The Case
A body. No name. A scrap of paper.
On 1 December 1948, a man was found dead on Somerton Beach, South Australia. Every label had been cut from his clothes. In a hidden pocket: two words torn from a rare book — . It is ended.
In 2022, DNA gave him a name: . It didn't close the case. It changed the question.
The full account — every timeline, every dead end, every anomaly checked against the original police and coronial record — is in The Man on the Sand, Book One of The Unlucky Thirteen.
Inside The Dossier
What you get, free, on joining
The unbroken code
A full reproduction of the code sheet found in the back of the Rubaiyat — still unsolved after 75 years.
The plaster cast
Made after the inquest so the case could continue even after burial — his face, preserved in case someone recognised it.
Case location map
Every key location in the investigation. View the map ↓
Exhibit 03 — Case Board
The case, by location
Tap a pin. Not to scale — a working case board, not a street map.
Adelaide & Glenelg, South Australia — real satellite imagery, all six sites marked.
Select a pin to open its file.