Episode 95 - Elizabeth Short: The Enduring Legend of the Black Dahlia (Part 2)
Address: 5121 Franklin Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Was Dr. George Hodel the Black Dahlia killer, or just the most satisfying suspect? In Part 2, we meet the man who owned the John Sowden House in Los Feliz. He was a child prodigy, a surgeon, head of LA County’s VD clinic, and the host of decadent Hollywood parties attended by Man Ray and John Huston. We cover his daughter Tamar Hodel’s 1949 incest trial and how she was treated afterward, the secret 1950 DA/LAPD bugging of his house, and the infamous “Supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia” tape. Then we look at his son Steve Hodel, a retired LAPD homicide detective, and the case he built against his own father. We weigh the evidence against the skeptics, give our verdicts, and answer the big question again now that you know who lived there: would you live there, or list it?
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This episode edited by the oh-so-talented, Elena
Sources & Mentions:
- Steve Hodel’s website and books: https://stevehodel.com/
- 1950 LA County DA Hodel–Black Dahlia surveillance transcripts. These are the source of the “supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia” quote, the 18-officer team, and the Feb. 15–Mar. 27, 1950 surveillance window: https://stevehodel.com/2014/04/03/1950-hodel-black-dahlia-da-official-transcripts-summary-published/
- CBS News, “Black Dahlia Confidential.” This backs up the tape quote and notes that the recordings no longer exist, but the transcripts are in the DA’s file: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-dahlia-confidential CBS News
- Seattle Times / AP, “My father killed ‘Black Dahlia,’ ex-detective says” (2003), which has the full tape quote including the secretary line: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20030511/dahlia110/my-father-killed-black-dahlia-ex-detective-says
- South Pasadena News, quoted on Hodel’s teenage affair. I couldn’t find a link; add one if you have it.
- Edmund Teske’s “evil place” / “played and paid” description of the house. This is usually quoted from Steve Hodel’s books.
- Larry Harnisch / LA Daily Mirror, for the skeptics’ rebuttals mentioned in the episode: https://ladailymirror.com/
- George Hodel, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hodel
- Taliesin West accident: Fox 10 Phoenix: https://fox10phoenix.com/news/brazilian-university-rector-killed-bizarre-accident-taliesin-west
- Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia (podcast): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/root-of-evil-the-true-story-of-the/id1450277129
- Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel (2003): https://stevehodel.com/books/black-dahlia-avenger/
- One Day She’ll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel by Fauna Hodel (2008 memoir): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Day_She%27ll_Darken
- I Am the Night (TNT, 2019): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7186588/
- Man Ray, Minotaur and The Lovers, the artworks Steve Hodel compares to the crime scene. Man Ray’s work is collected at the Centre Pompidou: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/
- Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer_(novel)
- If I Did It by O.J. Simpson (2007), mentioned in passing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Did_It
- Law & Order, also a passing mention: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098844/
- Crime Estate Ep. 15, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin: https://open.spotify.com/episode/23mYYjbEddAelWiJwwFJhZ
- Crime Estate Part 1 (Ep. 94): https://open.spotify.com/episode/2knW62W3jmfxuu20bK1o2n