Exploring the Black Dahlia

On the morning of January 15, 1947, a local resident of Leimert Park, Los Angeles set out to experience an ordinary day. Betty Bersinger was headed for a morning walk with her three-year-old daughter. Betty had been on edge that morning, as the streets and parking lots surrounding her were deserted and eerie. While Betty’s feet traced the sidewalks that morning, a bag left within the bushes had captured her attention. Bersinger thought little of it at first; many people had taken to throwing their trash into the vacant lots. Upon closer inspection of the bag, Betty had discovered something life-changing. Betty Bersinger had just stumbled upon part of the mutilated, severed corpse of Elizabeth Short.

The death of Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia, is easily one of the most notorious murders of all time. Several pictures of the gruesome crime scene and corpse had been released into the public domain due to the media frenzy surrounding the murder; details about Elizabeth’s personal life were thrust into the spotlight; the vulturous media had pecked away at the murder for sensationalism and other novelties, all while spreading false information about the cause of death. Many confessions surrounding Short’s death had been made, but they were deemed false, and so justice for Elizabeth had not been claimed. No charges were ever filed. Instead of fading over time, the legend of the Black Dahlia just seems to deepen. To this day, Elizabeth’s whereabouts in the days leading up to her murder and the discovery of the corpse remain unknown. The life and death of the Black Dahlia have been the inspiration for many books and films, both fictional and non-fictional. So who was the Black Dahlia? Was she the sheer, black blouse wearing siren the media made her out to be? Was she a poor victim of fate?

Elizabeth Short entered the world somewhere in Boston, Massachusetts on July 29, 1924. Elizabeth had been the third of five daughters, and her love for the cinematic arts began at a young age. Elizabeth was raised and spent most of her life in Medford, Massachusetts. Elizabeth had seen the vile hand of tragedy strike sometime in 1930 when it had been assumed that her father had committed suicide. Short’s mother had moved with her five daughters to an apartment in Medford and worked as a bookkeeper to support them. Elizabeth would later go on to drop out of high school during her sophomore year.

Sometime in 1942, Elizabeth’s mother received a significant letter from her presumed to be deceased husband. The letter revealed that Cleo Short was alive and well and had chosen to craft a new life for himself in California. At the age of eighteen, Elizabeth had gone to live with her father in California. Cleo Short had been working on San Francisco Bay during this time. It is believed that arguments between Elizabeth and her father had led her to move out in January of 1943. Elizabeth spent the final few months of her life in Southern California. She worked as a waitress and rented a room behind a nightclub on Hollywood Boulevard.

On January 21 1947, a person claiming to be responsible for Short's death placed a phone call to the then editor of the Examiner to congratulate him on the newspaper's coverage of the developing case. On January 24 a seemingly suspicious envelope was discovered by a U.S Postal Service worker. The envelope was addressed to the Los Angeles Examiner. A large message on the face of the envelope had stated that it contained Dahlia's belongings. And sure enough, it did. The envelope held Elizabeth's birth certificate, business cards, and other such items.

To this day, it is unknown how twenty two-year-old Elizabeth fell into the clutches of doom. Police had singled out a few suspects over the years following Elizabeth's murder. During the initial investigation, police had received a total of 60 confessions. Since then, over 500 people have confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Short.

*Images taken from Google