the Somerton Man has been identified and i'm still unsure what to think about it

The mysterious case of the Somerton Man has captured the imaginations of millions of people worldwide with its fascinating twists and turns for decades and, following the increase in internet interest and advances in DNA testing, the case may have finally been solved. Honestly, this case has everything: an unidentified man, a baffling note, the suggestion of links to secret-agent assassination. It's a case that has been left unsolved for 70 years and now it's looking like we might get the answers we were looking for - starting with the man's name.

Also known at the 'Tamam Shud Case', the case of the Somerton Man began in 1948 when a man's body was found lying on the Somerton Park beach, in Adelaide, South Australia. There was no indication of who he was nor why he was there. All of the tags were removed from his clothes and he had no belongings on him. There was no determination on the cause of death, and no one had seen him alive and moving about the area in the hours before his death. Despite circulating his image and having people come to identify his body, the Somerton Man has never been unanimously positively identified.

As to why it's also known as the 'Tamam Shud case'? The Somerton Man was found with a scrap of paper ripped from a book, the only writing on this page being, "Tamam Shud" which means "it's over" or "it's finished" in Persian. The book it was ripped from was eventually found and inside was an encrypted message that even to this day has not been deciphered, despite great public interest.

The nature of the encrypted message and the proximity of the case to the recent World War II indicated to some that that the man potentially belonged to a government agency, foreign or domestic, as a spy or a suspect of interest. However, no foreign or domestic governments have claimed him and he has never been identified.

In fact, despite a reasonable amount of proposed identifications over the decades since the Somerton Man's discovery on that lonely beach, no identifications have been unanimous and there is a lingering question regarding his true identity. Some have come forward and positively identified the man as someone they knew, making statements to police at the time, and then some of these statements have been rescinded again. It's a heartbreaking notion that someone might be so close to being identified and returned to their family, and it hasn't happened. So now it's been long enough, are there any surviving friends or family who might remember him?

The case has existed for several decades, and yet there seems to be more questions than answers. Who was he really? How did he die? What is the encrypted message and why is it encrypted? Why does no one seem to recognise him? Why 'Tamam Shud'?

Finally, however, we might be getting the answers we need. The Somerton Man, who was buried in Adelaide's West Terrace Cemetery over 70 years ago, was exhumed earlier this year in an attempt to extract DNA to identify him. I wrote an article for Vocal earlier this year entitled "why I'm sad that the case of the Somerton Man may finally be solved" and I still stick by this. It's the perfect cold case, it could bring more questions than answers, and - just like I said above - it's been 70 years, who will remember him for who he was now?

But I'm still keen to know who he was, absolutely.

It has recently been revealed that Carl 'Charles' Webb is the Somerton Man. Mr Webb was a 43-year-old engineer Following the extraction of his DNA after his exhumation, the Someraton Man was identified using a genealogy database - the same way a lot of big cases are being solved at the moment.

Most notably, as we find out more information about Mr Charles Webb, there are some astonishing details that kind of make him feel less ethereal and more alive than ever before. For example, his older brother Roy Webb died as a prisoner-of-war in World War II - and apparently they looked very alike, down to the hazel colour of their eyes. And those letters that looked like a cipher code? Some people are guessing that they're actually names of horses that he was betting on or that he may have simply been scribbling nonsense - hence why the cipher could never be solved.

I was right, too, about one thing. It has caused more questions for me. How was he not recognised? I can't find any mention of Webb in any suspects or identifications of the Somerton Man. How did he die? We still haven't heard word about whether they can test for this with the evidence they have. Why was he found at a beach? And why 'Tamam Shud'?