...And On The 13th Day...
The Power of Patterns: Coincidences in the Timeline of the Somerton Man Case
The Somerton Man case has long captured the imagination of researchers and the public alike, standing as one of history's most enduring mysteries. While it remains unsolved, certain patterns emerge when examining its timeline—patterns that may hold clues to the bigger picture. One such pattern is the curious recurrence of 13-day intervals linking several key events. These coincidences, if that's what they are, while not constituting direct evidence, offer a new and fascinating lens through which we can explore the case.
In the world of investigation, recognizing patterns is a critical skill, and history has shown how even the smallest connections can lead to groundbreaking discoveries. This post examines some of the patterns associated with the Somerton Man case, considers their potential significance, and places them in the context of real-world investigative techniques, including lessons from historical espionage cases.
The 1945 George Marshall Case: A Prelude to Patterns
The timeline begins in 1945 with a series of events surrounding George Marshall, who was found dead with an open copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The following timeline reveals a striking series of 13-day intervals:
May 7, 1945: Pakie Macdougall was struck by a truck and died the next morning.
May 20, 1945: A newspaper dated this day was found under George Marshall’s body—13 days later.
June 3, 1945: Marshall’s body was discovered—14 days after the newspaper date, slightly breaking the 13-day pattern but still notable.because there is no way of knowing when the newspaper was put in place or exactly when George Marshall died
August 13, 1945: The inquest findings were released.
August 26, 1945: Gwenneth Dorothy Graham, a close friend of George Marshall, tragically took her own life—exactly 13 days later.
November 17, 1948: Michael Goreloff was estimated to have died.
December 1, 1948: The Somerton Man was found dead on Somerton Beach—13 days later.
December 13, 1948: Tibor Kaldor was found dead in a Hindley Street hotel—a 13-day interval. following the death of the Somerton Man Apophenia is an interesting term it deals in a way with the issue of coincidences but it does so only in subjective ways. For example, if you break a mirror there's going to be 7 years of bad luck, if you are a gambler, and you've had 7 straight losses in a row then you are due a win, In this case, the 'coincidences' are supported by documented facts. They are objective views and not subjective in nature.
So, is it all a coincidence or is it not?
The newspaper was a distraction, it could have been placed there anytime after the 20th May so you can’t really say it was 14, 13 or 12 days.
ReplyDeleteThat’s correct, the assumption that was made at the inquest was believed to be right and it may have been but it’s not definitive. Another thing that’s not 100% is the identification of the body which was badly decomposed having been out in the open with all kinds of wild life feasting on the remains. Including his face. There is much more that can be said on this subject and I will be posting another, Part 3, before long. I am anticipating a very busy month ahead starting this coming Monday.
ReplyDeleteJS, that’s correct, it is about the George Marshall case, you might recall how you had difficulty with the deterioration of the body, not wishing to sound harsh but putting it bluntly, you didn’t have a clue how a body deteriorate in the open air over a period of 2 weeks. I think it was Milongal who came to your rescue on that occasion. A bit odd though given your later announcement that you were in fact a ‘thrice decorated’ Commonwealth Police Officer, a detective no less. We had a full 2 days in basic training on the SD issue, post mortem viewings and processes. Not the sort of thing you’d forget in a hurry. Then the first hand experiences, especially with messy jobs, you surely wouldn’t forget those in a hurry. But then again we’re all different I suppose. Maybe you were off sick when they had that particular part of your training or perhaps a mental block?
ReplyDeleteHello Gordon, would it be possible to edit your comments box and change the default away from “anonymous” so that commenters bear some ownership of their comments? Either a pseudonym or other handle is ok, but anonymous is getting annoying. Thnx.
ReplyDeleteHello Alan, the default drop down should always give you 3 options, Google Account, Anonymous, and Name/Url. There are intermittent issues as, I think, Google makes adjustments to their European compliance requirements. Sometimes that manifests itself in my case as only allowing me to publish as Anonymous when using my iPad. At other times, now for instance, it allows me to publish by name by default from my desktop,
ReplyDeleteAnother feature of Google Blogger, and a good one in my view, is that even as the blog owner, I do not get to see the IP address of any commenter, I only get to see the country they come from and their OS but even that is at the stat level. Google might keep all the information for security purposes but the Admins/owners don’t, it’s a major Privacy compliance thing. Cheers for now.
Is, it was not an inference, it was a statement of fact, on the CM blog it was clear that had no idea about how a body deteriorates in the open over a period of two weeks. Not to be lightly dismissed. More to follow, some pressing priorities to attend to.
ReplyDelete