Black Dahlia and...Orson Welles?

So admittedly, one weakness of my report is that it's mostly from the Pacios book and my own general knowledge - though as I said above that book is very well researched and documented.  More information and sources would always be welcome, especially if anyone has longstanding familiarity with the Black Dahlia case.  It's been a fairly new topic to me.

Just like Zodiac and the other cases, the sensationalized Black Dahlia "myth" I guess I'll call it to borrow from the professor has many points which contradict the facts of the case.  So just to clarify I'll be distinguishing between the Black Dahlia myth and what happened to Bette Short.

The myth painted the Black Dahlia as some type of streetwalking villain, tempting men of the area and always looking for a good time.  In reality, Bette Short had a medical condition which prevented her from having normal intercourse - an imperforate hymen.  Pacios was able to obtain medical records which mention this and had it corroborated by many who knew her.  There is much more here as it goes to the very character of Bette Short.  It is very likely that her condition is what led her in some capacity to become the woman she was.  By most accounts she was some combination of the following: extremely caring, understanding, patient, giving, beautiful, composed, elegant and hardworking.  She was about 5'3", 115-120lbs, extremely pale skin and nearly jet black hair.  High cheek bones and was considered obviously beautiful for her time.  Pacios makes numerous mentions of Bette Short's uncanny ability to turn heads.  She always dressed to kill and had a VERY particular walk which summoned lots of attention.

Side note:  Bette Short was briefly engaged to a member of the Flying Tigers.  Yes, those Flying Tigers.  I believe they met while he was on leave, had agreed to marry, then he was killed on one of his next missions.  Something like that.  I believe there was an engagement ring and Bette Short visited his family after he died.  Happy to look up more details on this if anyone is interested, just ask.

It was her dream to work in the entertainment business and she was one of those people who didn't seem too crazy thinking she could make it.  She largely waited tables to support herself while she attempted to make connections and get training.  It was likely at one of her waitress jobs in LA where she successfully made that type of connection to this upper social echelon which ultimately proved fatal.  Pacios includes details of her employment and specifically the people who she would have met there who were also tied to LAPD and Hollywood agents, including that of Orson Welles.  Sorry I don't have the details immediately available - I will add in a future edit.  But this means we have connection between Bette Short and multiple people who are 1 link away from Orson Welles so it's not too much of a stretch to imagine them meeting.

I wanted to be able to include particular names and dates and it looks like I'll have to get back into the book to do that effectively.  I guess I am learning I need to be taking notes as I read books and that this type of work is very time consuming.


But I'd like to stay true to my word and finish this tonight, so here's a quick and dirty version of what I intend to clarify in the future - if anyone has criticism, corrections, compliments, comments, questions or anything, I am grateful for them and appreciate your time.  Here's the goods:


1.  Welles was in the immediate area at the time of the murder.

2.  Welles was filming Lady From Shanghai.  The famous hall of mirrors scene in that film contains an image of a bisected manikin posed in an identical manner to Bette Short's remains.

3.  Welles had some type of breakdown shortly after the murder and filming had to be halted.

4.  Welles had several such breakdowns throughout his life and ended up in state run institutions more than once

5.  Welles had an incident where he almost murdered a fellow actor on stage.  He was supposed to use a prop knife, but he insisted on a real one.  Victim barely survived.

6.  Welles had an obsession throughout his life with magic and playing the magician.  He even created a stage act where his grand finale was... cutting a woman in half.

7.  Welles planned to use his then wife and sex goddess Rita Hayworth as the assistant, but the then head of Columbia Studios, Harry Cohn, put a stop to it.

8.  Welles performed the trick in a cameo role with Marlene Deitrich in a 1944 movie called "Follow the Boys."  Note this is years before the murder.

9.  Welles was the type of man who liked a particular type of woman.  And Bette Short definitely was that type.  Pale and innocent.


In her book, Pacios seems to argue it must have been Welles in some sort of fit of passion - after failing to seduce the young Short and finding out she was unable to have sex with him, he must have flown into a rage - etc etc.  There was evidence Bette Short had been anally raped before her death.  She appeared to have been killed by asphyxiation.  Personally, I see this as a very calculated crime with multiple perpetrators.  Or at the VERY least, a small crew of cleaners.  I think it has clear ritual components.


My grizzly suspicion:  If Bette Short did have an imperforate hymen, I believe that would technically make her a virgin - which I believe are rumored to make appealing sacrifices in some traditions.  Blood is another popular ritual component - Bette Short's blood was drained, apparently by someone who was pretty good at it.  It seems more likely to me that Orson Welles was involved in some way in a group as some part of an occult ritual murder than he did it all by himself - but who knows