On November 30, 1948, an unknown man appeared at Somerton Beach, a stretch of coastline just outside the city of Adelaide, Australia. Despite the summer heat, he was dressed in a suit—something that, was not entirely uncommon in Australia at the time. The following morning, his body was found.
The Somerton Man
Soon, this person became known as the “Somerton Man.” At the time of his death, he was estimated to be between 40 and 45 years old. His appearance was well-groomed, his body fit, and his clothing of high quality. The Somerton Man carried no meaningful personal belongings—no identification documents, nothing that could reveal his identity. All labels had been carefully removed from his clothing.
The police were unable to identify the Somerton Man. No one seemed to be missing him. Nobody recognized the man, although his picture was shown in numerous newspapers, on many websites, and on television programs in Australia and elsewhere. Even the cause of death remained unclear. The circumstances suggested poisoning, although no trace of any toxin could be detected with the methods available at the time. It is possible that the Somerton Man took his own life—but murder or natural causes could not be ruled out either.
AI-generated pictures of the Somerton Man
A few weeks after his death, a suitcase was discovered in the luggage storage at Adelaide railway station. It appeared to belong to the deceased. However, its contents—consisting mainly of ordinary travel items—provided little help to investigators. At least one detail became clearer: the Somerton Man had been at the station. It is believed that he may have arrived in Adelaide on a night train. After leaving his suitcase in storage, he likely took a bus to Somerton Beach.
The Tamam Shud cryptogram
Several months after the death of the Somerton Man, investigators discovered another clue in the pocket of his trousers: a carefully folded slip of paper bearing the words “Tamam Shud.” Police quickly determined that the fragment had been torn from a copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward FitzGerald. This 19th-century collection of poetry was, and still is, very popular in the English-speaking world.
The Somerton Man had this message (Tamam Shud cryptogram) in his possession, but threw it away before he died.
Following a public appeal, a witness came forward who had found a copy of the book. It had apparently been thrown through the open window of his parked car. The torn slip of paper found in the dead man’s pocket clearly originated from this very copy. On the inside of the back cover, investigators discovered a handwritten sequence of letters with no obvious meaning—possibly a coded message. It read as follows (with some letters not clearly identifiable):
MRGOABABD
MLIAOI
MTBIMPANETP
MLIABOAIAQC
ITTMTSAMSTGAB
To this day, the message, now known as the “Tamam Shud cryptogram,” remains a mystery. Was it meant to be found? After all, the book had been left in a place where it was almost certain to attract attention.
Analysis of the cryptogram
Numerous codebreaking experts and amateur cryptologists have examined the “Tamam Shud cryptogram.” So far, no one has been able to present a convincing solution. Could it be a—albeit very short—suicide note? Might it contain a clue pointing to a murderer? Or is it nothing more than meaningless scribbling?
In my view, the most plausible hypothesis is that the cryptogram consists of the initial letters of English words. This idea is supported by the distribution of letters, as demonstrated in 2009 by the Australian students Andrew Turnbull and Denley Bihari. Perhaps the abbreviated words form a sentence when expanded.
But what purpose would such a cryptogram serve? Many people write down initials as memory aids, for example when trying to memorize a text. Was the author of these lines attempting to memorize a poem? None of the verses in The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam match these initials, and no other poem fitting this pattern has been identified so far.
Some interesting observations come from the Austrian cryptology expert and author Peter Lichtenberger. Let us assume that the cryptogram consists of five lines (the crossed-out “X” is therefore disregarded). According to Lichtenberger, the first letter may simply be a scribble caused by a pen that did not initially work. After writing the first line, the author began a second, but then realized that more space was needed. He crossed it out and rewrote it further below (the second and fourth lines begin almost identically). The third line may have been derived in some way from the first, and the fifth from the fourth. Both the third and fifth lines also begin with what appears to be a scribble—perhaps because the writer paused to think, allowing the pen to dry slightly. But in what way were the third and fifth lines derived from the others? Was some form of encryption involved? No one knows.
Identification of the Somerton Man
In July 2022, the scientists Derek Abbott and Colleen Fitzpatrick announced that they had determined that the Somerton Man was Carl “Charles” Webb, an electrical engineer and instrument maker born on 16 November 1905, in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne. Abbott claimed his DNA identification from strands of hair found in the plaster death mask made by South Australian Police in the late 1940s. Through investigative genetic genealogy, matches were found for descendants of two distant cousins of Webb, on both the paternal and the maternal side.
Unfortunately, nothing new has come to light about Carl Webb since this alledged identification. It remains unclear why nobody recognized Webb in the photograph of the Somerton Man, though this picture became very popular in Australia. There is no information explaining why Webb was in Adelaide, why he carried no identification, or how he died. No photograph of Carl Webb has ever been published, so it is not possible to check if he looked like the Somerton Man.
It is also unknown why Webb had the note later known as the Tamam Shud cryptogram in his possession and why he threw away a copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Most of all, the Tamam Shud cryptogram remains unsolved.
Literature
Craig Bauer: Unsolved!: The History and Mystery of the World’s Greatest Ciphers from Ancient Egypt to Online Secret. Princeton University Press 2017
Gary Feltus: The Unknown Man: A Suspicious Death at Somerton Beach. Port Campbell Press 2017
Klaus Schmeh: Nicht zu knacken. Hanser 2012
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