June Month of Poetry #3: The mysterious dead

Today's mysteries of history poem looks at three of the more famous "mysteriously died and we don't to this day know who they were or how it happened" people of the fifty years - specifically, Isdal Woman, Jennifer Fairgate, and Peter Bergmann.

Isdal Woman is the name given to an unidentified woman who was found dead at Isdalen ("The Ice Valley") in Bergen, Norway, on 29 November 1970. The front of her body and her clothes had been severely burned, and her face was unrecognisable. Also located or placed near the body were a number of burned or partially burned items, with all identifying marks and labels removed or rubbed off. Her suitcases were later found at a railway station, again with all identifying information removed.

Police launched an appeal for information in the Norwegian media regarding the case. The last time she was seen alive had been on 23 November, when she checked out of a hotel, paying her bill in cash and requesting a taxi. Her movements between then and the discovery of her body remain unknown.

It was discovered that the woman had travelled around Norway (i.e. Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger) and Europe (Paris) with at least eight fake passports and aliases. While details such as birthdays and occupations changed from one form to another, she consistently gave her nationality as Belgian; the forms were filled out in either German or French. She was secretive, tense, and frequently changed rooms after checking in to hotels. 

To this day, she has never been identified, even following later DNA testing, and the question of whether she committed suicide or was murdered remains unresolved. Theories about who and what she was abound, with the most popular including that she was part of some kind of international criminal enterprise, that she was a spy, that she was a high-end sex worker, or that she was suffering from paranoid delusions of some kind. We will probably never know, but somewhere in the world, someone does (or did).

"Jennifer Fairgate" is an unidentified woman using the alias Jennifer Fairgate (and misspelt as Jennifier Fergate) who checked into Oslo’s Plaza Hotel (now the Radisson Blu Plaza) on 31 May 1995. Seventy hours later, she was found dead in her room with a 9mm pistol in her hand and a gunshot wound to the head. No identifying documents were ever located and all tags had been removed from her clothing. Authorities ruled her death as a suicide. Her remains were exhumed in October 2016, and the extracted DNA revealed that her ancestry to be European but not Scandinavian, and she was most likely 24 years old. Several of Jennifer Fairgate’s photos and facial composites have been released and circulated worldwide, but no relatives or confirmed identity were revealed.

Some argue the scene was staged to appear as a suicide and suggest she was killed by someone she knew. Hotel records show she registered a guest under the name Lois Fairgate. However, he never surfaced during investigations and only her fingerprints were found on the pistol and cartridges.

Another theory is (again) spycraft. Fairgate’s use of an alias and possession of a tactical watch, commonly associated with military use, has fuelled speculation of Cold War espionage. The removal of clothing tags, and her language fluency, were consistent with intelligence tradecraft. DNA analysis suggested she may have originated from East Germany, further supporting this theory. Further to this, some suspect Norway’s E 14 security service, noting her check-in without ID, a guard leaving after hearing a gunshot, and the swift suicide ruling.

"Peter Bergmann" is an unidentified man who was found dead on a beach in Sligo, County Sligo, Ireland, on or around 16 June 2009. The man, using the alias "Peter Bergmann", had checked into the Sligo City Hotel on 12 June, where he stayed during the majority of his visit to Sligo. The man's movements were captured on CCTV throughout the town; however, the details of his actions and intentions remain unknown. His interactions with other people were limited, and little is known of his origins or the reason for his visit.

On the morning of 16 June, the body of the unidentified man was discovered on the beach. Despite conducting a five-month investigation into his death, the Gardaí have never been able to identify the man or develop any leads in the case

The autopsy showed that the man was in very poor health, with advanced stages of prostate cancer and bone tumours. His heart showed signs of previous ischaemic heart disease. Notably for a man who had serious health conditions, the toxicology report stated that he had no medication of any sort in his system. All of this makes a natural cause of death or suicide very much likelier options than murder, although no cause of death was conclusively established.

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I decided to write this poem as a kyrielle, which is a form that implies a plea for mercy, because, all mystery aside, it is the immense sadness of these lonely deaths that has stuck with me. I think I favour profound mental distress over espionage in all three cases, but especially Bergmann, and I think all three are likely suicides, but of course we don't know. I have written the kyrielle as if that is the case. (NB: I always use an eight-beat rhythm for kyrielles, which has been maintained here).

Prayer for the Unknown Dead

The deep silence of these bones
laid down in bed, by sea, on stones

the truth of them still hard ice-bound:

For all these lost, may they be found.

The valley echoes why, and who
an absence where the stories grew
enigma burning on the ground:
For all these lost, may they be found.

To cut away all that might speak
might this be sadness, not mystique?
a self-erasure most profound:
For all these lost, may they be found.

Set sail upon that last dark sea
cold earth their final reliquary
gone forth without a single sound:
For all these lost, may they be found.