It’s been almost a year since we first brought mention of the mysterious finding by police decades ago where an individual now known as the Somerton Man was discovered under perplexing circumstances with an even more perplexing code on his person. It is no doubt in keeping with human nature to obsess over mysteries that seem to rebel against even the most scrutinizing of understanding. But when looking at the strange code, the symbols present, and the book of poetry related to the incident, it brings to mind another enigma also covered on this very website – that of number stations. Alone, each are inexorably enigmatic. But could they be more, if brought together?
The Somerton man was discovered dead by a cause unknown and without any identification. Several of those linked to the case have similarly met a mysterious end including Saul Haim Marshall who was discovered in a very similar way to the Somerton Man with a copy of the Rubiyat (the text the Somerton Man brought with him to the grave) beside him. Some of those near the Somerton Man’s discovery location who handled the Rubiyat were also found dead under mysterious circumstances.
The letters MRGOABABD may to the average individual seem like nothing more than a series of nonsense. But to the myriad subculture obsessing over the meaning behind the code discovered on one deceased man it is the introduction to what many would spend countless hours and sleepless nights attempting to decipher. Even if such a message were to turn out to be nothing more than a shopping list in the greater scheme of things, the letters have been read and reread so many times that many just wish for the mystery to be solved once and for all and nothing more.
But when we take into account the strange and often eerie numbers stations emanating from undisclosed locations and spreading across the world, we are introduced to yet another mystery. Is it possible, the Somerton Man’s code could have been the key to one of these messages?
Number Stations, as you may recall are stations emitting strange sequences of numeric values accompanied occasionally by letters and even short messages. The stations drone on continuously in sequence, often repeating over and over with little or no variation whatsoever. Such a station has to our knowledge never been decrypted successfully without the key first being discovered. And these keys are themselves notoriously in short supply. But could this mystery, essentially hiding in plain sight be the answer to a code no longer in use, but which once bombarded airwaves detailing unknown instructions or revelations.
Could the edition of the Rubiyat commonly distributed in Australia have led so many to reach an untimely end? And if so, which stations were operating in the area at the time. Perhaps it is possible to partially solve both of these cases with one stone. Until then, the Somerton man and the bizarre details about his identity, life, and death will likely remain unexplainable for quite some time.