The public’s interest in Elizabeth Short and her terrible unsolved death hasn’t waned as the 70th anniversary of the Black Dahlia murder approaches. James Bartlett examines how Los Angeles commemorates the infamous murder.
There are some graphic descriptions in this article.
When she was dropped off at the posh Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, few people recognized her dark-haired woman, but when her torso was discovered nearly a week later, Elizabeth Short became a household name.
Betty Bersinger was walking with her little daughter along a barely built street in the planned neighbourhood of Leimert Park on the morning of January 15, 1947, when she discovered what she thought were two pieces of a tailor’s mannequin.
It wasn’t the case.
Short had been chopped in half and drained of blood neatly at the waist. Her intestines had been taken, and her mouth had been slit from ear to ear, a horrifying incision known as the Glasgow Smile. Her body was then washed and discarded in an uninhabited field.
According to Glynn Martin, a retired Los Angeles police sergeant, and historian, the “brutal, misogynistic, and ritual aspect” of the assassination sparked a media frenzy. More than 50 suspects, both male and female, were interviewed, with several confessing to the crime. However, the murder was never solved, adding to the mystery surrounding the incident.
There was also a link to the area’s glitz and splendour. She lived in Hollywood and aspired to be an actor.
The assassination became a “sad cliche – the ultimate cautionary tale.” When a starry-eyed young girl arrives in Hollywood, things go wrong for her.
Then there was the iconic nickname, a play on the Veronica Lake-Alan Ladd classic The Blue Dahlia from the previous year, and a reference to Short’s stunning dark hair.
The case of the Black Dahlia has sparked university theses, art projects, a death metal band’s name, as well as references in video games and television shows in the decades since. It even had a significant feature picture adaptation in 2006, based on James Ellroy’s best-selling novel inspired by the case.
Ellroy himself has stated that he does not believe the perpetrator will be apprehended.
He claims, “It’ll never be solved because it wasn’t supposed to be solved.”
Esotouric’s literature, crime, and culture bus tours of Los Angeles are organized by Kim Cooper and her husband Richard Schave, and Cooper claims that many individuals who attend on their Black Dahlia tour “have their heads full of disinformation.”
Even tour operators are astonished from time to time, as when an older gentleman joined one of their true crime trips and claimed a link to the Black Dahlia.
“He informed us he was a paperboy at the time and had rushed to the crime site to be one of the first on the scene. It was the first time he had ever seen a naked lady “Cooper explains.
“I believe it had an impact on the rest of his life.”
Short’s murder, like the London murders of Jack the Ripper in the nineteenth century, continues to elicit new interpretations.
Former homicide detective Steve Hodel reportedly alleged that his physician father George was the killer, as well as being responsible for other noteworthy murders.
In 2013, a cadaver dog examined Hodel’s former residence and “alarmed” for human remains – though Short’s body had already been discovered.
During my investigation for Gourmet Ghosts, a series of true crime books, I discovered that several chatty Los Angeles bartenders claim their establishment, not the Biltmore, was the last location Short was seen alive.
Some speculated that her death was the consequence of a violent date, or that the perpetually broke Short tried to hitchhike home, as was the custom at the time and got into the wrong automobile.
“On the reference desk, I was frequently questioned about the Black Dahlia,” says Christina Rice, senior librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library’s photo collection. “She was intending to use her psychic powers to solve the crime,” one woman said when she came in seeking maps from 1947.
According to Rice, the only copy of the Los Angeles Herald-microfilm Examiner’s for the second half of January was taken years ago, and Short was only one of many women cruelly murdered in California in the postwar years.
Image by ALAMY
The Los Angeles Herald-Express and the sensationalist Los Angeles Examiner exploited the cosy relationship that all publications had with the Los Angeles police department as soon as the body was discovered.
On the front page at the time, it was typical to find suicide notes and bloodstained bodies – albeit airbrushed or manipulated in some cases, such as Short’s naked body, over which photo editors added a blanket – Suicide photos even included arrows pointing to where the victims had fallen to their deaths.
The Examiner also added entire fabrications to the Black Dahlia narrative, substituting a tight skirt and top for the suit Short had been spotted wearing and indicating sexual escapades in their reporting.
Short’s mother was likewise fooled about her daughter’s death by the newspaper, which used a deception about “Beth” winning a beauty contest to fly her to Los Angeles before informing her of the truth, securing the scoop of a mother’s reaction to the tragedy.
The crime is still being investigated, and the Biltmore Hotel still sells a Black Dahlia cocktail made with vodka, Chambord black raspberry liqueur, and Kahlua. The drink has a bitter flavour, which is maybe appropriate.
Priyangka is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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