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Look up cruciform in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

For the resurrection device/parasite at the Hyperion Cantos see Cruciform (Hyperion Cantos).

Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.

Cruciform architectural plan[link]

Plan of Peterborough Cathedral, 12th century, with later elaboration of both east and west ends.

This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross, with arms of equal length or, later, a cross-in-square plan, more like a square. In the Western churches it usually, though not exclusively, means a church built with the layout developed in Gothic architecture comprising:

• An east end, containing an altar and often with an elaborate, decorated window, through which light will shine in the early part of the day.
• A west end, which sometimes contains a baptismal font, being a large decorated bowl, in which water can be firstly, blessed (dedicated to the use and purposes of God) and then placed upon infant or older believers as a sign of their dedication.
• North and south transepts, being "arms" of the cross and often containing rooms for gathering, small side chapels, or in many cases other necessities such as an organ and toilets.
• The crossing, which in later designs often was under a tower or dome.

In churches that are not oriented with the altar at the geographical east end, it is usual to refer to the altar end as "liturgical east" and so forth.

Various plans of the Second Temple sanctuary

Another example of ancient cruciform architecture^[1] can be found in Herod's temple, the second Jewish temple.

Cruciform DNA[link]

Holliday Junction

DNA can undergo transitions to form a cruciform shape, otherwise known as a Holliday junction. This structure is important for the critical biological processes of DNA recombination and repair that occur in the cell.

Cruciform joint[link]

A cruciform joint is a specific joint in which 4 spaces are created by the welding of 3 plates of metal at right angles.

Cruciform manuscript[link]

A cruciform manuscript was a form of Anglo-Saxon / Insular manuscript written with the words in a block shaped like a cross.

Cruciform melody[link]

Tchaikovsky's "Cross"-motive, associated with the crucifixion, himself, and Tristan, first appearing in mm.1-2 of his Pathétique Symphony^[2]  Play (help·info). Tchaikovsky identified with and associated the cross-motif with "star-cross'd lovers" in general, such as in Romeo and Juliet.^[2]

In music, a melody of four pitches that ascends or descends by step, skips below or above the first pitch, then returns to the first pitch by step. The red lines, one between the outer and one between the inner, in the example to the right demonstrate how this depicts a cross: since the second and third pitches must cross the path of the first and fourth. Often representative of the Christian cross, such melodies are cruciform in their retrogrades or inversions. Johann Sebastian Bach, whose last name may be represented in tones through a musical cryptogram known as the BACH motif that is a cruciform melody, employed the device extensively. The subject of the fugue in c-sharp minor^[3] from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I is cruciform. See also: Cross motif.

Cruciform sword[link]

Swiss longsword, 15th or 16th century

The plain sword used by knights, distinctive due to the flat bar used as a guard. The overall shape of the sword when held point down is that of a cross. It is believed this shape was encouraged by the church to remind Knights of their religion. It was however very popular due to the protection it offered to the hand and certain attacks that rely on the cross to trap the blade of the enemy. See Sword.

Cruciform tail[link]

BAe Jetstream 31 with cruciform tail

Some airplanes use a cruciform tail design, wherein the horizontal stabilizer is positioned mid-way up the vertical stabilizer, forming a cruciform shape when viewed from the front or rear. Some examples are the F-9 Cougar,the F-10 Skyknight and the Sud Aviation Caravelle

Cruciform web design[link]

Cruciform web designs use a cross-shaped web page that expands to fill the width and height of the web browser window. There are a number of different approaches to implementing them.

Doctor Who: The Cruciform[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In the episode "The Sound of Drums" of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, an object or location called "the Cruciform" is mentioned, as having been captured from the Time Lords by the Dalek Emperor. It is presumed to be something of great importance, since the Master considered losing it tantamount to defeat in the Time War, but no specific information other than that name has been given.

See also[link]

• Crucifix

Sources[link]

"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short^[1][2][3] (July 29, 1924 – January 15, 1947), an American woman who was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. Short acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly colorful. Short was found mutilated, her body sliced in half at the waist, on January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Short's unsolved murder has been the source of widespread speculation, leading to many suspects, along with several books and film adaptations of the story.

Early life[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Elizabeth Short was born in greater Boston, Massachusetts; she grew up and lived in Medford. She was the third of five daughters of Cleo Short and Phoebe Mae Sawyer. Her father built miniature golf courses until the 1929 stock market crash, in which he lost much of the family's assets. In 1930, he parked his car on a bridge and vanished,^[4] leading some to believe he had committed suicide. Short's mother moved the family to a small apartment in Medford, and found work as a bookkeeper. It was not until later that Short would discover her father was alive and was living in California.

Arrest photo from 1943 for underage drinking

Troubled by asthma and bronchitis, Short was sent to live for the winter in Miami, Florida at the age of 16. She spent the next three years living there during the cold months and in Medford the remainder of the year. At age 19, Short travelled to Vallejo, California to live with her father, who was working nearby at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on San Francisco Bay. The two moved to Los Angeles in early 1943, but an altercation resulted in her leaving there and finding work in the post exchange at Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), near Lompoc, California. Short next moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on September 23, 1943, for underage drinking. Following her arrest, she was sent back to Medford by the juvenile authorities in Santa Barbara. Short then returned to Florida to live, with occasional visits back to Massachusetts.

In Florida, Short met Major Matthew Michael Gordon Jr., a decorated United States Army Air Forces officer who was assigned to the 2nd Air Commando Group and in training for deployment to China Burma India Theater of Operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote her a letter from India proposing marriage while he was recovering from injuries sustained from an airplane crash. She accepted his proposal, but Gordon died in a second airplane crash on August 10, 1945 before he could return to the United States. She later exaggerated this story, saying that they were married and had a child who died. Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirmed that Gordon and Short were engaged, his family denied any connection after Short's murder.

Elizabeth Short returned to Los Angeles in July 1946 to visit Army Air Corps Lieutenant Joseph Gordon Fickling, an old boyfriend she had met in Florida during the war. At the time Short returned to Los Angeles, Fickling was stationed at NARB, Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, Short remained in southern California, mainly in the Los Angeles area.

Murder and aftermath[link]

The grave of Elizabeth Short

The body of Elizabeth Short was found in the Leimert Park district of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her remains had been left on a vacant lot on the west side of South Norton Avenue midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street. (at 34°00′59″N 118°19′59″W / 34.0164°N 118.333°W / 34.0164; -118.333) The body was discovered by local resident Betty Bersinger, who was walking with her three-year-old daughter.^[5] Short's severely mutilated body had been found nude and severed at the waist, completely drained of blood.^[6] Her face had been slashed from the corners of her mouth toward her ears, creating an effect called the Glasgow smile. The body had been washed and cleaned and she had been "posed" with her hands over her head and elbows bent at right angles.^[4]

The autopsy stated Short was 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall, weighed 115 pounds (52 kg), and had light blue eyes, brown hair, and badly decayed teeth. There were marks on her ankles and wrists made by rope, consistent with being tied either spreadeagled or hung upside down. Although the skull was not fractured, Short had bruising on the front and right side of her scalp with a small amount of bleeding in the subarachnoid space on the right side, consistent with blows to the head. The cause of death was blood loss from the lacerations to the face combined with shock due to a concussion of the brain.

William Randolph Hearst's papers, the Los Angeles Herald-Express and the Los Angeles Examiner, sensationalized the case; the black tailored suit Short was last seen wearing became "a tight skirt and a sheer blouse" and Elizabeth Short became the "Black Dahlia," an "adventuress" who "prowled Hollywood Boulevard". As time passed, the media coverage became more outrageous with claims her lifestyle "made her victim material."

On January 23, 1947, the killer called the editor of the Los Angeles Examiner, expressing concern that news of the murder was tailing off in the newspapers and offering to mail items belonging to Short to the editor. The following day a packet arrived at the Los Angeles newspaper containing Short's birth certificate, business cards, photographs, names written on pieces of paper and an address book with the name Mark Hansen embossed on the cover. Hansen, the last person known to have seen Short alive (on January 9), became the prime suspect. The killer would later write more letters to the newspaper, calling himself "the Black Dahlia Avenger," after the name given to Short by the newspapers. On January 25, Short's handbag and one shoe were found in a garbage bin a short distance from Norton Avenue. Due to the notoriety of the case, more than 50 men and women have confessed to the murder and police are swamped with tips every time a newspaper mentions the case or a book or movie about it is released. Sergeant John P. St. John, a detective who worked the case until his retirement, stated: "It is amazing how many people offer up a relative as the killer."

Gerry Ramlow, a Los Angeles Daily News reporter later stated, "If the murder was never solved it was because of the reporters ... They were all over, trampling evidence, withholding information."^{[citation needed]} It took several days for the police to take full control of the investigation during which time reporters roamed freely throughout the department's offices, sat at officers' desks, and answered their phones. Many tips from the public were not passed on to police as the reporters who received them rushed out to get "scoops".

Short was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. After Short's sisters had grown up and married, Short's mother moved to Oakland to be near her daughter's grave. Phoebe Short finally returned to the East Coast in the 1970s and lived into her 90s.^[4]

Rumors and popular misconceptions[link]

According to newspaper reports shortly after the murder, Elizabeth Short received the nickname "Black Dahlia" at a Long Beach, California drugstore in mid-1946, as a word play on the then-current movie The Blue Dahlia. Los Angeles County district attorney investigators' reports state that the nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering the murder. Los Angeles Herald-Express reporter Bevo Means, who interviewed Short's acquaintances at the drug store, is credited with first using the "Black Dahlia" name.^[7]

A number of people, none of whom knew Short, contacted police and the newspapers claiming to have seen her during her so-called "missing week"—a time period between the time of her January 9 disappearance and the time her body was found on January 15. Police and district attorney investigators ruled out each of these alleged sightings, wherein in some cases, those interviewed were identifying other women they had mistaken for Short.^[8]

Many true crime books claim that Short lived in or visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid 1940s; these claims have never been substantiated and are refuted by the findings of law enforcement officers who investigated the case. A document in the Los Angeles County district attorney's files titled "Movements of Elizabeth Short Prior to June 1, 1946" states that Short was in Florida and Massachusetts from September 1943 through the early months of 1946 and gives a detailed account of her living and working arrangements during this period. Although a popular portrayal amongst her acquaintances and many true crime authors was of Short as a call girl, the Los Angeles district attorney's grand jury proved there was no existing evidence that she was ever a prostitute and the district attorney's office attributes the claim to confusion with a prostitute of the same name. Another widely circulated rumor holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of a congenital defect that left her with "infantile genitalia." Los Angeles County district attorney's files state that the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had sex,^[9] including a Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case.^[10] The FBI files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's alleged lovers. Found in the Los Angeles district attorney's files and in the Los Angeles Police Department's summary of the case, Short's autopsy describes her reproductive organs as anatomically normal although the report notes evidence of what it called "female trouble." The autopsy also states that Short was not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what had been claimed prior to and following her death.^[9]

Suspects[link]

The Black Dahlia murder investigation was conducted by the LAPD. The case also enlisted the help of hundreds of officers borrowed from other law enforcement agencies. Owing to the nature of the crime, sensational and sometimes inaccurate press coverage focused intense public attention on the case.

Theories and possibly related murders[link]

Some crime authors have speculated on a link between the Short murder and the Cleveland Torso Murders, which took place in Cleveland between 1934 and 1938.^[11] As with a large number of killings that took place before and after the Short murder, the original LAPD investigators looked into the Cleveland murders in 1947 and later discounted any relationship between the two cases. Nevertheless, new evidence implicating a former Cleveland torso murder suspect, Jack Anderson Wilson, with Short's death was investigated by Detective John P. St. John in 1980. St. John claimed he was close to arresting Wilson for the death of Short when Wilson unexpectedly died in a fire on February 4, 1982.^[12]

Crime authors such as Steve Hodel and William Rasmussen have suggested a link between the Short murder and the 1946 murder and dismemberment of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago.^[13] Captain Donahoe of the Los Angeles police also stated publicly that he believed the Black Dahlia and Lipstick murders were "likely connected."^[14] Among the evidence cited is the fact that Elizabeth Short's body was found on Norton Avenue three blocks west of Degnan Boulevard, Degnan being the last name of the girl from Chicago and there were striking similarities between the writing of the Degnan ransom note and that of "the Black Dahlia Avenger." For example, both used a combination of capitals and small letters, the Degnan note read in part "BuRN This FoR heR SAfTY" with both notes containing a similar mis-shapen letter P and have one word matching exactly.^[15] Convicted serial killer William Heirens served life in prison for Degnan's murder. Initially arrested at age 17 for breaking into a residence close to that of Suzanne Degnan, Heirens claimed he was tortured by police, forced to confess, and made a scapegoat in the Degnan murder.^[16]

Depictions in fiction[link]

The radio show Somebody Knows!, a summer replacement for Suspense, ran an episode on the killing in August 1950 on the CBS Radio Network.

James Ellroy's neo-noir novel The Black Dahlia was published in 1987. It was made into a 2006 movie directed by Brian De Palma. Elizabeth Short was played by actress Mia Kirshner in the film.

Lucie Arnaz played Elizabeth Short in the 1975 TV movie Who Is the Black Dahlia?

An episode of the NBC television series Unsolved Mysteries (hosted by actor Robert Stack) ran a profile on the murder in 1989, and it has aired on reruns on Lifetime several times, and was even revisited in the more recent iteration of the series.

In the ninth episode of the horror television series American Horror Story, Short is among the people murdered in the show's haunted house setting over the course of a century. Short, played by Mena Suvari, is depicted as having died accidentally from anesthesia while being sexually assaulted by a dentist, her body then being dismembered by a ghost for easier transport. In the same episode, the character Travis is murdered in a similar fashion and his murder case is dubbed the "Boy Dahlia". ^[17]

See also[link]

• Ernest E. Debs, Los Angeles City Council member who sought investigation of J. Paul de River, the Los Angeles Police Department psychiatrist at the time of the Black Dahlia.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	Los Angeles portal

• Black Dahlia Killer Profile on America's Most Wanted
• truTV entry for Black Dahlia.
• The FBI's Black Dahlia files from the FBI's Freedom of Information Act site.
• "Somebody Knows" episode a 1950 radio program on the case.