4 things that we should have known but don't?

THE DNA
DNA is an amazing thing, you can tell so many things from it, apart from your ancestry. Did you know that skilled analysts can tell amongst many other things, the following four items?

1. Eye colour
2. Hair colour
3. Height 
4. Gender

The above are therefore the 4 things that we could have and should have known but didn't about Carl Webb.

Interestingly, they are the same 4 things that we DO know about the Somerton Man, here is his information:

1. Eye colour: Grey

2. Hair Colour Sandy/ginger/Mousey(?)
3. Height: 5 Feet 11 inches
4. Male

In the case of the Somerton Man we also know a fifth and readily accessible/comparable thing, we know how many teeth he had lost.

For reasons best known to others, the DNA analysis on the rootless shaft of hair in the possession of Professor Abbott, did not address those 4 issues that we really could have and should have known about Carl Webb.

Matter of interest, Professor Abbott publicised his claim in an issue of the IEEE Spectrum magazine dated March 2023. In that article, there were some images from the 2012 exercise where hair samples were extracted and they were identified as being light brown and grey in another instance the Somerton Man's hair was referred to as 'Mousey', plain old 'mousey' coloured hair, not a sign of the word 'ginger'. Shortly after that in the same article the Professor mentioned the single rootless shaft of hair. No mention of where, when, how and by whom that hair was extracted. Harking back to my earlier comment, Did you spot what just happened here? The narrative has been modified, to exclude any reference to the true colour of the Somerton Man's hair. 'Pale ginger', 'mousey with ginger' and 'mousey the approaching ginger' are all words found in various credible sources. The word 'ginger' is in descriptions given by numerous people who examined the hair including Gerry Feltus, Pat Burgess, Detective Sergeant Leane and Professor Cleland  In Professor Cleland's case he only includes that description in his notes and not in his statement at the inquest.

This small image is from the 1968 Daily Mirror,
part of a story written by Pat Burgess.

Unfortunately, we are missing the previous wording but we can see that the man had a noticeable hair colour. I am trying to get access to the 1968 article in full which will hopefully give us a better description of the man and in particular the colour of his hair.

On that subject, did you know that the inquest document has only one witness/mention where the colour of the Somerton Man's hair is included? Detective Sergeant Leane made the comment but I wonder about that, he did not get involved in the case until January 1949, so he would not have been in a position to state the colour of the man's eyes for example because the eyes would have been removed during the autopsy in December. Professor Cleland's notes and comment on the hair appear to have been made on 9th January 1949. Around the same time, he found the torn slip of paper containing the words Tamam Shud'.

Those who were best placed to describe the colour of the man's hair and eyes as primary evidence were Constable Moss, Doctor Bennet, and Dr Dwyer. These are the men who should have included the description of the man's hair and eyes and yet they didn't. Professor Cleland did so but only within his notes not in evidence.

It would be remiss of me if I didn't mention that the word 'ginger' was also to be found in the Adelaide University Wiki (mousy ginger colour,) and the Somerton Man Wiki.(fair to ginger-coloured hair) LINK TO IEEE MAGAZINE

What a great pity it is that there was only one rootless shaft of hair to analyse. That means that it is not possible for those DNA results from Astrea to ever be verified. Harking back to my earlier comment, Did you now spot what just happened here?

The only way the Carl Webb claim can be established as being true is via the Police Forensics team and their dedication to finding the truth and one senior Forensic officer made the statement that she thought it likely that the identity of the Somerton Man may never be known. Agreed.

And, as you can now see, we have looked at the information from quite a different perspective... The perspective of what we don't know and should have been told. 

 I am going to start a new tradition here today being a big fan of CS Lewis amongst others and some of his words of wisdom ring so very true at times. the tradition is to conclude posts with some of the words of the wise and the witty. 

Here's a very neat and some would say appropriate quote from CS Lewis:

"By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger.” 

November 30th UPDATE:

Points worth bearing in mind and which you should substantiate:
1. One of the many facts about redheads is that their hair will never turn grey. The pigment in their hair that causes it to be red will just fade over time, causing their hair to turn blonde or white, but never grey.

2. The tips of hair are porous and after death, the tips can lose their colour (Red or otherwise)

3. Hair can change colour after death

4. Once achromotrichia starts to set in, your red hair becomes lighter and lighter. It can even fade to an orangey-blonde, copper-blonde or even strawberry blonde, until your reddish strands become silver or white.

5. The hairs examined by Gerry Feltus' colleague showed insect damage to the shafts

6. In 2006 The Somerton Man bust had been stored in a cupboard, here are the results of the question put to ChatGpt 4o:

When a plaster bust, such as the Somerton Man's, is stored in a darkened cupboard for an extended period, several factors can influence the materials embedded within it, such as hair, fibers, or other biological matter. Here's what could happen:

Impact of the Environment on Embedded Materials

• Temperature and Humidity:

  • If the cupboard has stable environmental conditions (cool and dry), embedded materials like hair or fibers are less likely to degrade significantly.
  • However, fluctuations in humidity can cause the plaster to absorb moisture, potentially leading to degradation or changes in the embedded materials.

• Darkness:

  • Darkness itself is neutral regarding the preservation of embedded materials, as it minimizes exposure to UV light, which can degrade organic matter.

Degradation of Embedded Organic Materials

• Hair and Fibers:

  • Hair is made of keratin, a resilient protein, and can remain relatively stable if protected from extreme conditions. However:
    • In the presence of moisture, hair can absorb water and potentially become brittle over time.
    • Microbial activity, though less likely in a dark and dry environment, could still degrade organic materials.
  • Dust or contaminants already present in the hair or plaster could interact chemically over time, altering its structure or appearance.

• DNA Degradation:

  • If DNA is present in the embedded material (e.g., rootless hair shafts), it will degrade over time regardless of environmental conditions. In dry and stable conditions, DNA degradation slows but does not stop.

Chemical Changes in the Plaster

• Plaster is porous and can interact with environmental moisture or contaminants, possibly affecting the embedded materials:
  • Carbonation: Over time, plaster reacts with carbon dioxide, forming calcium carbonate. This could change the internal environment of the bust, potentially encasing or preserving embedded materials.
  • Micro-cracks: Aging plaster can develop micro-cracks, which might expose embedded materials to air and contaminants, leading to slow degradation.

Contamination Risks

• Dust and microscopic particles in the cupboard environment can settle on the bust or seep into its porous structure, potentially contaminating embedded materials. This is particularly important for forensic analyses, as it can complicate determining the original provenance of hair or fibers.

Key Takeaway:

If stored under stable conditions (dark, cool, and dry), the embedded materials are less likely to degrade significantly, but over decades, even these ideal conditions cannot fully preserve organic matter like DNA. Hair or fibers might remain intact but could be chemically altered. Forensic analyses performed on such materials would need to account for potential contamination and the natural effects of aging.o

Informative Papers on forensic examination of hair:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.asteetrace.org/static/images/pdf/01%20Forensic%20Human%20Hair%20Examination%20Guidelines.pdf

More here:
https://owlcation.com/stem/Redheads-The-Genetics-of-Hair-Color