6 Hollywood Mysteries That Were Never Solved

There's no business like show business, and there's no place quite like Hollywood. The movie business set up shop there back in 1910, meaning there is over a century of history about the place, and it is as storied as the movies themselves. There are countless tales to be told, from the Oscars to Orson Welles, Chaplin to Cruise, and the silent films to summer blockbusters. Almost every aspiring actor, writer, or director wants to make it to Tinseltown; it's the place where dreams - and careers - are made. However, look beyond that cinematic sheen, past the stars the on Walk of Fame and the handprints outside of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and you'll find something a little less glamourous. Buried beneath the red carpet premieres and A-list events, there is a dark and murky underworld to Hollywood. It's one that belies its image of being all champagne and caviar, but is just a much a part of this world as the movie stars we're presented with on-screen and in glossy magazines. Murder and mystery may be common themes for the movies, but there's been a number of them in real-life that even Hitchcock would've struggled to come up with. These are some of the biggest that still haven't been solved to this day...

6. The Black Dahlia

There's a good chance you've heard of The Black Dahlia, even if you're not completely aware of the story behind it. That's partly because it's a rather interesting sounding nickname, the sort that gets stuck in the memory, and it was also the inspiration for a book of the same name by acclaimed Los Angeles crime writer James Ellroy. The actual person it refers to is Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old who was found back in 1947 having had her body sliced in half at the waist. The corners of her mouth had been slit up to her ears, and she had numerous other cuts all over her body. She was found in a LA parking lot completely drained of blood, and the gruesome story attracted a host of sensationalised tabloid headlines, which led to the infamous nickname. The Los Angeles Examiner went as far to contact her mother reporting that her daughter had won a beauty contest, and only after interviewing her did they reveal the truth about what had actually happened. However, despite the huge amount of coverage, the police were unable to find a single lead on the case. They interviewed a host of people from Short's past, but there was no evidence to connect any of them to her brutal murder. Later, a man started contacting the Examiner, worried that coverage of the case was dropping off. He mailed a number of items belonging to Short, including her birth certificate, business cards, and photographs. Dozens have come forward to falsely confess to the case, which happens whenever it reappears in popular culture. However, no one has ever actually been arrested, and given it has now been almost 70 years it's extremely unlikely it will ever be solved.