She entrusted her girl to a man she knew as Mr. Warner. (modern). You got my little girl out of there and I am just so thrilled to see her again, to see her laugh. In the case of any doubt, it's best to consult a trusted specialist. Her daughter was not on a nice beach vacation, but rather in the clutches of an ex-convict who had been released from prison only six months earlier for statutory rape. Now we no longer find that suggestive teen with heart-shaped sunglasses on the cover of the book. An entire childhood, stolen away first by evil, then a cruel twist of fate. american history, crime, culture, history, sad, shocking, Uncategorized The room still contained two packed suitcases and a photograph that Ella had never seen: Sally on a swing, smiling uncertainly in a frilly dress, bobby socks and shiny patent-leather shoes. Of course, most child molesters are not suave, erudite, and handsome (any more than serial killers are opera-loving Ph.D.s engaging in cat-and-mouse games with brilliant detectives). He told people she was his daughter. (Constantin Joffe / Conde Nast via Getty Images), Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel, A hardcore coming-of-age novel nails the glitter and grime of L.A.s 80s metal scene, 10 books to add to your reading list this May, Aging beloved YA author Judy Blumes inevitable foil isnt so bad after all, Adult friendship is hard. But what we miss is anything from Sally herself about the experience. "We're going to go back to Houston and then get our life going again," he added. [2], Over the course of 21 months, La Salle traveled through several U.S. states with Horner under various aliases, claiming to be the girl's father, and according to charges later brought against La Salle, it was during this period that he raped her repeatedly. A middle-aged man accosted Sally with the stolen notebook, telling her that he was an FBI agent. She kept quiet about the sexual abuse. Then see what its like growing up inside the KKK. La Salle died on March 22, 1966, exactly 16 years after his arrest, from arteriosclerosis, aged 69. What are the sources of evil? Sally Horners story is tragic, but her connection to Lolita is more tenuous than Weinman suggests. "My heart is soaring.". Notable people with the surname include: Gadifer de la Salle (1340-1415), French soldier of Norman origin. You did great. Her brother-in-law Al picked up, and Horner told him she was in California and that he needed to call the authorities. But she deserves to be rememberednot as a literary footnote, nor even just as the victim in a tragic case, but as one who was brave enough to escape. Houston FBI officials picked up Leah's parents from their homes early Friday and took them to the bureau office on T.C. The suspected serial kidnapper, tentatively identified as Gary Dale Cox, 48, killed himself with a single revolver shot to the head after he was approached in his vehicle at a secluded hunting cabin by a deputy who had a premonition he would save the missing girl. The FBI and state crime scene specialists still had the shooting site sealed off to the public late Friday. "At that time, he left the driver's side door open. On March 21, when La Salle left to seek work, Janisch invited the girl over. On a dare from school friends, the 11-year-old Horner was determined to steal a five-cent notebook from Woolworth's. The young girl had the notebook hidden and was exiting the store when an older man grabbed her arm, stopping her. Nobody suspected anything. As she states in her book, Weinman wasnt the first to point out the connections between Horner and her fictional counterpart. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? Nabokov was notably dismissive of such investigative efforts on the part of journalists or readers. There are obvious similaritiesthe novels narrator, Humbert Humbert, takes 12-year-old Dolores around the country. Horner called her mother periodically to check in, and she simply thought her daughter was on a summer vacation with a friends family. Horner and La Salle had fled to Baltimore after leaving Atlantic City. Kidnapping victim. Levin subsequently published his own article in the Post, quoting Vra Nabokovs response to his letter (Vra vetted nearly all her husbands correspondence). La Salle took her across the country, even enrolling her into school while telling the staff he was her daughter. Its morally repellent, charismatic narrator, Humbert Humbert, is a pedophile whose obsession with a 12-year-old girl leads him to marry her mother. Lolitas literary value is in its wit and vervein the way Nabokov makes us forget that our narrator is a villain. These are heartbreaking stories we only see on the news for short periods of time. We even have a television show devoted to them: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, about to start its 20th season. He had just been released from prison for raping five girls aged from 12 to 14. This guest managed to get her away from La Salle to ask her if she was okay. But while the girl thought shed caught a break, La Salle was slyly investigating which school she attended. Author Vladimir Nabokov undertook research of all kinds to write whats widely considered to be the most gripping and well-written study in perversion of the 20th century. Despite this, he denied that Lolita was inspired by the case. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In the summer of 1952, as Nabokov wrestled with his frustrating project, 15-year-old Sally and her friend Carol took a weekend trip to Wildwood on the Jersey Shore. La Salle telephoned, pretended to be Frank Warner, the father of Sallys school friend, and persuaded Ella Horner to allow Sally to accompany him and his wife and children on holiday. La Salle was arrested and charged under the Mann Act of 1910; a law against human trafficking. Janisch helped the girl dial a long-distance call that reached Al Panaro, Sallys brother-in-law. State of the Great Hall, on the side of the projection booth (photo: 2011). She cooked their meals and sometimes baked. Our skimmable newsletter is delivered to your inbox each week, giving you 5 things you need to read and get smarter. At that moment, Humbert Humbert is considering whether he was no different from predators like La Salle. At about the same time, Sally is being hauled from one part of the country to another by La Salle. The awful ordeal that young Sally Horner endured began on June 13, 1948, in Camden, New Jersey. Author Vladimir Nabokov undertook research of all kinds to write whats widely considered to be the most gripping and well-written study in perversion of the 20th century. Authorities believe he operated in Colorado as well as Texas and Louisiana. All of Camden knew what had happened to her. She didnt notice that someone was stalking her. La Salle (surname) La Salle or Lassalle is a surname. She'd have to convince her mother he was the father of two school friends, inviting her to a seashore vacation. Hed seen her commit a crime, and she was in trouble. Another neighbor, Ruth Janisch, wasnt so sure. Exploring your mind Blog about psychology and philosophy. He took Sally on a 21-month odyssey from New Jersey to California, pretending she was his daughter. After six weeks, on July 31, 1948, Horners mother began to suspect something was amiss, and she notified the police. Without warning, the rules had changed: Sally had to go with him to Atlantic City the government insisted. : A Real-Life Source of Nabokov's Lolita (expanded article with newspaper articles from TLS)", University Libraries of the Pennsylvania State University, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Florence_Sally_Horner&oldid=1150678864, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 19 April 2023, at 14:24. She never said she was sad or depressed, Al Panaro said. Sally had just stolen a 5-cent notebook from a store because her friends told her it was the only way theyd let her join their group. When La Salle returned from his errands, he was immediately taken into custody by authorities. Hesa man who escaped Europe because he abused a child. Frank La Salle was a 52-year-old mechanic that was known for abusing girls between the ages of 12 and 14. With no such thing as trauma counseling or victim support groups, Sally dealt with the aftermath alone. When La Salle returned from his errands, he was immediately taken into custody by authorities. FBI officials at the Houston field office said they still have a long way to go before the case is wrapped up. "It was Labor Day . In fact, he was La Salle, 53, just out of state prison. La Salle found a job and enrolled Sally in a Catholic grammar school, where she attended sixth grade as Madeleine LaPlante. As Sally, described by a teacher as a perfectly lovely girl, was leaving the store, a slender, hawk-faced man with cold, blue-grey eyes and a scar on his cheek grabbed her by the arm. La Salle was found guilty and sentenced to 30 to 35 years at Trenton State Prison in New Jersey. International News / Courtesy of Sarah Weinman, Nabokov Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Pence blames Biden for bank busts and blasts bailouts, Philippines-US alliance moves past Duterte dysfunction, As in 2008, financial stability depends on Jamie Dimon bailing out big, bad banks, US military tracking another aerial object, Crenshaw dubs TikTok 'ultimate psychological warfare weapon,' signals support for absolute ban, McCarthy takes jab at Biden administration in address to Israeli Knesset, Trump lawyers ask for mistrial in E Jean Carroll defamation and battery case. In June 1948, 11-year-old Sally Horner was lured from her Camden, New Jersey home by a man named Frank La Salle, who claimed to be an FBI agent. The literary quality is undeniable, just like the framed atmosphere of an impossible journey between a middle-aged man and agirl. Instead, we see a young girl who who was the victim of a child molester, just like Sally Horner was. But in June, as she was walking home from school, the man reappeared. He was fresh out of prison. There, the rapes began. It was the last Ella would see of her daughter for nearly two years. In her day, before the attitude of stranger-danger was routinely inculcated in young people, monsters like La Salle preyed on children because they could. Upon his wifes death, Humbert abducts his stepdaughter and embarks upon one of literatures most infamous road trips. This dark and very tragic story inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write one of the most famous literature novels of all times:Lolita(1955). Officials wouldn't disclose who owns the cabin but said they believe it's the same site described by the kidnapped girls from San Antonio and Slidell. On a dare from school friends, the 11-year-old Horner was determined to steal a five-cent notebook from Woolworths. We see Nabokov juggling teaching, writing, and driving around the United States to catch butterflies. Frank La Salle died 16 years later in prison, the place from which he allegedly sent flowers to Sallys grave each week. Sarah Weinman explores the connection in Hazlitt. So is the cry of pedophiles everywhere that the child somehow was the seducer. Fox admits 'damage' from partying may have led to Parkinson's, Met Gala red carpet 2023: Live updates of all the celebrity outfits, Katy Perry will be temporarily replaced on American Idol amid drama, Kelly Ripa posts Mark Consuelos PDA pic for 27th anniversary: Love of my life, Khristina Williams previews the New York Liberty's 2023 WNBA season, Perez Hilton: 'Boring' Meghan and Harry need to 'give up and move' back to UK. The only examples of his writing quoted in Weinmans scrupulously researched book are appeals documents La Salle composed while serving more than 30 years for Horners abduction and rape. The young girl had the notebook hidden and was exiting the store when an older man grabbed her arm, stopping her. Relieved, Horner went back to her life having learned a valuable lesson. La Salle's age at the time of the kidnapping has been alternatively given as 50, 52, 53 or 54 by various local newspapers at the time. Rocco Palese, the judge in the case, said at the sentencing, Mothers throughout the country will give a sigh of relief to know that a man of this type is safely in prison.. The police didnt take long to get there. That judgmental attitude toward a young teenager who had suffered a horrific crime today seems monstrous. Nabokov, a Russian emigr and amateur lepidopterist, drew on his own annual cross-country journeys with his wife, pursuing rare butterflies between his academic commitments at Wellesley and later Cornell. [9] In April, 1949, La Salle relocated them to a trailer park in Dallas, Texas, having Horner attend a school as "Florence Planette", where she confided her secret to a friend. Stacy Schiff, Vra Nabokovs biographer, cautioned Weinman against reading too much into the omission. An All Thats Interesting writer since 2013, Erin Kelly focuses on historic places, natural wonders, environmental issues, and the world of science. In March 1949, prosecutors indicted La Salle in absentia for kidnapping, which carried a prison term of 30 to 35 years. Billeiter," the sheriff recounted. The man told Horner that she had to convince her widowed mother that he was the father of two of her school friends, and that she was going on a beach vacation with him and his family. ella home medallion coffee table; alameda county mask mandate 2022; john burroughs high school yearbooks; remede de grand mere pour degouter de l'alcool "David, you're my friend for life. "The perpetrator is in hands of God and hopefully He has washed his hands of him and put him where he belongs.". Not surprisingly, Sally fretted a lot about whether her folks would want her after what happened, the matron at the childrens home told reporters. The tragic end of the lost-and-found kidnapping victim set off a fresh round of news coverage including a story devoured by Vladimir Nabokov. Though authorities would not state whether the girl was harmed physically, they said she was in good spirits, especially after being reunited with her family and being served her special request of pineapple pizza. He noted that Sally had spent 21 months as the cross-country slave of a middle-aged morals offender, phrases that would reappear in his 1955 novel, Lolita, about a mans obsession with a 12-year-old nymphet. All rights reserved. KERRVILLE -- Leah Henry, an 11-year-old girl kidnapped in Houston four days ago, was hailed for her quick thinking and bravery when she escaped from her captor Friday into the arms of a sheriff's deputy moments before the suspect took his own life. It was a dare by her school friends and out of character. The idea that Nabokov was inspired specifically by this case, an argument somewhat undercut by the fact that he had been writing stories with pedophilic themes for decades, is hardly revelatory: Authors are often inspired by true crime. Rocco Palese, the judge in the case, said at the sentencing, Mothers throughout the country will give a sigh of relief to know that a man of this type is safely in prison.. [6] La Salle was a 51-year old[a] mechanic and convicted sex offender, who had been released from prison two months prior after serving a lengthy sentence for the molestation and sexual assault of five underaged girls. The controversial 1955 novel tells the story of a literature professor in his 40s who becomes obsessed and sexually involved with a 12-year-old girl who also happens to be his stepdaughter. Frank La Salle, the kidnapper and pedophile who abducted 11-year-old Sally Horner in 1948, was a serial rapist who preyed on young girls, adopting new identities, pseudonyms and residences with the ease of a habitual con man. Sally began going by her given name, Florence. Weinman goes down two tracks: the story of how Nabokov came to write the novel and the story of Sallys kidnapping. ). HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A father stopped the attempted abduction of his 13-year-old daughter, but he didn't just stop the kidnapping. She left no diary or letters about the crime; nothing to feed readers prurient interest, but also nothing for a true crime writer to utilize. She allows Sally, like one of Nabokovs trapped butterflies, to emerge from the cage of both fiction and fact, ready to fly free. He spun a web of lies about the law to frighten her, and the naive girl had no reason to doubt his supposed authority. In this universe, he satisfies his fascination with lolitas or young teenagers. Horner gave testimony that he held her captive and forced her to have sex with him. Did a real-life kidnapping case inspire Nabokovs Lolita? He never let [Sally] out of his sight, except when she was at school, she noticed. I am an FBI agent, and you are under arrest, he said. In her book, Weinman explores the extent to which Nabokov pilfered in current parlance, appropriated a real girls plight for his fictional masterpiece.. A sensitive person is never a cruel person.. If she refused she would be sent to the reformatory. This story has been shared 411,278 times. LOU ISE ATTAQUE * PIXIES * LARRIN POE * MANSET cl cl) den pe, ER) 14 } = A ji (tn ND) LL" KL {l ag, ROLLINO STONE INTERVIEW Jean-Michel Jarre L'empire cesse e a Sallys story, which parallels his heroines throughout the second half of the book, helped him to transform a partial manuscript primed for failure into a 50-million-copy best-seller, Weinman writes. Frank La Salle caught her outside the store and told her that he was an FBI agent. The main character lacks Humbert Humberts seductive, first-person narrative voice that can captivate readers, making them complicit in his crimes. n March 1948, 11-year-old Sally Horner stole a five-cent notebook from Woolworths in Camden, New Jersey. Then see what its like growing up inside the KKK. His battles with the church arent over, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! Back in Camden, the police kept working Sallys case. In February 1950, 20 months after he had abducted her, Le Salle pulled Sally out of school for another move. She just wanted to call her family. "We've talked about how much she has been loved and how many people have been looking for her and how much we care about her. Meanwhile, as New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and activist Fraidy Reiss have exposed in recent years, child marriage is disturbingly persistent in the United Statestypically between a young girl and an older man. When arrested on March 22 by California police, La Salle continued to insist that he was Horner's father. Whatever she has done, I can forgive her, Ella said back in Camden. Join our community book club. But Henry saved his biggest "thank you" for the heroic deputy. //. Critic Alexander Dolinin proposed in 2005 that Frank La Salle and Florence Sally Horner were the real-life inspirations for Humbert Humbert and Dolores "Lolita" Haze from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. The pair rented a room in a boardinghouse a few blocks from the beach on June 14. In this she succeeds well, and her compassionate account reveals the darkness of real life behind the novel. Sally turned 12 during the journey to Texas. Photo Credit: Facebook, New Jersey Historic Preservation Office. Sally was finally able to come back home. "She's very brave, very composed. The Russian-American novelist made careful observations of adolescent slang and attitudes reading teen magazines and even visiting a girls school on the pretext of wanting to enroll a nonexistent daughter and took relentless notes. On March 22, 1950, while La Salle was out job hunting, Sally Horner told her story to the neighbor, who let her use the phone to call her sister. She didnt want to upset her widowed mother, not to mention her pregnant older sister. The consequences of sexual abuse in childhood, Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome in Adolescents, Feeling Uncomfortable When You Get Out of Bed in the Morning, How to Prevent Paternal Perinatal Depression, How to Recognize the Signals of Moral Disengagement, Episodic Future Thinking in the Treatment of Risky Behaviors. She spent nearly two years as his captive, living in different places around the country. Nabokov never admitted to Sallys role in the Lolita backstory. Yet fiction is rarely pure. Thus began the two-year long kidnapping and serial molestation of 11-year-old Sally Horner. The chain of events that followed is more harrowing than the work of fiction because they are fact. The suspect was later found dead near his car, which had Missouri license plates rather than the Texas plates it was issued. Horner was now on the opposite coast of her worried family, who still had no idea where the young girl might be. Camden cops visited the return address on Sallys letters on Aug. 4. Author Vladimir Nabokov undertook research of all kinds to write what's widely considered to be the most gripping and well-written study in perversion of the 20th century. Even in newer versions of Lolita, editors try to avoid showing the teenagers shameless side. There was also controversy surrounding Stanley Kubriks film. When she did, she told the whole story of what had happened, including the sexual abuse and the humiliation and fear she felt. Suddenly, the driver exited his car with a revolver in his hand and, without pointing it at the officer, walked around the back of his car toward the passenger side, where the girl was seated. Its true, too, that our culture deals awkwardly with sexuality and adolescencea weak point that Nabokov targeted perfectly. There had been a change of plans. (Shades of every creepy guy whos ever given a teenage girl a Malibu and Coke and told her that Age is just a label and Youre obviously an old soul while stroking her thigh.) Nabokov, who had published two novels in English by 1948, tended to scribble notes and scenes on index cards while writing his books. Reaching the sisters husband, Horner implored him to send the FBI. Some school friends convinced the 11-year-old girl to steal a notebook (worth about a nickel at the time) from the local Woolworth's in her town of Camden, N.J. That he apparently denied it when asked about the Horner casefollowing a magazine article in the early 1960stells us little one way or another. More interesting than whether Nabokov used Sallys experience as some of the basis for his story is why his novel struck such a nerve. So a young teen or even pre-teen girl can, depending on how her parents feel, be treated legally as a married mother-to-be or as the victim of a child rapist. The Real Lolita is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. It goes without saying that La Salle was sexually assaulting the young girl who was now under his control. Then, on July 31, Sally wrote that she was heading to Baltimore. A slender, hawk-faced man loomed above her, iron-grey hair underneath a wide-brimmed fedora, eyes shifting between blue and grey. Yet other than that single index card, there is nothing pertaining to Horner. AP. Missing 11-year-old returns home after abductor's suicide. Toggle navigation. The Real Lolita The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World b y Sarah Weinman Ecco, 306 pp., $27.99 . David Billeiter. La Salle was extradited to New Jersey, where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 30 to 35 years in Trenton State Prison under the Mann Act.[10]. When he did the little girl, thinking extremely sharp she bailed out and ran straight for Sgt. "The girl is doing fine," said Kerr County Sheriff Randy Hierholzer. It is possible for teenagers who have consensual sex before the age of legal consent (which varies by state from 16 to 18) to end up permanently on the sex-offender registry. In June 1948, 11-year-old Sally Horner was lured from her Camden . Most of the bands currently signed to LaSalle are gone and have moved on to other labels, although Barker has said, "I'll sign anything from punk to hip hop to country to speed metalI don't give a fuck as long as it's . The label is located in Corona, California. As the novel nears its end, narrator Humbert Humbert asks himself: Had I done to Dolly, perhaps, what Frank La Salle, a 50-year-old mechanic, had done to 11-year-old Sally Horner in 1948?. Its a noble goal, yet Sally remains the cipher at the books center, most alive in the photos that show a smiling child and, even more poignant, the young teenager who never had the chance to grow into a woman. Just like any other girl her age, she was fearless, trustful, and very naive. One of these sources was the 1948 kidnapping case of the real Lolita: Sally Horner. She promised shed be home soon but added ominously, I dont want to write anymore.. The contents of Exploring Your Mind are for informational and educational purposes only. Forged ID in hand, she passed herself off as 17 to Ed Baker, 20, who spent the next two days with her. Gray Grant, for example, refused to interpret Humbert Humbert. Frank La Salle was sentenced to 35 years in prison by a judge who called him a moral leper. She wouldnt see her daughter again for almost two years. "This is probably when the hard work really starts," Doguim said. One of these sources was the 1948 kidnapping case of the real Lolita: Sally Horner. Lolitais recognized as a masterwork of 20th-century fiction. Reviewed and approved by the psychologist Valeria Sabater. More than six hours after the man's suicide, crime scene technicians still hadn't entered the cabin, Beverly said, but "it's going to be a very detailed, methodic search that takes place out there, with an eye towards not only gathering the evidence but to identify if he had co-conspirators or if there were other victims in other parts of the country.". He composed Lolita during these trips. Hands book Curious Toys, a historical novel featuring Henry Darger, is coming from Mulholland Books next year. Weinmans meticulous research has traced where Sally was moved to by La Salle, and she does her best to imagine what Sally went through. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99. Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes. Horner was a 5th grade student at Northeast Elementary School, where she was noted as an honors student.[3][4]. At a press conference Friday morning, Linda Henry said she spoke with her daughter shortly after she arrived as headquarters. Photo Credit: flickr, The U.S. National Archives. He compared incidents in the novel with those from the real case (gleaned from newspaper reports), and concluded that the two parallel each other much too closely to be coincidental., Alan Levin, a writer for the New York Post, read the Nugget story and wrote to Nabokov, asking about Horners kidnapping. A photo of Sally Horner, taken sometime during her abduction. But you knew something was wrong.. Theres no doubt that Nabokov was familiar with the case, and little doubt that he mined its details for his novel despite what the author maintained. The man was Frank La Salle, a 50-year-old mechanic who was also a pedophile. The deputy grabbed the girl, put her in the patrol car and quickly left the scene. We must remember that when Nabokov finished writingLolita,he didnt find a publisher in the United States willing to publish his book. The two, still posing as father and daughter, moved into a trailer park, where La Salle claimed to be a widower named Planette. Cox, who once lived in northern suburbs of Houston, has been in and out of the judicial system for years. A story that, unfortunately, was very real. Credit Solution Experts Incorporated offers quality business credit building services, which includes an easy step-by-step system designed for helping clients build their business credit effortlessly. Sally Horner was 11 years old when a pedophile, Frank La Salle, kidnapped her. Weinman is clear: she does not want to diminish the achievement of Lolita but rather to augment the horror he also captured in the novel. What Horners mother couldnt have known was that she was sending her daughter on vacation with a 50-year-old mechanic with a rampant pedophilia problem. Current affairs have raised questions as to what constitutes inappropriate behavior with minors. Horner died in a car accident near Woodbine, New Jersey, on August 18, 1952. But the case wasnt widely covered in the press (Sallys rescue, Weinman acknowledges, wasnt even reported in the New York Times), so its hard to see how it could have been a major inspiration. San Antonio FBI officials insisted the dead man was not positively identified, but other agents who provided his name said he was a registered sex offender from Montgomery County. The Real Lolita incorporates interviews with surviving neighbors and family members of Horner and La Salle, court documents and prison records, newspaper accounts of the crime and archival material relating to Nabokovs succs de scandale. Nabokov even referred to Sally by name in the novel. It's just been a wonderful feeling and I'm thrilled to be here," Henry said. [8] La Salle instructed her to tell her mother he was the father of two of her school friends and she had been invited on their week-long family vacation to Atlantic City to see the Jersey Shore. In Leah's case, Hierholzer credited her safe recovery to public awareness about the frantic multistate search for her. All rights reserved. It was in the trailer park in Dallas that Horner made friends with a neighbor, a woman named Ruth Janish.
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