All Things Morbid

Come for the crime, stay for the snark, or just come for the snark.

recent posts

  • Confessions, Blind dates, And Media Madness.

    Black Dahlia: Pt. 2, The Investigation

    Hello Bloggers and Blog readers! I am back with the second part of the Black Dahlia case, The Investigation. Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a few days; I just started my new school, which, so far, is going great! One of the English teachers love crime\true crime\mystery shows, and we had a really interesting conversation about Wednesday -Go Enid!- and the show Bodkin, [ Which is great by the way.]

    Anyway, we arrive at the crime scene, where the investigators have appeared. Since the body has been wiped clean and the surrounding area is free of blood spatter, the LAPD concluded that Short was killed elsewhere, before being dumped at Leimert Park.

    Near Short’s body was a heel print and a cement sack, the sack containing traces of blood- it is probable that the sack was used for transporting the body.

    Now this is where the LAPD passed the mystery baton to the FBI like it was a relay race of confusion. The LAPD reached out to the FBI, asking for help with identifying the body. Now, we know this is the body of Elizabeth Short, due to my narrating, but they didn’t know that. Not yet. This was just a Jane Doe, a nameless face. They didn’t know who she was, for a whopping….55 minutes. That’s quicker than the time it takes me to decide what to watch on Netflix.

    For some context, it normally takes a long time to identify a body for the following reasons: It might be damaged or decomposed, leading to no collectible evidence. There might not be any prints in the fingerprint database of the FBI, or LAPD, or really any police force, that matches the prints of the body.

    The reason why Short was identified so fast, was that her fingerprints were in the FBI’s database twice. First because she has applied for a job as a clerk at the commissary of the U.S. Army’s Camp Cooke in California back in 1943. Second, because she was arrested for underage drinking by the Santa Barbara Police just 7 months after she has applied for the job. Turns out, applying for a job and getting arrested are great ways of getting into the FBI’s scrapbook.

    So now Elizabeth Short is identified. And naturally, the press get wind of this. They start reporting on every rumor found. They even interview her poor mother, not telling her until the end that her daughter has been murdered and dismembered in horrible ways. Elizabeth Short gets labeled a ‘Hollywood Hopeful’- which is code for, ‘we needed a headline and she wore eyeliner’.

    Even with so much news circling around the ‘Black Dahlia’ – The press labeled Short that after her penchant for wearing black clothes, and the movie the ‘Blue Dahlia’ had just come out- the police weren’t getting anywhere with this case. Luckily, the press had better luck.

    On January 21st, about a week since the Short’s body was found, the Examiner received a call from a person claiming to be the murderer, who said he would be sending Short’s belongings as proof of his claim. The killer really said- “Hold my anonymity, I’ve get a press release to make.”

    Shortly after, on the 24th, the Examiner received a package with Short’s birth certificates, photos, business cards, and an address book with the name ‘Mark Hansen’ written on the cover. More about him in the upcoming post, Suspects. Also included was a letter pasted together from newspaper and magazine letter clippings that read, ‘Los Angeles Examiner and other Los Angeles papers here is Dahlia’s belongings letter to follow.’ It was less, ‘evidence’, and more, ‘creepy care package’.

    Everything had been wiped down with gasoline, leaving no prints. Because bleach in obviously for amateurs. Although, a partial print was found on the envelope but it was too damaged to be of any use.

    On January 26th, another letter arrived. A handwritten note, saying, “Here it is. Turning in Wed, January 29, 10 a.m. Had my fun at the police. Black Dahlia Avenger.” The note included a place. The Police awaited at the appointed time and places, but the author never showed. The police showed up, but the killer did not. The worst blind date in history.

    Afterward, the alleged killer sent a note made from cut out letter clippings from magazines to the Examiner that said, “Have changed my mind. You would not give me a square deal. Dahlia killing was justified.” Magazine clippings: Because typing was too mainstream.

    Since then, there has been more than 750 investigators working on the case, 560 confessions, and no one arrested. This is where the official investigation ends, and the speculation begins.

    Thank you members of the ‘True Crime But Make It Stomachable’ Club for reading another of my posts!

    The post of Suspects will be online soon.

    Thanks again, and remember: Stay curious, stay kind, and never trust a man with too many alibis.

  • If your name is Elizabeth Short, and you live in L.A, Run.

    Black Dahlia, Pt. 1: The Victim

    This is a case with no conclusion. A case that, over 7 decades, has not been solved. A case with over 650 confessions to the crime, but no arrests. A case with 750 investigators, but with no one on trial. Basically its that one group project with way too many people and zero accountabilty.

    This…is the case of the Black Dahlia. Cue the ominous music and dramatic lightning.

    Okay, Hello all 183 viewers who read my posts! Yes, I decided to go with the dramatic opening, cos I’m just that person. This is a cold case that I have been wanting to write about for ages-And it happened ages ago. 78 years to be exact. Because this is a very complex case I will be splitting up the story in 3 Parts. The Victim, The Investigation, and The Suspects. This post will be about, you guessed it, The Victim.

    Elizabeth Short: Hollywood hopeful.

    Elizabeth Short: Daughter.

    Elizabeth Short: 22 year old.

    Elizabeth Short: Dead.

    If it was not obvious from the four repetitions of her name, Elizabeth Short is the Black Dahlia. She is the victim in this case. Which means, the following paragraphs will be all about her.

    On the morning of January 15, 1947, Elizabeth Short’s body was found in the L.A neighborhood of Leimert Park. A mother and her child found Short on their morning walk. She was posed in such a way that led the mother to believe that she was a mannequin. But that, unfortunately, was not the case.

    Short was mutilated heavily, her body cut in two at the waist, and a cut from either ear to the edges of her mouth, leaving a grisly smile. This came to be known as the ‘Glasgow smile.’

    If you are still reading, even after the details on body disfigurement, you’re welcomed to the ‘True Crime But Make It Stomachable’ Club. We meet weekly and bring snacks. But try to avoid peanuts; Jerry’s allergic and dramatic about it.

    Moving on, where was I? Oh right. The gruesome death. I won’t go on to when the police come in, because that will be in the investigation, which will be in the next post.

    Thank you for reading, and there will be more about the Black Dahlia tomorrow! I will leave you guys with a quote from Steve Hodel- former LAPD detective and author who believed he found the killer’s identity.

    “Thought prints… are the ridges, loops, and whorls of our mind… they mean little by themselves and remain meaningless, unconnected shapes in a jigsaw puzzle until they are pieced together to reveal a clear picture.”

    Sleep tight True Crime club. And remember: Bring snacks, not suspects.

  • I believe I can fly, or at least the guy next to me does

    Now, this case is a pretty open-and-shut one: A guy hijacks a plane, orders it to land in Seattle to pick up 200,000 dollars. [ In today’s money that would be 2,000,000 dollars. ] And then jumps off the plane, never to be seen again. Just another Tuesday, right?

    Presumably, the guy is dead. But, one thing makes you think: If the guy jumped out of the airplane – on purpose – wouldn’t he have a plan not to die? This fact, that he jumped out of the airplane of purpose, has changed this story into myth, so many people with different theories of how this guy has survived. And how do we know he isn’t dead?

    The never found his body.

    *Cue the dramatic music*

    So yeah, D.B. Cooper might not have died, but because I’m a realist and I like to ruin every one’s fun, I am pretty certain that he is dead.

    After all, how could someone survive a jump from 30,000 feet in the sky?

    Was he mentally insane, or a criminal genius?

    Did he spend the money on lots of donuts, or chocolate?

    …

    Sorry, the last question was my craving for sweet, sweet, sugar put into words.

    So, yes, its a pretty open-and-shut case, and an interesting one nonetheless. Thank you, bloggers, and blog readers for humoring my monologue about cash and jumping out of planes, and I will post something later.

    Just one more thing: Kids, don’t jump out of plane’s with 200,000 dollars in cash. That would be a waste of good money. And your life.

    Thanks for reading!

  • Things that are not necessarily morbid on All Things Morbid\ The Great Maple Syrup Heist

    Hi Guys! So I realize that the things I post about are very…disheartening. So this page will be about things that are not classed as ‘morbid’, but still have that..gruesome aspect we all know and love. Home is where the heart is, right? And right now, my non-existent heart is on Jeffrey Dahmer’s doorstep.

    …

    So to brighten up my and other people’s day, short, funny, and humiliating crimes will be posted here, as I understand humiliating things are the focus of the entire Gen A population. Mostly. Either that, or ‘try not to laugh’ challenges. And yes, please understand that I do also, somewhat, enjoy watching these things, so to make fun of other people for it, makes me a hypocrite. It just so happens that being a hypocrite is one of my favourite pastimes.

    Anyway…here is a short funny story for this post:

    The Great Maple Syrup Heist

    Over a couple months in 2011 to 2012, the contents of 9,571 barrels, worth 18.7M, was stolen- yes, you are not hallucinating. Maple syrup in large quantities is worth the hassle of stealing. Makes a girl think about how to earn a stable living. – from a FPAQ [stands for Fédération des Prodecteurs Acéricoles du Québec, in English: Quebec Maple Syrup Producers Federation ] facility in Saint-Luis-de-Blandford, Quebec. Ever wonder how maple syrup is stored in such a facility? Cause I certainly haven’t. Well, the syrup is stored in nondescript white metal barrels, only checked upon once a year. Practically screaming, “Steal me!” Or, at least, “Pour me on pancakes and then eat those pancakes!” Our beloved thieves decided to go with, “Steal me!”

    The thieves used trucks to transfer the syrup to a sugar shack. Which, despite its name, is not like the witch house in the fairy tale, Hansel and Gretal. Unfortunately. At the sugar shack, the thieves siphoned off the maple syrup, replacing the syrup in the barrels with water, and then returning the barrels to the facility. Talk about a good plan. …….But not good enough that they wouldn’t be caught.

    As the operation of steal the maple syrup but not pour it on pancakes went on, the thieves got cocky and just sent the barrels back to the facility without filling them with water. A mistake that would lead them to their capture. The stolen syrup was split into 2 portions: One to be trucked to the south toward Vermont, and the other to the east, toward New Brunswick. At the locations the syrup was trafficked in small batches to avoid suspicion. Usually it was sold to legitimate, legal, syrup distributors, unaware of its shady origin.

    In July 2012 the FPAQ conducted its annual inventory of syrup barrels. Inspector Michel Gavreau started climbing up the mountain of barrels, but nearly fell, due to the lack of, well, anything, in the barrels. The police soon recovered hundreds of barrels of syrup from an exporter based in Kedgwick, New Brunswick.

    Soon the police arrested 17 men related to the theft.

    So, what do you think? A serious crime, or a funny one?

    I think that the thieves certainly had ‘sticky’ fingers. Get it? Cos maple syrup is sticky and its also a reference to thieves…..Sign of a great joke, having to explain it. Well done, Pip. [ Yes I did just reference myself in the 3rd person. ]

    If you want to learn more about this case, such as knowing who was involved, the trusty Wikipedia knows everything…

    Hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll post more things like this. If you guys have any ideas of a case\crime you want to know more about, then just write it the comments.

    Thanks for reading!

  • A Bond Between Brothers

    Hello bloggers and blog readers! The case on the chopping block today, contains patricide, matricide, lying, abuse, a show of how strong a bond between brothers can be, and murder. The Menendez brothers. The sons that killed their parents.

    This is a closed case. Lyle and Erik Menendez admitted they did it. its not a question of who did it, but rather the question of, Why?

    On the evening of a Sunday, August 20, 1989, an operator of 991 recieved a call by Lyle Menendez, screaming, “Someone killed my parents!” Officers arrived at their villa to see Jose and Kitty Menendez shot multiple times at close range by a shotgun. Lyle and Erik told investigators at the scene that they, “Arrived at home to find their parents shot to death.”

    I think you can see where this is going. Two perfect sons, going into college – Lyle 21 years old, Erik 18 – with two perfect parents. Two perfect white, rich, parents. The American dream family. No one would suspect for these two perfect sons to kill these two perfect parents. I bet that’s what Lyle and Erik were banking on. But, luckily for us, the Police are actually semi-good at their jobs. [ I’m sorry if I offended anyone with that comment ].

    When they started investigating, their main suspect was, drum roll please, the beautiful greedy thing we call…Business. As stated before in this ‘magnificent’ amount of paragraphs, the brothers parents were rich. Namely, their dad, Jose Menendez. Jose worked a lot in business, and he was good at it. [ Good at work, not parenting.] And, at the time of his death, Jose was working for a film studio running its home division. So he was working for a film studio. Then he dies. Therefore the film studio is behind it.

    …

    But then why kill Kitty? This theory has way too many holes in it, so the police are glad to drop it when they get a clue. A lot of clues actually. And these clues pointed to Lyle and Erik.

    You see, in the wake of their parents death, or more bluntly, murder, while the police was trying to solve it, Lyle and Erik were spending their inheritance, and lots of it. The bought Rolex watches. Rolex watches! Who buys Rolex watches with their dead parents money? ….They also bought real estate and invested in businesses. So, not typically what one would do after their parents passing away but, although unusual, not rock solid proof.

    But buying Rolex watches weren’t the only thing that they were doing. Lyle and Erik had been taking to a therapist. Now that isn’t strange, because of course they would go to therapy after they saw their parents dead bodies. I’m going to be serious right now. Even though Lyle and Erik killed their parents, do not believe for one minute, that they are ‘soulless monsters’ like people want you to believe. They had reasons, and those reasons don’t justify what they did, but their ‘perfect’ parents, well…they weren’t ‘perfect’. Not by a long shot.

    Back to therapy. Now, I like to think this is a case where Lyle and Erik, ‘sent their therapist to therapy’, as pouring out their feelings to their therapist. No, they were confessing. Just one more point on my ‘they are not soulless monsters’ campaign: if they had no regrets of what they did, why would they confess? And sure, there are lots of reasons. Jeffery Dahmer confessed because the police found so much evidence pointing to him killing people, that there was no chance to change their minds otherwise. And yeah, they might of done it for the recognition, but work with me here. If they wanted recognition, why did they plead not guilty in their trial? Anddddd…now I’m getting off track.

    The therapist couldn’t tell the police, no, he was bound by patient confidentiality. But then 6 months after the crime, the police got a tip from an unlikely source: The therapist’s girlfriend, Judalon Smyth. She told the police that the brothers had confessed to the killings in therapy and that there was an audiotaped recording of it. A few days later, on March 8, 1990, the police arrested Lyle Menendez at the Beverly Hills mansion where their parents died. Two days after that, Erik Menendez was arrested at the L.A International Airport, upon arriving back from Israel, where he was playing tennis.

    The was 2 trials following the arrests, the first one ending in a mistrial. Both times, Lyle and Erik testified that they had been abused and were killing their parents in self-defense. The brothers were both in danger of being put on the death row, but luckily for them, it did not come to that. Yes, there is way more detail on the trials, but that is a story in its self, and one I won’t be writing about today.

    And after 30 years in prison, Lyle and Erik have been denied parole.

    Just keep this in mind: Lyle and Erik were not monsters, but they did a terrible thing. Some argue that the killing was justified, some disagree. Me myself, well, I don’t really know what to think. Jose Menendez abused his sons repeatedly over their lifetimes, and for that he is a terrible man. But I don’t think he deserved to die.

    So, what do you think?

  • 5 AM in the Morning

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s your favorite time of day?
    View all responses

    I love getting up super early and going outside, because the air is so fresh and there is dew drops on the grass. There’s also no one usually out there. Its so quiet and peaceful, and as a member of a family of 6, peace and quiet is a currency too rare to spend.

  • Hello People.

    Welcome to a blog that showcases the growing unhealthy obsession of a 12-year-old who has way too much time on her hands. As these posts grow, I hope the number of people reading this blog will grow, but that is way too hopeful and not very likely. [ Yes I’m that person, who shoot down their hope’s right away for fear of…humiliation? Not really sure. ] So, if you can tell I am a nervous, VERY self-conscious, and people-pleasing person, that was right where I was going for. Definitely. Now that I have introduced myself by not introducing myself at all – My name is Pip by the way. – let me tell you, well, more like write you? what this blog is about:

    MORBID STUFF.

    …

    That’s, well, generally it. I will post stories about crimes old and new, from all over the world. From cold cases that detectives never solved, to the most recent blood spattering murder. How exciting! There’s nothing like a good ol’ homicide to cheer you up when you realize its Monday and you have to go to school. Nothing at all…

    Well, thank you for humoring me and my attempt to write something not horrid, and I will post something later.

    Goodbye People.