Tamam Shud case
The Tamam Shud case, also known as the Mystery of the Somerton Man, is an unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead at 6:30 am, 1 December 1948, on Somerton beach, Glenelg, just south of Adelaide, South Australia.[1]
The Somerton Man | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Police photo of the corpse, 1948 | |||
| Born | c.
| ||
| Status | Probably identified in 2022 | ||
| Died | 30 November–1 December 1948 (aged c. 43) | ||
| Body discovered | 1 December 1948 Glenelg, South Australia, Australia | ||
| Resting place | West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Gravesite: P3, 12, 106 | ||
| Other names | Unknown Man (police terminology), Somerton Man Carl 'Charles' Webb (unknown) | ||
| Known for | Mysterious death | ||
It is named after the Persian phrase tamám shud, meaning "ended" or "finished", printed on a scrap of paper found months later in the fob pocket of the man's trousers.
The scrap had been torn from the final page of a copy of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, authored by 12th-century poet Omar Khayyám. Tamam was misspelt as Taman in many early reports and this error.[note 1]
Jessica Thomson living in nearby Glenelg was questioned in connection with the case, her phone number was found in the book.[2] Shortly afterwards, she gave birth to a boy with the same rare ear trait as the unidentified man.[3]
On 26 July 2022, a professor Derek Abbott with genealogist Colleen M. Fitzpatrick, claimed to have identified the man as Carl "Charles" Webb, born in 1905, based on DNA of the man's hair.[4][5] South Australia Police and Forensic Science South Australia have not verified the result, but said they were "cautiously optimistic" about it.[6]
Tamam Shud Case Media
Location on Somerton Park beach where the corpse was found, marked by an 'X'
The scrap of paper, with its distinctive font, found hidden in the dead man's trousers, torn from the last page of a rare New Zealand edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The handwriting found in the back of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. The text is presumed to be some sort of code.
Burial of the Somerton Man on 14 June 1949. By his grave site is Salvation Army Captain Em Webb, leading the prayers, attended by reporters and police.
The simple burial site of the Unknown Man at the West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide
Notes
- ↑ While the words that end The Rubaiyat are "Tamám Shud" (تمام شد), it has often been referred to as "Taman Shud" in the media, because of a spelling error in early newspaper coverage or police reports which has persisted.[source?] In Persian, تمام tamám is a noun that means "the end" and شد shud is an auxiliary verb indicating past tense, so tamam shud means "ended" or "finished".[source?]
References
- ↑ The Advertiser, "Tamam Shud", 10 June 1949, p. 2
- ↑ The Advertiser, "Police Test Book For Somerton Body Clue", 26 July 1949, p. 3
- ↑ Stateline South Australia, "Somerton Beach Mystery Man", Transcript, Broadcast 27 March 2009. Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
- ↑ Keane, Daniel; Marchant, Gabriella (2022-07-26). "Somerton Man identified as Melbourne electrical engineer, researcher says". ABC News. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
- ↑ Yim, Noah (2022-07-27). "Seven-decade mystery of Somerton Man solved". The Australian. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/sevendecade-mystery-ofsomerton-man-solved/news-story/71976d67a215efb89cc50bc8c2425ac8. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
- ↑ "Statement regarding Somerton Man". South Australian Police. 27 July 2022. Archived from the original on July 27, 2022.