The Mystery of the Somerton Man

A nameless man, a cryptic note, and a mystery that lingers on a quiet Adelaide beach. In this episode of Silent Secrets, let the gentle telling of the Somerton Man’s story carry you into calm and restful sleep.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Approcha Production. Hi. Welcome to Silent Secrets, a bedtime podcast
for curious minds. I'm jay, I'm glad you're here. This
is your time to let go of today, to settle
in and slow down, and let curiosity gently carry you

(00:30):
towards sleep. In each episode, I'm going to share a
true story of the unexplained, not to alarm you, but
to quiet your mind, to remind you that the world
is full of wonder and some things we'll never truly understand.
So take a deep breath, feel your body sink into comfort,

(00:57):
let the weight of the day drift away as we
begin tonight's story. This story begins with a man lying
on a quiet stretch of sand, his head dropped against

(01:17):
the sea wall, legs crossed, shoes polished. To the first
person who saw him, he could have been sleeping, maybe
a traveler resting after a long night. When they got closer,
they realized he wasn't sleeping. He was dead. It's December one,

(01:47):
nineteen forty eight, on Sumriton Beach, just south of Adelaide
in Australia. The man carried no wallet, no idea, and
no clues to say who he was. His suit was clean,
and pressed, yet every label being carefully removed. The mystery

(02:12):
of this man, who he was, how he died, and
why he carried a single cryptic note that read tamim
should as puzzled investigators for over seventy years. It's early morning.

(02:40):
A man named John Lyons and his wife are walking
along the beach. It's a cool but pleasant start to summer,
with the horizons glowing softly as the sun rises. A
spot a man slumped against the sea wall, his body
half sitting, half lying as though he's resting, but something

(03:01):
about his posture captures lion's attention. His head is tilted unnaturally.
He doesn't stir when they pass. Later that morning, another
man approaches and realizes the truth. The man is dead.

(03:26):
When police arrive, they find a puzzling scene. The man
is dressed smartly in a gray suit, white shirt, and
polish shoes. There is no hat, unusual for nineteen forty eight.
His hands are relaxed, there's no sign of a struggle.
His pockets contain ordinary items a train ticket, a bus ticket,

(03:49):
a pack of chewing gum, a comb, and a packet
of cigarettes. But the man had no wallet, no idea,
nothing that told them who he was. Even the tags
on his clothing have been cut off, as though someone

(04:12):
wanted to erase his identity. An autopsy is conducted the
next day. The results are strange. The man is in
good health, fit and strong. He is around forty to
fifty years old, but his organs, his liver, spleen, and
stomach are congested as if he was poisoned. Yet there

(04:36):
is no poison found. Forensic tests come back inconclusive. There
are other strange things. His pupils are unusually small, his
blood is thickened. Doctors are baffled. It could have been
a rare, undetectable toxin, a secret compound. The case grows

(05:02):
stranger with every passing day. A week later, a small

(05:24):
suitcase is discovered in the Adelaide railway station's cloak room.
It's traced back to the Somerton man inside a close
that matches style, but once again all the labels have
been cut out. There's nothing to identify him. One item
stands out, a coat with a unique type of stitching

(05:48):
traced to the United States. Could this man have been American?
Then comes the most chilling discovery. During his second in
search of his clothing, police find a tiny, rolled up

(06:09):
piece of paper hidden in a small secret pocket of
his trousers. On it are just two words, tamim should
The phrase is Persian. It means it is finished. Investigators

(06:33):
quickly realize it comes from the last page of a book,
a famous collection of poetry. The search for the book begins.
Weeks later, a man comes forward with a copy of
the book that he found tossed on the back seat
of his car parked near Summit and Beach. Inside the

(06:58):
book they find two strange things. First, fate handwritten code
random letters in a row, which experts believe may be
an encrypted message, And second, a telephone number. The number

(07:34):
belongs to a local nurse, Jessica Thompson, who lives just
a few hundred meters from where the man was found.
When police show Jessica a photo of the Somerton man,
she reportedly reacts with shock, even fear. Witnesses claim she
turned pale, but she denied knowing him. Did she know him?

(07:58):
Was there a romantic connection or something more secret, perhaps espionage?
In nineteen forty eight, the Cold War was beginning to
heat up. Adelaide wasn't just any city. It was near

(08:21):
a military research site, including the testing of top secret weapons.
Some believe the Somerton Man was a spy killed with
untraceable poison. Others think he was a jilted lover who
left a cryptic message of goodbye. The code found in
the book has never been solved. Some codebreakers believe it

(08:44):
could be shorthand for something deeply personal, while others say
it's a spy cipher. Even with modern DNA analysis, the
case remains largely unsolved. In twenty twenty two, researchers announced
they had traced him to a man named Web from Melbourne,

(09:07):
but even this raised more questions than answers. As you
drift off the sleep, imagine the sands of Somerton Beach,
now quiet under the fading sunset. The waves washed the shore,

(09:31):
just as they did on that morning in nineteen forty eight,
when a man with no name lay still against the
sea wall. Who was he a lover, the spy, the wanderer?
Why did he carry those final words tamim should as

(09:56):
though he knew the end had come. Thank you for
listening to silent secrets. I hope to know this story
has given your mind something soft to wander through as
you drift towards rest, but the quieter the night. Wrap

(10:16):
around you now and know that mysteries will still be
here tomorrow. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and let's sleep
take over until we share another secret next time. Good
Night must