Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – ca. January 15, 1947) was an American woman who was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. Nicknamed the Black Dahlia, Short was found severely mutilated, with her body severed, on January 15, 1947 in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. The murder, which remains unsolved, has been the source of widespread speculation as well as several books and film adaptations. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 551 KB) Summary The grave of Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia, who was murdered in 1947. ... The Mountain View Cemetery is a large cemetery in Oakland, California. ... is the 210th day of the year (211th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ... Hyde Park is the most southern neighborhood of the City of Boston, Massachusetts. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... A waiter is a person who waits on tables, often at a restaurant. ... Kinship is a biological and/or familial relationship between two organisms. ... Kinship is a biological and/or familial relationship between two organisms. ... is the 210th day of the year (211th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Leimert Park is a neighborhood in southwestern Los Angeles, California. ...

Biography

Elizabeth Short was born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. She was raised in Medford, by her mother, Phoebe Mae, after her father, Cleo Short, abandoned her and her four sisters in October 1930.^{[citation needed]} Hyde Park is the most southern neighborhood of the City of Boston, Massachusetts. ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Middlesex County Settled 1630 Incorporated 1630 Government  - Type Mayor-council city  - Mayor Michael J. McGlynn Area  - City  8. ...

Troubled by asthma, Short spent summers in Medford and winters in Florida. At the age of 19, she went to Vallejo, California, to live with her father. The two moved to Los Angeles in early 1943, but after an argument, she departed, getting a job at one of the post exchanges at Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), near Lompoc. She moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on September 23, 1943 for underage drinking and was sent back to Medford by juvenile authorities. In the few years following, she resided in various cities in Florida, with occasional trips back to Massachusetts, earning money mostly as a waitress. This article is about the U.S. State of Florida. ... Vallejo (pronounced or in English; in the original Spanish) is a city in Solano County, California, United States. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... Boeing Delta 4 Medium+ (4,2) lifts off from Space Launch Complex Six (SLC-6) at Vandenberg AFB, California (Official photo by Thom Baur for the Boeing Company) Vandenberg Air Force Base (IATA: VBG, ICAO: KVBG) is a United States military installation with a spaceport, in Santa Barbara County, California... Boeing Delta 4 Medium+ (4,2) lifts off from Space Launch Complex Six (SLC-6) at Vandenberg AFB, California (Official photo by Thom Baur for the Boeing Company) Vandenberg Air Force Base (IATA: VBG, ICAO: KVBG) is a United States military installation with a spaceport, in Santa Barbara County, California... Lompoc, the City of Arts and Flowers Lompoc (pronounced Lahm poke) is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. ... Nickname: Location in Santa Barbara County and the state of California Coordinates: , Country State County Santa Barbara Government  - Mayor Marty Blum Area  - Total 41. ... is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Many nations have a legal drinking age, or the minimum age one must be to drink alcohol. ...

In Florida, Short met Major Matthew M. Gordon Jr., who was part of the 2nd Air Commandos and training for deployment in the China Burma India theater of operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote a letter from India proposing marriage while recovering from an airplane crash he suffered while trying to rescue a downed flier. (He was, according to his obituary in the Pueblo, Colorado newspaper, awarded a Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, the Air Medal with 15 oak leaf clusters, and Purple Heart). She accepted his proposal, but he died in a crash on August 10, 1945, before he could return to the U.S. She later embellished this story, saying that they were married and had a child who died. Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirm that Gordon and Short were engaged, his family subsequently denied any connection after Short's murder. China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the name used by the United States Army for its forces in China, Burma, India during World War II. Well_known US units in this theater included the Flying Tigers, transport and bomber units flying the Hump, the engineers who built Ledo Road, and Merrill... The City of Pueblo (IPA: //) is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Pueblo County, Colorado, USA. Pueblo is situated at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek. ... The Silver Star is the fourth highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States Armed Forces. ... For other uses, see Distinguished Flying Cross. ... The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration and is the fourth highest award for bravery, heroism or meritorious service. ... Air Medal Ribbon The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States which was established by Executive Order 9158, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, on May 11, 1942. ... For other uses, see Purple Heart (disambiguation). ... is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Short returned to Southern California in July 1946 to see an old boyfriend she met in Florida during the war, Lt. Gordon Fickling, who was stationed in Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, she remained in Southern California, mainly in the Los Angeles area. During this time, she lived in several hotels, apartment buildings, rooming houses, and private homes, never staying anywhere for more than a few weeks. This article is about the region of Southern California. ... Nickname: Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: , Country State County Los Angeles County Government  - Mayor Bob Foster Area  - City  65. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ...

Death

The body of Elizabeth Short was found on January 15th, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, severely mutilated, cut in half, and drained of blood. Her face was slashed from the corners of her mouth toward her ears.

Rumors and popular misconceptions

According to newspaper reports shortly after the murder, Short received the nickname "Black Dahlia" at a Long Beach drugstore in the summer of 1946, as a play on the then-current movie The Blue Dahlia. However, Los Angeles County district attorney investigators' reports state the nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering the murder. In either case, Short was not generally known as the "Black Dahlia" during her lifetime. The Blue Dahlia (1946) is a film noir with an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler. ... Map of California showing Los Angeles County. ...

A number of people, none of whom knew Short in life, contacted police and the newspapers, claiming to have seen her during her so-called "missing week" between the time of her disappearance January 9 and the time her body was found on January 15. Police and district attorney investigators ruled out each of these alleged sightings, sometimes identifying other women that witnesses had mistaken for Short.^[1]

Many "true crime" books claim that Short lived in or visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid-1940s; these claims have never been substantiated, and are refuted by the findings of law enforcement officers who investigated the case. A document in the Los Angeles County district attorney's files titled "Movements of Elizabeth Short Prior to June 1, 1946" states that Short was in Florida and Massachusetts from September 1943 through the early months of 1946, and gives a detailed account of her living and working arrangements during this period. True crime is a non-fiction genre in which the author uses an actual crime and real people as a point of departure. ... is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Although popular belief as well as many "true" crime books portrayed Short as a call girl, a report by the district attorney's grand jury states that she was not a prostitute. A call girl is a prostitute who is not visible to the general public, like a street walker, and who does not usually belong to an institution like a brothel. ... In the American common law legal system, a grand jury is a type of jury which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial. ...

Another widely circulated rumor holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of some genetic defect that left her with "infantile genitalia." Los Angeles County district attorney's files state the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had sex,^[2] including a Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case.^[3] The FBI files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's lovers. According to the Los Angeles Police Department's summary of the case, in the district attorney's files, the autopsy describes Short's reproductive organs as anatomically normal. The autopsy also states that Short was not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what is sometimes claimed.^[2] For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation). ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... LAPD and L.A.P.D. redirect here. ...

The D.A.'s files contain the following:—

Doctor Schwartz last stated that he studied surgery and that victim was on the make for him but that she was the patient of Doctor Arthur McGinnis Faught who was treating victim for trouble with her bartholin gland and that he wanted nothing to do with her. He stated that the bartholin gland was the lubricating gland in the vagina and that Doctor Faught had lanced it on several occasions and it could account for the fact that she had not been having intercourse with men.^[4] The Bartholins glands (also called Bartholin glands or greater vestibular glands) are two glands located slightly below and to the left and right of the opening of the vagina in women. ...

Suspects

Main article: Black Dahlia suspects

The Black Dahlia murder investigation by the LAPD was the largest since the murder of Marion Parker in 1927, and involved hundreds of officers borrowed from other law enforcement agencies. Because of the complexity of the case, the original investigators treated every person who knew Short as a suspect who had to be eliminated. Hundreds of people were considered suspects and thousands were interviewed by police. Sensational and sometimes inaccurate press coverage, as well as the nature of the crime, focused intense public attention on the case. About 60 people confessed to the murder, mostly men, as well as a few women. As the case continues to command public attention, many more people have been proposed as Short's killer. Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) is a generic term used for local and state police, as well as federal agencies (such as the FBI, the BATF, DHS, Europol, Interpol, etc. ...

No theory is universally accepted, and none has been proven.

Possible related murders

Some crime authors have speculated on a link between the Short murder and the Cleveland Torso Murders, also known as the Kingsbury Run Murders, which took place in Cleveland between 1934 and 1938.^[5] The original LAPD investigators examined this case in 1947 and discounted any relationship between the two, as they did with a large number of killings that occurred before and afterward, well into the 1950s. Map of Cleveland, Ohio The Cleveland Torso Murderer (also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run) was an unidentified serial killer active in the Cleveland, Ohio, area in the early 20th century. ... Cleveland redirects here. ...

Other crime authors have suggested a link between the Short murder and the 1945 murder of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago; Degnan was also dismembered (and Short's body was discovered near Degnan Boulevard in Los Angeles). However, serial killer William Heirens confessed to the Degnan murder and was in jail when Short's body was discovered. Steve Hodel, who claims his father George Hodel committed the Black Dahlia murder, claims his father may have murdered Degnan as well. Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... William George Heirens (b. ...

Books, films, and other media

Adaptations

• A 1975 TV movie about the case, Who Is the Black Dahlia by Robert Lenski and starring Lucie Arnaz, is a highly fictionalized version of the murder. Many details were changed because several people, including Short's mother and Red Manley, who brought Short from San Diego to Los Angeles, refused to sign releases for the studio.
• Neo-noir author James Ellroy based his 1987 book, The Black Dahlia on the crime.
• Take 2 Interactive published the computer game, Black Dahlia, in 1998. The puzzle-based adventure game tied Elizabeth Short's murder to Nazis and occult rituals which the player had to investigate. The game features Dennis Hopper, whose son-in-law was one of the company's owners, and Teri Garr. It also ties the murder to the infamous Cleveland Torso Murderer, though the torso murders' case was altered to fit into the storyline.
• A film by Brian De Palma, The Black Dahlia, based on the Ellroy novel, stars Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, and Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Short, and was released in September 2006.

A television movie (also TV movie, TV-movie, made-for-TV movie, etc. ... Lucie Arnaz (born Lucie Desiree Arnaz on July 17, 1951) is an American actress. ... San Diego redirects here. ... Neo-noir (from the Greek neo, new; and the French noir, black) is a type of motion picture that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style or visual elements that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s. ... James Ellroy (born Lee Earle Ellroy on March 4, 1948 in Los Angeles, California) is an American writer. ... The Black Dahlia is a neo-noir novel by James Ellroy taking inspiration from the true story of the murder of Elizabeth Short. ... Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... Black Dahlia is a PC adventure game that was released on February 28, 1998 by Take-Two Interactive. ... Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal         Nazism or National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party, German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. ... For other uses, see Occult (disambiguation). ... Dennis Lee Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor and film-maker. ... Teri Ann Garr (born December 11, 1944)[1] is an American actress and comedienne. ... Map of Cleveland, Ohio The Cleveland Torso Murderer (also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run) was an unidentified serial killer active in the Cleveland, Ohio, area in the early 20th century. ... Brian De Palma (born Brian Russell DePalma on September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is a controversial American film director, best known for directing the Al Pacino classic Scarface, and the Academy Award-winning The Untouchables. ... The Black Dahlia is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 film directed by Brian De Palma. ... Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor. ... Aaron Edward Eckhart (born March 12, 1968) is a Golden Globe-nominated American film actor. ... Scarlett I. Johansson[1] (born November 22, 1984) is a BAFTA-winning and four-time Golden Globe-nominated actress and singer, of dual American and Danish citizenship. ... Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Mia Kirshner (born January 25, 1975) is a Canadian actress who works in movies and television series. ... September 2006 is the ninth month of 2006 and has begun on a Friday. ...

Selected references in other media

Literature

• The Joyce Carol Oates novel Blonde, a fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe, has a recurring character named Elizabeth Short. In the book it is implied that a studio mogul raped Short, and later there is a small reference to Short being killed.
• John Gregory Dunne used the murder as a point of departure in his 1977 novel True Confessions, which was made into the 1981 film of the same name starring Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro with a screenplay by Dunne and his wife, Joan Didion.
• Max Allan Collins combined the Black Dahlia and Cleveland Torso Murder in his Shamus Award-winning 2002 novel, Angel in Black, featuring his character, private investigator Nathan Heller.
• William Randolph Fowler, a reporter at the scene of the crime, included the Black Dahlia case in his 1991 autobiography, Reporters: Memoirs of a Young Newspaperman.
• The book Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism And The Black Dahlia Murder compares the Black Dahlia murder to surrealist art.
• Lynda La Plante's novel The Red Dahlia details a fictional story about a modern-day killer who is copying the Black Dahlia case.

Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American author and the Roger S. Berlind 52 Professor in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978. ... Blonde is a historical novel by Joyce Carol Oates that chronicles the life of world-famous actress Marilyn Monroe. ... Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson;[1] baptised Norma Jeane Baker June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), was a Golden Globe-winning,[2] critically-acclaimed[3][4][5] American actress, singer, model, Hollywood icon,[6] cultural icon, fashion icon,[7] pop icon,[8] film executive[9] and sex symbol. ... John Gregory Dunne (25 May 1932 - 30 December 2003) was an American novelist, screenwriter and literary critic. ... Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an Academy Award-, two-time Emmy Award-, and four-time Golden Globe Award-winning American film actor and director. ... Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. ... Joan Didion (born December 5, 1934) is an American writer, known as a journalist, essayist, and novelist. ... Max Allan Collins in 1982, posing with a drawing of Dick Tracy. ... The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America for the best private eye genre novel of the year. ... Surrealism picks about cautiously with reality. ...

Television and film

• The case inspired the 1953 noir film The Blue Gardenia, including a title song sung by Nat King Cole.

Two silhouetted figures in The Big Combo (1955). ... Raymond Burr in The Blue Gardenia The Blue Gardenia is a 1953 black-and-white film noir directed Fritz Lang. ... Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was a popular American jazz singer-songwriter and pianist. ...

Music

• Bob Belden's 2001 CD Black Dahlia draws inspiration from the case for a moody, noir score divided into 12 sections depicting her life.
• Lamb of God has a song entitled "The Black Dahlia" on their album New American Gospel.
• American Thrash metal band Anthrax has a song entitled "Black Dahlia" on their album We've Come for You All.
• In 2002, rock star and artist Marilyn Manson created a series of water color paintings based upon the murder.
• The band Hollywood Undead has a song entitled "My Black Dahlia" on their album Never Going Down.

CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit České Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s... A film score is a set of musical compositions written to accompany a film. ... Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band formed in 1990 in Richmond, Virginia. ... Alternate cover Original cover New American Gospel is the debut album of Lamb of God, released in 2000. ... Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres that is characterised by high speed riffing and aggression. ... Weve Come for You All is Anthraxs ninth full-length album. ... Marilyn Manson (born Brian Hugh Warner ) is the lead singer of the band Marilyn Manson. ...

References

Further reading

• Daniel, Jacque (2004). The Curse of the Black Dahlia. Los Angeles: Digital Data Werks. ISBN 0-9651604-2-4. 
• Fowler, Will (1991). Reporters: Memoirs of a Young Newspaperman. Minneapolis: Roundtable Publishing. ISBN 0-915677-61-X. 
• Gilmore, John [1994] (2006). Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia. Los Angeles: Amok Books. ISBN 1-878923-17-X. 
• Hodel, Steve (2003). Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder. New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-664-3. 
• Knowlton, Janice; Newton, Michael (1995). Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer: The Identity of America's Most Notorious Serial Murderer – Revealed at Last. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-88084-5. 
• Nelson, Mark; Sarah Hudson Bayliss (2006). Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder. New York: Bulfinch Press. ISBN ISBN 0-8212-5819-2. 
• Pacios, Mary (1999). Childhood Shadows: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murder. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse. ISBN 1-58500-484-7. 
• Rasmussen, William T. (2005). Corroborating Evidence: The Black Dahlia Murder. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press. ISBN 0-86534-536-8. 
• Richardson, James (1954). For the Life of Me: Memoirs of a City Editor. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. (ISBN unavailable). 
• Smith, Jack (1981). Jack Smith's L.A. New York: Pinnacle Books. ISBN 0-523-41493-5. 
• Underwood, Agness (1949). Newspaperwoman. New York: Harper and Brothers. (ISBN unavailable). 
• Webb, Jack (1958). The Badge: The Inside Story of One of America's Great Police Departments. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-09-949973-8. 
• Wolfe, Donald H. (2005). The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul, and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles. New York: ReganBooks. ISBN 0-06-058249-9. 

John Jonathan Gilmore (born 1935 in Los Angeles, California) is an American journalist and writer. ... John Randolph Jack Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, director, and writer who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet. ...

See also

• Glasgow smile
• Black Dahlia suspects

For the hard rock band, see The Chelsea Smiles. ...

External links

• The Black Dahlia Web Site by Pamela Hazelton.
• Black Dahlia Information Website by Mary Pacios.
• Black Dahlia in The Los Angeles Times.
• CrimeLibrary entry for Black Dahlia.
• The FBI's Black Dahlia files from the FBI's Freedom of Information Act site.
  • FBI file Part 1
  • FBI file Part 2
  • FBI file Part 3
  • FBI file Part 4

Note that the FBI file incorrectly lists her as Elizabeth Ann Short. In reality, she had no middle name.

• Heaven Is Here! by Larry Harnisch.
• John Gilmore Web Site Author John Gilmore
• Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel.
• Black Dahlia Solutions an extensive and longstanding website by an anonymous author, claiming to have solved the case.
• route from the Biltmore Hotel (Short's last known location) to the crime scene, although it uses freeways that didn't exist in 1947.
• "Somebody Knows" episode a 1950 radio program on the case.