Episode
Bonus: Love Letters from The Black Dahlia
- Podcast
- Once Upon A Crime
- Published
- Oct 27, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 656
- Processing state
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Summary
Before Elizabeth Short became known to the world as The Black Dahlia , she was a young woman searching for love and belonging in a world still recovering from war. In this bonus episode, Esther reads excerpts from Elizabeth’s personal correspondence with Lt. Joseph Gordon Fickling and Major Matthew “Matt” Gordon — two men who loved her deeply, and who reveal, through their letters, the hopes and heartbreaks of a woman who has too often been reduced to myth. These intimate writings offer a rare glimpse into Elizabeth’s voice — tender, romantic, and filled with dreams. Through her words, listeners will discover the woman behind the legend: hopeful, vulnerable, and forever chasing beauty in a world that often failed to show her kindness. 📚 Sources and References William F. Mann, Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood (Simon & Schuster, 2026) John Gilmore , Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder (Ameteur Press, 1994) Archival letters and family correspondence cited in: FBI Case File 62-00060: “Elizabeth Short Murder (Black Dahlia)” Los Angeles Examiner and Los Angeles Times historical archives (1947) Testimonies and recollections from: Phoebe Short (Elizabeth’s mother), in interviews compiled in the FBI case file 🔜 Next in the Series: In the next episode of Broken: The Black Dahlia Murders – Part Three , listeners will hear a detailed timeline of Elizabeth Short’s final months in Los Angeles , leading up to her infamous “lost week.” We’ll follow her movements across the city — the hotels, the friends, and the mysterious encounters that made up her last days — and begin to uncover the tangled web of people who crossed her path before her death. Sponsors: See a list of our sponsors and discount codes on our website: https://…