The Most Beautiful Suicide

‘The Most Beautiful Suicide’, originally released on May 12, 1947 in LIFE Magazine

Sixty-nine years ago today, May 1st 1947, Evelyn McHale committed suicide by jumping from the 86th floor observation deck at the Empire State Building around 10:40 AM. The 23-year-old woman landed on a United Nations Assembly Cadillac Limousine that was parked on 34th Street approximately 200 feet (61 meters) west of 5th Avenue. Despite having fallen 1,050 feet (320 meters), her body appeared to be intact, even serene, as though she were sleeping. Her ankles are folded in a lady-like pose appropriate for the time, a gloved hand clutching her pearls, the only sign of damage is a tear in her hose. In contrast, the limousine her body rests on is crushed and broken glass surrounds the young woman. A patrolman named John Morrissey spotted a scarf drifting down from the Empire State Building which was shortly followed by Evelyn’s body. Her body landing atop the car created a cacophonic crash which alerted bystanders to the spectacle. Photography student Robert C. Wiles was across the street when he heard the loud, crunching of metal marking Ms.McHale’s suicide. In awe of her body’s unscathed appearance and leisurely posture, he snapped a photo approximately four minutes after her death. The photo was entitled “The Most Beautiful Suicide” and originally appeared on a full-page spread in the May 12, 1947 edition of Life Magazine with the caption, “At the bottom of the Empire State Building the body of Evelyn McHale reposes calmly in grotesque bier, her falling body punched into the top of a car.”. Unfortunately, not much is known about the life of Evelyn McHale, nor is there much known as to why she felt the need to take her own life.

Evelyn McHale

Evelyn was born on September 20, 1923 in Berkley, California to Vincent and Helen McHale. She was the 6th child born to a family of 7 children. When she was still very young, Evelyn’s mother, Helen, left the family for “material reasons” and her parents got a divorce. Her father retained full custody of the children and moved them to Washington, D.C. where he worked as a bank examiner. The family later moved to Tuckahoe, New York where Evelyn attended high school. After graduation, she joined the Women’s Army Corps and was stationed in Jefferson, Missouri. Eventually, she made her way back to New York State, living with her brother and sister-in-law in Baldwin, Long Island and got a job as a bookkeeper. Evelyn met Barry Rhodes, who was attending Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and had recently been discharged from the Air Force. They became engaged and were set to be married in June 1947 at Barry’s brother’s home in Troy, New Jersey. McHale had even been a bridesmaid in Barry Rhode’s younger brother’s wedding. On April 30, 1947 Evelyn took the train from New York to Easton, PA to visit Barry on his 24th birthday. On the morning of May 1, everything seemed normal, according to Barry Rhodes. He took his fiancé to the train station, kissed her good-bye, and at 7AM she boarded a train heading to Penn Station in New York City. Barry later told investigators, “When I kissed her goodbye, she was happy and as normal as any girl about to be married.”. Less than four hours later, Evelyn McHale was dead.

1947 article on the suicide of Evelyn McHale. Though her age is listed as ’20’ she was in fact, 23.

Detective Frank Murray discovered a few personal items belonging to Evelyn which were left behind on the observation deck: a tan (or gray, reports vary) cloth coat which was neatly folded and placed n the observation deck wall, a brown make-up kit filled with family photos, and a black pocketbook containing a suicide not. The note Evelyn McHale left, the only explanation of why she leapt to her death read, “I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family- don’t have any service for me or remembrance for me. My fiancé asked me to marry him in June. I don’t think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me. Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”. Despite her near perfect appearance, according to reports, when her body was moved she “fell apart”, the impact having liquefied most of her organs. Ultimately, her body was identified by her sister, Helen Brenner. However, her final wishes were respected in that she was cremated, and there is no grave for Evelyn McHale. Whether she would be pleased by it or not, the entire world remembers Evelyn McHale, as she was immortalized for her serene suicide. Evelyn was the 12th person to ever jump from the Empire State Building since its completion in 1931. She was one of five people who jumped from the building in a three week period, an event which prompted the construction of a 10 foot tall (3 meters) wire mesh barrier, and the employment of guards trained to spot jumpers, in an effort to prevent any more suicides at the location.
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‘The Most Beautiful Suicide’, colorized

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UPDATE: ‘Victims of Terror’, Past-Life Identity of Reincarnated Child Who Remembers Violent Death on 9/11

After writing a previous article entitled, “Victims of Terror”, I became slightly obsessed with the story of Cade, a boy who believes he is the reincarnation of a 9/11 victim. For several weeks, I couldn’t bring myself to focus on anything other than discovering the identity of the man Cade believes he was in his past life. From my research for the previous article, I knew:
-He was a businessman
-He could see the Statue of Liberty from his office window in the World Trade Center
-He either jumped or fell and saw his “brains come out of his head” before being covered by rubble
After searching the deep, dark recesses of the World Wide Web, I was able to find a few message boards Cade’s mother had gone on in hopes of discovering her son’s identity in his past life as well. Through this I learned additional information to aid in my search:
-The explosion occurred above him
-The ceiling on his floor collapsed, blocking the stairwell
-His parents were “abusive drunks” and he hated them
-He got married very young
-He was from New York State, and moved to New York City
-He lived in an apartment or hotel
-He rode a bike or motorcycle to work
-He had been in the armed forces
-He had loved taking ferry rides to the Statue of Liberty as a young man
-He got a dog when he was 25
-His remains are still at the former site of the World Trade Center
Unfortunately, this could describe hundreds of the World Trade Center employees killed in the attacks. Cade did, however, remember one extremely useful piece of information:
-His name was Robert
-His middle initial was ‘E’, for Elliot or Elion, he believes
-His last name, he thinks, might have been ‘Pattison’
There was, indeed, a man who worked and died in the World Trade Center named Robert E. Pattison. Although the ‘E’ stands for Edward, not Elliot or Elion, his parents are convinced this must be the man Cade was in his last life.
Robert E. Pattison was 40 years old when he was killed on September 11, 2001. He was employed by WCBS as a maintenance transmitter supervisor and tended to the transmitters on both the World Trade Center’s North Tower and the Empire State Building. Although most of Robert’s work was done on the 110th floor, on the day of the attack, it is believed Robert Pattison was on the roof of the North Tower. This would mean that unless he chose to jump from the roof sometime after the first plane hit, he would have remained there for over an hour until the North Tower came crashing down. He was one of six children born to a family in Woburn, Massachusetts and it has been said by his siblings that he was a bit of a trouble maker. After joining the air force, he began to straighten his life up. He lived in Boston for several years before moving to New York City, and although no wife is mentioned in his obituaries, through my research I have discovered he may at one point have been married to a woman named Maryellen who he later divorced. While there is not much information to be found about the life of Robert Edward Pattison (due in part to the overshadowing of information on actor Robert Pattison who plays Edward in the Twilight movies), you may have noticed that much of the information that is known regarding Robert’s life does not quite correlate with Cade’s memories of his former life. In fact, aside from the name, many of the memories contradict what Cade has told his parents. While I do not discount this boy’s story, I do discount the accuracy of some of his memories.
Most of us have experienced, at one time or another, a very long and detailed dream which we want to retell. As soon as you wake up, the dream is fresh in your mind and you remember it perfectly only to find later, when you try to tell someone about this crazy dream you had, you’ve forgotten pieces, have forgotten the order in which things occurred, and even forgotten or mixed up important details. “We were somewhere else- I don’t remember where but I think it was a corn field or something, maybe in Illinois or Ohio and I was a farmer… No wait, you were the farmer- anyway, it doesn’t matter- one of us was a farmer. We were in the field, then all of a sudden a crop circle just appeared… No, actually there was a bright light first. Oh no, that was after… Anyway, the space ship was full of people from my office. I don’t remember who all was there, but I remember they were from my office. I think my boss was there… Uhg I forgot what even happened in the dream that made me want to tell you about it. Nevermind.” Now imagine this dream lasted for 20, 40, 60 years or more and you waited five to ten years to tell anyone about it. It would be incredible if you remembered that dream at all, as it is incredible any children are able to recall past life memories at all. We must assume that often times, as in dreams, these children get details mixed up and begin to forget, especially as they get older.
In the case of Cade, while he seemed quite certain his name was ‘Robert’, he was a bit unsure about his middle and last name. ‘Pattison’ may have seemed familiar to him if he had ever heard the name of the actor ‘Robert Pattison’, which is quite likely due to his celebrity status, or he could have known Robert E. Pattison from having simply worked in the same building together, using the same elevator everyday. Cade was also quite insistent that he was born in New York state, whereas this Robert E. Pattison was born and raised in Massachusetts. Although Mr. Pattison was a supervisor, he was an electrician, not a ‘businessman’. If he was on the roof of the building on September 11th when the first plane hit the North Tower, he wouldn’t have been in his office, as Cade recalls and there would have been no ceiling above him to fall in and block him from escape. Even if Robert had not been on the roof that day, as is believed, and was instead on the 110th floor, Cade recalls an explosion somewhere above him. The plane which struck the North Tower ripped a hole spanning from the 93rd to the 98th floor, which suggests he was on or below the 92nd floor. Cade describes in graphic detail witnessing his “brains come out of his head” when he hit the ground. If Robert E. Pattison remained on the roof of One World Trade in hopes of a helicopter rescue and went down with the building as is his assumed fate, he wouldn’t have had the ability to see his “brains come out of his head”, as he left his body because he would have been entirely enveloped by the rubble in the fall. Not to mention, Cade requested his mother begin calling him ‘Robert’ because he didn’t like the name ‘Cade’ when in fact, Mr. Pattison hated being called ‘Robert’ and in life had always gone by ‘Bob’.

I continued my search for the real ‘Robert’ Cade claimed to be in his last life. I individually researched over one hundred men named ‘Robert’ who had died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centers, slowly eliminating them based on careers, family history and anything other descriptors I could go off of. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no ‘Robert’ who fit the description Cade had given. Each and everyone had some piece of major information that was opposite of what Cade had recalled. Once again, I do not discredit this young man’s story but unfortunately for Cade, it has proven impossible to determine who he had been in his previous life. Often times, memories of dying in past lives relived through dreams can be just as traumatic as experiencing death everyday. Unless the individual is able to have some form of closure, they may be haunted and hindered by their past life memories in the current life.   Hopefully, as time goes on and people become more accepting of the possibility of reincarnation, there will be more information and resources made available to people who are experiencing past life memories.

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14 Most Violent Valentine’s Days

Most people observe the 14th of February as a day to celebrate love and romance, but those of us who are a bit twisted know all too well that the holiday has proven throughout history to be more murderous than mushy. Whether you’re celebrating Single’s Awareness Day alone or you’re cuddled up with your Suicide Girl and preparing to watch ‘Faces of Death’ this evening, if you are overwhelmed by the cheesiness of Valentine’s Day here are 14 morbid facts about February the 14th:

1. St. Valentine was a Roman Holy Priest who is known for marrying soldiers in secret during a time in which all marriages and engagements were strictly forbidden. The Roman Empire was building its army and felt family ties were a hindrance to active and potential soldiers. For performing these ceremonies, St. Valentine was sentenced to death. During his imprisonment, he formed a friendship with the jailer’s daughter. Before his execution, he left her a note and signed it “From Your Valentine”. On February 14th circa 270 (there are many years in which this may have taken place, no one is certain) St. Valentine was bludgeoned to death with clubs and decapitated.

2. King of England, Richard II died of starvation on February 14, 1400 while imprisoned in Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire. King Richard II, who was only 33 years old at the time of his death, was deposed by Parliament and succeeded by his cousin, Henry IV.

3. On February 14, 1779 Captain James Cook, an English explorer and navigator landed on the beaches of Hawaii with his crew. As they debarked, they were met by very angry natives who began hurling rocks at them. Cook tried to negotiate with native leader King Kalaniopuu. Unfortunately, those negotiations did not go over well after  Cook’s crew had shot a lesser chief of the tribe to death. A mob of natives attacked the Captain and his crew who retaliated with gunfire. Despite the superior weapons sported by Cook and his crew, they were engulfed by the Hawaiian natives. Captain Cook was killed in the battle, and only a handful of his men managed to escape the island and the wrath of its people.

4. In 1929, six associates of the Northside Irish gang (run by Bugs Moran) and one car mechanic were ambushed and killed in an execution style shooting in a Chicago, Illinois warehouse (2122 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park). These murders have gone on to be known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”. While it is widely believed the attack was carried out by members of Al Capone’s Southside Italian gang, Deidre Capone, Al’s niece, defends her late uncle’s innocence. When police arrived, John May (mechanic), Albert Weinshank, Reinhardt Schwimmer, Adam Heyer, Albert Kachellek, and brothers Peter and Frank Gusenberg lying side by side along one wall. The objective of the attack was to take out Bugs Moran himself, but the unknown assassins mistook Albert Weinshank, who bore a striking resemblance to Moran, as the infamous mob leader. All were found dead except Frank Gusenberg who was barely clinging to life after being shot fourteen times. When police repeatedly questioned Frank as to who shot him he replied, “No one- nobody shot me.”, adhering to ‘omerta’, a rule of absolute silence within the gang.

5. On February 14, 1943, Frieda Reiss, an 11 month old baby deported from France was murdered in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp.

6. Adolph Dubs, US ambassador to Afghanistan was on his way to the US embassy on Feburary 14, 1979 when his car was stopped by four men. The men forced the driver, at gunpoint, to drive to the Kabul Hotel where Dubs was held hostage in Room 117. His kidnappers had hoped to have Afghani prisoners in the US released, in exchange for the ambassador. Despite the United State’s wishes to hold off in order to ensure Dubs’s safety, Afgahnistan police forces stormed the hotel and opened gunfire on the room in which Adolph Dubs was being held captive. After a 40-60 second exchange of gunfire, Dubs was found slumped in a chair, killed by two shots to the head. Two of his captors were killed in the attack, as well.

7. Juan Manuel Navarro showed up at the home of Ignacia Manriquez, his ex-girlfriend, on Valentine’s Day 1993. The couple had three children together, but Manriquez had taken out a restraining order on Navarro after their break-up. One of their children, seeing his father outside, opened the door and allowed him in the house. Ignacia brought out the restraining order and told him to leave, but he refused. Navarro then followed his ex and their three children to the parking lot of a local supermarket in San Bernardino, California where witnesses say the two were engaged in an altercation outside Ignacia’s vehicle. Juan then shot Ignacia in the head at point blank range. As she fell onto the pavement of the parking lot, Navarro shot her again in the stomach and twice in the head while their four year old son watched. When the four year old boy was asked by police to recount the traumatic event he stated, “There is ketchup everywhere.”.

8. In 2000, three tornadoes unexpectedly touched down in Georgia between February 13th and 14th. Many were caught off guard as February is a highly unusual time of year for the Southern United States to experience tornadoes. It was the single deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States between June 1999 and October 2002, killing 18 total while injuring countless more and nearly destroying the Georgia towns of Camilla and Meigs.

9. 53 year old John Hamilton of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma came home on Valentine’s Day 2001 to find his wife of 14 years, Susan, lying on the bathroom floor in a pool of her own blood. She had been strangled with two of John’s ties and her head had been severly beated to the poin that parts of her brain were exposed. Blood on John’s shirt was found not to be from an attempt to recessetate his wife as he had claimed, but was consistent with blood splatters found when smashing someone’s head in. John Hamilton was later accused and imprisoned for his wife’s  murder.

10. A terrorist group known as  “The Nasra & Jihad Group in Greater Syria” detonated a truck bomb packed with an estimated 1,000 kg of explosives in Lebanon on Febrarary 14, 2005. The explosion, which took place in Beirut near the St. George Hotel, killed 21 people and injured approximately 220. Those killed in the attack include Bassel Fleihan, former Minister of Ecology in Lebanon and Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri.

11. Stephen Grant of Washington Township, Michigan reported his wife Tara’s disappearance to the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office on February 14, 2007. Stephen claimed his wife had gone missing 5 days prior after she was overheard on the phone saying, “I’ll meet you at the end of the driveway” before getting into a “mysterious dark vehicle” and driving off. Police became suspicious, and during a search of the couple’s home found Tara’s torso in the garage. Later, other body parts were found scattered throughout the nearby woods. Stephen eventually confessed to his wife’s murder, telling investigators he had strangled her to death before dismembering her body.

12. On Febrary 14, 2008 the fifth deadliest school shooting in the United States took place at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. The shooter, Steven Kazmierczak, shot and killed five students and injured twenty-one before taking his own life. The entire event occurred in only 6 minutes, between 3:05 and 3:11 pm.

13. South African sprint runner Oscar Pistorius is a double-amputee (legs, below knee), Paralympic Champion who shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in their home on Valentine’s Day 2013. Pistorius, who claims he believed her to be an intruder, was recently convicted of culpable homicide and is currently serving a five year prison sentence.

14. TODAY, Feburary 14th, 2015, Lindsay Kantha Souvannarath (23), Randall Steven Shepherd (20), an unidentified 23-year-old American female and 19-year-old Canadian male had planned to shoot as many people as possible in the Halifax Shopping Center before killing themselves. This shopping center is the largest regional shopping mall in Canada and could have resulted in multiple murders. The unidentified 19-year-old Canadian was found dead in his home, presumably as a result of suicide. The other “Murderous Misfits”, as they are being called, are in police custody.

From the same demented mind that brought you The Post-Mortem Post: FREAK