What death is like can only be explored by witnessing the death of others, and photographs and video images, as a carrier of recording and disseminating images, can also have a unique expression when recording the moment of death.
On May 12, 1947, a unique photograph occupied the entire page of the famous American magazine "LIFE", which was a photograph of the moment of death.
The photograph was taken by photographer Robert, who accidentally witnessed the teenage Evelyn leap from the eighty-sixth floor of the Empire State Building, ending her own life, and recorded the scene with his camera.
In this "death photo", there is no bloody and cruel scene, there is just a young girl with a serene face. In the picture, Evelyn is carefully dressed, her legs are elegantly crossed, her gloved left hand is holding the necklace around her neck, and her face also shows a serene expression, without any pain, like an angel who has fallen into the mortal world, not contaminated with any dust in the world.
If she hadn't been lying in a car with a smashed dent in the top, I'm afraid no one would have seen that the girl had lost her life forever.
Robert, who captured this scene at the time, was not a master photographer, he just raised his camera and simply recorded this picture, and it was the last bloom of Evelyn's life that gave this picture a sense of beauty and art.
Evelyn's life background
Evelyn McHale was born on September 20, 1923, in California, USA, and was the seventh child in her family. In 1930, the family moved to Washington following her father's job change, and for Evelyn, who was only seven years old at the time, it was not only her living environment that changed, but also her family environment.
The relationship between Evelyn's mother and father broke down to the point that there was no way to recover, and the way the two got along had a great impact on the mental health of young Evelyn, and the reason why Evelyn chose to commit suicide after that was also related to the impact at this time.
Not long after moving to Washington, Evelyn's father and mother divorced, Evelyn's mother was in a very bad mental state at this time, Evelyn lived with her father, although the children were still young, but her busy working father had no time to take care of them, Evelyn suffered from depression in such an environment.
Living with her father showed no signs of improvement for Evelyn, who finished high school in Washington before insisting on returning to California.
After that, Evelyn's life got back on track, first joining the Army Women's Corps after the outbreak of World War II, working in the army as a logistics officer, and then using her previous work experience to find a job as a bookkeeper at a bank in New York.
Evelyn's depression has improved with steady progress in her life, and she has a boyfriend who attends the U.S. Air Force Academy, and from these perspectives, Evelyn's life is moving in a better direction.
Evelyn's suicide
Evelyn, who has a better life, why did she still embark on the road of suicide, the police have results after investigation, what made Evelyn go on the road of suicide without hesitation was her fear of marriage, before she committed suicide, her boyfriend Barry had proposed to her.
Although Evelyn now has a stable job and a boyfriend she loves, she is still essentially unconfident that she can have a happy marriage, her fear of marriage overcomes her hope for a better life, and the depression that has been basically cured broke out again after her boyfriend's proposal, this anxiety and fear completely affected Evelyn's normal life, and she made the decision to end it all - suicide.
Evelyn's chosen location was the Empire State Building, a New York landmark with an 86-story observation deck, and Evelyn bought a ticket to the observation deck after dressing up and made it to the 86th floor in dignity.
Then, she left her black purse, makeup bag, family photos, and a neatly stacked brown coat on the observation deck, and jumped from a height of 320 meters without any hesitation or hesitation.
After this, the police found Evelyn's suicide note at her residence, which read, "My fiancé wants me to marry him in June, but I don't think I should have had this experience in my life." His life would be much better without me. I don't want my family to see what I looked like when I died, and I don't want to be remembered, can you just cremate me? Finally, tell my father that I was influenced by my mother too much. ”
This short suicide note clearly describes the mental torture that Evelyn has suffered for a long time, and her mother, who once suffered from depression, left a deep psychological shadow on young Evelyn, so that she had no way to get out of her normal life after that.
When she had the opportunity to enter the palace of marriage again, her first time was not to look forward to a better life in the future, but to fear that her marriage would fail like her parents.
In this way, the young girl jumped from the eighty-sixth floor of the Empire State Building and ended her life. After Evelyn's death, her sister cremated her in accordance with her wishes, and she left this world without a funeral, without a tombstone, and without anything to be a burden.
"Classic body photos" taken by chance
When Evelyn ended her life in the Empire State Building, photographer Robert was working in the building opposite, and he saw a girl fall from a height of several hundred meters on the roof of a parked car on the first floor, the roof of which was smashed out of a groove, but the dead girl was still graceful.
Xi, he picked up the camera and took the photo of the body, which was later highly praised. Robert is just a photography Xi, but the energy contained in the picture itself is beyond the influence of photographers' technology, which is why this photo has had a wide influence in the following hundred years, and some people even call this photo "the most beautiful suicide".
This photograph, which was recorded by chance, has been highly praised by many artistic fields for the energy of life conveyed in the picture. This photo not only appeared on the cover of the magazine, but also inspired many film, television and music creators, who have created countless works of art based on it.
Of course, these artists are not singing the praises of Evelyn's death, on the contrary, a girl who ends her life because she is afraid of marriage, but leaves behind her most beautiful picture after death, which is full of tragic beauty in all types of art.
Evelyn's life fully shows the influence of the original family on a person's life, every word and deed of parents will leave an indelible mark on the hearts of young children, Evelyn, who witnessed the collapse of her mother and the indifference of her father at the age of seven, tried her best to get out of the pain of the time all her life, even if she has embraced life as much as possible later, she still failed to persevere.
In fact, if Evelyn can overcome her demons and is willing to take another step forward, she may gain a perfect and happy life, but she is under huge psychological pressure and can no longer support herself to take even one step forward.
According to Evelyn's boyfriend Barry, she had taken the train from New York to Easton to celebrate her birthday, and the two of them had a perfect day, but after a day, Evelyn insisted on taking the train back to New York, resolutely refusing to stay overnight.
From these previously overlooked details, we see that a depressed person has built a strong line of defense when facing their fears, they do not understand how to get a happy life, they have just been hurt, and there is no way to cross a hurdle in their hearts.
Brief summary:
At the moment of jumping off the Empire State Building, Evelyn's heart was still full of fear, or full of open-mindedness to finally be freed, we don't know.
But if you meet friends who are also sick in your life, I hope that the people around you can warm them as much as possible and help them get out of the spiritual predicament. At the same time, we must also firmly believe that the difficulties encountered in life can be solved step by step, and as long as we live, there is hope.