Celebrity Morgue - Updated October 28, 2007 - You Tube Video added
And this horrific update is done. Look at your own risk!
Jayne Mansfield
WARNING. This page will have very gruesome pictures of bodies of people and an animal after the horrific car crash that killed Jayne Mansfield. These pics are very graphic and are not for the weak or squeamish! Look at your own risk! Now with that being said, as you can see I am taking a little darker turn with our Celebrity Morgue section. I've had many requests to do it so alright, already! This new and improved Celebrity Morgue area will deal with how some famous and maybe not so famous people died. There will be details and (ew) pictures. This page will not be kid-safe, so parents watch your youngsters on this one - in fact, watch yourselves even!
Okay guys, I promise, I did not know that today when I started this update, June 29, 2005, that it is the 38th anniversary of Jayne Mansfield's death. Well, just because of that, I'm just pleased as pink that I've started this page on this day. Speaking of pink, it is said that Jayne loved anything and everything pink and was not only associated with the color, she surrounded herself with pink, including pink lights surrounding her heart-shaped bed. And yes, I must admit, I do have a couple of things in common with Jayne besides just our measurements 40-22-35! Kidding! No really, I do so love pink and anything heart-shaped and, yes, alas, in my younger days I did have measurements like hers to some extent, but time can be unkind in certain areas and Lordie, I never had a 22 inch waist! It is said that Jayne, in her best days had an 18 inch waist. It was something like 38-18-35. Wow! Jayne did give Marilyn Monroe a run for her money and did several movies and she was the Playboy Playmate for 1955, which I might add broke up her marriage to Paul Mansfield because he just couldn't handle the exposure.
Jayne lovingly called men "creatures with two legs and eight hands" and was married several times, having several children. As time wore on, Jayne's career started to hit the skids, the men were being pretty shitty, and she was becoming somewhat alcohol dependent. At the time she died, she was seeing a lawyer (a good sign that her luck had run out) and he was killed in the car crash with her.
There was a rumor at this time that Jayne's young death at 34 was the result of a curse that was connected to the International Church of Satan, a church founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey. Not much is know about this curse, but LaVey has been credited with saying the curse was worked upon Jayne by a consort, whatever the hell that means. Another version has LaVey putting the curse on Mansfield's lawyer boyfriend, Sam Brody, supposedly because Brody was disruptive during Church services and was making Mansfield's life a hell on earth. Duh! It is strange to me that the alleged curse also ended up taking the life of the one it was meant to help, namely Jayne, but this is the stuff of folklore.
And now first before we talk about the accident, take a look at this picture of the beautiful Jayne Mansfield. Now wasn't she a beautiful broad, now come on, wasn't she.
Okay now, at this point, I'm going to rely heavily on the research that I have done about Jayne Mansfield on the internet and numerous other places that I just can't remember but mainly books that I have! I will include some links below and the pictures came from Kenneth Anger's 1975 and 1984 books "Hollywood Babylon" and "Hollywood Babylon II" that I bought and our friends S.Snyder and Scott from findadeath.com.
In the early morning hours of June 29, 1967 on a narrow country road in Louisiana, a grey 1966 Buick Electra was racing through the dark on its way to New Orleans. There was a white haze all around and on the road ahead made by a distant mosquito fogger which prevented the car's driver from seeing a slow moving tractor-trailer ahead. At approximately 2:15 a.m. the Electra slammed into the back of that truck, then slid under it. All three adults sitting in the car's front seat were killed instantly, but surprisingly, there were three children sleeping in the back seat and they were not hurt. Dead at the scene were the driver, Ronnie Harrison, Jayne Mansfield, Mansfield's boyfriend, Sam Brody, and Mansfield's small dog.
Now is where the stuff of legend begins because common sense should be able to describe the nature of the injuries in this type of accident where the car slammed into and went under the truck. The roof of the car looked quite literally like an accordian. Of course, the rumors about the death of Jayne Mansfield quite naturally said that she had been decapitated. Well, I hate to be the bearer of good news to all you gore-loving individuals out there, but dear Jayne was not decapitated as is said but quite honestly was "scalped" you might say. Her head remained attached to her neck but it appears that the top of her head was quite literally ripped off, skull and all. It seems her face was left mostly intact. Although Mansfield's mode of death was gruesome, she was not beheaded and that is such a relief to me! I was haunted by this as a child and clearly remember seeing in the picture the blond hair laying up on the dashboard of the wrecked Buick thinking this was her head laying there. Here's what the police report said about what happened to Jayne, "the upper portion of this white female's head was severed." Her death certificate notes a "crushed skull with avulsion (forcible separation or detachment) of cranium and brain." So our dear Jayne was scalped and the picture below shows this in great detail. It is believed that as fast as the car was going that Jayne never felt what happened to her and she may only have had a moment of white terror knowing that they were going to crash because of the foggy conditions on the road that night.
Also, in one of the pictures that I have below, taken from Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon there is a photo of the wrecked Electra which shows Mansfield's dead dog laying beside the car and what appears to be blonde hair laying under the car. Was this a wig, or was it the top part of Mansfield's head? I guess we'll never know, just like we won't know about whether the blonde hair on the dashboard was just a wig or part of her head either. It is a mystery indeed because it is obvious from the pictures that Jayne, in fact, did retain her head - and that settles that myth! Thank God! Now I can rest!
Okay, now for the photos that are really gruesome, I've only included links so if you don't want to see them, you don't have to. Please, all my dear ones, only click on these links and look at these photos at your own risk. If this type of thing upsets you, please don't look! There are pictures of the others who died in this crash, including the poor little dog, so it's not pleasant. If you decide to venture on in and click on the links, well, I warned you!
Jayne's poor little dog. Notice the blonde hair laying under the car.
Jayne's boyfriend still trapped in the car. Notice the blond hair hanging from the dashboard.
Jayne removed from the car. Notice her face is mainly intact.
Jayne removed from the car and covered. I assume that's Sam Brody laying beside the car.
These next few pictures of the car were found by my friend, Scott, who is our Findadeath Gawd and the fearless leader of all of us Death Hags. Scott is also the Tour Guide extraordinaire at Dearly Departed Tours, Tragical History Tours in Hollywood, California. Hello Scottie! I love ya, honey, and thanks for letting me use your stuff. As you know, my crypt is your crypt! Anything you need here is yours, baby! I'm still trying to fly out there in October or November for your tour. I'll keep you posted! Oh yeah, love the shirt! Got any black ones yet? Ok, I'll shut up!
This picture was taken of Jayne Mansfield's grave site by our very own S.Snyder. Beautiful and heart-shaped, of course! Thanks, Suz!
July 9, 2006 - an interesting tidbit sent by our ghoulfiend, Beth. It says:
Hello!
I found your webpage by mistake and have so far spent several hours browsing. It's a great site!
Now, you may already know this or you may not care, and it may be elsewhere on your site and I just didn't see it. I was reading the Jayne Mansfield page and noticed that you didn't mention that one of the children in the backseat that night was Jayne's daughter, Mariska. That is, Mariska Hargitay who now plays Det. Olivia Bentsen on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Just a little informational tidbit. Beth
Thanks Beth, for that. I've never watched that show before. My, my it's amazing what little Mariska is doing today in 2006, when you consider the alternative of where she could of ended up. Bless her and thanks Beth! Janet
Another informational update! I found this video over at You Tube. It's about Jayne's death. The mortician that embalmed Jayne is interviewed and he assures us all that Jayne was not decapitated. I'm so happy and relieved about that! It's also about Jayne and what a loving, interesting person she truly was. You may have to refresh this page a couple of times to get the video to load. Luvs, Janet
Some of my research came from Snopes, another wonderful site. Be sure to go visit that one if you like Urban Legends. Here's the link:
Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2003 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
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