Stories and Lists July Blog Challenge 2013 – Day 17: If you could find out any one piece of information/truth what would you want to know and how would you obtain this information/truth?

Day 17: If you could find out any one piece of information/truth what would you want to know and how would you obtain this information/truth?

Hmmmm I have to be honest I really don’t know with this one.  While I feel I should be wanting to get to the bottom of a conspiracy theory such as the JFK shooting or a life changing piece of knowledge such as the truth behind Rosewell and the alien autopsy the thing that comes to mind might be considered a little frivolous.

Norma Jean Baker better known as Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Brentwood home August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old.  Her death has remained steeped in mystery and many refuse to believe that she deliberately killed herself, me included.

I have pinched this time line from the Wiki page related to her death…

• ~5:00 p.m.: Marilyn’s personal psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, leaves her Brantford bungalow home after another session in one of many strategic attempts to treat her ongoing depression.^[6]
• 7–7:15 p.m.: Joe DiMaggio Jr., son of baseball player Joe DiMaggio (and thus Monroe’s former stepson) phones her about his broken engagement to a girl in San Diego.^[7] DiMaggio Jr. said when interviewed that Monroe sounded cheerful and upbeat. On duty with the Marines in California, DiMaggio was able to place the time of the call because he was watching the seventh inning of a Baltimore Orioles–Los Angeles Angels game being played in Baltimore. According to the game’s records the seventh inning took place between 10 and 10:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time; thus, Monroe received the call around 7 p.m. California time.
• 7:30–7:45 p.m.: Peter Lawford telephones Monroe to invite her to dinner at his house, an invitation she had declined earlier that day. According to Lawford, Monroe’s speech was slurred and was becoming increasingly indecipherable. After telling him goodbye the conversation abruptly ends. Lawford tries to call her back again but receives a busy signal. Existing telephone records show that this is the last phone call Monroe’s main line received that night.
• 8 p.m.: Lawford (President Kennedy’s brother-in-law) telephones Eunice Murray, spending the night in Monroe’s guest house, on a different line asking if the maid would check in on her. After a few seconds Murray returns to the phone telling Lawford that she is fine. Unconvinced, Lawford will try all night long to get in touch with Monroe. Lawford telephones his friend and lawyer Milton A. “Mickey” Rudin, but is advised to keep away from Monroe’s house to avoid any public embarrassment that could result from Monroe possibly being under the influence.
• 10 p.m.: Housekeeper Eunice Murray walks past Monroe’s bedroom door and later testifies that she saw a light on under the door but decided not to disturb Monroe.
• 10:30 p.m.: According to actress Natalie Trundy (later Mrs. Arthur P. Jacobs), Monroe’s agent Arthur P. Jacobs hurriedly leaves a concert at the Hollywood Bowl that he is attending with Trundy and director Mervyn LeRoy and his wife, after being informed by Monroe’s lawyer Mickey Rudin that she has overdosed. Trundy’s timeline fits with undertaker Guy Hockett’s (see below) estimation that Monroe died sometime between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
• 12 a.m.: Murray notices the light under the door again and knocks several times but gets no reply.^[8]
• 1 a.m.: Peter Lawford is informed by Mickey Rudin that Monroe is dead. He informs Lawford that it was an overdose.^[9]
• 3:00 a.m.: Eunice Murray calls Marilyn’s personal psychiatrist, Dr. Greenson, on the second telephone line, she still cannot awake Monroe. She is sure something is very wrong after peeking into her barred bedroom window.^[10]
• 3:40 a.m.: Dr. Greenson arrives and tries to break open the door but fails. He looks through the French windows outside and sees Monroe lying on the bed holding the telephone and apparently dead, so breaks the glass to open the locked door and checks her. He calls Dr. Hyman Engelberg. There is some speculation that an ambulance might have been summoned to Monroe’s house at this point and later dismissed.^[11]
• 4:30 a.m.: Police are called and arrive shortly after. The two doctors and Murray are questioned and indicate a time of death of around 12:30 a.m. Police note the room is extremely tidy and the bed appears to have fresh linen on it. They claim Murray was washing sheets when they arrived. Police note that the bedside table has several pill bottles but the room contains no means to wash pills down as there is no glass and the water is turned off. Monroe is known to gag on pills even when drinking to wash them down. Later a glass is found lying on the floor by the bed but police claim it was not there when the room was searched.
• 5:40 a.m.: Undertaker Guy Hockett arrives and notes that the state of rigor mortis indicates a time of death between 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. The time is later altered to match the witness statements.
• 6 a.m.: Murray changes her story and now says she went back to bed at midnight and only called Dr. Greenson when she awoke at 3 a.m. and noticed the light still on. Both doctors also change their stories and now claim Monroe died around 3:50 a.m. Police note Murray appears quite evasive and extremely vague and she would eventually change her story several times. Despite being a key witness, Murray travels to Europe and is not questioned again.

There are so many question but for me the most telling could be the fact she was found naked and without make up.  The most photographed woman in the world would have know that even in death she would be photographed and there was a good chance the pictures would spread around the world, whatever the depression that may have led to her thinking of suicide I believe she would have ensured she played her final scene to perfection and made sure she was found looking every inch the star she was.

The real issue here is what really did happen?  Did she really decide to end her own life or was it a terrible accidental over dose?  But if it were accidental why go to so much trouble to cover it up that it looked like a cover up.  The other possibility is of course that she was killed, and this is a real possibility, she may have played the dumb blonde but her career suggests she was actually very acute when it came to business, and her vulnerability and dependence on drugs and alcohol would have made her a liability for those whose secrets she may have been party to.

The reality is we may never know what happened that night but if I could uncover one truth this would be it – and what would I do with it?  Simple I would let Norma Jean Baker finally rest in peace.