Shownotes Transcript
In death, The Somerton Man remains a mystery. But what was he in life? A Russian spy? Was he a black market racketeer, a professional dancer on holiday, an estranged lover saying goodbye one last time, or perhaps a combination of all of the above? Tonight in our final episode on the mystery of The Somerton Man, we look at most of the major theories put forth, and until that day a breakthrough in the case comes to light, we say, Tamám Shud… It is finished.
Tonight’s Quote:
“Please be advised that a search of these prints through the Identification Division of the FBI has failed to disclose any record. Sincerely Yours, John Edgar Hoover.”
— Excerpt from a January 1949 Letter to the Adelaide Police Commissioner obtained by Professor Abbott through the Freedom of Information Act regarding the Somerton Man’s Fingerprints.
Show Links:
We’ve found that some sites are not showing these links as clickable unless they are URLs, so until those outlets improve their show notes section, we are providing actual URLs next to the clickable description of each link to make things easier for our listeners!
The Dark Myths Collective: The Dark Myths Collective! http://darkmyths.org)
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Show Links:
The website for the fantastic historical action novels of A. L. Sowards http://bit.ly/1WCcM7k) Professor Derek Abbott’s primary source material on the Somerton Man case http://bit.ly/1pOYPVf) Malcolm Gladwell’s article in the New Yorker on Kim Philby http://bit.ly/1uf1gAO) Kim Philby, British double agent, reveals all in secret video http://bbc.in/1V3bFw7) Thomas Boghardt’s article on the Cambridge 5 on spymuseum.org) http://bit.ly/1rQC4Bo) The Cambridge 5 end up as “hopeless drunks” http://bbc.in/1Oz4vxS) Article on Cold War Australia, The Petrov Commission, and Operation VENONA http://bit.ly/1TmRJCI) Description of the roles of the GRU and the KGB as Soviet intelligence agencies http://bit.ly/1TeVnk7) Miliary Tuberculosis on Wiki, which may have caused some of Somerton Man’s symptoms http://bit.ly/1qsKbmu) Profits Over Patriotism: Black Market Crime in World War II Sydney by Timothy Blum http://bit.ly/1Xlttm7) The Grave of the Tamám Shud Man on Atlas Obscura http://bit.ly/1YxwQoL) The California Sunday Magazine article featuring Professor Abbott http://bit.ly/1JwbxhD) The South Australia Police Historical Society’s newsletter Hue and Cry – scroll down to see their blurb on TSM http://bit.ly/1TWKvEd) Christopher Andrew and the Strange Case of Roger Hollis on Quadrant Online http://bit.ly/1TWKvEd) Gordon Cramer’s Blog on the Tamam Shud Mystery featuring the technique of “Micro Writing” http://bit.ly/1NwhtMK) Nick Pelling’s blog on the Somerton Man – Note: his servers are being updated due to high traffic so check back if currently unavailable! http://bit.ly/1TYEh73) Pete Bowes’ blog on The Somerton Man http://bit.ly/1WC6PXw) Adelaide’s The Advertiser article examines Micro Writing and the code http://bit.ly/1TjSKvo) AV Club’s article on “Tamán Shud” http://avc.lu/22evm4L) ABC documentary on the case, Part 1 of 3 (click on other YouTube links to get parts 2 & 3 once finished) http://bit.ly/1Xw5kcR) Mike Dash’s article The Body on Somerton Beach on Smithsonian.com) http://bit.ly/1xUb8kV) The UK’s Daily Mail article with a Somerton’s “Love Child” angle http://dailym.ai/24WjvtQ) Huffington Post – On the Trail of the Somerton Man http://huff.to/1ID8nqM) A little bit about the code and Abbott on Phys.org) http://bit.ly/1KDq8qj) The New Yorker article on The Science of Ricin http://bit.ly/1qpOMWo) Could You Diagnose Ricin Poisoning? on MedPage Today http://bit.ly/1ThsX3A) The Sarin Gas Attack in Japan and the Related Forensic Investigation http://bit.ly/1YxFK5E) Acute Liver Failure Caused by Amanita phalloides Poisoning http://bit.ly/200iYDS) Australia’s Most Poisonous Plants on Australian Geographic http://bit.ly/1NwlJM8) “Lady Killers” article in The New Yorker by Emily Anthes http://bit.ly/1qpQx6b)
Credits:
Episode 036 – “The Somerton Man, Part 3: The Theories” Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Ryan McCullough Sound Design; Research Assistance by Tess Pfeifle and the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a,k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or “A.R.C.” for short. Copyright Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess 2016. All Rights Reserved.