On the morning of January 15, 1947, a woman walking with her young daughter spotted something pale and white lying in the weeds of a vacant lot. When the woman walked closer to get a better look, she made a horrifying discovery: the bisected body of a young woman, brutally murdered and like trash in the abandoned overgrown lot. The woman in the lot would soon be identified as twenty-two-year-old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, who the press nicknamed “The Black Dahlia.” Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAssociated Press. 1947. "Mrs. Phoebe Short can't believe slain girl hers." Los Angeles Times, Janaury 17: 2.Bartlett, Jim. 2017. The Black Dahlia: Los Angeles' most famous unsolved murder. January 8. Accessed January 14, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38513320.Daily News. 1947. "Body of girl mutilated by murderer." Daily News (Los Angeles, CA), January 15: 1.Federal Bureau of Investigation. 1947. Correspondence, Identification Division, FBI. Letter from R.B. Hood, SAC to Director Hoover, re: Black Dahlia identification, Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice.Gilmore, John. 1994. Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia. Gardena, CA: Zanja Press.Goffard, Christopher. 2024. "The killing of Elizabeth Short, dubbed the Black Dahlia, has inspired endless theories." Los Angeles Times, October 26: B1.Hodel, Steve. 2003. Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder. New York, NY: Arcade Publishing.Lait, Matt. 1991. "Memories of murder." Los Angeles Times, June 22: B1.—. 1991. "Search fails to turn up evidence of '47 murder." Los Angeles Times, June 23: B1.Los Angeles Times. 1947. "Beth Short slaying suspect jailed after asserted admission of crime." Los Angeles Times, January 29: 2.—. 1947. "'Black Dahlia' knife braggart terroizes girl." Los Angeles Times, February 5: 7.—. 1947. "'Black Dahlia's' love life traced in search for her fiendish murderer." Los Angeles Times, Janaury 18: 3.—. 1947. "'Dahlia' clues fail; inquest conducted." Los Angeles Times, Janaury 23: 2.—. 1947. "Elizabeth Short case slayer baffles police." Los Angeles Times, Janaury 31: 2.—. 1947. "Girl victim of sex fiend found slain." Los Angeles Times, January 16: 2.—. 2004. "Janice Knowlton claimed a link to Black Dahlia murder." Los Angeles Times, December 19: B7.—. 1947. "'Killer' fails to surrender in Elizabeth Short death." Los Angeles Times, January 30: 2.—. 1947. "Mystery envelope sent in 'Dahlia' case; address book gives dozens of fresh leads." Los Angeles Times, January 25: 3.—. 1947. "Police await second 'Dahlia' letter for clue to break murder case." Los Angeles Times, January 27: 2.—. 1947. "Police free red-haired salesman as suspect in 'Black Dahlia' murder." Los Angeles Times, Janaury 21: 2.—. 1947. "Police stumped in beauty killing." Los Angeles Times, February 2: 2.—. 1947. "Soldier's 'Dahlia' date tale newest clue in slaying." Los Angeles Times, February 6: 2.—. 1947. "Soldier's leave time checked in 'Dahlia' murder." Los Angeles Times, February 7: 2.—. 1947. "Suspect detained for questioning in 'Black Dahlia' mutilation murder." Los Angeles Times, January 20: 2.—. 1947. "Tooth cavities clue checked in beauty slaying." Los Angeles Times, February 4: 2.Nightingale, Suzan. 1982. "Author claims to have found 1947 murderer." Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Janaury 17.United Press. 1947. "'Sick' veteran is booked in Dahlia death." Fresno Bee, January 29: 1.—. 1947. "Spurned lover is hunted in murder of 'Black Dahlia'." Fresno Bee, January 17: 1.—. 1947. "L.A. Police hope Dahliua murderer will surrender." Sacramento Bee, January 28: 4.Weller, Sheila. 2015. "The sins of the father." Dujour, June 01.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the introduction and context for this episode?
Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret. Have you heard of Wondery Plus? With ad-free episodes and one week early access, it's like having an all-access pass to our lighthearted nightmare. So come join us on the dark side and try Wondery Plus today. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Alayna. And this is Morbid.
This is Morbid, and it's part two of a two-parter. Oh my god, and it's kind of morbid in the morning.
It is, that's why you might, you might hear sleep in our voices. I know, honestly, probably not. I woke up with a fucking jolt this morning. Did you? Yeah, I just, well, because I woke up. Oh yeah, you were like, ah! Yeah, I was late. What else is new? But I made a good ass coffee. She did. She made a great ass coffee. I wasn't sure if it was good.
I thought my beans over extracted, but I don't know. No, I think they extracted the correct amount. I think they might have. And then we had like fun girl talk this morning. We did. We lifted each other up. We did. It was women supporting women in the office this morning.
We were like, you're a badass bitch. Yeah. Tell yourself that every day. Yeah. And you know what? You guys out there, you're all badass bitches. And you should tell yourselves that every day. Yeah, and don't compare yourself to anybody else. No, don't. Because you can do that until the end of time. And you'll always find someone that you're like, well, I didn't do this. And that person did that.
Yeah, okay. Do you like you?
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Chapter 2: How did the hosts start their day?
Ugh.
We're talking about the Black Dahlia case, the murder of Elizabeth Short. One thing I find interesting with this case is that the general consensus of the whole thing was like she was going out to Hollywood to become a star and blah, blah, blah. And that was her only... But in reality, it's like, yeah, she was, you know, she wanted to be an actress, all that good stuff.
But people make it seem like she was, that's it, and that was all that was, and blah, blah, blah. It's like, no, she literally was just looking for a new start. Yeah, in general. Like, she was genuinely looking to just start anew. And obviously, she had dreams of, like, you know, being an actress and all that, and she was doing extra work and all that, modeling. Yeah. But...
I think like that emphasis gets put too much on that, not enough on like, she was really going through a lot of shit. Yeah. And she really just was looking for a place where she felt like she belonged.
I think that happens a lot with these kind of stories, like the kind of stories where like a young girl goes out to Hollywood and she wants to be an actress. But it's like, that's never the only thing going on in somebody's life. And in fact, usually when a young girl is escaping to California to Hollywood, it's for a whole bunch of other reasons.
Yeah, there's a myriad of reasons that are coming with it. And on top of it, she needed that weather was her, that climate was her ideal climate.
Yeah, like health-wise. Because of her lungs.
So it's like, there was many layers to this. And I just think they don't get, it doesn't get talked about enough when it like gets brought up.
I agree. I see what you mean.
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