Episode 2 – Sneak Peak 4 minute introduction to “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia” Airs Wed Feb 20, 2019
February 16, 2019
Los Angeles, California
Elizabeth Short and Steve Hodel Black Dahlia Crime Scene Jan 15, 1947
(photographic by Steve Lawrence)
Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia
For a four-minute introduction to Episode 2, “Sneak Peak- You Couldn’t Make This Story Up” click on above photos.
Full podcast Episode 2 will air February 20, 2019
Just wondering if you ever thought about being hypnotized to see if you could find some hidden memories you might have buried when you were a child regarding any activities you may have seen your father do or overheard him talking about when you were a child? I know it was a really long time ago. I wonder if old memories from that long ago can even be recovered. Would Dr Hodel have been extra careful about making sure telephone conversations or conversations with friends in the house wouldn’t be accidentally heard by the children or other people in the house? Was he vigilant about hiding possible clues to crimes, or not particularly?
Jacqueline D: No, I’ve never had any professional attempt to do “recovered memories”. I’m not a big fan, have serious doubts about the accuracy/truth of them, so even if some were obtained, I would simply not trust them. I do acknowledge that there are repressed memories that I cannot recall from that time period. One will be revealed in an upcoming Root of Evil podcast. I’m sure there are many more, could have even seen my father’s girlfriend, Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short at the Franklin House in 1945 or 46, and that was the “source” when I saw the photo in my father’s album, but again, we will never know. And, finally, no I don’t think our father was particularly careful about “hiding clues” or phone calls. But, we three boys were not really privy to his private conversations on the phone or in person with his friends. Best, Steve
Mr. Hodel, I lived on Degnan & Coliseum ,I was 12 yrs. Old when Elizabeth Short’s body was found on the vacant lot at Coliseum & Crenshaw, the whole neighborhood was freaked out, it was not Van Ness st. That you suggested it was. If you wish to contact me, my email is, delmarstar11@gmail.com. I’m reading “most evil” well written.
Joan D.M: I’ve never mentioned “Van Ness St.” must have me confused with someone else? Most people refer to the crime location as 39th and Norton St. Norton becoms Degnan a block or so south of the crimes scene.
Whatever happened to Folly? Her birthdate matches up with Elizabeth’s. The Massachusett’s connection could be interesting?
Lisa D: Don’t know. Have not pursued that yet.
I was thinking the exact same thing the other day! Just pure wild speculation, but how crazy would it be if GHH was Elizabeth’s biological father, and that was their original connection? (Far-fetched, I know.)
Ted Sheridan: Yes way crazy, didn’t happen. That said, one of my favorite quotes is from Mark Twain who said, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth Isn’t.”
As a fictional (?) hypothesis, purely for imaginative exploration, the well-known similarities between the Dahlia murder arrangement and the last Marcel Duchamp installation Etant donnes might hint at an even darker finale – what if the Dahlia murder was merely a rehearsal for a Surrealist masterwork? Beginning soon after the Dahlia murder, the twenty years Duchamp spent working in semi-secrecy on his bizarre installation would have provided twenty years of preparation, careful taxidermy, preservation of the form to leave no telltale decay or odors, while creating a parallel tale explaining the lengthy evolution of the work. Unveiled to acclaim, curiosity, and protected by museum zealots, alluding to the title of an earlier work, “The bride, stripped bare..” lies nakedly displaying some perhaps awful truth, yet the artist could gleefully relish the “art lovers” who faun cluelessly, missing the reality before them. What if, Etant donnes is actually the body of a real victim, posed in elaborate charade? Modern scanning technology could quickly dispel this theory, but given the peculiar connections between dark figures like George Hodell, and the group of Surrealists in that era, it is a serious notion, nevertheless.