About this episode Dive into the intriguing world of unsolved mysteries with 'Vanished,' where each episode revisits a famous cold case, exploring every suspect, theory, and clue with the curiosity of a detective obsessed. This series uncovers the complexities behind these baffling disappearances, revealing why they continue to mystify investigators and the public alike. Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of what makes these cases so perplexing and the enduring quest for answers.
0:00 On December first, 1948, police found a tiny scrap of paper in a secret pocket sewn into the trousers of a dead man on Somerton Beach, Australia.0:12 It had two words printed on it: 'Tamam Shud'.0:16 Last week, we spoke about the anatomy of baffling cold cases; this case isn't just baffling, it’s the blueprint for how a person can simply vanish from history, even in death.0:32 Let's open the file.0:34 The man himself is the first contradiction.0:38 He's found resting against a seawall.0:41 Well-dressed, expensive suit, polished shoes—unusual for the beach.0:47 He has no wallet.0:48 No identification.0:50 And every single label from his clothing has been meticulously removed.0:56 A half-smoked cigarette rests on his collar, unlit.1:01 The coroner's report is just as clean.1:04 He was in peak physical condition.1:07 The autopsy finds congestion and blood in his organs, suggestive of poison, but no trace of any poison is ever found.1:17 His fingerprints and dental records match NOTHING on file, anywhere in the world.1:25 For months, he is a ghost.1:27 John Doe.1:28 Then, a local man hands police a rare copy of a book of Persian poetry, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.1:37 He says he found it tossed into the back of his unlocked car around the time the body was discovered.1:46 The last page of the book—the page containing the phrase 'Tamam Shud', which means 'it is ended'—has been torn out.1:56 The scrap from the dead man's pocket is a perfect match.2:01 So, we have a connection.2:03 A deliberate breadcrumb.2:05 But it leads deeper into the maze, not out of it.2:10 Because inside the book, police find two more things.2:14 A phone number, and a series of letters written in faint pencil.2:20 The phone number leads to a woman.2:23 A nurse named Jo Thomson who lived nearby.2:27 When police show her a plaster cast of the dead man's face, she is visibly shaken.2:34 She denies knowing him.2:36 Denies any connection to the book.2:39 She refuses to speak about it further.2:43 But years later, her family would suggest she knew more than she ever admitted.2:50 And what about the letters?2:52 A string of what looks like gibberish.2:55 WRGOABABD...2:56 and so on.2:57 For over seventy years, the world's best cryptographers—from military intelligence to amateur sleuths—have tried to break it.3:08 No one has succeeded.3:10 It remains one of the great unsolved codes.3:14 So what does it all add up to?3:17 A spy, caught in the Cold War?3:19 A secret lover's pact gone wrong?3:22 Every theory is a dead end.3:25 For decades, the central mystery was his identity.3:29 Who WAS the Somerton Man?3:31 And then, in 2022, we got an answer.3:35 DNA analysis, led by Professor Derek Abbott, identified him.3:40 His name was Carl “Charles” Webb.3:43 An electrical engineer and instrument maker, born in 1905.3:48 A man with a life, a profession, a history.3:52 But here is the turn.3:54 Giving him a name doesn't solve the case.3:57 It makes it MORE mysterious.4:00 Why would an engineer from Melbourne end up on a beach in Adelaide, with his identity erased, leaving behind a trail of Persian poetry and an unbreakable code?4:14 Knowing who he was only deepens the question of why he was there.4:20 The case file is no longer about an unknown man.4:24 It's about a known man who went to extraordinary lengths to become unknown.4:31 'Tamam Shud'.4:32 It is ended.4:33 He told us the story was over.4:36 We just never figured out what the story was.
