Evelyn McHale: a story of life and death

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

On May 12, 1947, a photograph of a beautiful girl was published in Live magazine. The model froze in an elegant pose, but her eyes were closed. It seemed that this picture was taken by a talented photographer as part of another interesting fashion project. But it's not. In fact, the photograph was posthumous. It depicts 23-year-old Evelyn McHale, who committed suicide by jumping from a height of 300 meters.

Evelyn's biography: childhood

Evelyn was born on September 20, 1923 in California. When the girl was seven years old, her family moved to Washington, DC, because her father was invited to the position of a federal bank expert.

The relationship between Evelyn's parents did not go well. The reason was the mother, who may have had a mental illness. At one point, she simply packed up and left home, and seven children remained under the care of their father.

Serving in the army, moving and working as an accountant

Evelyn grew up as an ordinary child, but after school she had an obsessive, strong desire to serve in the army. McHale implemented this idea immediately. However, not everything in the army went smoothly. After serving in Jefferson, Missouri, the girl publicly burned her military uniform.

After that, Evelyn moved to Baldwin, Nassau County, New York. There she settled in the same apartment with her brother and sister. Evelyn McHale, whose biography is presented by many sources as a list of dry facts, after several interviews, was able to get a job as an accountant in a medium-sized company. After that, a fateful meeting awaited her.

Meet Barry

In New York, Evelyn met Barry Rhodes. He was a student at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, and it was there that the young man soon left as the next semester began. Despite the long separation, the relationship between Barry and Evelyn was very warm. In June 1947, young people were going to get married. But the plans and dreams of a happy life were not destined to come true.

The last meeting of lovers

April 30, 1947 Evelyn went to see Barry in Easton. The young people spent a day together, and on May 1, early in the morning, the girl boarded a train bound for New York.

Barry himself, after learning about the tragedy, was depressed and dumbfounded. The young man said that he did not notice anything strange in the behavior of his beloved. Evelyn enjoyed life and seemed happy, like any girl who will soon have a long-awaited wedding. Maybe Barry wouldn't have let her go to New-York, he knew that that farewell kiss on the platform was the last…

Step into the abyss

Why Evelyn decided to commit suicide that day is still not exactly known. It was established that upon arrival in New York, the girl did not go home, but to the Clinton hotel. It was there that she wrote her suicide note, and then went to get a ticket to the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

The girl went up to the 82nd floor and from there stepped down into the abyss.

White scarf and note

A light white scarf floating down the Empire State Building was spotted by a patrolman named John Morissey. According to him, immediately he heard a noise and rushed to the building to see what happened.

A beautiful and peaceful girl in her death lay on the roof of a Cadillac parked on 4th Street, about 200 meters from Fifth Avenue. Passers-by, witnesses of this suicide, were shocked. The death of such a young woman was depressing and frightening at the same time.

McHale was investigated by Detective Frank Murray. He climbed the Empire State Building to find out why Evelyn McHale threw herself off the observation deck. There he found the girl's belongings - her neatly folded coat and a brown purse, in which the suicide note lay. In it, Evelyn asked for forgiveness from her relatives and expressed her desire to be cremated. She did not want to be wept for, to be remembered, and therefore there was no need for a place of worship. The girl also wrote that although the wedding with Barry was scheduled for early summer,she understood that she could not marry him and become a good wife to the guy. Evelyn felt that she was too much like her mother. Maybe she didn't want her children to have to go through the same things she had in the past.

Evelyn McHale: the most beautiful death

David Wiles, an aspiring photographer, was outside the Empire State Building that day. It was he who took the picture that was published in Life, and then got into many other publications. It depicts Evelyn lying on the roof of a Cadillac after her death. She herself is calm and serene. She is beautiful. Only fragments of glass and twisted metal around testify to the tragedy.

This picture has become iconic. He presents death as frighteningly beautiful, yet inevitable and merciless, just the way it is.

Further events

Evelyn's body, which remained so beautiful after the fall, was cremated by relatives, thus fulfilling the last will of the deceased. It is known that during the transportation of the remains to the mortuary, it was not possible to preserve their integrity. The reason for this was a terrifying blow, due to which the insides of the girl literally became liquid.

Evelyn has no graves, as you might guess. There is no place where her loved ones could come to mourn the passing of a young beauty. Couldn't bring flowers and Barry to the headstone.

Rhoads, by the way, moved to Florida after graduating from college. He never married.

The death of Evelyn McHale in art and music

Photo of the deadgirl on the roof of the car was sold in the press in millions of copies of newspapers and magazines. Something in him attracted people, as if there was some kind of magic in death, elusive, inexplicable. This picture still attracts to itself as something unknown. Little is known about the causes of McHale's death, so many are trying to “examine” from the photo what became the true prerequisites for what happened. There is also a color version of this shot, which is just as beautiful as the original.

It is noteworthy, however, that the young photographer who captured Evelyn at the time did not become a famous master of his craft. The world did not hear about his work anymore, and there were no exhibitions with his participation.

It is also interesting that there are few other photographs of this deceased girl. They are only in the Evelyn McHale family album. The photo, taken during her lifetime, is in the press in a single copy. It was then provided for publication in Life by Evelyn's relatives.

The iconic photo taken after the girl's death was taken as the basis for his collage by the famous American artist Andy Warhol. This work was called "Suicide" (Suicide. Fallen Body) and was part of the cycle "Death and disaster", consisting of four paintings. The cycle was published in the 60s of the last century.

Already in the new century, Portland pop group Parenthetical Girls recorded a song called Evelyn McHale dedicated to the tragedy of the infamous girl.

Empire State Building –skyscraper suicide

The Empire State Building in McHale's time was the tallest building in New York City. That is why suicide cases here were quite frequent.

So, McHale was twelfth in a row. In a three-week period then, in April-May 1947, there were as many as five suicides, the case of Evelyn was one of them. Of course, this attracted the attention of the public, and the authorities decided to somehow secure the building. A special mesh was installed on the observation deck on the 86th floor, and guards were trained to visually identify people who are on the verge of suicide. This helped, and suicides with falls from the observation deck stopped for a while. But further people came and came here to take their own lives. Only now they chose not the observation deck of the 86th floor, but the windows of the offices of the upper floors.

Notable is the case of failed suicide on the Empire State Building. Elvita Adams jumped from the same observation deck in 1979, but a strong gust of wind brought her back. The girl flew into the window on the 85th floor, and the only consequence for her was a broken hip.

However, 36 people nevertheless brought the matter to an end, and their sad stories are forever connected with the Empire State Building. Inseparable from the skyscraper and the most beautiful suicide in the world, committed by Evelyn McHale.