# Turnbull 2009: Final report 2009: Who killed the Somerton man?

> Andrew Turnbull, Denley Bihari, 2009. 8 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The main statistical study of the code.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CVC1RDT58E3/final-report-2009-who-killed-the-somerton-man  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Somerton Man (Tamam Shud)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man)Turnbull 2009

**0**

# Final report 2009: Who killed the Somerton man?

Andrew Turnbull, Denley Bihari, 2009. _University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering honours project (supervisors Derek Abbott, Matthew Berryman)_.

Letter-frequency comparison with eight languages; random-letter samples from 37 sober and 18 intoxicated volunteers; first- and second-order Markov scoring of the initialism hypothesis (English best); Playfair, Vigenère and one-time-pad tests with Bible and Rubaiyat keys (negative); pattern search against a word list.

**Somerton Man (Tamam Shud)** ReportChecked against the original0

## What it's used for here

The main statistical study of the code.

## Cited by on this site 8 records

[The letters are the initial letters of words of an English text, written as personal shorthand.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man/answers/ANS0CVC25VG1236/the-letters-are-the-initial-letters-of-words-of-an-english)

Answer

ANS

[University of Adelaide code-cracking project reports and data (2009-2013)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0CVC2A0A2YHA/university-of-adelaide-code-cracking-project-reports-and)

Dataset

DAT

[First- and second-order Markov scores strongly favour English initial letters over other languages and over…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man/evidence/EVD0CVC263A5QGC/first-and-second-order-markov-scores-strongly-favour-english)

Evidence

EVD

[Playfair, Vigenère and one-time-pad readings with Bible and Rubaiyat keys failed.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man/evidence/EVD0CVC272J46WE/playfair-vigenere-and-one-time-pad-readings-with-bible-and)

Evidence

EVD

[The code's distribution differs from random letters written by 55 volunteers, sober or drunk.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man/evidence/EVD0CVC27T06XV8/the-codes-distribution-differs-from-random-letters-written)

Evidence

EVD

[University of Adelaide students under Derek Abbott test the code statistically](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man/events/EVT0CVC1Z0R0DRD/university-of-adelaide-students-under-derek-abbott-test-the)

EVT

[The Somerton Man (Tamam Shud)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man)

The mystery article

MYS

[What are the five pencilled lines in the Rubaiyat?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/somerton-man/questions/QST0CVC20Z85TC8/what-are-the-five-pencilled-lines-in-the-rubaiyat)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Turnbull, A., & Bihari, D. (2009). Final report 2009: Who killed the Somerton man?. University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering honours project (supervisors Derek Abbott, Matthew Berryman). https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/wiki/index.php/Final_report_2009:_Who_killed_the_Somerton_man%3F
```

[Read it free at eleceng.adelaide.edu.au](https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/wiki/index.php/Final_report_2009:_Who_killed_the_Somerton_man%3F)

Key

**SRC** 0CVC1RDT58E3

Kind

Report

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

29 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published original

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

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