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Skeleton

Age: 50

Sex: male

Date: 22 Apr 1932

Place: Somerton Hill Wood, Somerton

The skeleton of a man was found in Somerton Hill Wood on 22 April 1932.

It was found by a man of no fixed abode. The man said that he had been in the wood at about 8pm, just as it was getting dark with the intention of sleeping there for the night and found the skeleton when he was looking for a sheltered spot. He said that he saw a close thicket and saw a black object that he took to be some old rags and said that he thought that they would provide him with a pillow and went towards them but said that as he went towards them he saw that it was a body.

He said that he then went and reported it to the police and then took them to see.

The police said that the skeleton was reported to them at 10.30pm and that when they went to look they found it in Somerton Hill Wood lying on its back in a comfortable position. The police said that the skeleton was clothed but that the clothing was in a dilapidated state and said that the skeleton was in a thick part of the wood.

The police found a razor in a pocket of the man's clothing as well as a pipe. They also found a small blue bottle with no cork or label about four feet away, although it was thought that it had had nothing to do with the remains.

It was found almost completely bare of flesh and lying beneath a tree. The skeleton was still wearing a pair of brown shoes.

The remains were said to have been of a man about 5ft 8in or 5ft 9in tall and had been found stretched at full length, lying on its back with its head resting on the ground in a hollow formed by two roots of a tree. It was said that the position that it was found in suggested that the man had lain down to rest.

The skeleton was found in Somerton Hill Wood in Somerton, near Langport, about 200 yards from the main Somerton to Langport road. The thicket that it was in was said to have been 23 feet long and impossible to have spotted from the roadway.

A doctor that examined the body said that he had no opinion as to the cause of death.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser - Wednesday 27 April 1932