On May 1st 1947, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale leaped to her death from the Empire State Building’s 86th floor observation deck and landed on a United Nations limousine parked at the curb.
Photography student Robert Wiles took a photo of McHale’s oddly intact corpse a few minutes after her death. The police found a suicide note among possessions she left on the observation deck: “He is much better off without me… I wouldn’t make a good wife for anybody.”
The photo ran in the May 12, 1947 edition of Life magazine and is often referred to as “The Most Beautiful Suicide.” It was later used by visual artist Andy Warhol in one of his prints entitled “Suicide (Fallen Body).”
8 comments
Such a graceful death.
Most folks splat on the set backs or shoulders of the building they don’t even make it to the street below.
Ev had them big boomer-mama 1950’s hips but yeah her makeup looks perfect she hit a hole in one.
Usually people who fall from heights such as that literally explode.
once you go over tho if you pick the right place at least you are pretty much guaranteed ..Well a high percentage anyway..
And theres no going back unlike many other methods..
this is the way I want to go..
This is the way I want to go too but I would much rather fall into water. Even though from a height(such as the Golden Gate Bridge) it’s like hitting cement. I hope I just drift out to sea.
if you pick a decent height then it shouldn’t matter..30 ish have survivied GGB but that’s out of 1600 odd I keep watching that documentary about the jumpers from the GGB
got a bit of an obsession with watching them go and as each one leaps I find myself jealous of them, I want to be them..I want to join them
I’ve picked out my spot on the south coast over here, tried once before and failed it..survival instinct and all that..
might be water or just plain rocks when I next visit again…It all depends on the tides..But this time I won’t be hanging around for nothing,,just get there, quick peak make sure i’m at the correct spot then take a few paces back a bloody good swig out of a bottle i’m taking with me and then just run and leap… rocks for me would be better and i’d like to land head first but the wind and the drop could change all that.. but I guess in them 6 or 7 secs or so on the way down it won’t matter cos its over 500ft
How delightfully inspiring! I always chicken out or in my last scenario an unknown technical detail got in the way of completion, but each time I decide to attempt or rehearse my suicide I do my hair, make sure my makeup is perfect, nails painted, and I put on one of my prettiest dresses. I fantasize about being as good looking of a corpse as a corpse can be. If not, oh well, I’ll be dead.
The white gloves were a nice touch.