The Black Dahlia

One of the most frequent questions asked to me is: "Do you know anything about the Black Dahlia case?" Or "Was it really based on a real case?"  The answer is yes to both, so I decided to make a small page dedicated to the most famous unsolved case in LAPD history.

Who Was The Black Dahlia?

A *brief* biography

          The Black Dahlia was born Elizabeth Short  July 29, 1924 in Hyde Park, Mass. As she matured into a teenager, Beth's looks were more sophisticated than most of the other girls.  She dreamed of becoming an actress, and left home to california when she was 19.

           She was arrested once in Santa Barbara for underaged drinking and told to return home by the Santa Barbara police. She ended up in hollywood where she was last seen alive after leaving the Biltmore hotel in January, 1947.

 

What happened to her?

       On January 15, 1947  Elizabeth Shorts body was discovered in a vacant lot near Hollywood.  The body was nude, severed in half with a butcher knife, badly beaten and bruised, and reportidly sodomized after death.   The body was also drained of blood, and the faced sliced up. For more details, which are a bit on the gruesome side, visit The Black Dahlia  Web Page.  Be warned if you have a weak stomach.

The case to this day is unsolved.  Many false confessions where compiled by the LAPD, as usually happens to media-hyped cases like this.

 

What Happened in the Hunter version of the case?

A synopsis of the episode, their facts, and how Hunter & McCall closed one for the history books. will be coming soon.

Why are people so fascinated with this case?

For a much better insight on the case's effect of people, try here.  The author puts it in better words than I ever could.

Is there any chance for a "cased closed" here?

Maybe. Though the case still remains today (except in the Hunter fans eyes), it is still periodically assigned to officers of the LAPD.

 

I want to know more! What's out there?

There are a surprising number of links about The Black Dahlia.  Here's everything I could find, web links, books, articles, movies, even music.

 

The Black Dahlia Web Page   The most extensive selection of info on the case on the net.  Photos, articles, and more.  Definetly worth the look.

The Black Dahlia Murder  A brief overview.

The Crime Library  If you like studying famous murder cases or crime in general like me, than this site is a goldmine of information!  I could spend hours browsing this site.

Infamous Exit Scenes A section dedicated to The Black Dahlia.

THE GRIM READER  The Official Journal of the Los Angeles Grim Society

The Black Dahlia  A ininteractive game based on the case

All books are available at:

Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder.  By John Gilmore.  1994, Zanja Press.

The Black Dahlia.  By James Ellroy.  1987, Mysterious Press.

Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer.  By Janice Knowlton with Michael Newton  1995, Pocket Books.

Reporters: Memoirs of a Young Newspaperman.  By Will Fowler.  1991, Roundtable Publishing

For the Life of Me.  By Jimmy Richardson.  1954, Putnum.  by the LA Examiner at the time.

LAPD's Rogue Cops. Black Dahlia Murder Case.  By Vincent A. Carter

Who Is the Black Dahlia?  1975, NBC-TV movie.

Medford Girl.  Documentary, Kyle J. Wood.  $14.95 + $3.50 shipping. Write to: Kyle J. Wood, P O Box 483, St. Ann, MO 63074. Not shown on television. Source:  The Black Dahlia Web Page.

Jimmy Vargas & The Black Dahlias. P.O. Box A948, Sydney South NSW 2000-1235, Australia  $22 (Australian); $18 (U.S. dollars, including P/H) Self entitled CD.  Death Swings: their new CD.  $14.98

 

Questions?  E-Mail Puckgirl

Divider from Angle's Free Web Graphics.