Evelyn McHale Jumped from Empire State Building (1 May 1947)

[chris]

for more threads like this one : http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...me-line-45276/

On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody,' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure.

this is what happened the day she died

On 30 Apr she visited her fiance in Easton presumably to celebrate his 24th birthday and boarded a train back to NYC at 7 a.m., 1 May 1947. Barry stated to reporters that “When I kissed her goodbye she was happy and as normal as any girl about to be married.”
Of course we’ll never know what went through Evelyn’s mind on 66 mi train ride home. But after she arrived in New York she went to the Governor Clinton Hotel where she wrote a suicide note and shortly before 10:30 a.m. bought a ticket to the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building.
Around 10:40 am Patrolman John Morrissey, directing traffic at Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, noticed a white scarf floating down from the upper floors of the building. Moments later he heard a crash and saw a crowd converge on 34th street. Evelyn had jumped, cleared the setbacks, and landed on the roof of a United Nations Assembly Cadillac limousine parked on 34th street, some 200 ft west of Fifth Ave.3,4
Across the street, Robert C. Wiles, a student photographer, also noticed the commotion and rushed to the scene where he took several photos, including this one, some four minutes after her death. Later, on the observation deck, Detective Frank Murray found her tan (or maybe gray, reports differ) cloth coat neatly folded over the observation deck wall, a brown make-up kit filled with family pictures and a black pocketbook with the note which 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 fiance 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.”5
Her body was identified by her sister Helen Bronson and, according to her wishes, she was cremated. There is no grave.
After Wiles photograph was appeared in Life it was widely republished in a number of photography anthologies and became one of the iconic images of the 20th century. It was the only photograph he ever published. Andy Warhol later used the photo in his Suicide (Fallen Body) serigraph, part of his Death and Disaster series (1962-1967)

[chris]

This picture actually ran in Time Magazine I think.

[Smitju]

Wow, i can't believe that her body is still in one peace.

[Selma]

she still looks good!

[williamburtonasis]

yes u r rite she does look good

[Koffinfeeder]

nice death pose. beautiful.

[Zurria]

Originally Posted by Koffinfeeder

nice death pose. beautiful.

I was just thinking the same thing.

[aserto07]

great post

[superqueen]

I love this picture. I read some where else that when they picked her up, she was all mush on the inside.

[sepsis_rotten_out]

thankfully guy was there...