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Difficulty:
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Size: 
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The geocache is not located at the posted coordinates: you will begin there, and then follow directions to the site where you will find info needed to find the final cache location.
"The Black Dahlia" was the name given to murder victim Elizabeth Short, whose tragic yet somehow also compelling life story was featured in Brian DePalma's 2006 film about the unsolved murder, "The Black Dahlia." It features Mia Kushner as Elizabeth Short, who was (rather gruesomely) murdered in 1947 in Los Angeles. See the above link to the Wikipedia website giving general details of her life.
This geocache quest will take you on a walk during which you will visit the grave of Elizabeth Short, located in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. It seems to be something of a goth pilgrimage to travel to visit her grave, so you may see others there or in the area -- though apparently many come and have trouble locating the grave. On the day I first found the grave in 2011, I saw two young people in the area, going back and forth, looking among the stones. I asked if they were looking for Elizabeth, and they were so happy to have me show them where she was, because they said they'd come all the way from the Central Valley to find her resting spot.
Please be respectful when visiting her grave site: it would be a happy thing, given her life so tragically ended, if visitors could bring her flowers or wishes for a peaceful rest, when visiting her here. THere is a flower shop on Piedmont Avenue near the starting coordinates.
Note: You will only be able to seek the cache (or at least, the info needed to find the final) during the hours the cemetery is open, 6:30am to 7:30pm.
Begin this cache quest at the listed coordinates. THis is the intersection of PLeasant Valley Rd and Piedmont Ave. From there you can find the entrance gate of Mountain View Cemetery, just down at the end of Piedmont Street. Go to the main fountain near the entrance, across from cemetery office. (And note: if you have trouble figuring out how to start, the friendly folks in the cemetery office --or a map you can find there -- may be able to assist you gain a direction from the first line of the clue )
Now follow these clues....
Now head up the fountain'd way
Counting one to four as you walk or drive
(Once arriving halfway, doubts may be Farrelly assuaged...)
Come to a pause at this place up high.
While the graveyard tranquility you silently adore
Take a stand by the Kraft-y door.
As the springs you face,
Turn right to seek the Dahlia's place.
When Wood you see (not the tree)
Follow the line just forward
of W-N-M. then reverently
Pass Graves and look
Just behind the open book
Until at last the Blood you see!!
Approach in awe
And then weigh two thoughts
On each side equally:
The Blood! How Young!
Go westward til to the end you come
(Like the Dahlia's life, it's shortly done)
Heron lives not far to right,
A flat green stone
Is his final home.
Where he enjoys an elevated sight.
But just above the mountain bright
Casting a cool wind to the joyous mood
There the Black Dahlia lies, and broods.
You will be taking clues needed for the final not from her headstone, but from one nearby, which has a picture of a mountain setting on its brass face. Note the name and birth and death dates of the individual whose grave is marked by this brass marker with the picturesque mountain setting.
Final cache coordinates: 37 AB.CDE north, 122 FG.HIJ west, where:
A= 3rd digit, year of his death
B = 2nd digit, year of his death
C = 4th digit, year of his death, plus one
D = number of times the letter "C" occurs in his entire name
E = number of letters in his last name, less one
F = 2nd letter, his middle name
G = number of times the letter "N" occurs in his whole name, times 2
H = 4th digit of year of his birth, less 3rd digit of year of his birth
I = 4th digit of year of his death
J = number of letters in his first name
Checksum: total A+B+C+D+E = 25, total F+G+H+I+J = 23.
The final cache is along a road outside the cemetery. It is not far from the cemetery entrance: you can walk or drive to it. (I believe the walk is shorter than the drive).
Cache is a small bison container. Runner-up prize: if you find another container, you can note there (and here on the listing) that you've gotten very close, but keep searching until you find the metal bison container.
Congratulations to BerkeleyBoomers and thesmokemonster on their co-FTF!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sebz pbeare bs pbapergr jnyy, tb rnfg n srj srrg, va vil nern, ybbx haqre ynetr pbapergr oybpx. Gvc vg sbejneq, pnpur vf ng erne ntnvafg jnyy.