The Death of Evelyn McHale

On Mary 1, 1947, Evelyn McHale leapt off the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York City and plummeted 1,050 feet to her death on the street below. She was twenty years old. Photography student Robert Wiles took the above photo of McHale just moments after her death. It ran in the May 12, 1947 issue of Life magazine with the following caption:

“At the bottom of the Empire State Building the body of Evelyn McHale reposes calmly in grotesque bier, her falling body punched into the top of a car.”

The accompanying text read:

“On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. ‘He is much better off without me … I wouldn’t make a good wife for anybody,’ … Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale’s death Wiles got this picture of death’s violence and its composure.”

Ever since I first saw this photo a few years ago and learned of its story, I’ve been fascinated with the image. The peaceful figure of a lithe young woman appears to be in repose, but look a little more closely and you notice the crumpled metal and shards of glass and, with a shudder, it dawns on you that this beautifully composed photo is a record of death. A woman’s last imprint on the world. Her legs daintily crossed as she grasps at her pearl necklace. It’s chilling and lovely and, years later, Andy Warhol took this image as inspiration for one of his works: