Was there ever an accurate count on how many people admitted to having killed Elizabeth Short?

I believe the actual count of individuals who came forward to confess to the Black Dahlia murder is somewhere in the neighborhood of 49 to 53. Once the headlines or front page coverage fell off, the “pyschocranks” stopped coming. Shows the power of the press--it’s ability to reach down deep into the recesses of a mind--down into those conflicted areas. The idea of confessing was to link one’s self to the “magic” or the “magnetic draw” of the Black Dahlia case. It was, for some, almost uncontrollable, and for those few minutes they could act out an actual link to “that pale white body severed in two...” Beauty and darkness and death. Three irresistible elements burning brightly like a dying star.