Bonus: Love Letters from The Black Dahlia
Once Upon A Crime
Esther Ludlow
4.6 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.co. |
| 0:05.5 | U.K. slash Wondery. That's audible.com.uk slash Wondery. |
| 0:12.7 | Hey, true crime fans, I've got some killer news for you. Once Upon a Crime now has its very own online merch shop. |
| 0:20.2 | And we're celebrating with a grand opening |
| 0:22.2 | sale. For a limited time, you can grab exclusive podcast gear for up to 27% off, including |
| 0:29.3 | our fan favorite $16. But don't wait too long. These deals disappear after October 31st. |
| 0:37.1 | Show your love for the show and get your hands on some wickedly cool merch at Once Upon |
| 0:41.8 | a Crime.dashery.com. |
| 0:44.9 | You can grab the link in the show notes and bookmark it to return often and check out new |
| 0:49.6 | logo products, including fun seasonal designs. |
| 0:53.9 | Gear up with Once Upon a Crime merch. Our stories may end in murder, |
| 0:58.2 | but your outfits will slay. |
| 1:09.1 | This is Esther, host of Once Upon a Crime. |
| 1:12.7 | And you're listening to a special bonus episode. |
| 1:16.2 | Love Letters from the Black Dahlia. |
| 1:19.3 | Before Elizabeth Short became the most infamous murder victim in America, |
| 1:23.5 | she was simply Beth, a young woman searching for love, adventure, and belonging. |
| 1:30.2 | In our last episode, we heard her story, from her childhood in Medford, Massachusetts, |
| 1:36.6 | to young adulthood when she fell in love with a serviceman, only to have her heart broken |
| 1:41.7 | when he became a casualty of war. |
| 1:51.1 | In this episode, we'll get a more personal look at Elizabeth Short's life through her letters written during wartime. We hear her voice through her own intimate handwritten letters sent to |
| 1:57.9 | the two men who stole her heart. Through her words, as well as those from Lieutenant Gordon Fickling and Major Matt Gordon, |
... |
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