Morbid - Episode 319: The Somerton Man Part 1

Episode Date: May 17, 2022

The Somerton Man case is one that has confounded Australia for almost 75 years now. It all started when an unidentifiable man was found dead on Somerton Beach. The man had no wallet, no form of ID, there was no name written inside of his clothing as would have been typical for the time. And it seemed like all of this was on purpose. Things in the case only got stranger when a tiny rolled up piece of paper was found in a hidden fob pocket in the man's jacket. The words on the paper read “Tamam Shud” and were later determined to have been ripped out of a book of poetry written in the 11th century: The Rubaiyat. In part one we’ll dip our toes into the mystery and in part two Ash will be taking everyone to the deep end of the pool for a serious dive into who the heck this man could possibly be and what the heck happened to him. As always, thank you to our sponsors: Native:  Go to Nativedeo.com/morbid, or use promo code morbid at checkout, and get twenty percent off your first order. ShipStation: Sign up using promo code MORBID for a FREE 60-day trial today at ShipStation.com and start saving with every shipment.  That’s 2 whole months of discounted shipping, absolutely free! Noom: Start building better habits today. Sign up for your trial at Noom.com/MORBID Notion: Learn more and get started for free at notion.com/morbid Pretty Liter: Go to PrettyLitter.com and use code morbid to save twenty percent on your first order. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to a morbid network podcast. Whether you're running errands on your daily commute, or even at home, you can enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app, the Audible app. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog. This includes the latest bestsellers and new releases. Plus get full access to a growing selection of included audiobooks, audible originals,

and more. If you've been wanting to form good habits, break bad ones, and improve motivation, atomic habits written and narrated by James Clear is a great lesson. It'll reshape your mindset on progress and success by helping you develop strategies to transform your habits. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash wonderypod or text wonderypod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days.

That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wonderypod or text wonderypod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie's list is now Angie, and we've heard a lot of theories about why. I thought it was an eco-move. For your worst, guess paper. It was so you could say it faster. No way. It's to be more iconic.

Must be a tech thing. But those aren't quite right. It's because now you can compare up front prices, book a service instantly, and even get your project handled from start to finish. Sounds easy. It is. And it makes us so much more than just a list. Get started at Angie.com.

That's ANGI, or download the app today. Hey, Weirdos, I'm Alina. I'm Ash. And this is morbid. Yay! Woo! More bid party, bitches. And before we get into the Ash-centric episode today... Buh, the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders. One of the worst cases I've ever read through. One of the worst. The hardest that we've podcasted, definitely.

Yeah, one of the worst things I've ever had to research in my entire life. We also discussed it on an episode of the murder squad with Billy Jensen and Paul Holes. That was crazy. And this case was completely unsolved. There were three little girls that were brutalized at camp, brutalized. They were eight-year-old Lori Farmer, nine-year-old's Michelle Gusey, and ten-year-old Doris Milner. It's like, like, they were babies.

The cutest little babies you ever saw. Just going off to summer camp. They were brutally murdered at summer camp. Way back in, I mean, the trial happened way back in 1979, I believe it was. There was a suspect, Jean Leveroy Hart, who they really believed in it, but they could not connect him

with any kind of physical evidence, any really strong physical evidence. DNA was really not happening that way. But luckily, they collected stuff. They've done semen on a pillowcase. It's terrible. But now, Mase County Sheriff Mike Reed said that they were able to use advanced, like now, technology to completely say that Gene Lee Roy Hart was the murderer without a doubt. Which is horrific because he was acquitted. That is the, I think one of the most devastating parts about this entire case is that he was acquitted.

Like he sat there and heard that verdicts be read and he got away with three murders. But then two years later, he died of a massive heart attack. So there's that like silver lining there. There's always that. Except he really never had to face anything for what he did. That's the shitty thing. And he's, I mean, this case, he was a true monster.

There's not even a word. There's not even a word. Yeah, it's outrageous. But Sheriff Reed said there was absolutely no room for doubt here. It's 100% definitive. He was quoted as saying, I pray that there's something that we've done that gives the family a second of something that even resembles closure or acceptance or something. But as far as peace, there is absolutely nothing that this case has given me.

There is absolutely nothing about this case that has given me even one second of peace, period. So he was, now we know this was one of those things where when we talked about it, I remember being like, are we ever going to find out? Yeah. I don't want this to end with us going, well, I guess we'll never find out what happened to those poor children. when it's so frustrating because I feel like a good portion of people who have studied this case knew all along. Absolutely. It was one of those things that when you read it and research it, you're like, it's clear as that. You did it. And like in my mind, I was like, he did it.

When you presented it, I without a doubt in my mind, I was like, yep. But when you don't have those definitive pieces of evidence, you're like, I don't want to say you did it because I don't have that DNA link. I don't have like smoking gun. It's a big claim. And sometimes it really does seem like somebody did it and then they didn't, but this is one of those cases where there was a lot of like police work

that just was like non-stop. They really went for it. They kept it open. They kept it alive and it's alive. And it's awesome. And it's great to hear. But I feel really bad that those families are kind of having to live through like another trauma. Well, because they're starting a entirely different grief

process right now. Exactly. And now just knowing that that's the guy and knowing that he got acquitted, that's the biggest thing is that he got acquitted. Like, I think that's the biggest thing is that he got acquitted. Like, yeah, like that's the thing that would really bother me. But like the sheriff, like Sheriff Reed said, I hope it gives them something. Yeah, anything, but he's right, there's no peace in this case.

And it's a really, really sad, sad case, but I am happy to see that it at least has a conclusion of some sort. Right, and now hopefully more healing can begin. But yeah, we just, we had to mention that really crazy, but look at what DNA can do, guys. It's crazy. DNA is, it's a few jobs. It's also super weird, as you said, look what DNA can do, guys. I got a 23 in me.

Wow. You can notice the patient, like literally look at says now. Look what it can do. Look what it can do.. I got a 23 in me. Well, look at notification, like literally look, it says now, look what it can do. Look what it can do, it can notify you on your cell phone. There you go. It can make your hotline bling. It can. Well, what's weird honestly is that this case that we're gonna talk about today,

a lot of the movement that we're gonna talk about in part two because yes, this is gonna be two parts guys. So to say you know. I know the two bad. Right off the bat. But what we're gonna talk about in part two because yes, this is gonna be two parts, guys. So to say you know. I love a two-pad, right off the bat. But what we're gonna talk about in part two, a lot is DNA and how it could possibly solve this crazy cold case. I'm very interested in this one.

I've read a lot about this one. So I'm like, let's go. What's freaking wild is I was just looking for something, like a case to cover. Like I was working on something else, but I was like, I don't know, it was like a spooky case and I wasn't feeling it. And then I was looking for something like a case to cover. Like I was working on something else, but I was like, I don't know, it was like a spooky case, and I wasn't feeling it. And then I was looking for something else,

and I found this, and I had never heard of this. You never heard of this? I had never heard of the summer-ton man. Wow, that's shocking. I know, but I think our Australian listeners are gonna be pretty stoked, because if you like me have never heard of this, this is one of Australia's biggest unsolved mysteries.

And the story starts all the way back in 1948. We love it. And in Australia, in 1948, it was Summer's Eve, not the body wash. I was gonna say. But it was November 30th. And in Australia, Summer starts on December 1st. For a second, I was very confused when you said that

and I realized we were in Australia. Yeah, isn't that wild? That was because I was like, what? You were like, I'm literally so confused. That's winter. What? So yes, it is November 30th, 1948, and a couple is walking along Sumerton Beach in Adelaide,

which is the capital of South Australia. Now, as they're walking down the beach, they notice this guy. And he's laying up against like the wall of the beach, sort of in a weird position. Basically, only his head and shoulders were propped up against the wall, and the rest of him was just kind of like sprawled out. And he also just didn't look like a typical beach goer at all. He was wearing a nice suit, like a couple pieces there. There was a couple pieces to that suit. A few pieces, I was gonna say.

I was gonna say a three piece suit, but that was not the truth. Many suits. Many pieces. He was wearing clothes. He had like super duper polished shoes, which like you're on the beach guy where you get shoes on.

He got a scuffle mall up. So the couple thought that this guy was just drunk because as they walked by him, they saw him kind of raise his right hand either to like wave at them or maybe to light a cigarette they thought, but before he could get his hand like all the way up, it just slumped right back down.

All right, he was going through it. It was like it was like beyond his control. Yeah. But being 1948 and all, they just minded their business and they went about their walk. They were like, that's not for me. So another couple actually saw the same man on the beach that same night.

And they remembered also thinking that it was weird that a man dressed so nicely would be laying on the beach in the state that he was in. Yeah. So, this couple saw the man sitting there with a bunch of mosquitoes warming around his head at this point. Oh! And they commented to each other that he must have been dead to the world, to not be swatting all those mosquitoes out of his face. Oh, that freaks me out. Now little did they know this man actually might have been dead as they muttered that to each other, or he was like right on dust storm. He was on the brink. Yes. So at about 6.30 the next morning,

December 1st, 1948, first day of summer in Australia. Oh, yeah, all of the above. A man named Neil Day, he was out riding horses with his friends on the beach. They were like amateur jockeys. Now, as they were riding, Neil noticed the man that everybody else had. But he called to his friends, and he was like,

maybe we should go check on this guy. Like, he doesn't look so good. And as they got closer, it became clear that this guy was definitely not breathing. So they called the police right away. Man. Pretty much as soon as investigators arrived on the scene, they knew that this man had died.

But finding out who he was and what he was doing there on that beach is a mystery that has still not been solved to this day. So the man who became known as Summerton Man over the years, he had no wallet, he had no form of ID whatsoever. That's what's so crazy about this. Because I've known it as like,

I've heard it as like the Summerton Man and also like, Tamum Shud. Yep, we'll get into that. Or as I want it to. Tamum Shud. Tamum Shud. Tamum Shud. And yeah, that's what so wild is about it that there's no form of ID whatsoever.

None. None. And that they were, it's just crazy. Like this, yeah, this case is really, like we just talked about with the Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders. We said at the end of that, we're like, I just needs to be solved. You know, it's like dozens and dozens and like decades and decades of time goes by. It's like, come on, there's always ways. There's got to be solved. Even though it's like dozens and dozens and like decades and decades of time goes by, it's like, come on, there's always ways. There's got to be something. And this is one of those that I'm like, you gotta know, it's one that I never answer when someone asks me if you could have one case solved. I know. But it should be one. Well, there's so many that I feel like I just blanked when somebody asks me that.

I'm always, because I always want Jambanay Ramsey. That's my number one, but there really is just an endless list, because I want them all to Ramsey. That's my number one, but there really is just an endless list. Because I want them all to be self. Exactly. But this one is up there. This one, especially now that I like Dovehead first. I'm so glad you did this one. Oh my god, it's wild. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING You've heard me talk about how much I love native. The thoughtful formulation behind all their products is something that I've always loved because they

understand that it's not just what's on the inside that counts but also the outside. That is exactly why native is releasing their deodorant that I know and love in new and improved plastic free packaging. Can we get around up all applause? Native is doing their part to help our earth with their new 100% plastic-free and recyclable packaging. When you buy Native's new plastic-free, recyclable packaging deodorant, you are saving 37 grams of plastic. Native is also a proud partner of 1% for the planet

and they're committed, or excuse me, they are committing 1% of their plastic-free deodorant sales to environmental non-profits. That's major. Just like all of native's other deodorants, their plastic-free deodorant is aluminum and paraben-free. It kills odor-causing bacteria, and it has 24-hour odor protection to keep you feeling and smelling fresh.

Like, I still smell good. With native juice from 10 cents, including their classic coconut and vanilla, sensitive formulas that are formulated without baking soda and even unscented. Ready to try plastic-free deodorant? Go to nativedo.com slash morbid or use promo code morbid at checkout and get 20% off your first order. That's native deo-E-O, dot com slash morbid or use promo code morbid at checkout for 20% off your first order. So no wallet, no form of ID. He was wearing boxers, a white

singlet, which is like a man's kind of like undershirt and then my and some sources it kind of, or not like in some photos that I saw of it, it's almost like a, what they would wear wrestling. Like a one piece sort of. Yeah. And then he was wearing a white shirt, a brown sweater, a brown double vested coat and brown slacks. Okay.

A monochromatic king. Yeah. Now the shoes that he was wearing, they were so brightly polished that the investigators were convinced there was no way that he had been walking around this beach for, or like anywhere for a long period of time.

They also noted that one of the pockets on his pants was mended with an orange thread that just looked unfamiliar to them. Yeah. Now like saying that now you're like, they didn't recognize the orange thread, like what? Yeah. This was 1948, this was during the Cold War. There was like a ton of stuff that just didn't exist to them.

Yeah. So they're like, what the hell is this? And like, what's this? Things orange thread. Right. And like, things were processed and made in other parts of the world that some people just had no idea about. I know. That's really wild. It's crazy. And it actually, it comes up a lot in this case. So in trying to identify the man, they look to see if his name was printed on any of the tags and his clothing, because especially way back then, that was a thing to do.

And there were labels on clothes back then where you could like know where something was made, you know, you could pinpoint it easily. But when they looked, they saw that all the tags inside of his clothing were deliberately torn out. They had very deliberately been ripped out, so that they could not be traced back to where they were bought. Exactly. So the contents of his pockets turned up a fair amount of things as well. There was a railway ticket to Henley Beach, a bus ticket to North Glenelg for 10.45am, which was the morning before he was found.

There was also a metal comb, a packet of juicy fruit, which by the way, I was like, that existed back then. I kind of make sense. I feel like juicy fruit is at like old school. Oh, you wanna know how old school juicy fruit is? It's been around since 1893. What? Because I was like, what in a good time? And I was like, oh my god.

Oh my god. I hope people are shocked as that. Are I shocked by that as I was? I think it was old, but not that old. So old. Then there was also a packet of Army Club cigarettes. But the cigarettes inside of the packet, so it said Army Club on the carton of them.

But then the cigarettes inside were not that brand. They turned out to be a different brand that was a little bit more expensive and they were called Cancitas. Okay. Then finally there was a hinkerciff, a packet of Bryant and May brand matches, and that was that.

All right. Now on the collar of his shirt was a half smoked cigarette and something that struck everybody as odd was that the man wasn't wearing a hat. Literally pretty much every man ever during the 1940s was wearing some kind of hat. And I never really thought about that because at first I was like, okay.

You were like, I wouldn't be weird to me. It was like everybody wore hats back then. And it would have lined up with the way that he was dressed because he was dressed. I was gonna say. Yeah. Back then you would have taught that with the way that he was dressed because he was dressed. I was gonna say. Yeah. Back then, you would have taught that off with a hat, definitely.

So instead of wearing a hat, his hair was styled and it was pushed all the way back, which apparently was a very American style at this time. Oh, okay. And also Q and Aeron Samuel's reference. There you go, you look sexy with your hair pushed back. Thank you. I'm looking at pictures of him right now.

He's a good looking dude. I know. And they, it looks like they've aged, progressed to him. Like they've actually filled out his face. Somebody did. We'll get to that in part two. I love that you're, I love it. I love you. We'll get there.

Oh, let me tell you, he's a handsome man. The sexy fella. Yeah. So the body was transported from Samaritan Beach to Royal Adelaide Hospital, but it was actually never brought inside. Wow. Yeah, Dr. John Barkley Bennett pronounced the man dead outside Adelaide Hospital, but it was actually never brought inside. Wow. Yeah, Dr. John Barkley Bennett pronounced the man dead outside while he was in the ambulance

and immediately had the body transported to the mortuary. Were investigators hoped that Dr. John Dwyer, who would be the one doing the autopsy, would find some kind of meaningful clue. But things somehow only got more confusing when the man's body was studied. So the first thing that Dr. Dwyer took note of was that Sumerton's man's pupils were small and they were weirdly shaped. Okay.

So then he looked for signs of any defensive wounds to see if some kind of struggle had gone down. He found none. In fact, the man's hands were said to be very neatly kept. He had recently cut his fingernails and he had clean fingernails. The way that they put it back then was that his hands were not used for any kind of manual labor. Oh, so that gives you a clue. It does.

Who he would be in life. Absolutely. And another thing, and another part of his body that gave a huge clue were his calves. His calves, unlike his hands, had actually been exercised pretty regularly. It seemed like he was using those calves. Look at him. But they weren't in the shape that they would be from playing most sports. Instead, his legs looked like he was a dancer. Oh. Because his calves were pretty high set, set high up,

and they stood out so prominently. And his feet also made it look that way, that he was a dancer. Okay. Because apparently he had wedged toes, which suggested that he wore some kind of pointed shoes regularly, maybe a shoe like a riding boot, or maybe point shoes for ballet. So overall he was in really good shape, he was a well-built guy, but his inside showed some cause for concern. For one thing, his spleen was quote unquote, strikingly large

in firm and about three times the normal size. Oh, so immediately something's wrong. You never want that. You do not want anything inside your body. You never want it three times the size. No, it's a normal size. No, I certainly don't. Yeah, it's a good general rule of thumb. It is. And in addition to that, his liver was super bloated, so bigger than it should have been, and it was filled with blood. Ooh. There was also blood found in his stomach and his kidneys.

Huh. Yes. So the blood within his organs pointed to signs that maybe he was poisoned. Yeah. So then they had to do some testing to determine if there was any poison within his system. But when they did that, they didn't detect any poison.

Hmm, so weird. Now even the last meal that he ate, which was a meat and veggie pasty, or pasty, didn't turn up any traces of poison. Okay. So weird. So, I have no idea. So ultimately, the death was presumed to have occurred, quote unquote, no earlier than 2am, And the cause

of death ended up being listed as heart failure due to unknown causes. Do they, do you know, you might not know, because who knows? Because who knows? Who knows? Who knows? I don't know. I'll let you know if I know. I wonder if they looked at his esophagus. I don't know the answer to that.

Look at any kind of like, you know, or maybe back then they wouldn't. I don't know if that would be even something they would do. I will look into it and I will answer you in part two. I appreciate it. Cool. Cause now I'm curious. I know, I just thought about it. I don't know.

I'm sure they did. Well, the problem is now actually, and we'll go over it a little more in part two. The original autopsy report is gone. Oh, okay. Yeah. Which is interesting. That is interesting. No, so I said, which is interesting. That is interesting.

Now, so I said that his death was listed no earlier than 2 a.m. Like they felt like he had died at 2 a.m. The tricky thing about listing the time of death though was that the doctor went purely off-rig or mortis. Yeah. Like, didn't really go off of anything else before. You talked about that before.

There's so many other contributing factors to look at, but he did his best. Yeah. Sort of. I mean, it's also like they didn't bring the body inside. Yeah. The ambient temperature around the body, like that all needs to be taken into consideration. Exactly. Exactly. That's going to affect everything. That's the thing. So his thought was that the man could have ingested some kind of poison like digitalis or strophanthin, which leave the body system rapidly once they've taken effect.

Oh, digitalis. Yes. Interesting. So the body was held at the morgue, and the investigators tried to figure out who this man could be, where he was from. Everyone was hoping that someone would walk in and claim the body, but it just wasn't happening. People were coming in to try to see if they could identify him, but literally any time somebody came in and tried and they followed up on it, it was not who they

thought it was. There was a period of time where people thought that he was like a 60-year-old missing farmer, but first of all his hands weren't not used for being a labor, and pair that with the fact that Sumerton Man was believed to have only been about 45 years old. Yeah. Dead end right there. Doesn't work. Now, Summerton Man's info was released to the public. And the official report said he was 45 years old, stood about 5-11 inches in height. He had a strong build.

He was clean-shaven. He had hair that was going gray at his temples, but it was kind of like gingerish over all and his hair was fair and texture. He had gray eyes and he had natural teeth. But something interesting to note about his teeth was that he was missing his back molars and he also seemed to have been born without his lateral insiders.

Oh, okay. Which are the two teeth next to your front teeth. Yeah. Like on either side. Oh, so he was missing those. He was missing those. And it like he had been born without them. Yeah.

So months went by with no break in the case. The man had been fingerprinted by this point and his prints were sent out to local police stations to see if any match could be made, but none could be made in South Australia. Like no match to the fingerprints. So they sent the fingerprints out to be checked basically across the world and nothing came back.

Ooh, the hell is this guy? I literally have no idea. I gotta know. Now, Jay Edgar Hoover announced after some time that the US didn't have any records of the man's fingerprints, which was definitely a letdown because there were some clues that hinted that maybe this guy was from the US.

The first being the way that his hair was styled. And the second being the suit that he was wearing. The suit that he was wearing seemed to come from America as well. Now furthering the story that Sumerton Man had at least traveled from America was a very hopeful discovery made just about a month after the body had been discovered. On January 14, 1949, the Adelaide Railway Station called the police, and they told them that they had a suitcase that had been there unclaimed since November 30. Ding, ding, ding. Look at that date. The day that Summer 10 Man had arrived in Adelaide.

So the police had been looking for some kind of break like this for like a month, so they hurried on over there, and they got to searching the contents of this case, this luggage case. They were hopeful that they would maybe be able to find a name, but they did not end up getting a name and it only made things way more confusing. It's like the more things you get in this case, the weirder it gets and the more confusing it gets. No, genuinely, because every time they're walking down like a new path, you're like, oh, this is going to be it, like this is is gonna do it. And then you're like, what?

They find another piece of evidence that detours them completely in another way. Truly. So inside of the seemingly new suitcase, by the way, they found a bunch of clothes, pajamas, undershirts, ties, pants, all of the above. And most of the labels on the clothing had been ripped out just like the missing labels

from the clothing on the body. But the labels that weren't ripped out were labeled T-Keen, but it was spelled two different ways. It was Keen with an E and Keen without an E, on the different like clothing. So no leads came from searching that name, and the investigators actually came to the conclusion that it had been put there on purpose.

Like this man was trying to hide his true identity. Wow. Now, along with all the clothing, the investigators also found a match to that orange thread that they had found stitch in his pants that had repaired one of his pockets. There was this little thread card with the orange thread wrapped around it.

Now, interestingly enough, like I was saying in the beginning, like there was certain stuff that was just produced in one part of the world and not the others, that thread was only produced in America. There was nowhere outside the US where that man would have been able to even get his hands on this particular kind of thread. That is interesting. Right. Now, another only made in the US item inside the suitcase was a jacket.

The jacket was stitched with a particular stitch that was only used by sewing machines in America. It's up to us. It's up to us. It's up to us to figure out who he is. We gotta know. This is our problem now. I'm sorry. Sorry guys. Isn't that crazy though too? There was only, like in America, that was the only place where that stitch existed. You could get that thread. Yeah, stitch. Isn't that cool? It's just crazy.

So in addition to the exclusive US items, there was also some kind of kit found in the suitcase. Now this kit included a cut down table knife, like it had clearly been like cut, and it had been sharpened to somewhat of a point. There were two pairs of scissors. One of the pairs was broken. There was a screwdriver, six pencils, some zinc and a stenciling brush. Do you have any idea what the fuck that kit could be for?

An stenciling brush. A stenciling brush. It's so funny. When I first read this, I was like, that's what it would be for. You know what? The zinc and the stenciling brush. I was about this thing in the zinc and the stenciling brush? I was about to say like, zinc and a stenciling brush.

I don't know. All right, so investigators believed that the kit was one that would have been used on merchant ships by the third officer on board who would have been in charge of stenciling the cargo. Oh shit. So we'd like cut out stencils and shit, use the pencils. I don't know what the zinc was for. I probably should've looked on the wrong. Maybe the zinc was like some

kind of something to seal it a little bit. I don't know. I literally pulled that out of my ass. That could be a beautiful 100% wrong. Yeah. Just guessing. It was to seal it to make a shiny. Yeah. Now there were also some letters within the suitcase, and they weren't really letters. They were like stationary, and letters hadn't been written yet on them. And then there were envelopes with stamps. Okay. And another thing that some people note as odd,

no socks in the suitcase. He was found wearing a pair of socks. So it was the only gonna wear those socks? I don't know. And so some people are like, well, it was the war, like there were rations, there were shortages. Yeah.

But when I was looking into it, a ton of people were like, no, there was no shortage on socks back then. Ah. So that's one of the things in this case that people kind of like stick to, but there's really no explanation as to why he wouldn't. Yeah. It's just another confusing thing that there's really no answer to. And it really could just be one of those things

where he's just that kind of guy who doesn't wash his socks a lot and just uses the same socks. Maybe he's like me and he doesn't wear socks so often. Maybe his socks had a hole in them. Those are a lucky socks maybe. Yeah. Also I just looked it up.

You make stencils out of sink. Boom. Like you make the actual stencil. That's cool. So that adds up, like that whole thing together, I feel like that makes a lot of stuff. Yeah, that definitely makes sense. Cool.

Yeah. If you run an e-commerce business, you probably feel like it's about time that people stopped treating e-commerce giants better because they're bigger. And you're absolutely right. That is why shipstation gives e-commerce sellers of all sizes access to the same deeply discounted rates usually reserved for Fortune 500 companies. No undership station is already trusted by over 100,000 sellers. If you're terrified of dealing with international shipping, don't be!

Ships station makes it a breeze to ship anywhere around the world, so scale away. Ships station can handle it. It can save you so much money, it's a no-brainer. Honestly, I'm thinking about all the things that I would do at the money. I'd go on a cruise because a ships station, get it, I'd go on a cruise to celebrate ships station with all the money that I saved because of the exclusive discounts on shipping rates. And guess what? They don't just save you money ship station, but it's a good place to start. You also get deeply discounted shipping rates normally reserved for fortune 500 companies,

and ship station works with over 45 carriers. You can easily compare rates and delivery times to quickly find the best option for you that works every time. It works with over 300 platforms, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and more, and it automates processes like fulfillment and tracking so that you can save your time and manage your orders. In fact, 98% of companies that use SIP Station for a year keep using it as long as they're in business. Don't let the big guys keep all the good discounts to themselves. Sign up using promo code Morbid for a free 60-day trial at shipstation.com and start saving

with every shipment. That is two whole months of discounted shipping absolutely free. Just go to shipstation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the page and type in morbid. Shipstation. Make ship happen. So the staff at the railway station, they were asked if they remembered anything about this guy, but it's a fucking railway station. They were like, I have no idea. Oh, a guy in a suit. Yeah. They were like, oh, everyone.

Yeah, I definitely saw him. Yeah, like I saw hundreds of him. Literally. So nobody held that against them because they were, yeah, oh, everyone. Yeah, I walked through here. I saw him. Yeah, I saw hundreds of him. Literally. So nobody held that against them, because they were, yeah, this is busy. And it really didn't matter too much because the police were pretty positive that this suitcase belonged to their guy anyway.

Yeah. Because the underwear packed away inside matched the brand that had been found on the body. And then there were also a bunch of hanger chips packed that matched the one that was tucked in to summer demands pocket. Put that with the one that was tucked in to some of the demands pocket. Put that with the thread and shit, that's him. Exactly.

And also all the clothing matched the size of the clothing that he was found wearing. Yeah, that's him. Yeah, it's him. So based on what they had found, they thought that it might be a good idea to check the different ship records and immigration records too,

since this man really didn't seem to be like he was from Australia. But checking all the records turned up with nothing. They got nothing, no teakeen, nothing like that. It was literally like every avenue they went down in this case just led to a dead end. He's a phantom. He is, I don't even know what he is, he's so mysterious. So by June, now remember, he was found in December.

June, there had been tons of leads followed up on. Lots of times where investigators thought that they finally had the identity of this guy, only for the person in question to show up at the police station alive. And at this point, they were gonna have to bury the body soon. Yeah, they can't just hang onto that for a minute.

They could have not. It had been in bomb with in days of arriving in the mortuary, but it was starting to decompose and they were like, we can't keep this. And it's just like, honestly, it sounds like cold, but it's like, you don't have room for that. It's just hang on to a body and a morgue forever. It's got to be claimed or something needs to happen.

Right, exactly. So in order to get the man buried, but still have access to him when they needed it, they decided to have a taxidermist come in to do a plaster casting of the man. So Paul Francis Laman arrived at the morgue for the first time on June 2nd to see the body, and then by June 10th, the plaster mold of the man was made from the shoulders up, just like a bust, basically. Yeah. Now just a days later, a man named Sir John Cleveland arrived to examine the body one final time before he was going to be buried, because the original coroner had actually written to Sir Cleveland back in April to see if he could help.

He had a great reputation. He was a professor of pathology at the University of Adelaide, which is going to come up a ton in this, and he was called in for cases like these where everybody was just stumped. He had performed more than 7,000 autopsies during his time. Wow. So he was a good dude to have in your corner. He knew some stuff.

He had seen some shit, but he hadn't seen this. So he looked over the body again. He was actually the one to note how shiny the man shoes were and say like he couldn't have walked along the beach very far this day. And he was just as convinced as the original corner that there had to have been some kind of poison used here based on the evidence from the organs. But at the same time, he was surprised to hear that there was no vomit on the area on the beach where he had been found and no reports of anyone seeing him go into convulsions. Because usually those are two things that will happen if you've been poisoned.

Yeah. And of course, he was very surprised at the lack of poison detected within the body. So he's looking it over. Once he finishes looking over the body itself, he moved on to the clothes that the body had been dressed in that day. And it was then that he made one of the biggest discoveries in the case's entire history. Although, it wouldn't actually seem to be that big of a clue right away. Inside of a hidden pocket, or more realistically, a fog pocket, which is where men could hold their pocket watch. Oh, okay. Yeah. Sir John Cleeland

found a rolled up piece of paper. It was like rolled up tightly. I'm shocked that they hadn't found this. It's crazy. The pocket was very, it was quote unquote hidden. It was kind of, you wouldn't be looking for it. Still. I mean, you should be looking for it as an investigator. I was gonna say, when it's your sole job to be looking for it, I feel like you should have found this one. But, sir, I'm gonna call him to the carpet right now.

You should have found it. You should. John Cleeland had to have his moment, though. I'm glad he did. He's like, I'm a bad bitch. He deserved it. So, of course, I'm gonna find something huge in this case. Yeah. John Cleeland had to have his moment, though. I'm glad he did. He's like, I'm a bad bitch. He deserved it. So of course, I'm going to find something huge in this case.

Absolutely. Now, the paper had very clearly been ripped from a larger paper. And the words, Tom M. Schudd, were typed in decorative font on the paper. So no one in the room was quite sure what those two words meant, or were they even originated from. But they thought enough to put the discovery in the local paper, basically saying that the words looked like they had been ripped out of book and to come forward with any information that someone might have. And in the meantime, they had a body to bury. So Sumerton

Man was buried on June 14, 1949, in West Terrace Cemetery. The secretary of the South Australia Grandstand Bookmakers Association, a man named Mr. Allen Saunders, and the rest of his team, they felt like this man shouldn't be buried in an unmarked grave just to be like forgotten. Yeah. So they banded together and they purchased the plot where he was buried and the headstone that marks his grave. Oh, that's really nice. Right. So they actually had the wear with all two to bury him in a spot where they thought that it would be easier if the body needed to be exhumed someday. Yeah. So they did that on purpose, which I was like,

it's pretty cool. That is. Now his headstone red here lies the unknown man who was found at Summerton Beach first December 1948. That's chilling. So creepy. Even more creepy is that apparently flowers would be specifically left on the gravesite

during spring time and it seemed to be at like certain kind of intervals as the years went on even up until the late 70s. I was just going to set up a camera and then I was like, it's the 40s. It's the 40s. Yeah, I don't think they just have like a tiny little tiny little video camera. And they could have staked it out. They should have staked it out very much because my first instinct was camera

but I quickly realized where we were. But you got eyes. But like I, that's where I was going exactly. Yeah, you were getting there. Staked out. They should have. See what it is. They didn't. Oh, come on guys.

Yeah, so soon there was, there was a lot of, yeah. There was a lot of great work I have to say. For sure. A lot of great work. A lot of not so great work. Yeah, there's just a couple of things that you're like, come on. As we get through, there's going to be a couple more things

that you're like, I don't understand that choice. Not like crazy major, but just like things. Guys, what? So soon after Samerton Man was laid to rest, the police were contacted by a man who worked as a reporter. He had seen the information about what was found inside the man's fog pocket, and he wanted to offer who worked as a reporter. He had seen the information about what was found inside the man's

Fab pocket, and he wanted to offer a bit of a tip. He told them that the words printed on the paper were Persian, and they meant either is over or is finished. Ooh, so that's creepy. Ooh, that's really chilling. He also told them about a book called The Rubia of Omar Qaiyam, I believe is how you say it. The book was a collection of poems, which is why it was entitled Rubiyat in the first place. In Persian, a

Rubiyat is a verse or our verses of poetry that consists of four lines. Okay. Now he wasn't like, oh by the way, here's a random book recommendation, like I think you should read this. The reason he was telling them about this book was because the book ends with the words, Tom-am should. It now seemed like the random paper in this guy's pocket actually had a hell of a lot more impact on the case. Ha! So the author of the original rubyette was Omar Qayam.

I believe it's how you say it. I looked it up and I think I'm saying it right. It sounds good, I hope so. Now he was from what is now known as a ran and he lived there during the 11th century. So he had a lot going on. Yeah. He was not only a mathematician,

but he was also a philosopher and astronomer, a physician and a poet hence the poetry book. He's busy. He's booked and busy. Now when he wrote the book initially, it actually was not incredibly popular because it was one of those works that was just way ahead of its time.

Yeah. Omar was actually an agnostic man living in an 11th century world, not as catchy as Inan, but whatever. His homes covered really intense subjects like love, death, whether or not an afterlife exists and whether or not God exists. So imagine like visiting those ideas in the 11th century.

I was just gonna say that's risky. It is. But it actually became really popular in the 1800s when an Englishman Edward Fitzgerald translated the poems and he republished them. It's like a hot debate among readers of both works, whether Edward Fitzgerald's book took too much of its own liberty and translation or not, kind of seems like he did change a lot of it. Interesting.

But around the time that the Summerton man had died, it turns out that the book was actually starting to regain popularity. People were dealing with the war and the hard and sad times that came along with it. They probably got some kind of sense of comfort reading this book, for sure. You know, that's like very philosophical. A lot of questions to be answered. Exactly. So by 1950, though, there had been multiple different publications. So if the Summerton Man's piece of paper belonged to the end of someone's copy of the book,

law enforcement wanted to know who was in possession of this book, but it was going to be really hard to figure it out because there was tons and tons of different copies. Yes, of course. Now, first they had to deal with a coronal inquest regarding Sumerton Man's death just days after he was buried. The inquest started on June 17th, and the witnesses who had seen him on November 30th laying against the wall of the beach, they were called to recount their stories, which were exactly the same as they were at the beginning. The coroner and the different pathologists testified about their belief that the man had died of heart failure, but they weren't sure what caused it, and then the hidden note came into question.

When asked what he thought the poem meant, and if he believed it had anything to do with why the man had died, the detective who had been on the case responded, the poem itself simply means that we know what this world has in store for us, but we do not know what the other world has in store. And while we are on this earth, we should enjoy life to the fullest. And when it is time for us to pass on, pass on without any regrets. Hmm, so. Okay.

Sir Cleeland, who was the one to find the note, he now had an opinion on the overall case. He was definitely still leaning toward the Sumerton man and justing some kind of poison, but because of the note now, he didn't think that the poison had been administered to him, but rather that he took the poison himself as a means to kill himself intentionally. Okay. So, Cleveland explained to the court,

or excuse me, Sir Cleveland explained to the court. Now, give him that, Sir. I mean, he earned it. He did. He said, I think the words were put there deliberately and indicated that he was fed up with things. Yeah, I got that. I could see it.

I mean, it literally means the end or it's over. Yeah, like finished. She's like, I'm done here. Yeah. And then finally, a man named Sedrick Stanton Hicks got on the stand to testify. Sedrick, who was a professor of human physiology and pharmacology at the University of Adelaide.

There you go. He testified that there are two poisons he knew of that could kill a man and not leave a trace. But he was worried about saying their names allowed in the courtroom. So instead, he wrote them down on a piece of paper and handed them over. Because he was like, I am.

Because he didn't want like. I am not letting you didn't want like... I am not letting you all know what these wild poisons are. That you can get away with it if you use them. Yeah, exactly. Because they were kind of like accessible during this time. Yeah. Like not like super, but a little bit. You can find them.

He named the poisons as digitalists and strophanthin, like we had said earlier. So at this point, I was like cool, cool, cool. What are those poisons though and where do they come from? So I'm sure you know this. In looking into digitalis, I learned that it comes from the plant, Fox Glove. Yes. And I got all the information on digitalis

from the American Association for the Advancement of Science website, whoo. Or excuse me, the Advancement of Sciences website. There you go. So digitalis, as you might know it, as Fox Glove, was one of the Poison's reference that could have killed Somerton man and left no trace. Now the use of digitalis in medicine

actually dates back to the 1700s. A British doctor named William Witherling. Witherling. Witherling, you got it. He discovered that he could make a powder from the dried leaves, and he could use it to treat various things like a dima, epilepsy, fluid in the lungs,

a regular heartbeat. And he had said that he didn't prescribe the medication often though, because in larger doses, it can be toxic and it can cause a whole host of problems like vomiting and paired vision, which makes things either yellow or green. Interestingly enough, and secretion of urine and ultimately death.

Now actually just like a very random fun fact, Van Gogh's yellow period is said to have come from a time when he was prescribed to jatallish for treatment of his epilepsy. That's interesting. Yeah, and I guess he also did a lot of paintings of his, like, doctor at the time who was prescribing his medication. And a lot of times in the photos that, or in the paintings that he would do,

the doctor was holding Foxcloth. Oh, look at that. Isn't that interesting? Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah. So then Charles Edmund Cullen, that doctor who may have killed hundreds of patients. Whoops.

You know, that guy? He used digoxin, or I need to look at that. This was in the Dorothy, Dorothy... A Pente? Yes. Did I say that di joxin? I think you did, yeah, because I think I said it wrong. Okay.

So I think, yeah, this is all very similar. Isn't that crazy? Wow. That's what he used to kill his patients. Now, di joxin, if I'm saying it correctly, is the cardiac glyglococide that is found in the leaves of digitalis, and it can be used to lead to more calcium being stored within the heart cells,

which in turn leads to the heart to work better, but in large amounts, it can make the heart work too much and go into cardiac arrest. Could this have been the reason why Summerton man's heart failed? Yeah, absolutely. Maybe.

Or it could have been that other one that that Cedric Stanton Hicks mentioned. Strophanthin, that other poison. Strophanthin is actually an herb that was most famously used in Africa and in those times they used it for poison arrows. That would be shot into the enemy. Oh damn.

But in the late 1800s, it actually became a replacement for digitales because it does pretty much the same thing. Yeah. Same thing to your heart and everything. But in large doses, it can cause nausea, vomiting, changes in color of one's vision, and heart problems. Okay. So, it could be digitales, it could be strophanthin, it could not be poison.

We literally have no fucking idea. It all makes sense. But that was a fun aside. Unlike other programs, Nume Weight uses a psychology-based approach to help people better understand their relationship with food. It teaches them how to be more mindful of the way that they eat, and it gives them the skills and knowledge they need to build long-lasting, positive habits. Personally, my experience in the past is always being

incredibly overwhelmed when I start the process of getting back into my health grind. Not only is it like super intimidating heading back to the gym and familiarizing yourself with all the equipment, but the wellness industry is throwing things at us left and right between all the different supplements and what feel like really strict rules around eating healthy. That is exactly why I love noom, because noom believes the only place you really need to start with is your mind, and I think they're right. With noom weight, you'll take a path toward better health one less than at a time. Their psychology-based approach helps you change the way that you think about food and

health, rather than demanding you to change your entire lifestyle. That's just not going to be sustainable. When I started with noom, I had no idea that there was so much psychological meaning behind all the different choices that I made surrounding my diet. Let me give you an example. Personally, I grew up always having to finish the food in front of me, like that was on my plate at dinner. That's just the way I grew up.

So over the years, I wouldn't listen to my body when I was full, because instead, I was subconsciously following rules for my childhood. Ever since then, I've recognized that, and it's become so much easier to listen to my body. And now I recognize when I'm truly done with a meal. I'm also enjoying exercise so much more than I used to, because in eating cleaner, I'm feeling my body, and I'm looking at exercise as like this amazing thing that my body can

do instead of a weird punishment for eating a cupcake that's so silly. Nume truly feels catered to my personal experience, and I appreciate that. Nume doesn't believe in restricting what you can or can't eat. Instead, Nume gives you the knowledge and the wisdom that you need to make informed choices that help you get closer to reaching your goals. Nume understands that building long-term, positive habits can be hard and filled with ups and downs. That's why Nume believes it's about progress and not perfection, because everybody's

journey looks different. Start building better habits today. Sign up for your trial at num.com slash morbid. That's n-o-o-m dot com slash morbid to sign up for your trial. Let's talk about a platform that I think is going to change your entire life. It just so happens to be today's sponsor. Listen to me. Not all work collaboration tools

are created equal. Some of them help you organize your company's information and others allow you to manage projects together. Get this, notion today's sponsor, notion does both. It's one tool for your whole entire team to do it all. It's so beautifully designed and everyone's gonna wanna use it. Do you constantly find yourself with 50 tabs open a day, hoping that you can just like

hop between the tools just to do your job? Well, notion is the most customizable tool that helps teams organize information, manage projects, and get more work done together all in one place. More than 70% of teams that use notion stopped using two or more tools because they just didn't need them anymore. And that's the other big thing. In a remote-slash hybrid world, when information is scattered across tools, it's really hard to have the full context to get your work done, especially when you're working cross-functionally.

Notion provides a home base for your organization and your team by combining note-taking, document-sharing, project management, and weekies all into one tool. Giving your team's full transparency into each other's projects and everyday workflows. The best thing is that it's for companies of all sizes. Notion provides one central and customizable workspace that can be tailored to fit any team and bring all teams together to get more done and move faster That's like the best thing that you could possibly do with any work that you're doing But here's a good question. What sets notion apart from other project management tools? I'm gonna tell you it's that it not only allows you to be more efficient in your work life But it can seamlessly transition into being a useful tool in your personal life.

With powerful integrations and API and seamless navigation, you'll have everything you need in one spot so that you can make speed your advantage without the silos and context switching that slows companies down. Plus, Notion has a worldwide network of millions of users creating templates, tutorials, and new inspiration. The product is getting better templates, tutorials, and new inspiration. The product is getting better all the time, and you'll always have the support that you need. Learn more and get started for free at Notion.com slash morbid.

That's Notion.com slash morbid to help you take the first step toward an organized, happier team, two day. So the Inquests wrapped up pretty quickly. It ended on June 21st, 1949. And the courts findings were inconclusive. Because they were like, we don't have any information. We got tons of stuff. Well, that's the thing. We have so much information. We don't even know how to link it all together. Yeah. So things were quiet until about a month after the Inquests. And they picked back up again when a businessman walked into the police station on July 23rd and he told the police working there that he had a copy of the Rubia. I said that like super weird the Rubia and the ending page of his

copy had been ripped. The part that had been ripped out was where the words Tom on the show should have been printed. So he had a pretty strange story, but this entire case was a strange story at this point, so they were probably like, yep, it just makes sense that this makes no sense. So like, you know what, we'll take anything at this point. We'll go with it. What do you got?

So this guy told them that back in November, he and his brother-in-law, who by the way, was there with him as he explained this story, they had gone together for a drive, and they were going to the beach. They had parked only about 100 yards away from the beach and then gone off and walked around the area going about their day together while the car sat parked with the windows open. Now when they got back to the car later that day, there was this copy of the book. Both of them noticed it, but they

just thought that it belonged to the other man. Like neither of them said a thing. Neither of them said anything. Just such a dude way of going about that. Truly. Like a random ass book just manifests its way into your vehicle and you're like, yeah, I don't know. I thought that was yours, Mom. I guess that just belongs to you. Like what? No. This dude was like a well-respected businessman, so I'm sure he didn't sound like that, but maybe we like to picture the conversation going down. So when the police compared the ripped out portion

from the man's jacket to the book, it lined up perfectly. They did like all kinds of testing and everything, and it was perfect. They asked him if he remembered this day at all, and he told them he did because it was the day before the first day of summer November 30th Whoa Now what's weird is that they never put this guy's name in any files associated with the case because he asked that they didn't

Okay guys, what the fuck like that is a huge like why would you not? What? Wouldn't you, did anyone go, why? Yeah, all of us today went, why? Because like, did you stick that piece of paper in his pocket? Right, you murdered him? Like what is, right, exactly. I gotta know. I guess this guy was like a very well respected

business man, so they were, they just respected his wishes. So I'm Wayne Gacy at one point. Truth. So I just can't believe that they weren't like, hello, and they can make your name down. Yeah, I don't know. Just gather a little bit more about that guy. And to me, also like, first of all, it's fucking weird that you're coming in here with this copy after all these months. Yeah. And then it's fucking weird that you don't want your name put in the papers. All of that is weird. And like you guys didn't think that was weird? Yeah, I'd be questioning.

Thank you. But now that they had their copy of the book, they had to start going through it, hoping for any note in the margin or a name scribbled in the front cover, they needed some kind of path to go down here. So they really really should have known how this one was gonna go though,

based on how everything else had gone. The discovery of the book, crazy, wild, only everything else had gone. The discovery of the book, crazy, wild, only led to more questions. No, it's not true. And that's still remain unanswered. So the first thing they found inside of the book was some kind of code written in pencil on the back cover. There were letters written in a row and there were five rows of letters,

but no one could figure out what the letters stood for or what kind of translation they possibly could have had. This random ass number, or letters excuse me, it's a zodiac thing, it kind of is. So over the years, the code has literally been sent across the world in the hopes that someone will crack it, but no one ever has. Oh, come on. It was sent to naval intelligence,

and they could not crack it. it's like is it just a random Maybe I think it's not a cipher at all. Maybe it's literally just to like fuck with people Yeah, maybe this entire fucking case is just a fucking people So they were like we'll keep this yeah, we'll figure it out someday hopefully and Also written on the cover of the book though. They found two series of numbers that were definitely two separate phone numbers. One really led nowhere. It was like the phone number of a bank. But the other one led to a young woman named Jessica Ellen Thompson, or Thompson, excuse me, also known as Joe, or in some cases Justin, not Justin, Justin. Okay. So when investigators tracked down her address, they realized that she only lived a five-minute walk from where Samaritan man was discovered.

And so they said, knock, knock, knock. Can we ask you a couple questions? Excuse me, Justin. Hello, Justin. What's going on here? What's going on? Why do you live here so close to the beach where a dead guy was. So it was clear from the moment that the police met her that she wanted absolutely nothing to do

with them, which is never good. No. No. She was a 27-year-old married mother at the time. She was also a nurse and immediately she gave them the impression that she knew something, but it wasn't kind of easy to get it out of her. And she was a nurse. She was a nurse. She has access to stuff. Certainly does. Love it. Look at you. We're not getting there today, but we're going to get there.

We're going to get there. We're going to get there someday. So when they asked her about the book and what her fucking phone number would be doing in a copy of the one that was now associated with a dead man that she lived five minutes away from where he was discovered. She just said, oh yeah, I gave a copy of the book to an old friend that I had known about like four or five years ago. So they were like, do you mean a summerton man, your friend?

Like, excuse me, who's your friend? And she said, my friend's name is Alfred Boxel. She didn't know whether or not he was still alive because he had been in the war and they really had a stayed in contact. But realizing that there was a possibility that they could ID the Summerton man, the police asked Joe if she would be willing to take a look at that plaster mold bust thing that they made of her. So she agreed to go, but it really seemed like she would rather not of.

And as soon as they got to the Adelaide Museum where the bust was being held, and Joe saw the bust of Sumaritan man, it was like she had seen a fucking ghost. Ooh. She took one look at the bust and then looked away from it for the rest of the time that she was with them. One of the detectives on the case, Lionel Dean,

said it seemed like she was, quote, completely taken aback to the point of giving the appearance that she was about to faint. Oh, come on. And one of them went and stood behind her because they were so convinced that she was going to faint. And that's just a bus. That is literally just a bus. You're not identifying the actual body here.

No, she knew him for sure. She very clearly recognized this man. But when they asked if she knew who he was, she told them she didn't. She had no idea who this was. What the fuck? When they asked her if it was Alfred, they said could this be Alfred?

She said, I don't know. I don't know. I'm like, that's like a friend that you gave a book to. It's a book of love poems. You know what that is? That's a yes. I don't know is always a yes. It's a yes. Dying out of 10 times that is? That's a yes. I don't know, is always a yes. It's a yes.

Dying out of 10 times. Any other follow-up questions that they ask, she either said, I don't know or no. She gave them a hard no or, I don't know. Whoa. She also asked that her name not be written down in any files or associated with any files on the case. God. And the police said to her, they said,

okay, cool. Oh my God, why would you not? What the fuck? Why would you not write her fucking name down? I am confusion. I am confused. And guys, this is where it gets fucking crazy. This is the point where if you're driving,

like take the foot off the gas a little bit, slow down, you don't want to get to work too soon today. Oh man. So later on, she ended up telling them that an unknown man had come knocking on her door toward the end of 1948. Like November, maybe? That's at the end. It is at the end. She never specified. But she wasn't home. And when the man realized that she wasn't home, he kept talking to the neighbors and asking her a couple of questions about her. And when he asked the questions about her, he knew her by name. So that was weird. And she never found out who this was. Apparently, he never came back again. So she just completely forgot about the entire incident until like this whole thing stirred up the memory. Which is like, you just let that go. That's

the other way. I'm worried about it at all. I would be so freaked out. Yeah memory. Which is like, you just let that go. That's the other thing. They weren't worried about it at all. I would be so freaked out. I was like, was asking my neighbors questions around my house. And they described him and I was like, I don't know who that is. Yeah, that's weird.

So would that the police realized that their next step would be tracking down Alfred Boxel to see whether or not he was still living and whether or not he had the copy of the summerton man or he did not have a copy of that. He didn't have the copy of that? not he had the copy of the Summerton man, or he did not have a copy of that. He didn't have the copy of that? If he had a copy of the ruby, that Joe said she'd given to him.

Because they're like, is he Summerton man? Yeah, it's not who that is. No, no. They were able to track him down and set me. He was alive, he was well. Did he look like the bust at all? Because the fact that she was like, I don't know. I'm like, you don't know what your friend looks like.

He really does. Like if you Google a picture of Alboxel, he doesn't. It's B-O-X-A-L-L. Like, I don't really think he does. I'm also kind of bad at that, but, I'm gonna look. They were just like, okay. So they go, they go, find him.

He's alive, he's well. And he was happy to show them his copy of the ruby out that Joe had given him all those years ago. She had actually given it to him right before he was going off to war. And as they were sitting there, he was like, do you guys want to hear the story? You guys want to know about this? Yeah, of course I do. Or they were just like asking him a lot of questions.

But he told them the story. He said that the two of them had met up at the Clifton Gardens Hotel in Sydney, and they were going to have some drinky drinks before he was shipped off to war. Now this was summertime in 1945, and Joe had brought along the book as a little send-off, keepsake present. And she wrote in the front cover for him a quote from inside of the book,

and she signed her name, Justin. Hmm. At this point, the police knew that Joe had a couple of different nicknames, but they did start to scratch their heads when Al said collective head. They only had one. Well, you never know. But Alice said that was how Joe introduced herself to him and that was the only thing he had ever heard her

called was Justin. He never heard her get called Jessica or Joe. And he was like, oh yeah, like that's Justin. That's interesting. We're like, okay, weird. Another thing that came up in conversation later down the road with him was his line of work. It was later found out that he worked in intelligence while he was in the war. And when they asked if that was something that Joe Justin knew about, he gave a very vague,

weird reply and said that she would only know that detail about him if someone had told her. Huh, okay. Why are you guys being so secretive? Yeah, like this is weird. The two of them, I'm like, you guys are weird. But like working in intelligence and stuff, it's like a sour, that cipher code came from.

Carl, you're asking all the right questions. We're not there right now, but part two is where we're going to our absendant up. You really are, I'm sending it up. So we're nearing the end, but before we end this, I do have to leave you with another pretty significant event that happened during the summer of 1945, that Jessica Jo, Justin, mysterious Madame Waselle was also connected to.

So a man named Joseph George Saul Hayem Marshall. He was found dead on a beach called Ashton Park in Mosman. He was laying on the beach on a rock ledge and he had a vantage point where he would have had a great view of the water, kind of similar to how Samerton Man was found. His body was found June 3rd, 1945 and it was determined that he had had ingested some kind of poison. The official ruling of his case was that he had killed himself intentionally. Okay. He did have a history of attempts at suicide and he also had been institutionalized

at one point during his life. Okay. Apparently when he was younger, I think it was when he was like seven is what it said. He had suffered a head injury that kind of caused a lot of problems like that for the rest of his life. And he had a lot of depression and mental illness.

But weird, weird stuff going on. Yeah. There was a bottle of lemonade next to him. It was like pretty much empty, but it had some kind of powdery substance inside. There was a glass tumbler. And his head was lying on a newspaper dated May 20th. He had also been doing some light whimsical reading

at the end of his life. Oh, yes. Because on his chest, laid an open copy of a poetry book. Which one? A poetry book, I don't know if you think I know it. I think you might as call the Ruby art. Come on.

He had an open copy of the Ruby art laying on top of his chest. I feel like this has to be a rare occur. Like this is a weird coincidence. So fucking weird. That's not just a book that's floating around everywhere. I mean, it was, but like that, but like people aren't like, why are people dying?

Well, that's the thing. It's like they're just the significance of it. That's the thing. It is. And it's all in the same area. Yeah. Now, when his copy was looked through, there was a pencil mark around the lines. Ah, make the most of what we, excuse me, ah, make the most of what we yet may spend before

we too into the dust descent. Dust into dust and under dust to lie. Sans wine, sans song, sans singer, and sans end. Also, can I note that this book seems like very pretty. I was just going to say that's like beautiful. Part of me really wants a copy of this book and part of me was like super close to buying one while I was doing this and then I was like,

but is this book like a cursed idea? I know. I'm like, I don't know about that. I don't know, I don't want to, it sounds beautiful though. It sounds gorge. So why am I telling you this? Why? What connection does this have to Joe? Give it to me.

The area where this man George Marshall was found was walking distance to the Clifton Gardens Hotel where Joe and Al would later get drinks that summer. It's believed that they were at the Clifton Garden Hotel in August, so that would have been like three months after George had died. Oh, okay. Two months, actually. Weird. Yeah. That's a weird little connection. It's weird that they were there afterwards. Yeah. But it's like she lives so close to where

Summerton Man was found. And then we know that she was at this place where it's like a five minute walk as well from where another guy died with a copy of the ruby out on his chest. This is a lot of weird coincidence. It really is. So over the years, it's been debated actually, whether or not George Marshall's copy of the rubyat was a false copy or not, because there was only supposed

to be a certain number of printed editions of his particular copy, and his being an existence basically meant that more copies had to have been printed. Oh, OK. So according to Professor Derrick Abbott, who we are going to talk about a ton in part two, around the time of the war, like while this was all going on, there was a lot of what he called backyard publishers,

and they would print ripoff editions of books to make extra money. Oh, okay. Yeah, I could see that. So that seems to be the case with George's copy, but either way, it was still a copy of the ruby out. Yeah. Now, another connection that possibly links Joe, Al, George, and possibly even Summerton Man is a Bohemian club called, it's either Pachies or Pachies. Okay.

The only one with a confirmed link to the club is Al. He had a friend, a famous Australian author, Xavier Herbert, who was a known attendant of this club. He used to go all the time. Now throughout the years, it's been said that Joe and George also went to the club and it made sense that they would have, because they were like super progressive people, and Pakis was a place for people like that. There was like talks and lectures about culture, politics, arch, like what modern art was

doing to the world. Sometimes there was like different plays put on. I love that. It seemed like a really cool place. Sounds cool. Most cat litters can honestly make it harder to take care of your cat. They get super clumpy. The dust goes everywhere.

Your house is a mess. It smells bad because they don't even trap odors very well. Makes your whole basement smell like the litter box and that's just not cute. My cat and I deserve better, we deserve a litter that works for us not against us and so do you in your cat. That's why I use pretty litter and that's why I think you might even like it too. Pretty litter's crystal formula is lightweight, ultra absorbent and long lasting. It traps od's crystal formula is lightweight, ultra-absorbent, and long-lasting. It traps odors instantly, like, instantly, and it does not clump, which is one of my favorite things because you only gotta scoop up the poop, you don't have to scoop up the pee, it's

half the mess. Also, the super light crystal base is virtually dust free, minimizing even more of a mess. Plus, pretty Litter's crystals actually last up to a month, which is huge, and it means less scooping for you and for me. Here's the smartest part though about pretty litter. The crystals actually change color to help detect early signs of potential illnesses in your cat, including urinary tract infections and kidney issues.

And if you know anything about cats, you know that they hide their illnesses all the time. So this is amazing. And what's even more amazing is that pretty litter ships free to my door in a small lightweight bag. I never run out of it. I never like pop my knee out when I'm going to the grocery store, lug in another big old bag of litter.

And I don't have a massive container that I don't have anywhere to put, taken up space. I hate that. I love pretty litter. Everything about it. I love that I don't have to scoop about it. I love that I don't have to scoop the pee. I love that my basement doesn't smell bad anymore. I love that my back doesn't hurt from lugging around a huge thing a litter. And I love that pretty litter works for me.

Trapping odors, not clumping, and it gives me peace of mind. That's why I love it. You and your cat are going to love it too. Go to pretty litter..com and use Code Morbid to save 20% on your first order. That's PrettyLiter.com Code Morbid to save 20% PrettyLiter.com Code. Now most of the people who went to Paki's were Bohemian people, ready to accept this new modern world, and Joe herself was said to be like a very Bohemian woman. Like that's a word used to describe her. Bohemian. So who knows? But Professor Derek Abbott had spent a lot of time looking through the book of guests

where people would sign in at Pakis, but in doing so, he found out that they only used it during special events. I love he bow in. So into, oh, I mean, I know. I know. So until we get a solid picture, or some kind of evidence like that,

we'll just have to stick to some casual speculation. Yeah, of course. But just like a random note. Yeah. So in part two, I will officially introduce you to Professor Derek Abbott. I'm ready. We're going to talk a ton about his role in the case

because it's crazy. And he's done a lot of work into this case. We're going to dive into some possible family connections to Summerton, man, his potential descendants and all that. And then we're gonna get into some theories about who Summerton Man was and what the hell happened to him. Yes, because hopefully we, you know, DNA, hopefully we'll get an answer here.

So that's the thing. When we get into part two, we're gonna talk a lot more about DNA. And I think we're, like, there's been a lot of headway made in this case in the past year or two. I think and a lot of other like really professional well people like people who have studied this case so well, they think it's going to be solved soon. You know what?

If I've learned one thing from serotonin and I've learned a lot of things from serotonin, it's that a case can always be solved. It's very Sarah attorney. It's that a case it can always be solved. It's very true and we should never say that it can't be solved. Hey, you can't give up on it. It can never give up. And I'm not going to give up. I wouldn't give up on this. No, I'm not going to.

I'm not going to. I'm not. You're like, damn it, I will not. No, I feel like everything you have presented, and I'm really excited for part two because like, part two, part two gets crazy. And I go into like, Punnett squares, we go into fucking

I genealogy. All of a Punnett square. I used to love a good Punnett square. It does. We go into like how the ear is constructed. You know the ear is the one thing that used to fuck me right up in biology and anatomy because the ear is very complex.

It is. And do you know that I was thinking of you the other time? I was talking that I wrote the section. You knew. I used to be rich and moan about the year. Those little bones? I remember your flashcards with all the year. Oh, more. And say, like, yeah, it's the tiny little bones of the year. All those little parts.

We're going to talk about the cavum and the cimba. Oh, there we go. So, and I am back. I have a fun little way where, and I wish that I had known this back then. And it's so funny. I came up with it so I could retroactively help you. Oh, you know what, I love that. You're welcome, it's a way to remember which one is which.

I love that. I'm gonna see it for part two. I'm gonna see it. I'm stoked for part two. I'm probably gonna record it tomorrow, and I mean it. Yeah, I mean, this is definitely, I'm itching to know the end of it, this whole thing. Even though we're not gonna have like an answer answer, it's nice to be able to get more stuff

to be like, what the fuck is going on here? And it's like a fun prequel to later on this year when we find out what happened. Yeah, and then do another episode. Yeah, well, cool. I wanna have Professor Derek Abbott on, oh, that'd be sick. I'm gonna reach out to him, so.

Hello, sir. I'm gonna give it a go. He's a very busy man, so I expect nothing, but we'll shoot our shot. We'll shoot it. Oh, we shoot your shot. Yeah, you know, the worst people can say is no. You only got one shot.

You do. One opportunity. Don't miss your chance. Yeah, to blow or go. I think it's to blow. I think it's to blow. Not miss your chance to go. To blow.

I think this opportunity comes in a lifetime. I almost lost that. All right, well, we got it. We hope that you keep listening for part two. We hope you keep it. We're here. But that's where the guitar and the lyrics are the little baby-shape song.

Yeah. Like, who even am I? We know. We're just tired. Blow. Thank you. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morbid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts.

Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the kids for cash scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses.

The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children and force a heated debate about punishment and America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App. We're Wondering App.