branmuffin
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I've been reading through the thread and the associated press clippings regarding the death of this woman. Self immolation is incredibly rare in developed countries, accounting for .06 to 1% of all suicides. In developing countries, it is much more prevalent, accounting for up to 40% of suicides in what is known as the suicide geographical belt which covers Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India. Most of these countries share a border and most of the victims are young, married illiterate women. According to this link, most of these women live in deprived societies where they are treated as chattel, forbidden to get an education, etc.
www.sciencedirect.com
Even though western women in 1971 were still experiencing the glass ceiling and rumblings about how their place was in the home and looking after a husband and family they were light years away from the injustices still carried out in those countries mentioned above.
Which begs the question for me. Why would a woman who lived in a western city with all the amenities available to her to commit suicide in a more conventional manner (gun, pills, rope, drowning, etc) choose one of the most horrific forms of suicide. Self immolation is usually a public demonstration; the last cry someone makes to the world of their despair and hopelessness.
While Druid Hill Park (DHP) is a beautiful historical park now, for decades it was abandoned; the tennis courts were taken over by vegetation, the pool ignored and most of the area was covered with waist high grass. Although, DHP never got a reputation as a gruesome body dump site like Leakin Park just a few short miles away it was still an isolated and overgrown area during that time. Here's a link to Leakin Park's body dump site to show the comparison.
chamspage.blogspot.com
That area of Baltimore was a very depressed area during the time in question, crime was rampant and the area was dangerous. This lady, however, obviously had an education (if she is the one who knew short hand). It means at the very least, she went to secretarial school. Her shoes were a well known higher priced product and loafer style shoes were popular during that time, so I doubt they were preowned. All her clothing suggests someone who was well groomed, neatly dressed in popular clothing of that era, and maybe married. I believe the plaid item is a dress, not a blouse since she was also wearing a slip. The company who manufactured the slip made very feminine and sweetly sexy lingerie (many vintage items on Etsy and eBay) so I doubt she was a nun. The finding of a jacket found near the body could be a red herring, not necessarily linked to the body but just because sometimes people leave articles of clothing behind for various reasons.
I'm interested in the shorthand angle. Was the suicide note printed in shorthand? Or was there evidence of other paper items written in shorthand? If the suicide was written in shorthand, what kind of shorthand? The two most popular shorthand languages are Gregg and Pitman. If the deceased is Crystal M. Ford, did she attend PG Community College and did she take shorthand? What shorthand did they teach? And if she is CMF why couldn't LE find out if she was enrolled in the college and whether she was still attending, to put that theory to bed? Doesn't sound like rocket science to figure out. Although, to be fair, I was reading about the surge of community colleges that arose during that time and many did not require any previous academic rankings for entrance so I wonder how stringent their record keeping was.
If the suicide note was on the body how did it survive an immolation that caused first and second degree burns over 80 percent of her body? I was reading an article about a guy who had 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 30 percent of his body from the waist up, hands arms, chest and neck when an old container of lighter fluid exploded. Pouring lighter fluid on your head means your hair would burn and fall in clumps around you setting fire to areas that may not have been drenched with lighter fluid. Nowadays, a lot of clothing has to be fire retardant but back then it wasn't so I think something like the slip may have gone up very quickly, melting to her body.
I think that LE at the time made a lot of assumptions regarding this UID. Christian because she's wearing a wedding ring? Bit of a stretch to me. Other Abrahamic religions wear wedding rings. Wearing wedding rings can also be more about culture than religion. And suicide notes; fewer than half of suicides leave a note leaving their families to forever wonder, Why? What kind of evidence was there to arrive at the assumption the UID walked to her death location? Evidence of sand, soil and grass on her shoes? Pollen on her clothes? If she was going to kill herself why was 'her' jacket 40 feet from her body? Is there evidence that she did do what most immolated people do, run?
I really, really hope that LE didn't overlook a possible murder and hypothesized suicide. Most people who are burning, whatever the reason, run, making the flames even worse. It takes a special kind of control to stop, drop and roll when on fire. Was there evidence that the deceased was kneeling, was there burn marks on the grass, was there evidence she stayed in one position? I wish we had access to the autopsy report to see how much her airways were burned and how much lighter fluid residue the deceased inhaled into her lungs. I wish they disclosed the suicide note. Fifty years have gone by. It's time to release some information to find out if the general public can give any input into the identity of this poor woman. IMO
Sorry for such a long post.
The geographical belt of self-immolation
According to the existing literature self-immolation especially among young married illiterate women occurs with a high rate in India, Bangladesh, Sri…
Even though western women in 1971 were still experiencing the glass ceiling and rumblings about how their place was in the home and looking after a husband and family they were light years away from the injustices still carried out in those countries mentioned above.
Which begs the question for me. Why would a woman who lived in a western city with all the amenities available to her to commit suicide in a more conventional manner (gun, pills, rope, drowning, etc) choose one of the most horrific forms of suicide. Self immolation is usually a public demonstration; the last cry someone makes to the world of their despair and hopelessness.
While Druid Hill Park (DHP) is a beautiful historical park now, for decades it was abandoned; the tennis courts were taken over by vegetation, the pool ignored and most of the area was covered with waist high grass. Although, DHP never got a reputation as a gruesome body dump site like Leakin Park just a few short miles away it was still an isolated and overgrown area during that time. Here's a link to Leakin Park's body dump site to show the comparison.
The Bodies of Leakin Park - Baltimore, MD
Since 1946 79 Bodies have been found in Leakin Park. Below is a map of where the 68 of those bodies were ...
chamspage.blogspot.com
That area of Baltimore was a very depressed area during the time in question, crime was rampant and the area was dangerous. This lady, however, obviously had an education (if she is the one who knew short hand). It means at the very least, she went to secretarial school. Her shoes were a well known higher priced product and loafer style shoes were popular during that time, so I doubt they were preowned. All her clothing suggests someone who was well groomed, neatly dressed in popular clothing of that era, and maybe married. I believe the plaid item is a dress, not a blouse since she was also wearing a slip. The company who manufactured the slip made very feminine and sweetly sexy lingerie (many vintage items on Etsy and eBay) so I doubt she was a nun. The finding of a jacket found near the body could be a red herring, not necessarily linked to the body but just because sometimes people leave articles of clothing behind for various reasons.
I'm interested in the shorthand angle. Was the suicide note printed in shorthand? Or was there evidence of other paper items written in shorthand? If the suicide was written in shorthand, what kind of shorthand? The two most popular shorthand languages are Gregg and Pitman. If the deceased is Crystal M. Ford, did she attend PG Community College and did she take shorthand? What shorthand did they teach? And if she is CMF why couldn't LE find out if she was enrolled in the college and whether she was still attending, to put that theory to bed? Doesn't sound like rocket science to figure out. Although, to be fair, I was reading about the surge of community colleges that arose during that time and many did not require any previous academic rankings for entrance so I wonder how stringent their record keeping was.
If the suicide note was on the body how did it survive an immolation that caused first and second degree burns over 80 percent of her body? I was reading an article about a guy who had 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 30 percent of his body from the waist up, hands arms, chest and neck when an old container of lighter fluid exploded. Pouring lighter fluid on your head means your hair would burn and fall in clumps around you setting fire to areas that may not have been drenched with lighter fluid. Nowadays, a lot of clothing has to be fire retardant but back then it wasn't so I think something like the slip may have gone up very quickly, melting to her body.
I think that LE at the time made a lot of assumptions regarding this UID. Christian because she's wearing a wedding ring? Bit of a stretch to me. Other Abrahamic religions wear wedding rings. Wearing wedding rings can also be more about culture than religion. And suicide notes; fewer than half of suicides leave a note leaving their families to forever wonder, Why? What kind of evidence was there to arrive at the assumption the UID walked to her death location? Evidence of sand, soil and grass on her shoes? Pollen on her clothes? If she was going to kill herself why was 'her' jacket 40 feet from her body? Is there evidence that she did do what most immolated people do, run?
I really, really hope that LE didn't overlook a possible murder and hypothesized suicide. Most people who are burning, whatever the reason, run, making the flames even worse. It takes a special kind of control to stop, drop and roll when on fire. Was there evidence that the deceased was kneeling, was there burn marks on the grass, was there evidence she stayed in one position? I wish we had access to the autopsy report to see how much her airways were burned and how much lighter fluid residue the deceased inhaled into her lungs. I wish they disclosed the suicide note. Fifty years have gone by. It's time to release some information to find out if the general public can give any input into the identity of this poor woman. IMO
Sorry for such a long post.
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