Episode 320: The Somerton Man Part 2 | Morbid

Hey weirdos, it's Ash. Before we dive into today's twisted tale, let me tell you about the spooky perks of Wondery+.

It's like having a skeleton key that unlocks ad-free listening and early access to new episodes.

So don't wait. Try Wondery Plus today. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.

Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.

Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities and new ways of thinking.

Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well-being.

Audible has an incredible selection of over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals all in one easy app.

Find the genres you love and discover new ones.

Explore bestsellers like my sister's title. new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time.

I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.

She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.

And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk and I am absolutely loving it.

I love all the different narrators I love Audible.

There's more to imagine when you listen.

Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. visit audible.com slash morbid.

They say that time waits for no one, neither should payday.

To keep your money moving in the direction of your dreams, get earnin'.

What is Earnin', you ask? Honey, Earnin' is an app that lets you access your pay as you earn it up to $150 a day with a max of $750 between paydays.

Earnin is the app that is helping millions of Americans take charge of their pay and avoid falling into debt traps.

Ernan's mission is to make financial momentum accessible to everyone.

It's your money, so put it in your own hands with Ernan.

I just feel like earning is good for so many things.

Like, you know, every now and again you get in your car and you say, oh, wow, who knew that I was on empty I should have known that but I didn't and then you look at your bank account you're like oh crap I haven't been paid yet well I

You'll never run into that problem if you have earning.

An unexpected trip to the vet will not ruin your day because you'll have the money to pay for it.

Download Ernin today, spelled E-A-R-N-I-N, in the Google Play or Apple App Store.

When you download the Earn It app, type in morbid under podcast.

When you sign up, it will really help the show.

Morbid under podcast. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank.

Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors.

Standard cashouts take one to two business days with no mandatory fees.

Expedited transfer is available for a fee.

Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service.

Available in select states. Terms and restrictions apply.

Visit earnin.com for full details. Download Earnin now and take control of your pay.

Guys, we wanted to let you in on like a little inside scoop just so you know what's going on out here.

We posted on social media but not all you have that me ash and my co-star here elena co-star i'm screaming co-host We are doing a show, another show in Salem, but it's virtual. and it is called Gilded Gore.

It is going to be May 19th at 8 p.m. Eastern, time and 5 p.m pacific time you can buy tickets right now at momenthouse.com morbid be there or be lame.

Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. I'm Elena. And this, this, this thing right here that you're listening to in your car is morbid.

Or maybe you're working out or maybe you're cooking dinner.

Yeah, I don't know why I just put you all in your car.

Most people are in their car, I feel like.

Yeah, I feel- So you were right. Or maybe Shaowen.

Showan, I love to listen to a podcast in the shower.

I always listen to a podcast in the shower.

But you know what I listened to in the shower the other day?

And I was... jamming let me take a wild guess here this is a shot in the dark I have no, this is not an educated guess.

No prior knowledge. Was it perhaps a ghost?

It was actually. Yeah, I was rocking out to it.

It's a great shower. Impera is a very great shower record.

Okay. A shower album. I was jamming. A shower album.

Spillways had me going in the shower. Spillways is good.

Lately, I've been listening to the Giggly Squad in the show.

And in the car and everywhere I go, because personally, I'm obsessed with Paige DeSorbo and Hannah Berner.

There you go. Shout out to Hannah. She just got married.

Congrats. Look at you. Wanna be friends, everyone?

That's my shot. That's my shot. I just shot.

I shot it. Good for you, man. Thanks. I believe in you.

One thing that I do want to get to right away.

On a serious note. Yeah, we're getting down to a very serious note here, but I just wanted to say we have seeing all the messages and emails about this latest true crime update, we're going to talk about it literally for like a minute because to me it seems like the family would really just like to deal with this right now and I don't want to add to the noise.

But I know everybody's been asking us, have you seen this?

Brittany Drexel's body has been found. It has been confirmed. to be hers with dental records and DNA, unfortunately.

This is like really sad. She was obviously kidnapped, which is... really the unthinkable like there was so many theories to go on but it's really sad that the actual outcome of this was she was likely just kidnapped right off that strip.

So messed up. Which is really horrific. There has been... a suspect who's been arrested, who they know did it.

His name is Raymond Douglas Moody. They believe that he raped and killed her that day.

He's a known sex offender. He's been on the...

He's been on the South Carolina Sex Offender Registry.

He was there for a 1983 conviction. Which was a horrific conviction, by the way, of someone under 14 and kidnapping.

What the fuck was he doing walking around?

So he's a violent piece of shit, but he's been arrested and that is good, but...

From everything I've seen, we've been looking at it for a couple of days, just like watching little interviews or snippets.

And it seems like her mom, Dawn, and her dad, Chad, they all seem like they're They're like processing this now.

Yeah. So we wanted to mention it because we wanted to tell you guys we heard you.

We definitely... saw this news and it's very important, but we're going to step back and just let the family deal with this right now because it's all kind of new. it really shuts the door on the case.

And it's like, no matter what, they were probably holding out hope a long time that there was some kind of way that she was out there alive.

So this has got to be a really big blow.

But we wanted to just mention it and we're going to move away from it now.

We will update if anything comes out and like the family starts talking about it more.

But we're just going to let them have kind of. a moment right now.

It's really fresh. So we like to let those things breathe a little bit.

So we're going to let that breathe. But we appreciate you guys letting us know and like tagging us and all this stuff.

We appreciate you guys. And right now, like our thoughts and all our good vibes are being sent to Brittany's family.

So many. I feel so bad for her family. I do too.

So sad. Yeah. But so switching gears a little bit, we're going to get into Somerton Man part two.

I'm ready to hear the theories. Oh, girl.

I'm ready for you to make my horrible ear an anatomy experience go away.

I'm very excited about that. parts of the ear that can like go away for you.

I'll take it. And I have like a fun little way to remember.

I'll really take it. And by the way, just a quick little side before we get into it.

For part one. I don't know if anybody notices this might be my own neuroses and like Ash knows me too.

Oh my god, I have such fucking personal neuroses with myself.

I do. I just like have a lot of them. So like this might be me.

I'm like very hard on myself. Same. High five.

And during... There we go. High five. That was great.

But I had a full blown migraine through the first part of that.

And I didn't tell Ash. She didn't. So I was just sitting there like glazed over trying to stare at her.

And the story was so compelling that I was like, I want to make sure she knows that I'm very compelled by this. was like, I hope it doesn't come.

So if I sounded like sleepy at all or anything like that, no one has said anything.

I'm not saying anyone has. it might not have even come off that way, but my own personal, I just wanted to make sure like, Sorry if I sounded like weird in that one.

Not at all. It's so funny because now I've seen you perform twice. through a migraine and it's the wildest thing because you would just never know that's awesome i knew that you were like a little bit off yeah you could probably just feel it and i was like what's going on over there with her?

But I wasn't like freaking out about it at all.

It was more like, you don't feel good. I was just like, oh no.

And then obviously after the episode, you were like, oh my God, I have a fucking migraine.

Oh, my God. Like, why didn't you say something?

Could have done this at a later date. Yeah, it's just any migraine sufferers out there, you know that change in weather.

And change in temperature will fuck you right up.

And the barometric pressure... Yeah, once that drops, I'm out.

I'm down for the count. It always gets me every time.

And we have slingshotted from like 20-30 degrees up here in Massachusetts all the way to like It's going to be fucking 93 on Saturday.

And it fucks my migraines up. I could totally get that.

I knew one was brewing out there somewhere because of that slingshot and temperature.

And there it was. And it was a gnarly one.

It was a real gnarly one. it was like had an aura with it and stuff like see any migraine sufferers you know Yeah.

She texted, you know, you know, she texted me last night to like, be like, Oh, like, I think I said, like, are you feeling better?

And you were like, Oh yeah, it has like, it just got like an aura.

And I was like, yeah, I had a pretty gnarly aura.

And she was like, I was like, are you being spiritual like me right now?

You felt like your migraine had a personality?

Like your aura was off or something? You were like, oh no.

No, no, no. More like science. No, just flashing lights in front of my eyes.

So funny. So I'm excited. Okay. I'm excited too, because this is my, I mean, like, I love this whole case.

Like, I mean, it was fun to put together.

And I feel like I can say that because it's like a little like looser.

Yeah, for sure. But this is my favorite part of the two.

So let's go. So let's go. So when we left off, oh, and I'm going to, just so you know, Alina had asked a question in the last one about his esophagus.

I just want to let you know right at the top.

I'm going to get to that a little bit later.

It's pretty close to the end, but I did find something out.

She did. When we left off in part one, we had really just gotten into one of the key players in the Somerton Man case. a woman known by many different names, including Jessica, Joe, Justin.

There's a couple others out there floating around that I saw.

But I didn't see them in everything, so I didn't want to write them down.

Good old Justin. Lots of names. but usually just by the last name Thompson.

So there's a lot of details from part one, by the way, that you should hear before listening to part two.

Sometimes I've heard people say that they listen to part two first.

Really? And I'm like, no, no, don't do that.

You're like, no, that spoils it. You will miss all the things.

Yeah. So listen to that first and then come over here.

But one of the things that I mentioned right at the end was that there was a man named Derek Abbott.

So Derek Abbott is a physicist, an electronic engineer, and somebody who just became absolutely enthralled with the Somerton Man case. kind of by accident, actually.

Love that. He discovered the case because I think he was doing his laundry Like in a laundromat.

And he was flicking through a magazine article that was just like laid on the table next to him.

And inside of the magazine, they had a feature, and it was... like going over various unsolved cases in Australian history.

And the case that really stuck out to him was...

The Somerton Man case. Look at that. Of course.

And the thing within the Somerton Man case that really got him going... was that code that had been written on the back cover of the Somerton man's copy of the Rubioff.

Yeah. Now, in part one, I mentioned also that the code has been sent around for years and nobody's been able to crack it.

Not Naval Intelligence, not Scotland Yard, not anybody.

Not the Zodiac people. Not the Zodiac people.

I cracked that one. I know. We got to send it on over to them.

I know. Did we? Has anybody given it to them?

Guys, hello. Well, Professor Abbott, he had actually worked with the police in the past before.

I was actually looking through the Patreon comments on part one and somebody referenced the Snowtown case.

He was actually an expert witness on that case oh wow yeah and that person wanted you to cover the case so it's on my list all right so i'm glad you said that thank you What if I told you that you could get important fertility insight without going to the doctor or even leaving home?

That is exactly why modern fertility was created.

It's an easy and affordable way to test your fertility hormones at home with a simple thing Mail it in with a prepaid label and you'll get your personalized results within 10 days.

You're going to get insights into your hormone levels, your ovarian reserve, which is how many eggs you've got compared to other women your age. and other important fertility factors.

The results go deep into what every hormone means and You can talk one-on-one with a fertility nurse to review your results and options for next steps.

Now listen, traditional testing with your doctor can cost over a thousand dollars.

But modern fertility gets you the same information at $159, which is a fraction of the price.

And if you go to modernfertility.com slash morbid, you can save $20 off your test and if you have an HSA, an FSA, one of those, you can put those dollars toward modern fertility.

If you want kids today, maybe one day in the future, clinically sound info about your body can help you make the decision that's right for you.

And right now, Modern Fertility is offering our listeners $20 off the test when you go to modernfertility.com slash morbid.

That means your test will cost $139 instead of the hundreds or thousands it could cost at a doctor's office.

Get $20 off your fertility test when you go to modernfertility.com slash morbid.

Modernfertility.com slash morbid. you Yeah, so he had worked with the police in the past, obviously on like a huge case, but also other various times. and he thought that the code would make a fun assignment for his students.

Because he was a professor, as I said. So with that, he assigned them the code.

They have not been able to crack it, try as they might.

But with that, he dove headfirst into what he probably didn't realize at the time, would become one of the biggest and most life-changing projects that he'd ever, like, started.

Wow. You know? So an incredibly important name that we haven't mentioned yet is Jerry Feltus.

He was a retired detective and he took on the Somerton cold case in the early two thousands, like as a retired detective. and he also became super enthralled with it.

One major thing that struck him as odd looking over the paperwork was that the person who seemed to be like the case's key witness wasn't named.

Because remember, Joe Thompson asked that her name be left out of any paperwork that was going to be filed on the case.

So it became Jerry's fucking mission to find out who this person was.

Yeah. But the problem was that he didn't really have a lot to go on other than the phone number of the anonymous woman. because it had been found along with the uncrackable code in the Somerton man's copy of the Rubaiyat.

Oh, yeah. So he knew it was there. But they didn't really have anything else from this case.

Like over the years, a ton has been lost.

The autopsy was lost, the suitcase has been lost.

The copy of the Rubaiyat has been lost. Everything is gone.

But somehow he was able to get his hands on an old 1947 phone book. from the area for all you youngsters who were not around for the yellow pages we really did get phone books delivered yeah and we had to look up numbers like you were around for that okay my next sentence that i wrote was i am old enough to have literal memories It was like looking up a phone number and you used to have, remember you used to have to look it up based on the service that you were trying to find, like not the last name.

Oh yeah. Yeah, I remember. Oh, okay. There we go.

I was going to ask. I was like, do you remember that?

I do. I was definitely like really young, but I

I was on Puppas and they'd be like, oh, like find this number.

Find this number in the yellow pages. I'd be like, all right.

But so he sat up and he said that for every night for half an hour, he would sit with the phone book laid out in front of him. and go through as many pages as he could within that sitting, just looking for this phone number.

Like he didn't even have a name. He's looking for a number.

And it's not like he could Google it and just be like, find that phone number.

Right, exactly. If you remember, those numbers were so tiny.

Seriously. And there was like a billion on each page.

Oh my God. That's the thing. He was like, I could only, even the fact that he could do a couple of pages. pages at night?

Oh yeah, I'd give up after like five. I'd do like for five like numbers.

I'd be like, oh, I'm tired. I'd do like half a page and be like, well, I have... less stigmatism now yeah i was gonna say talk about a migraine apparently he doesn't have a stigmatism because that's wild but finally one night he found the number.

Holy shit. And he was able to locate the woman.

Stop. The woman, Jo Justin McGee. Justin McGee Magoo.

Correct. So you end up talking. talking with her on two separate occasions.

And just like the other detectives in the case, every time he talked to her, He felt like there was something that she was just keeping from him.

Like she didn't want to let on too much.

And he also found out that over the years, she moved a lot and she changed her address pretty consistently.

And obviously he felt like that was intentional and that she was like running from something.

Yeah, of course. So he pretty much knows this entire case inside out.

He actually wrote the book on it, like the actual book on it.

He wrote the actual book. So he had a strong feeling that Joe knew more than she was saying.

I'm buying what he's selling if he feels that way.

Honestly, I believe Derek. Oh, no, no, no.

This is Jerry. Excuse me. This is Jerry.

This is Jerry. Wrong name. Very important player in the case.

I mean, I believe Derek, too. I believe everybody.

That's an expert. I believe all of them.

But so this book, that he wrote, Jerry Feltus.

It's called The Unknown Man, A Suspicious Death at Somerton Beach.

And it quite literally costs $700 on Amazon.

Oh, cool. That's the only copy I could find.

If you have one or if you know of a decently priced one, Let me know.

Let me know. Because I really wanted to read this book.

I know. I hate when that happens. It's like the book on the case.

That happened with the, and weird, the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders.

That book is like very rare. That's... Very weird.

Yeah. That happens a lot here. What a weird connection.

That was weird. It just popped into my head.

I was like, wait a second. Oh, it's keeping it weird.

It sure is. So yeah, I couldn't get the book, but whatever.

That's beside the point. So back when Professor Abbott discovered the case, he was actually able to link up with Jerry And they both started working together to try to see if they could put two heads together, solve this mystery.

So they actually spent quite a few years working on it between the two of them.

And they even premiered in a documentary together called Missing Pieces, The Curious Case of the Somerton Man.

I haven't watched it yet, so if you do, let me know how it is.

But after years spent working in unison, they had some kind of like argument or disagreement and they ended up parting ways.

Oh, no. Yeah. I'm not entirely sure, like, what happened.

They broke up. That's sad. One, I watched like a quick ABC special on this, like ABC Australia special. and there was a woman in the documentary who also was like specialized in this case and to her, she was like, I think there's just so much pressure on anybody trying to solve this case that they want to be the person to solve it.

So it's hard for two people to work together, you know?

But anyways, the Somerton Man case has obviously got quite a reputation over the years, and the stakes have only gotten higher and higher, so...

I get how tension got involved between the two of them.

One of Jerry Fultz's quotes on the case literally is...

I would say everyone who worked on the case was starting to become frustrated with it.

But everyone working on the case or had an interest in the case always thought that something would come up tomorrow.

But tomorrow never came. oh and you can feel that oh you can feel it so hard feel it especially when you're like in this shit you're like when is tomorrow gonna Yeah, because you have so much hope and you're like, we've got there's all these little pieces.

They have to fit. somehow, they can't just be scattered to the wind, but it's like every tomorrow that happens, it's like another piece that doesn't fit. exactly and it's like another piece that like you think you have all the pieces and then another piece just comes falling from the exactly that ruins the entire thing exactly But here's the thing at the time, it was true that tomorrow never came, but to give credit where massive credit is due.

Professor Abbott has made some wild movement in this case, if his theories turn out to be true, and even if they don't.

So back when they were working together on the case, Jerry Feltus actually had not shared Joe Thompson's name.

Because he had earned her trust somewhat, and he didn't really want to mess that up by handing off her information to somebody when she didn't want that handed off.

Yeah, that's good and ethical. It is. I love it.

So when Abbott went solo on the case, he also had to come up with a way to locate her.

And he didn't get the Yellow Pages. Instead, he took kind of a similar approach and he started flickering through different records trying...

I meant to say flicking. Flickering. Flicking through different records, trying to find her information between hospital records and stuff like that.

And then finally something happened. So somehow he was able to find a picture of the woman that he believed to be Jo.

But he needed to confirm the belief without a doubt, obviously, if he was going to move on. so he knew that paul lawson the taxidermist who had done the mold of somerton man And he was he knew that he was there the day that the police brought Joe to the Adelaide Museum.

So he brought the picture to Lawson's office and he just put it on his desk to see if maybe it would strike up a memory after all those years.

Lawson took one look at the photo and he said without a doubt in his mind, That was exactly the person that Abbott had been looking for.

Oh, shit. Jo Thompson. How does that even happen?

I have no idea. I swear it's like these people are meant to find these pieces.

Some people are just meant to be the ones who discover these things.

Oh, it's like so perfect that you said that, girl, because just wait.

Like, a beautiful moment occurs in this story.

Just you wait. I don't know what that's from.

It was the wrong tune, so that wasn't your fault at all.

It was Hamilton. But I know, everybody, that was not the tune.

I'm dead. I made up my own tune to it. It's so funny, though, that you said that because just you wait.

Just you wait. Just you. There it is. Okay.

Okay. So I'm still not great, but I'm sorry.

It was beautiful. I loved it. I appreciate it so much. finds he finds joe he's like he or he knows that this is joe so he's off to find her He finds her.

Stop. She's dead. He doesn't find her dead, but like she's already died.

I was like, oh, wow. We were like, I didn't hear that part.

You really buried the lead on that one. No, no, no, no.

She had died just two years before he figured out who she was.

That's a tough hit. Bad hit. Yes. That's a tough hit.

But not one to keep Professor Abbott down.

No. At this point. He thought the best next step to take would be seeing if she had any next of kin, like if she had especially descendants, like if she had children.

So, and he thought, you know, maybe growing up they had heard something or maybe at the field something to them that she'd been hiding for all these years.

So he started looking and he was able to find out that Joe had a son. named Robin.

Well, cue the next hit, because once Abbott had gathered up enough information to locate and contact Robin, He found out that Robin had died just two months before.

Oh, stupid. Stop. Two months. So Joe had died two years before he got into contact with her and Robin died two months.

Oh my God. Can you imagine how frustrated he must have been?

I'm frustrated for him. Me too. But in finding out about Robin's existence, there was a lot more to the story that he was able to learn.

Because interestingly enough, Robin was a professional ballet dancer.

Oh, go rob him. He had gone to the Australian Ballet School and then made his way into the official Australian Ballet.

Oh, damn, Rob. And there's pics. We can post them.

Apparently he was very well known for his jump.

Oh, get it. Yeah, and he had... Some nice cabs.

I was just I was literally just going to say, well, maybe him and Somerton may know each other because they both have great cabs.

There you go. Because like I said in part one, Somerton Man...

His calves were very muscular. They sat very high up on his leg, almost like a dancer's would have. and he had those wedged toes that would suggest that he wore some kind of pointed shoes regularly.

And if you look online... At, like, images?

Oh, yeah. You can see they have a picture of his calves.

Yeah, and... Those are dancers, Kev. 100 gajillion million percent.

That's the first thing I saw. That's the thing.

It looks different than runners cabs or like, yeah, you know, something about that.

And they're so well defined. And it's probably because we don't know if he was a dancer, but if he was, it's probably because he was like on point, you know, like.

That's exercising a different part of your calf I would assume.

Oh, for sure. A different muscle for sure.

Exactly. So it was then that Abbott pondered a new question.

Was it possible that Robin was Somerton Man's son?

Whoa. Perhaps. Whoa. Because so like Joe like saw that bust of him and like literally freaked out.

Oh my god. Maybe that was the reason why she had been so evasive with the police, because... she was actually married at the time to another man named Prosper Thompson. obviously when the police started coming around prosper probably would have had some questions to ask his wife yeah and that could be the reason why she stayed so quiet That's a good theory.

It is, definitely. Or, you know, we're going to get into some later.

Maybe she knew what had happened to him and she... like was freaking out a little bit i'm saying i don't know that's kind of what i was thinking yeah we'll get there we don't know So to test his hypothesis, Abbott got in touch with a man named Dr. Maciej Henneberg.

And literally all I could think of when I saw his last name, Hennieberg, was Jonathan Van Ness.

And he goes, Hennie! Oh my god. And I just found out that he listens to this show.

So hi, JVN. Oh, hi, Jonathan. I'm shitting my pants.

I know that was a really great. My face turned red now and he's like not even here.

Yeah, that was a really wonderful thing to learn.

Imagine if at this point I was like, by the way, Jonathan Van Ness is here.

By the way, and here's Jonathan. They'd be like, what?

Say Henny. Say Henny. So yeah, so Abbott gets in touch with Dr. Mache Henneberg.

I can't. And also... Okay, before I get into what they talked about, I just have to tell you how much I love Dr. Henneberg and how fucking impressed with him I am.

Oh, good. I love that. First of all, I keep moving.

I'm sorry if you can hear that my chair is like making a sound, but my butt was falling asleep.

So first of all, he's been a professor at Adelaide University for almost 26 years now.

And his official title with the university is professor of anthropological and comparative science. anatomy.

Oh, hell yeah. It sounds better when like smarter people say it.

We got like a Dr. Bill Bass song. Literally.

Oh, but wait, there's more. He specializes in teaching human evolution, anatomy, physical anthropology, and physics.

Forensic Science. He is associated with some of the most esteemed universities around the world, like Oxford University.

I've never heard of it. no no i think it's probably like small right yeah it's like super i don't know about it and this is just like a wild fun fact he was exiled from poland in the 80s That's very intense.

He's Polish, but because he was part of a social movement back then, where people were fighting back against the government because they were trying to get fair workers' rights and social changes.

So he was one of those people fighting against the government.

Fighting the good fight. And then he got exiled.

Wow. He's just wild. Henneper. This man has...

Hannah, this man has lived a life and I feel like he's like one of the smartest people that I've ever like read about.

Oh, yeah. I mean, all his titles and the things that he specializes in, you have to be.

Also, he's fucking adorable. Aw. Oh, really?

Just like he's got like kind eyes. Oh, I love that.

Yeah, I'll show you later. Or you could Google it.

I'll have to show you. Whatever you want.

You do you. You just do your thing. So obviously Dr. Abbott shared my thoughts because he felt confident enough sharing his hypothesis with the doctor.

And in turn, he got some riveting results.

I would now like you all to break out your Punnett squares.

Oh, I'm ready. I told you they were coming.

And Ash can tell you I'm breaking mine out right now.

Oh my gosh. Wow. You have that on deck. I have it.

So Dr. Hennenberg, he's like an esteemed doctor, Dr. Hennenberg. compared photos of Robin to Somerton Man's teeth and ears to see if there were any similarities between the two men.

And there were a few. Okay. So the first thing that Dr. Henneberg noticed about the two men were their ears.

They were very similar in a couple of different ways.

Firstly, They both had attached earlobes.

That's the first thing I was going to ask because I know that's like a genetic thing.

And it is a genetic thing and it's a recessive trait.

So it's not always going to show up. Oh, this is fun.

I'm very excited. You're going to love this part.

It's like all, it's this whole paragraph that I have written right here.

I'm like, let's go. Now, according to News Medical Life Sciences, attached earlobes are not rare, but are also not commonly found.

Okay. So they're just like, I feel like that's like an oxymoron.

Okay. I'm trying to like logic this out in my head.

So was I. So rare is rare. Like, not many people have that.

That's rare. Yes, you're special. commonly found would be like oh like you find that a lot of people okay So maybe it's just like not rare, but not like everyone has them.

It lives somewhere in the middle. I was just going to say it lives in the It's not weird to find them, but it's not...

You don't see it on everybody. Okay, cool.

I guess is how I would think of that. Okay.

But it does immediately sound like an oxymoron.

It totally does. Like I was like, and I was like, I don't know, guys.

I don't know about that. I don't know you scientists.

Me Ash over here with all my fucking credentials.

I think you're wrong. This college dropout right here does not understand.

So therefore you are wrong. You are wrong.

They're like, you literally get fucked. So it was a confusing way of putting it.

It was. Thank you. Either way though, it does leave room for pause on the case of Somerton Man's possible relation to Robin, but we gotta start looking for some more shit.

So the next thing that was noticed on the man's or the men's ears were the size of the hollows in each of their ears.

Now, this part I learned watching Liz Wakeford's video on this.

She has a YouTube page. I definitely suggest subscribing to her page and I'll link it in the show notes.

Great. The two hollows in a person's ear actually have official names.

The upper hollow is called the Simba and the lower one is called the Cavendish.

Now the way that I decided to remember that was to associate it with the Lion King.

I knew it. I fucking knew it. I almost said it as you said it.

Although the two Simbas are not spelled the same.

Simba in the movie is also on top when he becomes the leader of his fellow lions at the end. end that's right like very sorry to spoil the ending there if you haven't seen it but like you've had a lot of time So Simba's on top.

So anyway, typically... I knew you were going to love that.

Thank you for that. No problem. Wish I could have helped you in school.

Like, was that even important in school?

That wasn't the thing. I was like super...

Caught up on? It was the bones. It was those inside, yeah.

Yeah, we didn't get that far. Those little bitches.

Fuck them. isn't your ear mostly cartilage it's bones inside oh like next to your skull near your eardrum and shit oh yeah you'll have to tell us about they help make sound like what it is very cool yeah It's interesting.

It's just really complex. That's the thing.

These things are interesting. but very complex, just to say exactly what you just said.

So anyway. The Simbo, the top hollow, is usually comparatively smaller than the Cavum.

But in 1% or about 1% of the population, it's the opposite.

The Simba is larger than the Katham. Okay.

So that would mean the upper hollow of the ear would be larger than the lower hollow.

So if you look at your ears right now, most likely your cavum is a larger hollow. than yours simba mine are yours are as well cool So you are not part of... We are not rare gemstones.

We're not. Now, strangely enough... both Somerton Mann and Robin Thompson were rare gemstones.

They They seem to make up a portion of that 1% of people this happens to.

That's interesting. So they both have larger cavums.

Okay. No, no, no. Excuse me. Sorry. Larger Simbas.

I forgot about the Lion King. Don't worry.

They both have larger Simbas. Okay. So that's the ears.

Oh, excuse me. There's one more thing to note about the ears.

We're not done with that. You know what?

I'm all ears. Keep your ears turned on for this coming next.

This is interesting, and I didn't know about this, and I'd be interested to see if you did.

Something to note about Somerton Man's ear is that he has what's called a diagonal earlobe crease.

So if you look at his autopsy photo, especially it's like prominent there, and if you zoom in, you can see a pretty good sized, it's technically diagonal, but it's horizontal really, in my opinion, crease.

In his earlobe. Now, according to Lisa Zyga, who wrote a few articles on Somerton Man for Fizz.org, having a diagonal earlobe crease, aka a delk, can potentially put somebody at an increased risk of having an ischemic heart attack.

Yes. I didn't know that. Neither did I. That is news to me.

That's really interesting. Oh, I love when that happens.

I love telling you something you didn't know.

Now, as we know, Somerton Man died officially of heart failure.

So maybe we should be blaming earlobes for the heart attack instead of foxglove.

Holy shite. Right? I almost said shite and shit, so it came out a little weird.

That's all right. The feeling is the same.

Shit. Wow. Wow. wow you crazy girl you crazy That's our favorite TikTok sound.

And Alina is so good at it. It's my favorite.

So either way, you got to just leave that in your back pocket for a minute because it's time to talk about teeth.

We're officially done with ears. It's always time to talk about teeth. show me your teeth yes my favorite my favorite oh my god Oh my God, life can just get so busy sometimes.

Like you're like juggling a million things and then you're like, oh crap, I have to eat too.

And the thing is, at what feels like an endless workday at the end of it, the last freaking thing I want to do is sit there over my stove and whiz up a meal.

No. But when your fridge is empty, That urge to order in and skip the cooking happens way too often.

But thanks to Daily Harvest, I don't have that takeout temptation anymore.

Daily Harvest helps me keep my freezer free. fully stocked with options that are delivered right to my jaw.

They're delicious, they're nourishing, and the best part is that they are ready in minutes.

Daily Harvest delivers delicious harvest bowls, soups, flatbreads, snacks, smoothies, lattes, and more. all built on organic fruits and vegetables.

Daily Harvest has delicious options for any time of day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert, everything in between.

Everything is always on hand in your freezer and ready to enjoy when you need it.

Personally, I am obsessed with the tomato and basil flatbread like straight out of Italy absolutely delicious really just got it out of my freezer and it was super easy to cook but tasted magnifico With Daily Harvest, I never have to question if the food that I'm eating is good for me.

They create food that is both good for me and my health and the health of the planet.

And I love the planet, so that's awesome.

By supporting farmers who invest in practices that increase biodiversity and improve the health of our soil, and delivering food in recyclable and compostable packaging, Daily Harvest does all the work so that all you have to do is eat.

New on the scene is their delicious harvest bakes for those moments when you're looking for homemade feels without any of the work.

They're ready to bake veg packed dishes sizzling with gourmet level flavors that are big enough to share.

You're just not going to want to. Avoid the takeout temptation and get daily harvest.

Go to dailyharvest.com slash morbid to get up to $40 off your first box.

That's dailyharvest.com slash morbid for up to $40 off your first box. dailyharvest.com slash morbid.

Bye. Anyways, this is not about Gaga, although everything is.

Throughout the research process on Somerton Man, you find out pretty quickly how many rare traits he had.

Yeah. One of those traits was andantia, meaning that he was missing some of his adult teeth.

He had some missing molars in the back, but it hasn't been determined whether or not he was born without them or if he had had them pulled for some reason.

But he was definitely born without his lateral incisors, which are the top teeth on either side of your front teeth. which are also known as your central incisors.

Because they're central. Now, this is a pretty rare trait that only about 2% of the population shares.

Whoa. So I did that math for you because I was interested.

Right now, if we're talking about like right now, which we're not, but whatever.

The world's population, for example, is about 7.8 billion people.

2% of that would be 156 million people. So in comparison, that's a pretty small amount.

Very. You know? Yeah. So you know who else was born without their lateral incisors?

Hmm. I don't know. Who? Robin. Okay, that's weird.

That's fucking weird. That's weird. And to have this many like rare traits.

Yeah. All at once. First of all, that's crazy to have that many rare traits all together.

And being a person, yeah. But for two people?

To share all of those rare traits. Two people that you are kind of thinking might be related.

Mm-hmm. That's weird. Yeah, exactly. It's so weird, in fact, that Dr. Hennenberg...

He stated that a combination of just two of these similarities happens maybe in a about one to every 10,000 cases.

Oh, I believe that. Because that was what was so shocking to me.

I was like, how are all of these in two people?

Right. Exactly. Like all at once. Exactly.

That's weird. So in his opinion, this crazy well esteemed doctor's opinion.

Somerton Man and Robin were related, and most likely, father and son. wow cue a brain explosion i believe that So far.

That is very strong to me. It's pretty strong to me too.

But we still have some more stuff to talk about.

Cool. I'm ready. So the problem with that was who the hell was going to be able to prove this? like that is the problem who's around here to prove this yeah not me not me well actually i am here i'm here but i can't prove it i'm here to tell you who tried to prove this yeah So it was then that Professor Abbott started looking into Robin's genealogy to see if he had any children.

Professor Abbott is always on the move looking for some descendants.

I love that. Same. Are you? I am. I'm always.

Didn't know that. I'm looking through that and shit manifests.

I'm all about it. You love a good shit manifest.

I do. So he's trying to find out if Robin has any kids and it turns out Robin did have a daughter with a fellow ballerina that he had met. at the Australian Ballet School.

A woman named Roma. Oh, stop. Roma. Robin and Roma.

Thank you. Two ballet. Like. beauties having an offspring together.

That's... That's too much. It's a beautiful moment.

That's too much. But... Unfortunately, Roma and Robin did have to make the decision to give their little daughter Rachel up for adoption. because they were super young at this point in time and they had like a lot going on with ballet and they didn't have the financial means to keep her. and they wanted to make sure that she was with a family who would be able to provide everything.

Exactly. So she was put up for adoption and she ended up growing up in New Zealand.

She actually didn't find out that she was adopted until she got to college and she got a letter informing her that she was.

So she was actually really excited and hopeful to make a connection with her birth parents because when she was growing up, she had always had this like really intense love for ballet, but nobody in her family that she knew of was a dancer.

Oh my God. It was just inside of her. Thank you.

Wow. Isn't that crazy? That's cool. That's cool.

So she made the attempt to reach out to her birth mother, Roma, and she learned the story of both of her parents. how they were fucking ballet dancers who met and fell in love and spent all their time together at the Australian Ballet.

Wow. Are you kidding me? Imagine that just validating something like that.

It's just so wild to think that, like, you like her yearning to be a dancer may have been genetic.

I know like something in there. Isn't that crazy?

Wow, DNA is wild. It is. So unfortunately, Roma obviously had to break the news to Rachel that Robin had passed away. but mother and daughter ended up starting a really strong connection.

That's awesome. Roma owned a ballet studio and Rachel started helping her out at the school, designing costumes. costumes and organizing recitals for the dancers.

And they became really close. I love that.

But unfortunately... I see your face and that's... Yeah.

My face is not good because the two of them aren't in contact anymore, at least as of the date of the ABC special that I watched. because a portion of that reason is because Rachel ended up making the acquaintance of Derek Abbott. and Roma didn't necessarily approve.

Oh. And I'll tell you why. So Abbott decided to write a letter to Rachel once he realized that she might be one of Somerton Man's only living descendants.

More specifically, his granddaughter. Like, how wild would that be?

So he explains his theory and wrote all his findings so far in this letter that he gives to her.

And he asks her, would she ever have the time to speak with him?

So a part of Rachel was like, This is very far-fetched and sounds crazy.

But she was also really intrigued by everything that he had written.

I would. Holy shit. So she was like... yeah like what do i have to lose yeah also she looks like she could be candace cameron's twin oh really look it up it's wild rachel egan is her name rachel egan So later on, she joked that she was a willing victim.

Oh, no. Now, not in like a bad way. No, but just like it sounds funny.

Silly, funny, haha. Really funny, haha.

So with Rachel willing to meet him, Abbott headed out to Brisbane right away. and he invited Rachel to go to dinner to talk over the case and maybe get a look at her ears and her teeth.

And while she's not missing her lateral incisors, it does look to me that her cavum is slightly larger than her Simba.

Really? It's worth noting. And I didn't see anything written about that.

I just like looked at her and I caught that myself.

Oh, wow. She really does look like her twin.

Her literal twin, right? Yeah, that's pretty wild.

So now you're going to want to like buckle up for this.

As they were sitting over their fancy French dinner discussing a man who might be Rachel's grandfather, there was like this certain feeling in the air.

A feeling of love. Rachel and Professor Abbott were like really hitting it off.

Stop. And within a few days they were already talking about the possibility of marrying each other.

And not long after that, they got married.

They got married in 2010. They got married in 2010.

And from the looks of it, I'm pretty sure they're still married.

And they have three children together. That's kind of amazing.

And the way that he put it was something just magically drew us together.

Oh my goodness. Like I have goosebumps. How fucking beautiful is that?

And they have all these pictures and graveyards.

I love it. This is really special, guys.

And they, for a while, they had a picture of Um, Joe, the grandmother, because Joe is Rachel's grandmother.

Whoa. Obviously. Yeah. But just like, whoa.

But like crazy. So they had a painting done of her.

And then they put it next to a painting of Somerton Man.

And I think it was in their kids' playroom for a little while.

Oh, my God. And the kids would call him Mr. S. Stop.

But I did read an article that they were going to move Mr. S to the office. because they're gonna move mr f they're not so sure whether or not they're related anymore Yeah.

So they're like, I don't know if we should have him hanging.

Exactly. I don't know. It sounds good to me, guys.

It does. But some people were not happy about this relationship between Rachel and Professor Abbott.

And one of those people was Roma, Rachel's birth mother.

She felt like the marriage was a rushed decision and that Abbott had only married Rachel to get her DNA.

Ooh, that would be incredibly fucked. That would be so wild.

So Rachel jokes, she was like, obviously, he wanted to get his hands on my DNA.

But like, that's not the only reason that we're yeah like i i promise you we kind of like each other like wow they have children together guys but i guess they've really committed to this if that's If he was just looking for DNA.

Right. He's really gone the distance. And I believe they're still married for my, like, I couldn't find anything that said they weren't they've been married for 12 years guys like yeah it's official i think they like each other at least i believe they at least enjoy each other's company But over the years, Roma is not the only person who felt that way.

And I understand being protective of her daughter.

I'm not putting any blame on her. For sure. other people are like, yeah, he only married her for her DNA.

You don't even know these people. I understand in the beginning being like...

I'm a little, like, suspicious about this.

But, like... After 12 years, I think it's time to be like, all right.

Yeah, I would think so. 12 years, a couple of kids.

I think these kids might do something here.

I would think so. But unfortunately, it just put a rift.

And I'm sure it wasn't the only thing. but it put a rift in roma and rachel's relationship and they actually don't speak anymore oh that's sad i know that's really sad So with all the talk of DNA in the air and being that technology had come a long way since 1948, when Somerton man was originally found. the topic of exhuming his body started coming up more frequently among professionals who'd been with this case for a long time.

But before they exhumed the body though, they wanted to look at a simpler solution first.

And as they were looking over the bust that was created like way back when, they realized that there was still some hair stuck into the molding.

Oh, wow. And even though testing that hair would only give them like 2% of the DNA necessary to come up with like an entire profile.

It's still something. They wanted to do something.

It's a good start. So Abbott got in touch with a scientist named Colleen Fitzpatrick. to see if she could help in the process of looking into Rachel's DNA, find out what came from her mother and what came from her father, and kind of separate those two things.

So actually, Colleen Fitzpatrick has a very impressive resume.

She was able to reunite a man who was suffering from amnesia with his family. through the use of DNA, and was also able to find out for a family that their relative had passed away on the Titanic.

Wow. Just girls doing things. Just girls doing things.

Just fucking going off. I get it. I love it. that's amazing so colleen's findings essentially linked rachel's grandfather maybe somerton man to america and more specifically girl the east coast oh yes we know about that we do we are on that we are currently And she said of her findings, quote, we see traces of Native American ancestry and chromosomes linked to relatives of Thomas Jefferson.

Oh, what? Okay. And then said the Native American genes tied to Somerton Man also come from tribes living along the East Coast.

What? This is so wild. It is so fucking fascinating.

It is. She went on to say, that puts Mr. X's ancestry with some authority... in America.

And that's they said Somerton Man was likely from America.

They did. Now, that doesn't mean that he is without a doubt from America or the East Coast.

It just means that if he does turn out to be Rachel's biological grandfather... but he most likely is.

Yeah. So Colleen told BuzzFeed News back in 2016, DNA is going to make the ultimate difference in this case. we're getting closer to an answer.

We are getting closer to the answer. So as far as pulling DNA from his hair, like when they did that, they really weren't able to find out too much.

But they did find out that his mother was of European descent.

Okay. But they didn't get a ton. That's something, though.

Yes. So with all that science talk behind us, let's get into a little hot goss moment relating back to Joe.

I was craving some tea. I don't know. I got it right here.

It's steaming. Thank you. Here you go. Whoosh.

Whoosh. The sound that tea makes when it's. bills so back in 2013 this is wild you're gonna like you're gonna be on the edge of your seat 60 minutes aired a segment, 60 minutes, Australia aired a segment about the Somerton man and the segment included.

Joe's biological daughter Kate. Ooh. Kate told 60 Minutes that while she was still alive, Her mother had definitely alluded to the fact that she knew the Somerton man, but that she would never come really right out and say it.

She said there was a lot growing up about her mom that was just very secretive.

So secretive that Kate... very much believed that her mother had been a spy.

You know, that was something that was in my head through part one.

Yes. And then a ton of our patrons were like, spy.

We're like spy, spy, spy. I think we're all on the same page here.

I love it. Girl, we're going to get into that too.

Let's go. I love this case. This case is so crazy.

It's got everything. It has to be solved.

Seriously. Listen, we're going to get there.

I'm ready. Not solved. Okay, so but she, Kate, shared a story about her mother teaching English to some students from Russia.

Apparently, Jo came home one day and she was talking about her day of teaching these kids English, and she was saying, Oh, it's so funny.

Like I can still understand some Russian.

So like it's making it easier to teach these students.

Like I still kind of get what they're saying.

And Kate was like, yeah, mom. Can we back it up a bit?

Why the fuck do you know Russian? oh mom like does it like kate's actually just like the meme of the guy sitting there with all the equations next to his head what Like, where did you learn to speak Russian?

So she asks her that. And Joe's answer was, that's for me to know.

She literally was like, that's for me to know.

Oh, stop. Stop, Jo. Stop it. stop or no keep going joe i know honestly keep going we love the secret don't stop never stop love a secretive queen love a secretive queen just like so joe So Joe.

So Joe. So she also told Kate that during the original interview with police that she had lied to them.

She was like, she flat out was like, oh, yeah, I lied to those people.

And she did know the man. She did know who the man was, but she wasn't planning on telling anyone. what the fuck joe now when kate asked any follow-up questions Joe does not have time for a follow-up question.

No, I knew that. Her mom would not talk about it.

And all she said was that there was... like somebody at a level higher than police who knew what happened to the Somerton man and knew his identity. but it was like maybe like an organization higher than the police.

I need to know. Spies? Who are you? Who are you that knows it?

Just let us know. Write it down on a piece of paper.

What? Stick in a book somewhere in a library.

We'll find it. Write it down on a piece of paper like Cedric did in part one.

Somebody knows. Joe knows. What? I just can't.

So after that segment, a lot of people came to the conclusion that Joe... might have been working as a spy.

Oh yeah, you think? Now it's been said over the years, actually, that she was a communist sympathizer. and maybe she was working on the side of russia like maybe she was like a soviet spy Wow.

I love the sound of a new sale. I love the sound of shopping, I love the sound of music but that sound, that sound that played in the beginning That's my favorite sound of all because it's the sound of another sale on Shopify. the all-in-one commerce platform to start, run and grow your business.

Shopify gives entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for big businesses.

So upstart startups and established businesses alike can sell everywhere, synchronize online and in-person sales and effortlessly stay informed.

Scaling your business is a journey of endless possibility.

But guess what? Shopify, it can handle it because it's more than a store.

You can connect with your customers. You can drive sales, manage your day to day.

Shopify instantly lets you accept all major payment methods.

And Shopify has thousands of integrations and third party apps from on demand printing to accounting. to advanced chatbots and beyond. going to reach your customers online and across social networks with an ever-growing suite of channel integrations and apps including facebook instagram tiktok pinterest and more synchronize your online and in-person sales and gain insight as you grow with detailed reporting of conversion rates, profit margins and beyond.

This is possibility powered by Shopify. Go to shopify.com slash morbid, all lowercase, for a free 14-day trial. and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features.

Grow your business with Shopify today. Go to shopify.com slash morbid right now.

Shopify.com slash morbid. Do you ever spend hours googling how to take care of your pet?

Everything from like, why is my cat sneezing so much to, If they squint at me only with one eye, does that mean they love me or does that mean that they're going to eat me in my sleep?

I don't know. Franklin and Lux would never, though.

Anyways, this isn't about them. It's about Fuzzy.

Fuzzy is a telehealth service for pet parents like me and like you.

That offers 24 seven access to personalized pet care from veterinary professionals.

That is. Iconic and amazing. Love that.

From everyday questions to middle of the night emergencies, Fuzzy has the answers pet parents need.

And if you have a pet, you know that you constantly will have questions at 12 to 1 o'clock in the morning When everything is closed, but not fuzzy through live chat and virtual vet consultations available to you.

24 hours a day, seven days a week. amazing.

Fuzzy can answer your pet questions big and small, urgent and every day.

Fuzzy can also recommend the exact right products for your pet. all of which are handpicked by their established team of veterinary professionals, and available at discounts exclusive to Fuzzy members.

From getting your pet's diet just right to meeting their middle of the night needs, to finally figuring out what makes their breath smell that way.

P.U. We'll see you next time. Go to yourfuzzy.com slash morbid today to sign up.

That is a free. seven-day trial, and access to exclusive member discounts on pet meds, supplements food and more at y-o-u-r-f-u-z-z-y dot com slash morbid Again, you'refuzzy.com slash morbid for your free trial of Fuzzy. with access to 24-7 personalized pet care and vet recommended products.

Damn. Can you fucking imagine? The fact that like...

I mean, I get... Spies exist. It seems like just LOL movies.

Yeah, it seems like James Bond shit. Like 007, right?

Then you got it. You nailed it. That was so gay in that moment.

Like I was very much like 007. i don't know i feel like i don't like i have no idea but like What?

It sounds like she might have. And then to find out that your mom could have possibly been the one.

It's like... Whoa. What? Kate had a lot that she was learning about her mama.

Yeah, Kate got a lot dropped on her plate.

She did. Holy shit. You look great, Kate.

You look great, Kate. A date, Kate. Seems like it's fate, Kate.

I hope you guys know what that's from. That your mom knew who the Somerton man was.

Period. That was the fate. There were also rumors that fueled the fire of people thinking that her son, Robin... may not have actually been from Prosper Thompson.

Apparently when he met Joe, so in the beginning I was like, well, Prosper might have been pissed if he found out. this out yeah no no apparently when he met joe he was actually still married but going through a divorce Hairy area.

Did you just smack yourself? flicked my glasses almost off of my face so excited that you flicked your glass I was like oh and then it went click and I almost Sorry, guys.

Did that hurt your finger? It didn't, weirdly enough.

That wouldn't be fun. But I thought my glasses were going to go flying.

Yeah, so we thought Prosper wasn't in on this.

Honey, he was still married. He's going through a divorce when he meets Joe.

During that time, it's alleged that Joe was already pregnant. but with another man's child.

Yeah. And an old friend remembered talking to Joe later in her life...

And this friend said that Jo said she would always be thankful that Prosper had married her when she was pregnant, and raise the child with her like it was his own.

Come on. I should have said like the child was his own.

I don't know why I said that. Come on. It's also... I know.

Oh, I know. It's also been said that Joe and Prosper... lied about the time frame of their marriage.

They were telling people that they were married before they actually were. likely because Prosper was in the middle of getting divorced and Jo was pregnant.

So like back then they would have had to have said that they were married.

But still, it looked shady, like like looking back on it today and people started asking even more questions.

Now, in that segment with 60 minutes, even Kate said the thought has crossed her mind that her mother, Jo... might have had something to do with Somerton Man's death.

Wow. Yeah. Kate, you're great, Kate. You are great.

So interestingly enough, there was actually a second inquest into Somerton Man's death about 10 years after he'd been discovered on the beach. and during that inquest, a man came forward and said that he had actually seen a well-dressed man on Somerton Beach... on the night of November 30th, but like way later in the night, carrying another well-dressed man over his shoulder.

Imagine just seeing that. Two well-dressed men.

Just on the beach. Being silly, goofy dudes.

He's just slinging another one over his shoulder.

So could this have been Prosper? Taking care of a man who might become a problem and let out a lot of big secrets surrounding him and his new wife.

Yes, it could have been. This only led to more theories that maybe Somerton Man really had been poisoned, and that the reason there wasn't any vomit or sightings of him in convulsions was because, one, the people who had seen him earlier, it wasn't actually him who they'd seen because he hadn't been placed on the beach yet,

And two, he had actually been poisoned somewhere else, and that's why all the vomit and whatever else wasn't there. because it was where he had been poisoned in the first place before he'd been placed on the beach.

Then, once the poison took effect, the person then brought him to the beach to dump the body.

I don't know why you would dump the body on the beach the way that it was found, but maybe it was supposed to be like...

Crazy. Yeah. Like what's the word? A tableau.

What's that? Like, like setting it up. oh okay you know so this theory would cement Sir John Cleland's belief that Somerton Man hadn't walked along the beach for a very long time before before ending up where he did.

Those shiny shoes. But there's obviously a lot wrong with this one too.

First of all, Why did the person who said that he saw all of this come forward 10 years later?

Yeah, that's what I was wondering. I was like, that's not something I would just hold in forever. if he was telling the truth and why were these two sightings of the men Excuse me, why were there two different sightings of a man on the beach beforehand who looked just like this guy?

Yeah. and was like in a weird position like clearly affected by something and like right yeah Now, one of the men who had seen Somerton Man while he was walking along the beach with his girlfriend, like how I opened up part one.

He had actually gone back to the beach the next day for like an early morning swim.

So he saw all the craziness of Somerton Man's body being discovered, and he knew 1,000% with certainty that that was the same man.

Yeah. So then this theory doesn't really line up.

No, and it really doesn't to me. Like, it sounds like, whoa, that'd be crazy if he was just Prosper, like, dumping his body.

Like, no. I think that's... those people really did see him before that.

But I think the theory of... Like, him being Robin's dad is so strong.

It's like... True. Like to me that I'm like, yep, there it is.

That's kind of how I feel too. So let's get into like a couple more theories that still relate around Joe and Prosper.

So the thought that maybe Joe and Prosper had something to do with Somerton Man's death doesn't sound super far-fetched to me, with everything that we've learned either about Jo or with the things that have been like brought into question and have connections to her.

Yeah, it's not that crazy. But if it is true that a man came knocking on her door toward the end of the year in 1948, knew her by name and was seemingly very intent on getting into contact with her, it's not crazy to think that that man was Somerton Man.

No. For one thing, no one recognized him, and for another thing, Joe only lived, remember, about five minutes away from where this man eventually ended up being found.

Yeah. So maybe there is a world in which she really did find out the identity of the man who was knocking on her door. and somehow got acquainted with him, found out who he was, you know?

And when she realized that it was Somerton man, she knew him because he was Robin's father.

And she realized that she was in a pickle. because if it was true that somerton man was robin's father and he just showed up back up one day joe would have just been a little bit stressed out about it because Robin at this point would have been about a year old and Joe and Prosper had been acting like they were already married, so obviously people would have assumed that Prosper was Robin's father.

100%. Like I just said, Somerton Man showing up out of nowhere could have caused a lot of shit.

Yeah. people would have found everything out about Joe and would have found out that it was all a lie.

And let us not forget that we're talking about 1948 here.

Exactly. Like, not good. Unfortunately, most of these people would have labeled her a floozy and she would have become the talk of the town.

Oh yeah, it was all about reputation. So maybe she told him, hit the road, Jack.

Don't you come back. Imagine if that was actually his name.

But in doing so, maybe she broke his heart.

That's his son. Maybe, you know, maybe like he wants to be with her and she's like, we She's like, you can't see your son.

You can't see me. You can't be a part of his life.

Maybe that broke his heart and maybe he had brought along with him a copy of the Rubaiyat to reminisce with Jo about the time she had given it to him.

Because remember, she had given a copy of it to Al Boxel, And she herself described the book as a book of love poems.

So maybe she was like in the habit of giving her love interest a copy of the book.

Maybe. It was like some kind of required reading for her manses.

You never know. So when she turned down his advances, he was obviously, like I said, heartbroken.

Maybe he made his way down to the beach to end it all. yeah he ditched his wallet somewhere so that his true identity would never be known and he wouldn't mess up joe's life and she wouldn't have to worry about like finding out or she wouldn't have to worry about anybody finding out that she was connected to him.

Or so she thought. I was going to say it didn't work.

And then somehow he got his hands on... some kind of poison, be it digitalis, strophanthin, or whatever it ended up being. to end it all but before doing so he remembered that book of love poems ended with that beautiful tamam should like the end, and being the beautiful deep man that he was, he ripped that part out, rolled it up in his pocket.

This was his end, too. And as he laid down on the beach, maybe he smoked a cigarette that contained some kind of poison, and that was his end.

Whoa. You know? What a fucking picture you just took. just painted.

Right? Oh, and I think I forgot a part. Maybe on the way to the beach after he ripped out that page, that like portion of the page, he tossed it in a car.

Because remember... the people that found the copy of the Rubaiyat, they were not far from Somerton Beach and the copy had been thrown into the car.

So maybe as he was walking by, he just tossed it in there.

Ooh. Or maybe it was all the same, except the part where it was his decision to end it all.

Maybe after Somerton Man showed up at the house, Joe called to prosper, and told him that their cover was about to be blown soon because Robin's father had shown up on the front porch steps.

Now, obviously, Prosper would have known about Robin's real father because he knew that he wasn't the father.

He knew he didn't do that. He was like, I know what's going on here.

So they panicked, and in their state of panic, maybe they devised a plan to get rid of the man. joe was a trained nurse she probably knew how to get her yeah she probably knew how to get her hands on poison that wouldn't leave behind any traces And somehow they got Somerton Man to come inside.

Maybe they said like, oh, why don't you have dinner with us tonight?

Snuck the poison into the food. They knew that it would induce some kind of vomiting, so they were prepared for that.

And then once all the vomiting and the convulsing had stopped...

Prosper got ready to take the man down to the beach and leave his body there.

And while Prosper was getting ready to head out, Jo got her copy of the Rubaiyat that she still had, maybe.

Yep. Put the rolled up piece of paper in her former lover's pocket.

Wow, I went really Boston there. Our former lover's pocket.

Our former lover's pocket as one final token of their love for each other. and as some kind of send off into the next life.

Because remember, that book is like, what happens after you die?

Like, is there another life? Yada, yada.

Maybe she was the one to ditch the copy into the man's car later, like just tossed it in there. and maybe Prosper was the man spotted carrying another man over his shoulder as he was dumping the body on the beach that night.

Maybe that's how it all went down. Could be.

I don't know. I don't really... I don't really lean toward the particular theory that Joe killed him with Prosper or with anybody else, because I think it would have been number one, very spur of the moment. to go off without a hitch and end up being one of Australia's biggest mysteries.

Yeah, for sure. And then also there would have been a one-year-old in the house.

So like, I would hope that all of this wouldn't go down.

I know that's what I was thinking too. I was like, hmm, that's a lot.

And I feel like a neighbor would have seen a man go into the house.

Yeah. Nobody said they did. And it's like that whole, like, Rubaiyat thing, like, they get tarried.

The Rubaiyat get tarried in the scenario where Joe would have gotten rid of him. of it, like it doesn't feel so good.

I can see it in the case of the Somerton man walking to the beach, just ditching it. kind of like a weird thing to throw it into somebody's car but i mean that happened so yeah it's i mean yeah i was gonna say it happened regardless someone threw it in the car yeah So I'm a little more on the side of the Somerton man ending it all. on like his own volition because he had a broken heart between those theories.

But if neither of those theories are for you, fret not, because I have a couple more.

Maybe Somerton Man had absolutely nothing to even do with Joe.

No. No. And this whole thing is some kind of strange mix-up.

No. No. but people think so like people are like maybe you didn't i'm not people i'm not I'm not.

So some people think maybe he was a spy. which was the reason why all the labels were turned out of his clothing and he had no identification.

I mean, that's valid. Like I said in the beginning, you could find out where something had been made by the label.

So like usually spies would rip the label.

Yeah, it makes sense. But maybe somehow he had blown his cover and he was taken out by other spies that were like above him or something.

Yeah. It would explain why the copy of the Rubia associated with the man had a super intense code written inside the front cover, like, Maybe it was some kind of spy code.

I don't know. And why there were so many things within his suitcase that alluded to the fact that he was traveling and not actually from Australia.

I love when you said like a spy above him.

Because it just made me think that there's some kind of like supervisor spy.

I feel like there is. Or like manager spy.

Yeah, like Glenn the spy. Assistant to the regional manager.

Yeah, like Glenn the spy in HR. Yeah, like I feel like that's how that goes.

I think it is. I don't know how spies work because I'm not a spy.

I don't know how spies work. Wouldn't a spy say that?

No, I'm just kidding. They would. I'm not a spy.

Spy. Spy. Say spy again. Spy. Spy. credence to that theory is that there were actually two spots in Australia where spies had been discovered. like, pretty recently.

The Radium Hill Uranium Mine and the... I'm gonna fuck this up and I'm really sorry.

Woomera Test Range. It was a research facility used by the military.

Just a few months before Somerton Man was discovered on the beach, there was a Soviet spy ring uncovered in South Australia's capital.

Oh, was he part of it? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

And now I have that like, I'm an international super spy stuck in my head.

Do you not know what that is? Oh, it's a TikTok sound.

I was like, you haven't heard that? No, I don't get all the, you know, my For You page is a very different page than yours.

You do get the, my money don't jiggle down. oh yeah if you don't get that you gotta get that who even are you like find it so that you can have it It's so good.

So the final theory that I want to talk about today because I think it's a pretty good one.

And so does Professor Abbott. So like, hello.

On the same page. is that Somerton Man died of positional asphyxia.

Or an underlying illness that they just didn't have the means to identify back then.

Ah. Because remember, when I initially described how Somerton Man was laying on the beach, I said that his head and his shoulders were propped against the wall, but that the rest of him was just kind of splayed out. yep so think about the way that he would have been positioned like even if you picture yourself lying down like this your chin would kind of be tucked into your chest a little bit, which would make it slightly hard to breathe.

Yeah, infants can die that way. That's why in car seats, you always make sure, oh, am I taking the next thing?

Sorry. No, no, no, you're not at all. I didn't write that down.

I was just going to say it. That's like you never want to let your infant's head roll forward in a car seat because they can Or even your toddler.

Or your toddler, I was going to say. Really, anybody.

Or even like your partner falling asleep on a road trip.

Yeah, just get their head up. Yeah, put your head up, girl.

Lift your head up. So that's one kind of sub-theory within that.

Now, Derek Abbott also points out that Somerton Man's organs were not in the best shape.

So like I said in part one, his spleen was three times the size it should have been.

His liver, kidneys, and stomach were all bloated like further than they should have been and all filled with blood.

And when Elena asked about his esophagus, I wasn't sure what the deal was in that.

But in looking, I found out that he had a congested pharynx and that his esophagus was coated with a mucus and that there was a patch of ulceration toward the middle.

Now, for the ulceration, he was a heavy smoker.

I was going to say. So I think that was what that was.

But the congestion, maybe he was sick. Maybe.

Maybe. Now, perhaps he had been ill for quite some time, but like didn't actually know it yet. and it was just happenstance that his organs had finally had enough of whatever they were trying to fight off damn and gave out while he was laid out on the beach And maybe that's why he was even on the beach in the first place, because like, what the fuck was this well dressed man just doing lying on the beach?

It doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe he had been like out and about, but all of a sudden he started feeling winded or sick. and just decided to lay down on the beach for a second, smoke a ciggy, and then she died.

I don't know. And perhaps while he was lying there, somebody stole his wallet.

And maybe the reason that the labels from his clothing were gone was because they had belonged to somebody else in the first place, so he just tore them out.

I don't know. Which would also explain why the jacket that he had was from America.

Maybe he also got that jacket from somebody else who got it there.

And then when it became his, he was like, I'm not too keen or whatever.

Yeah, maybe when it became his, he like ripped the labels out, but like missed a couple because he wasn't too keen.

And maybe too keen is the person that he got all the clothes from.

But what about the thread? Well, you fucked my whole theory.

That was only in America. It was only in America.

And it was in his suitcase. So scratch all that.

And in his pocket. That's true. That's the thing that can add that thread that's only in America.

And the stitches. That were only done in America.

Yeah. And that was in his suitcase and what he was wearing.

So scratch all the last part of what I just said.

Maybe he was visiting from America and on the plane here he got super sick.

Maybe. And then just lost all his identification.

This one just fell apart. and then he just lost everything he just lost it all he just lost all his shit well guess what That was actually perfect timing because the good news is that we might not have to wonder that much longer.

Hell yeah. his emerton man's body was finally exhumed back in may of 2021 thanks to the attorney general vicky chapman's approval hell yeah and everybody who raised the funds to do so because apparently yeah to you too it's very expensive to exhume the body yeah and apparently remember how i said that they like buried him in a spot where it would have been easier to get him they'd It was not.

It was not that easy. The best laid plans.

Yeah. So Vicki, the attorney general there, she had actually studied this case while she was in law school.

Oh, dear. So she it had been like something that had been talked about for years, exhuming his body.

But the previous attorney general just kind of like didn't. do much with it priority but vicky was like oh i'm interested and like i think this is important so let's go let's do it Oh, that's cool.

So she was, it was like something that fascinated her in law school.

And she was like, oh, I have a chance to actually make a difference in this.

How cool is that? I agree. Cool, Nikki. So because the body was initially embalmed, it has made the process a little bit harder.

Lindsay Wilson Wilde, I believe is how you say this whole name, She works as director of Forensic Science South Australia, who is currently in possession of the body.

Whoops. badass women i know here so much badass women and she said quote embalming chemicals are deserved to preserve remains but they do that by breaking down the protein inside the body so that there's nothing available for bacteria to consume. it does have a very detrimental effect in degrading the DNA.

But with that being said, the embalming process back in the 40s and 50s is not... has advanced.

Not what it is today. It was not perfect by any means because he was already decomposing when he was in the office.

Which should not be happening. Yeah. So I don't think it broke down everything.

It's got to be something. I don't think he was embalmed entirely the right way because it was so long ago.

So everybody is hopeful that some kind of DNA profile could be made with this. with him being exhumed now.

And then we can use genealogy. And that's exactly what they want to do.

Yeah. So obviously it will take years, but it's already been one year since he's been exhumed.

So we're that much closer. Guys, I admit it.

I don't always make the best food choices.

Like, realistically, who does? We all love... a little chippy chip from time to time.

We love a hamburger that was like deep fried in oil from time to time and we love a chicken nuggy.

But the CDC says put those down. They say, hey, hey you, you should eat up to six cups of fruit and vegetables a day.

I'm sorry, CDC, there is zero chance that I'm eating six cups of fruits and vegetables per day.

Here's what I want, I'm gonna tell you. I want a simple nutrition with results so powerful that when I take my next physical, my doctor compares my old lab work to my new lab work and says keep on doing what you're doing, girl.

And that's why I take Field of Greens daily.

Field of Greens is powered with a full spectrum of essential vegetables and fruits plus science-backed herbs and prebiotics which is exactly what I need to stay healthy.

Field of Greens works fast, and if you're like me, you'll have more energy, you'll feel healthier, your skin will look healthier, and... it may be able to help you lose some weight.

Join me and take Field of Greens 2. And to help you get started, I got you 15% off your first order and another 10% off when you subscribe for recurring orders.

You're welcome. visit fieldofgreens.com and use promo code morbid that's fieldofgreens.com promo code morbid fields of greens promo code morbid Thank you.

Now, Derek Abbott says that he isn't holding his breath because he knows how long the process can take.

But he also said, and I just, I love this.

Whether he's related to one of us or not, we've kind of adopted him into our family anyway. because it's him that brought us together.

His cause of death isn't really what's of interest anymore.

It's more who he was and can we give him his name back.

Oh, I love that. And then with that being said, I just want to end it with another quote from the South Australia Police Detective Superintendent, Des Bray, who said, It's important for everybody to remember the Somerton Man is not just a curiosity or a mystery to be solved.

It's somebody's father, son, perhaps grandfather, uncle, or brother.

And that's why we're doing this and trying to identify him.

Hell yeah. And that's how I feel. And I can't wait to fucking find out that they have found out who Somerton Man was.

I just need it to be Rachel's grandfather.

I need it to be. I'm not so sure anymore.

There's so much craziness going on. I don't know.

I feel like he is Robin's dad. I know. That's how I feel, too.

I really feel that way. And by the way, just in case anybody's like, well, why didn't they compare his DNA to Robin?

Robin was cremated. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was thinking that in my head, but then I assumed that he was.

I meant to mention that earlier, but I was just fucking typing away at that. this shit and I was like put that back later and then I didn't but here I am putting it back you put it back you got there Wow.

This is hands down one of my favorite cases that I've ever done. killed that.

Oh my gosh, thank you. You killed that. I'm honestly certain that there's probably something you could find out that I did not tell you because... this case is just like all over the place.

I knew the basic of the case. Yeah. You told 90% of that.

I had no fucking clue. I'm blushing. Seriously.

I had no idea. Like all those theories. I'm like, well, fuck.

So many people have done like such a good job, like researching this case, like Derek Abbott, Jerry Feltis, Liz Wakeford.

She has a two-part series on this. Definitely go watch her videos.

And again, I'm going to link them. So many people have done such a good job that it was intimidating going into this.

Because you're like, I want to help. But...

You did an amazing job. Thanks. You did amazing, sweetie.

But yeah, just I really want to know who he is.

I know. I hope we find out who this man was.

This is one that like if it breaks in the middle of the night, I'm going to. call your ass oh yeah i don't care who we wake up in this house and we're coming in here and we're recording yeah this is just one of those we gotta yeah And I don't know.

It has happened before where like we do put out a case and like we put out all our manifestations and hopes and it.

Something happens. That's what happens. It's like we put out all this energy, I feel like.

Yes. A lot of times something will turn.

That's how I feel. Positive energy, guys.

Let's all get it out there. Manifest with us.

Let's do it. Manifest destiny. Do it. And we hope you keep listening.

We hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you're not as interested to find out who Somerton Man is, and not so weird that you wouldn't wake Elena up in the middle of the night just to be like, hey, we have to record this and give it an update. them an update because like holy shit holy shit holy shit they found out who he was they're gonna find out who he is i can see it i'm picturing it right now manifest i can see it Manifest.

Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.

But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn. the town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.

His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.

Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.

I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.

As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.

Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mare exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus.

Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts Spotify or the Wondery app.

[The Somerton Man Mystery: Theories, DNA, and the Quest for Identity]-[Episode 320: The Somerton Man Part 2]

📋 Summary

The Somerton Man Mystery: Unraveling an Enduring Cold Case

The Key Players and the "Uncrackable" Code

Genetic Clues: The Robin Thompson Connection

The Search for Descendants and the DNA Breakthrough

Theories of Death: Espionage or Positional Asphyxia?

Conclusion: A Quest for Identity

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript