Day by day the results of the coroners inquest into the identity of the Somerton Man, are getting closer. To my understanding information is still being gathered which comes as no surprise given that we’re now into the 77th year since the man’s body was found on Somerton Beach. There’s an enormous amount of information to be processed with many voices to be heard and their input to be assessed. A major and unenviable task for the Coroner and his team.
It is important to acknowledge that the focus of this inquest is the identity of the exhumed body. Whether or not it is that of the Somerton Man is another but strongly related issue.
As has been discussed numerous times on this blog, there is only one item that can prove that those remains are those of the man found on the beach and that is the hand written dental chart taken by Dr.Dwyer, the man who performed the autopsy on the body of the man from the beach. If you search the information here you will find that in his evidence, Dr Dwyer confirmed that the chart produced was in his handwriting and it was the one he took at the autopsy.
DNA cannot prove that last vital link to the Somerton Man without a proven comparison.
Regarding the Carl Webb claim, my view remains the same namely that there was only a single rootless shaft of hair sent to Astrea for analysis and according to Professor Abbot, in 2012, Janet Edson found a cluster of hairs and she was able to remove the strands without breaking them or damaging the plaster. These full strands were later sent for analysis but all the roots were useless. There is no mention anywhere that can be found of rootless shafts of hair being extracted by Janet but Professor Abbot introduced such a reference without any provenance.
Add to that, the shaft of hair was submitted for analysis and thus it no longer exists, the claim cannot therefore be verified/tested, the one and only sample no longer exists. There is no mention at all of where, when, how, by whom and from whom any hair samples were taken for the purpose of comparison with the hair shaft analysis results.
I also note that until quite recently, the colour of the hair has been referred to variously, as reddish ginger, pale ginger, light ginger/mousey but now Professor Abbot has dropped any reference to ‘ginger’ and uses only the term ‘Mousey’ a slight but important change has been introduced to the narrative.
I would describe the Carl Webb claim as being weak and unconfirmed. If there are any useable hair samples found amongst the remains, then it is possible to run a comparison but only by using documents and not an actual hair sample to compare with any recovered samples.
To correct a misperception. Around 2010, I informed Professor Abbot that there hairs protruding from the bust and raised with him the possibility that they may contain DNA, he dismissed that suggestion based on the value of the bust as an historical artefact. In Gerry Feltus’s book published in 2010, The Unknown Man, page 194, he describes how he had considered the possibility of DNA extraction from the hair on the bust but had reached the conclusion that it was not possible. He based that conclusion on there being no other sample with which to compare. Technology has certainly changed since then but at the time Gerry was well ahead of us all and in many ways, he still is.
This inquest may possibly tell us who the man is but what he was is yet another question.
To finish this update, a forecast. I would not be surprised if a bombshell or two, appear around the days of the publication of the Inquest results. Something to think about!
I’ll be tied up for the next couple of weeks so may not have time for another post….
They will say it is Carl Webb just to close it off
ReplyDeleteYou can say whatever you like after that and it won't matter
I think that you underestimate the integrity of SAPOL and the Coroner. They are dedicated professionals and wouldn’t risk their reputations on covering up the case. There are many reasons to doubt the Carl Webb claims and I would count myself amongst the doubters but in the end the coroner will make his decision on the man’s identity based on all the evidence with DNA no doubt playing a major role.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't integrity
ReplyDeleteSH, I’ve read your comment and I need to correct some of the assumptions you have made. The beginning is always a good place to start.
ReplyDeleteThe post you refer to addressed the issue of DNA and that is its context. The information regarding who said what and when revolves around the matter of the 2009 video of Professor Abbot and students visiting the SA police museum and also the IEEE Spectrum article written by the Professor.
1. I have a copy of the 2009 video and am familiar with all of its content. That video was later removed by YouTube as it was deemed to be against community standards. There was nothing in the content of the video that any fair minded person would consider to be against community standards. There were some aspects of it that might prove embarrassing for one person in particular. Please note that I had properly posted that same video on this blog only to have it later removed. The learning element here is that relevant information had been removed for, I believe, someone’s benefit. Keep that in mind as we move to the next point.
2. With regards to the IEEE Spectrum article and my comment that no mention of the shaft of hair had been made in that article. As you know I posted a link to that article ( I need to check the first occasion I posted that link which was prior to the one we are discussion) I took a copy of the article at the time. You later, I don’t know when, followed that link and read the article which contained the mention of hair shafts I know that there was nothing reference to hair shafts in that original article, the sentence was ‘ She thus secured the soft, spongy hair roots as well as several lengths of hair shaft.’. That sentence was not present in the article that I viewed and copied. Note also, that the edited sentence referred to several lengths of hair shaft yet, only one was sent to Astrea this despite normal forensic practice which calls for at least 5 samples to be submitted for testing.. The learning element here is that, once again, content cand and will be changed whenever the need arises.
There are other issues and at least one other precedent were valuable information has either disappeared or been altered.
Steve, this blog is focused on getting to the truth. I am fastidious when it comes to substantiating any information that I publish. If I can’t substantiate it I have always said so. In this case, when you come along with your claims, I don’t feel offended and that’s because you were not aware of the ftruth of the matter. Now you are.
I have the copy of the video and the copy of the original article, and I will publish article at an appropriate time. The video is a more complex matter as you will appreciate.
I will not be commenting further on this matter for the time being, as pointed out I am extremely busy at this time and it is related to the Somerton man case.
There was one more thing, I don’t change posts or comments on this blog, what I write gets published and I am careful in what comments I publish. I have only once removed content at the request of a close family member of one of a person who was subject of some posts. As it later turned out, that was probably not a close family member. You have to deal with some strange and deeply disturbed people at times but the vast majority of followers of this blog are genuine researchers.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying you’re always right?
ReplyDeleteHa! No, I don’t think anyone is. What I do say is that I have always tried my best to get to the truth. I have certainly made mistakes over the past 15 years of involvement with the case but when I do I acknowledge them. The Somerton Man space sadly is known for its trolls, abusers and stalkers. For whatever reason it seems to attract them and of course it’s to the detriment of the conversation. The site hacks, personal attacks and abuse together with the stalking of myself and my daughter, the implied threats are all a sad reflection on those who utter them, they say a lot more about them than they ever could about me.
ReplyDeleteFirst off. Are you absolutely sure about the article? What if you copied it wrong? Skipped a line, maybe? These things happen more often than people like to admit. And let’s not forget, there were several shafts of hair and only one was sent, that would mean the 50 mil strand was the last one they had left, how fortuitous. Obvious, isn’t it?
ReplyDeleteFrankly, the fact that there’s no mention of where that particular shaft came from is a glaring oversight, unprofessional. Legally, they’d have to provide that information sources,dates, times, the whole lot. It’s not optional. Did they take any other samples from other sources? They’d need to detail exactly where, when, and how those were taken too. How did they control them? Keep them separate? You can’t just hope people trust you not to mix things up—this is basic procedural stuff.. Thinking on, was there any previous contact with any of the Webb family? It’s honestly surprising this hasn’t been called out before the whole thing’s full of holes. You need to be more detailed too IMHO.
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I doubt that I would have made that mistake. All things are possible but right now I’m well and truly under pressure to get some work completed so you’ll have to be patient for a week or two. I really appreciate your input and thank you for commenting. If anyone has comments to make or questions, provided they match the blog rules, I will publish them but I just won’t have time to answer them for a while.
ReplyDeleteHACKERS ACTIVE ON WORDPRESS SITES. An advisory for those visiting blogs and forums based on Wordpress . issued by TechCrunch on January 29th. Hackers are actively using Wordpress sites to deliver malware to Windows and Mac causers. The malware is capable of stealing passwords and other personal information. If you visit any Wordpress sites be extra careful and please be aware of this latest information and don’t put yourself at risk. NOTE THAT YHIS BLOG RUNS ON GOOGLE blogspot and has the very best protection available and unlike Wordpress we do not track individuals or their IP addresses.
ReplyDeleteHere’s the link to the full article: https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/29/hackers-are-hijacking-wordpress-sites-to-push-windows-and-mac-malware/
Time is STILL at a premium so this comment is a ‘fill-in’ of sorts. Amongst the issues being researched currently and there are quite a few, the Peace Officers Guard has cropped up. This organisation started off in the mid 1930s and as you might expect, it grew rapidly with the advent of WW2.The main role of the POG was, as the name suggests, guarding sensitive locations. In South Australia those locations included Parafield, Weapons Research installations, aircraft Manufacturing plants including Islington Railway workshops, Port Wakefield artillery and weapons range and more. Apart from their Guarding duties some were apparently used to vet new employees on the sensitive sites, some used to act as drivers and prisoner escorts with Loveday being one location were it is said they carried out a range of tasks.
ReplyDeleteFor those unfamiliar with Loveday, this was the camp that housed up to 6000 German POWs and internees and amongst them were some who had been arrested as Spies, Karl Oswald Thierfelder, mentioned in this blog was one of them (https://tamamshud.blogspot.com/2018/12/somerton-man-thierfelder-telling.html ) as was Wolfgang Wagner, cousin to Helmuth Hendon.
Helmuth featured in the George Marshall case with the name Wagner was previously known as it was the name of another German spy who spent the years between 1935 and 1940 in Australia her name was Annette Wagner. It is said that Annette used her ABC radio programme to broadcast information to a network of Australian based spies. It is not known for certain if her programmes were broadcast on short wave radio which would mean that any messages could be picked up thousands of miles away. Prior to leaving Australia, Annette lived at Bakewell House in Clifton Gardens.
After the end of hostilities and as you might expect, the services of the Peace Guard were less in demand and the unit underwent another name change. However and interestingly, in late q947, their ranks grew as did demand. South Australian installations garnered extra attention including Parafield, the Weapons Research Establishment at Salisbury North of Adelaide and more.
Having researched blogs and forums, there is scant mention of the Peace Officers and their work, they appear to have been somewhat under the radar in the 1940 to 1950 period and yet they were clearly ‘networked’ throughout sensitive locations in that time. It will be interesting to see what additional research into the POG turns up.
Good article, my grandad was in the Peace Officers, he had lots of stories and things they got up to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, can you usu share some of those stories with me? My email is gordon332@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of interesting and intriguing stories. In WW2 the intelligence services tapped into many different services and recruited people from all walks of life be they civilians or military. The Peace Officers Guard, the CMF even the Nursing profession would have been ideal recruiting grounds.
ReplyDeleteI know this isn’t a story you follow but SAPOL are monitoring the progress of an excavation at Castalloy, North Plympton. Beaumont children?
ReplyDelete