What Happened - Shot 3
Sections
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The Warren Commission's Scenarios
Before proceeding farther, it behooves us to take a few moments to look at the Warren Commission's various scenarios. The Commission proposed three possible scenarios, apparently not able to decide which one among the three was "correct." As we will see, none of them could have been correct.
I urge. you to read these 5 pages from the Warren Report (beginning with "The Number of Shots" starting on p. 110), which are perhaps the most important pages of the whole report, and then I will summarize:
I urge. you to read these 5 pages from the Warren Report (beginning with "The Number of Shots" starting on p. 110), which are perhaps the most important pages of the whole report, and then I will summarize:
Unlike the FBI or Secret Service, the Warren Commission at least acknowledged that there was one shot that missed. The Tague wounding, for which there was same-day corroborating evidence, became extremely problematic when it became public knowledge in the Sumer of 1964, late in the Warren Commission's tenure. Up until then, the Commission was apparently endorsing the Kennedy-Connally-Kennedy scenario proposed by the FBI--that is, Kennedy was struck first, Connally was struck second, and Kennedy was struck third by the "fatal" bullet. But the Commission was still determined to stand by a 3-shot scenario, and still failing to acknowledge that there might have been any other shooter besides Oswald. After all, per the Katzenbach memo and Hoover phone call, their mandate was to "convince the public" that Oswald "did not have any accomplices who were still at large," not to investigate the facts.
To summarize, the Commission limited itself to only 3 shots because only 3 empty hulls were found in the TSBD (and as the Report notes, was widely reported in the Press) and because they only had ballistic evidence of 1 whole bullet (reportedly coming from Parkland, CE 399) and some bullet fragments found in the car that they couldn't decide whether they came from 1 or 2 bullets (But if car fragments were 2 bullets, then where is Tague bullet??)
There was some other ballistic evidence, like the Dr. Young Bullet, that was never presented to the Commission, and thus was ignored. And, in fact, as I point out in my article "Multiple Stretcher Bullets AKA The Connally Bullet Revisited," there were actually two bullets found at Parkland--the intact AR-15 bullet (for which CE 399 was a substitute), and the Connally Bullet (which had a very shaky chain-of-custody).
So the Commission came up with three possible scenarios, which I will call A, B, and C, as below:
Scenario A:
Scenario B:
Scenario C:
Note that the earlier in the sequence the Single Bullet Theory shot is, the steeper the angle in the downward trajectory from the TSBD shooter, which makes Scenarios B and C rather more problematic for that reason alone. Furthermore, assuming the bullet entered JFK’s back “4 inches down” from the shoulder (as the report quotes Bennet” as saying, with Clint Hill testifying that the back wound was some 4-5 inches below the level of the neck, confirmed by the holes in the shirt and jacket) the bullet would then have had to travel upward in order to exit from the throat would location, and then somehow have turned to angle downward again, to cause all of Governor Connally's wounds. Hence all the "magic bullet" derision of the Single Bullet Theory by critics. That's also why the wound had to be moved upward to Kennedy's "neck" (as Gerald Ford eventually admitted to changing the report wording to say) in order to get the Single Bullet Theory to work.
But, for the sake of argument, let's assume that the "neck" entrance trajectory works (ignoring all the evidence to the contrary of the back wound's true location) to get a "throat" exit. We still have other problems with the Single Bullet Theory--especially the closer we place the limousine to the shooter's window--because of that steeper downward trajectory problem. So let's assume that the limo position in the Altgens 6 photo would work for the Single Bullet Theory "neck" entrance, but not a limo position before Altgens 6, because of that steeper angle problem.
But that won't work, either. In Altgens 6, Jackie has her hands on Kennedy's arm, and he is already in the "chest grab" position. Those actions couldn't have occurred concurrently with a shot, but were reactions to the shot. Jackie testified that she had been looking to her left at the bystanders, and didn't turn to her husband until after she heard a shot. And yet, Altgens and other bystanders heard a shot when the limousine was about concurrent with its position in Altgens 6. Then again, Altgens told us that the Warren Commission had "fixed" his photograph as being taken about 2 seconds after the first shot, as discussed in my articles on Shot 1 and Shot 2. And yet, a number of witnesses (like Patricia Ann Lawrence Donaldson and James "Ike" Altgens himself) were sure that the limousine position in the Altgens 6 photo position was right for the the "first" shot. The "Moonwalking Bear" of Inattention Blindness explains why they could have missed an earlier shot (i.e., the Allman/Smith shot discussed in my Shot 1 scenario. But the steeper angle of the trajectory from the TSBD window won't work for the bullet to exit Kennedy's neck, and then go through Connally, even given the mis-placed "neck" entrance, before the limousine's position in Altgens 6.
The problem with the Commission's A and B scenarios is that the Altgens 6 shot would have to have been simultaneous with the first shot to strike JFK. Yet in the picture, Jackie already has her hands on his arm to support him, and he is already in the “chest grab” position. Those movements could not have happened “simultaneously” with the shot that caused him the distress that is visible in Altgens 6. Moreover, Scenario A would have been quite the miss for the first shot to have been the one that struck the Main Street curb and caused Tague’s minor wounds. Scenario B makes the most sense for the one that hit Tague, but again we are left with the problem of the first shot striking Kennedy being simultaneous with Altgens 6.
The problems with Scenario C are that it 1) requires the “delayed reaction” from Connally, who was adamant that he was struck by the “second” shot, and not the first! And 2) the angle of the trajectory would be too steep for the Single Bullet Theory to work with the limo's position before Altgens 6, even given a "neck" entrance.
But, of course, the Single Bullet Theory won't work at all if the actual entrance into Kennedy wasn't his "neck," but lower down in his back. The Warren Report excerpt above (p. 111) quotes Bennet as saying that the bullet entered Kennedy's back “4 inches down” from the shoulder. Clint Hill, who viewed the body in the morgue so he could report on the wounds to the family, testified that the back wound was even lower than that, "about 6 inches below the neck line" (Hearings Vol. II, p, 143). FBI ballistics expert Robert Frazier testified that the hole in Kennedy's coat was "5 3/8 inches below the top of the collar" ((Hearings, Vol. V, p. 59) and the hole in the shirt was "5 3/4 inches below the top of the collar" (Hearings, Vol. V, p. 60). None of those wound locations would work, because the bullet would then have had to travel upward in order to exit from the throat would location. An upward deflection after hitting the spine would not have left a bullet in as pristine a condition as CE-399--the supposed bullet that was the cause of the Single Bullet Theory wounds. But then, once exiting, the bullet would have had to turn downward again in order to enter Governor Connally. Hence, part of the "magic" of the Single Bullet Theory's "magic bullet" trajectory.
Then, of course, there was mortician Thomas Robinson's ARRB interview where he had a "vivid" recollection of a probe that was inserted near the base of the brain in the back of the head coming out of the neck wound, and that he was "adamant" about this recollection. From his ARRB interview summary:
To summarize, the Commission limited itself to only 3 shots because only 3 empty hulls were found in the TSBD (and as the Report notes, was widely reported in the Press) and because they only had ballistic evidence of 1 whole bullet (reportedly coming from Parkland, CE 399) and some bullet fragments found in the car that they couldn't decide whether they came from 1 or 2 bullets (But if car fragments were 2 bullets, then where is Tague bullet??)
There was some other ballistic evidence, like the Dr. Young Bullet, that was never presented to the Commission, and thus was ignored. And, in fact, as I point out in my article "Multiple Stretcher Bullets AKA The Connally Bullet Revisited," there were actually two bullets found at Parkland--the intact AR-15 bullet (for which CE 399 was a substitute), and the Connally Bullet (which had a very shaky chain-of-custody).
So the Commission came up with three possible scenarios, which I will call A, B, and C, as below:
Scenario A:
- Shot 1 – Tague Miss
- Shot 2 – Altgens 6 Single Bullet Theory
- Shot 3 – JFK Head Shot (Z313)
Scenario B:
- Shot 1 – Altgens 6 Single Bullet Theory
- Shot 2 – JFK Head Shot (Z313)
- Shot 3 – Tague Miss
Scenario C:
- Shot 1 — Single Bullet Theory ("delayed reaction” by Connally)
- Shot 2 – Tague Miss/Altgens 6
- Shot 3 – JFK Head Shot (Z313)
Note that the earlier in the sequence the Single Bullet Theory shot is, the steeper the angle in the downward trajectory from the TSBD shooter, which makes Scenarios B and C rather more problematic for that reason alone. Furthermore, assuming the bullet entered JFK’s back “4 inches down” from the shoulder (as the report quotes Bennet” as saying, with Clint Hill testifying that the back wound was some 4-5 inches below the level of the neck, confirmed by the holes in the shirt and jacket) the bullet would then have had to travel upward in order to exit from the throat would location, and then somehow have turned to angle downward again, to cause all of Governor Connally's wounds. Hence all the "magic bullet" derision of the Single Bullet Theory by critics. That's also why the wound had to be moved upward to Kennedy's "neck" (as Gerald Ford eventually admitted to changing the report wording to say) in order to get the Single Bullet Theory to work.
But, for the sake of argument, let's assume that the "neck" entrance trajectory works (ignoring all the evidence to the contrary of the back wound's true location) to get a "throat" exit. We still have other problems with the Single Bullet Theory--especially the closer we place the limousine to the shooter's window--because of that steeper downward trajectory problem. So let's assume that the limo position in the Altgens 6 photo would work for the Single Bullet Theory "neck" entrance, but not a limo position before Altgens 6, because of that steeper angle problem.
But that won't work, either. In Altgens 6, Jackie has her hands on Kennedy's arm, and he is already in the "chest grab" position. Those actions couldn't have occurred concurrently with a shot, but were reactions to the shot. Jackie testified that she had been looking to her left at the bystanders, and didn't turn to her husband until after she heard a shot. And yet, Altgens and other bystanders heard a shot when the limousine was about concurrent with its position in Altgens 6. Then again, Altgens told us that the Warren Commission had "fixed" his photograph as being taken about 2 seconds after the first shot, as discussed in my articles on Shot 1 and Shot 2. And yet, a number of witnesses (like Patricia Ann Lawrence Donaldson and James "Ike" Altgens himself) were sure that the limousine position in the Altgens 6 photo position was right for the the "first" shot. The "Moonwalking Bear" of Inattention Blindness explains why they could have missed an earlier shot (i.e., the Allman/Smith shot discussed in my Shot 1 scenario. But the steeper angle of the trajectory from the TSBD window won't work for the bullet to exit Kennedy's neck, and then go through Connally, even given the mis-placed "neck" entrance, before the limousine's position in Altgens 6.
The problem with the Commission's A and B scenarios is that the Altgens 6 shot would have to have been simultaneous with the first shot to strike JFK. Yet in the picture, Jackie already has her hands on his arm to support him, and he is already in the “chest grab” position. Those movements could not have happened “simultaneously” with the shot that caused him the distress that is visible in Altgens 6. Moreover, Scenario A would have been quite the miss for the first shot to have been the one that struck the Main Street curb and caused Tague’s minor wounds. Scenario B makes the most sense for the one that hit Tague, but again we are left with the problem of the first shot striking Kennedy being simultaneous with Altgens 6.
The problems with Scenario C are that it 1) requires the “delayed reaction” from Connally, who was adamant that he was struck by the “second” shot, and not the first! And 2) the angle of the trajectory would be too steep for the Single Bullet Theory to work with the limo's position before Altgens 6, even given a "neck" entrance.
But, of course, the Single Bullet Theory won't work at all if the actual entrance into Kennedy wasn't his "neck," but lower down in his back. The Warren Report excerpt above (p. 111) quotes Bennet as saying that the bullet entered Kennedy's back “4 inches down” from the shoulder. Clint Hill, who viewed the body in the morgue so he could report on the wounds to the family, testified that the back wound was even lower than that, "about 6 inches below the neck line" (Hearings Vol. II, p, 143). FBI ballistics expert Robert Frazier testified that the hole in Kennedy's coat was "5 3/8 inches below the top of the collar" ((Hearings, Vol. V, p. 59) and the hole in the shirt was "5 3/4 inches below the top of the collar" (Hearings, Vol. V, p. 60). None of those wound locations would work, because the bullet would then have had to travel upward in order to exit from the throat would location. An upward deflection after hitting the spine would not have left a bullet in as pristine a condition as CE-399--the supposed bullet that was the cause of the Single Bullet Theory wounds. But then, once exiting, the bullet would have had to turn downward again in order to enter Governor Connally. Hence, part of the "magic" of the Single Bullet Theory's "magic bullet" trajectory.
Then, of course, there was mortician Thomas Robinson's ARRB interview where he had a "vivid" recollection of a probe that was inserted near the base of the brain in the back of the head coming out of the neck wound, and that he was "adamant" about this recollection. From his ARRB interview summary:
From https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=711#relPageId=4 with my annotation
(I discuss how a bullet fragment from a frontal (forehead) shot could have bounced off the back of the head and angled downwards towards the throat via an "internal ricochet" in my previous article What Happened - Shot 1.)
The point is, no matter how you slice it, the Single Bullet Theory (SBT) just doesn't work--not with a back of the "neck" entrance, and absolutely not with a back entrance some 4-6 inches below the neck line.
In other words, the SBT is "B.S."
And because the SBT won't work, the fact is that none of the Warren Commission's three scenarios will work! There had to have been a fourth bullet (or perhaps even more than four, to account for the limousine's windshield hole!) in order to account for Tague's wounding. The acoustical evidence yields five shots, I align my scenario with the acoustical evidence, and consider the under-reporting of shots by witnesses to be the result of missing the "moonwalking bears," and/or misinterpretation of separate shots as "echoes," and/or not counting any shots of "return fire" in the shot count.
But only 3 empty hulls were found in the TSBD, so only 3 shots were all the Warren Commission was willing to consider. They did not consider any shooter in any non-TSBD locations! They were unwilling to explore the possibilities of other shooters, even though there were other guns known to be in Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting.
Those guns were in the motorcade—being handled by Secret Service agents.
The point is, no matter how you slice it, the Single Bullet Theory (SBT) just doesn't work--not with a back of the "neck" entrance, and absolutely not with a back entrance some 4-6 inches below the neck line.
In other words, the SBT is "B.S."
And because the SBT won't work, the fact is that none of the Warren Commission's three scenarios will work! There had to have been a fourth bullet (or perhaps even more than four, to account for the limousine's windshield hole!) in order to account for Tague's wounding. The acoustical evidence yields five shots, I align my scenario with the acoustical evidence, and consider the under-reporting of shots by witnesses to be the result of missing the "moonwalking bears," and/or misinterpretation of separate shots as "echoes," and/or not counting any shots of "return fire" in the shot count.
But only 3 empty hulls were found in the TSBD, so only 3 shots were all the Warren Commission was willing to consider. They did not consider any shooter in any non-TSBD locations! They were unwilling to explore the possibilities of other shooters, even though there were other guns known to be in Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting.
Those guns were in the motorcade—being handled by Secret Service agents.
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Acoustical Alignment
The shot under discussion in this article is the third shot of my scenario, aligning with the Mary Moorman photograph. It occurred 1.05 seconds after the Altgens 6 shot, and 2.6 seconds after the first shot--actually a slight bit longer, given that the playback speed of the dicta belt recording was slightly faster than real time. But 2.6 seconds (or slightly longer), while still fast, is within the capability of the clumsy bolt-action Mannlicher-Carcanno carbine Oswald reportedly used, whereas the second acoustical impulse could not have come from a shot fired by Oswald (assuming the shot that caused the first acoustical impulse came from the TSBD window, which I contend it did, given the attribution by witnesses Pierce Allman and Alan Smith of the shot fired when the limousine had just turned the corner onto Elm Street, as having come from the TSBD 6th Floor Window), and given the acoustical echo pattern match to the TSBD for both the first and third impulses as having been fired from that location. Given the acoustical attribution for this third impulse without any special qualifiers like "rifle withdrawn," my scenario also naturally attributes this shot to the TSBD window, as the acoustical experts did.
My alignment of this shot, acoustically, is at 140.32 seconds into the stuck mic sequence, as the third impulse. It is the shot after the one near simultaneous with the Altgens 6 photo. Exactly who this shot hit, and the limousine position, when taken together, will likely surprise you.
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The FBI "Visual Aid" Model
In addition to the 3 potential scenarios suggested by the Warren Commission, there is the FBI's single 3-shot scenario, which places a shot with the limousine in the Altgens 6 position for the "first" shot, in the Muchmore photo (see below) position for the "second"), and further down Elm Street near the. stairs for the "third" shot.
From https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10699#relPageId=26
The FBI model, as demonstrated in the image above, places its first shot as about simultaneous with the Altgens 6 picture, its second shot as about simultaneous with the Mary Moorman photograph, and its third shot when the limousine was closer to the stairs. While I do not completely agree with the FBI model (It is incomplete, and I disagree with their string-line attributions for shots 1 and 3), I do like its limousine positions for my shots 2, 3, and 4. I even agree with their attribution of the Moorman photo shot as having come from the TSBD (though not with their other string-line attributions).
The same problem exists for the FBI model as for the first two Warren Commission scenarios: The Altgens 6 shot can not be "simultaneous" with the "first" shot, because Kennedy would need time to go into the decorticate posture "chest grab" position, and Jackie would need time to hear the shot, turn, and move her hands to Kennedy's arm. Altgens 6 had to have occurred some seconds after the first shot. In the "CBS News Inquiry" special, Altgens asserts that the Warren Commission "fixed" his photograph as occurring "about 2 seconds" after the first shot, whereas to the Warren Commission testimony, he testified that he made (the Altgens 6) picture "almost simultaneously" with the time he heard a noise that sounded like a firecracker:
The same problem exists for the FBI model as for the first two Warren Commission scenarios: The Altgens 6 shot can not be "simultaneous" with the "first" shot, because Kennedy would need time to go into the decorticate posture "chest grab" position, and Jackie would need time to hear the shot, turn, and move her hands to Kennedy's arm. Altgens 6 had to have occurred some seconds after the first shot. In the "CBS News Inquiry" special, Altgens asserts that the Warren Commission "fixed" his photograph as occurring "about 2 seconds" after the first shot, whereas to the Warren Commission testimony, he testified that he made (the Altgens 6) picture "almost simultaneously" with the time he heard a noise that sounded like a firecracker:
All that aligns very well with the acoustical evidence, which gives 1.6 seconds (or slightly longer, given the slight difference in playback speed) between the first and second shots. Altgens was right--he did take his picture "almost simultaneously" with a shot that sounded like it was "coming up from behind the car" (i.e., from Johnson's follow-up car). He was also right when he asserted that the Warren Commission "fixed" his picture as occurring "about 2 seconds" after the first (TSBD) shot. His picture was concurrent with the second of these shots.
By the time of the third shot, the limousine would have had another 1.05 seconds to travel farther down Elm Street. It was moving when Altgens took his #6 picture, and it continued to move to where the position where the FBI model places its "second" shot: the Moorman picture position.
The FBI "Visual Aid" model does not agree with what is portrayed in the Zapruder film, because the Moorman picture position is the same position as the Z313 "head shot." But the FBI scenario, remember, is that the second shot hit Governor Connally.
That apparent conflict is resolved when we consider that the Zapruder film is an altered product. The alteration included the creation of a "head shot" where one did not exist in real life.
I contend that the FBI model's limousine positions are correct for some of the shots, though failing to include all of the shots. I also contend that two of their three string-line attributions are incorrect. Their model does not show the Tague shot at all, and while it does show the first shot (which is the only distance and angle notation given) does not describe it as a shot, and does not include it in their 3-shot (Kennedy-Connally-Kennedy) scenario of their 3 limousine positions (at Altgens 6 + Moorman Photo + near the stairs) or locations.
It is the Moorman Photo limousine position that the FBI model defines as their "second" (my third) shot. And it is this location (again, in conflict with the Zapruder film) that they apparently attribute the Connally shot.
By the time of the third shot, the limousine would have had another 1.05 seconds to travel farther down Elm Street. It was moving when Altgens took his #6 picture, and it continued to move to where the position where the FBI model places its "second" shot: the Moorman picture position.
The FBI "Visual Aid" model does not agree with what is portrayed in the Zapruder film, because the Moorman picture position is the same position as the Z313 "head shot." But the FBI scenario, remember, is that the second shot hit Governor Connally.
That apparent conflict is resolved when we consider that the Zapruder film is an altered product. The alteration included the creation of a "head shot" where one did not exist in real life.
I contend that the FBI model's limousine positions are correct for some of the shots, though failing to include all of the shots. I also contend that two of their three string-line attributions are incorrect. Their model does not show the Tague shot at all, and while it does show the first shot (which is the only distance and angle notation given) does not describe it as a shot, and does not include it in their 3-shot (Kennedy-Connally-Kennedy) scenario of their 3 limousine positions (at Altgens 6 + Moorman Photo + near the stairs) or locations.
It is the Moorman Photo limousine position that the FBI model defines as their "second" (my third) shot. And it is this location (again, in conflict with the Zapruder film) that they apparently attribute the Connally shot.
So although the limousine positions in the FBI model are correct for shots that were fired, these positions do not include all of the five shots that were fired, and the FBI string-line attributions--with the exception of this particular shot--are incorrect.
Comparing/Contrasting the FBI Model with My Scenario:
Unlike the FBI's string-line attributions for their shots "1" and "3" (both of which were fired by Secret Service agents), I actually agree with the FBI model's string-line attribution for this shot. This shot was fired from the TSBD window as Oswald's second shot (although the third total shot in my scenario). I've annotated the string line (the only correct one in the FBI's 3-shot sequence) in red for easier viewing. And again, while the limousine is in the position for the Mary Moorman photograph and frame 313 in the Zapruder film, it was not the JFK head shot as portrayed in frame 313 of the (altered) Zapruder film.
This shot, concurrent with the Moorman photograph, is the one that struck Governor Connally, and caused all of his wounds.
Comparing/Contrasting the FBI Model with My Scenario:
- My "Shot 1" is not shown as a shot, although the FBI model did have an odd image of a string line, noting angle and distance for their "not-a-shot" position that is my first shot.
- The FBI's "Shot 1" (limousine in the Altgens 6 position) is my "Shot 2," a warning shot fired by one of Johnson's protective agents. Their string line attribution is incorrect.
- The FBI's "Shot 2" (my "Shot 3") limousine is in the Moorman photograph position, and is correctly attributed to the TSBD window. The limousine position matches frame 313 of the Zapruder film, but the "head shot" portrayed in the Zapruder film is fake.
- The FBI's "Shot 3" (my "Shot 4") does not match any limousine position for a shot in the extant Zapruder film. But again, the film is an altered product. However, the limousine position does match at least one witness account, and agrees with Moorman's account that she saw Kennedy's "hair lift" with a shot that occurred after she took her picture.
- The miss that caused James Tague's minor wounding (my "Shot 5") is not portrayed in the FBI model at all. The limousine would be in roughly the same place as the FBI's "third" shot, having moved forward only slightly.
Unlike the FBI's string-line attributions for their shots "1" and "3" (both of which were fired by Secret Service agents), I actually agree with the FBI model's string-line attribution for this shot. This shot was fired from the TSBD window as Oswald's second shot (although the third total shot in my scenario). I've annotated the string line (the only correct one in the FBI's 3-shot sequence) in red for easier viewing. And again, while the limousine is in the position for the Mary Moorman photograph and frame 313 in the Zapruder film, it was not the JFK head shot as portrayed in frame 313 of the (altered) Zapruder film.
This shot, concurrent with the Moorman photograph, is the one that struck Governor Connally, and caused all of his wounds.
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Different 3 Shot Sequences = 5 Shots
It can be a difficult task to place the limousine's location on Elm Street at the time a witness heard a shot, because while most witnesses reported hearing "three" shots, they didn't report the same three shots. A minority of witnesses even reported hearing "four" or more shots. Jean Hill famously reported having heard "five or six." Sam Holland was adamant about having heard "four" shots. In same-day news reporting, one reporter said that he heard "three" shots, whole another reporter heard "four." (My documentary contains that clip.)
The acoustical evidence contains five suspect impulses that the sound experts found in the dicta belt. There was actually an additional impulse before the five accepted impulses and another impulse after the five accepted impulses. However, these were rejected as being non-matches due to insufficient volume and different echo patterns to the only two test shot locations used in the acoustical reconstruction tests--i.e., the TSBD window and the single "Grassy Knoll" location. (a premature rejection in my view, as I can envision a warning shot being fired by one of Johnson's protective Secret Service agents before the President's limousine turned onto Elm Street, and the last one as causing the "pool of blood" that was reportedly seen at the top of the stairs).
So why would witnesses have under-reported the actual number of shots? I've already discussed how people can miss the "Moonwalking Bear" (also known as "inattention blindness") in my "Shot 2" article. This is true especially of the earliest shots, since the bystanders were not expecting an assassination. It took a couple of shots, in some cases, before bystanders realized that an attack was underway. It was a common report that bystanders thought that the first shot or shots were a "firecracker" or "backfire." In so thinking, they just didn't "register" the initial sounds as being important, and were prone to forget that they had heard them. Moreover, the noise of the crowd and of the motorcycles may very well have masked the sounds of the shots, contributing to bystanders not "registering" hearing muzzle blasts as shots.
In addition, there was a likely misperceiving of distinct shots as "a shot plus an echo." Secret Service agent Clint Hill described the "last" shot, for example, as having "some kind of an echo" (that the other shot he heard didn't have--he only reported hearing "two"), whereas a large number of witnesses reported the last two shots as being a double-bang ("pow-pow" or "bang-bang" or "bam-bam"--a timing that could not have occurred with Oswald's clumsy bolt-action weapon.
There is also the possibility that witnesses did not count shots that didn't come from the window among their "three" shots. In a same-day radio interview, Pierce Allman was asked if he thought it was possible that police or Secret Service had "returned fire." Allman's response was "This is possible." He wasn't sure about additional shots, just the three that he knew came from the window.
Mary Moorman, in one of her same day interviews, reported hearing "three or four" shots that she was "sure of"--leaving open the possibility that she had heard additional shots that she was less sure of. Her companion Jean Hill heard "five or six." Jean Hill may be been auditorially astute, but missed or misinterpreted some of the visual information (thinking that the Kennedy's were looking at a "little dog" in the car rather than realizing that Kennedy had already been shot.
All of that makes placing the limousine at the time when witnesses heard shots quite a challenge. However, by aligning the different witness accounts, the acoustical evidence, the FBI "Visual Aid" model images, and other information, I believe I have accomplished that.
Here's how:
I've previously shown how witnesses Alan Smith and Pierce Allman place their first shot (which they attribute as coming from the TSBD window) as occurring when the limousine had just turned the corner onto Elm. This matches statements by Ruby Henderson, Mrs. Charles Hester, Jack Franzen, Dan Rather's narration of an aftermath film in the same-day CBS news broadcast, and John Connally's statement that "We had just turned a corner" when he heard a shot. It also matches the limousine position in the FBI model's odd "not a shot" location with string-line, distance, and angle noted. Thanks to Allman's statements in one of his interviews, he also places the other two of his three "evenly spaced" shots from the TSBED window with Kennedy's limousine position being where the "X's" appear on Elm Street--i.e., at the Altgens 6 location and the Moorman Photograph location. So that is where Pierce Allman's sequence in my animated .gif below comes from.
From Patricia Ann Lawrence Donaldson, we get her "first" shot location as occurring at the Altgens 6 position (having missed the "Moonwalking Bear" of the Smith/Allman shot). She is not specific about the limousine locations for her last two shots, but she is specific about the "double-bang" (her "bam-bam")--which matches many witness accounts for the last two shots. I place her double-bang as being the same as Mary Moorman's double-bang--which happened when the limousine was farther down Elm Street than when Mary Moorman took her photograph. For precisely where, I use the FBI "Visual Aid" model's "third" shot limousine location. So that is where Patricia Ann Lawrence Donaldson's sequence in my animated .gif below comes from.
Mary Moorman (later Krahmer), placed her "first" shot as being simultaneous with her photograph. She says in one interview that she had "lowered" her camera to see Kennedy's "hair lift" with the next shot of her three (in another interview no longer available on YouTube, she was looking through the view finder hoping to take another picture when she saw the "hair lift." She is clear that she didn't really know what was going on at the time, and only speculated that Kennedy had been hit by the "first" shot that occurred simultaneously with her picture, because he was "slumped" in her picture. She was in a perfect position to see an explosive head shot when she took her picture, and yet she doesn't describe the "hair lift" as occurring until the next shot after she had taken her picture. So we have Moorman's definite placement for her "first" shot. For her double-bang ("pow-pow" with the second shot in her sequence being the one with the "hair-lift,") which occurred when the limousine was farther down Elm Street than in her photograph, I use the FBI "Visual Aid" model position for their "third" shot. Moreover, the FBI's position for their "third" shot aligns pretty well with what Greg Burnham described as seeing in the "other" Zapruder film--saying that he saw the head shot occurring when the limousine was farther down Elm Street and "closer to the stairs" than the extant film shows. So that is where Mary Moorman's sequence in my animated .gif below comes from.
Of course, the missed shot that caused Tague's minor wounds would not have appeared in The Zapruder film. Tague wasn't sure at exactly what point in the shooting sequence he was struck, but he had an impression that it was with the "last" shot. The FBI model doesn't show a double-bang (the original Zapruder film was silent), but in Sheriff's Deputy Buddy Walther's same-day report, he expressed his belief that the curb strike that caused Tague's wound had to have occurred with the "last" TSBD shot, based on how the curb strike aligned with the limousine's position and the TSBD window. I see no reason to disagree his assessment. And of course, it's important to note that the Oswald weapon could not have produced a double-bang. But in the acoustical evidence and by witness accounts, there was only a half second or so between the last two shots. Given the minimal time it took to recycle the Mannlicher-Carcanno gun, both shots of the "double-bang" could not have come from Oswald.
So while it is true that most witnesses reported "three" shots (with a minority of witnesses reporting four or more shots), those witnesses did not report the same three shots. When we place the limousine locations in Dealey Plaza where witnesses reported it being when a shot occurred, we get about five different positions--and five shots just so happens to match the acoustical evidence.
My animated .gif below illustrates those positions:
The acoustical evidence contains five suspect impulses that the sound experts found in the dicta belt. There was actually an additional impulse before the five accepted impulses and another impulse after the five accepted impulses. However, these were rejected as being non-matches due to insufficient volume and different echo patterns to the only two test shot locations used in the acoustical reconstruction tests--i.e., the TSBD window and the single "Grassy Knoll" location. (a premature rejection in my view, as I can envision a warning shot being fired by one of Johnson's protective Secret Service agents before the President's limousine turned onto Elm Street, and the last one as causing the "pool of blood" that was reportedly seen at the top of the stairs).
So why would witnesses have under-reported the actual number of shots? I've already discussed how people can miss the "Moonwalking Bear" (also known as "inattention blindness") in my "Shot 2" article. This is true especially of the earliest shots, since the bystanders were not expecting an assassination. It took a couple of shots, in some cases, before bystanders realized that an attack was underway. It was a common report that bystanders thought that the first shot or shots were a "firecracker" or "backfire." In so thinking, they just didn't "register" the initial sounds as being important, and were prone to forget that they had heard them. Moreover, the noise of the crowd and of the motorcycles may very well have masked the sounds of the shots, contributing to bystanders not "registering" hearing muzzle blasts as shots.
In addition, there was a likely misperceiving of distinct shots as "a shot plus an echo." Secret Service agent Clint Hill described the "last" shot, for example, as having "some kind of an echo" (that the other shot he heard didn't have--he only reported hearing "two"), whereas a large number of witnesses reported the last two shots as being a double-bang ("pow-pow" or "bang-bang" or "bam-bam"--a timing that could not have occurred with Oswald's clumsy bolt-action weapon.
There is also the possibility that witnesses did not count shots that didn't come from the window among their "three" shots. In a same-day radio interview, Pierce Allman was asked if he thought it was possible that police or Secret Service had "returned fire." Allman's response was "This is possible." He wasn't sure about additional shots, just the three that he knew came from the window.
Mary Moorman, in one of her same day interviews, reported hearing "three or four" shots that she was "sure of"--leaving open the possibility that she had heard additional shots that she was less sure of. Her companion Jean Hill heard "five or six." Jean Hill may be been auditorially astute, but missed or misinterpreted some of the visual information (thinking that the Kennedy's were looking at a "little dog" in the car rather than realizing that Kennedy had already been shot.
All of that makes placing the limousine at the time when witnesses heard shots quite a challenge. However, by aligning the different witness accounts, the acoustical evidence, the FBI "Visual Aid" model images, and other information, I believe I have accomplished that.
Here's how:
I've previously shown how witnesses Alan Smith and Pierce Allman place their first shot (which they attribute as coming from the TSBD window) as occurring when the limousine had just turned the corner onto Elm. This matches statements by Ruby Henderson, Mrs. Charles Hester, Jack Franzen, Dan Rather's narration of an aftermath film in the same-day CBS news broadcast, and John Connally's statement that "We had just turned a corner" when he heard a shot. It also matches the limousine position in the FBI model's odd "not a shot" location with string-line, distance, and angle noted. Thanks to Allman's statements in one of his interviews, he also places the other two of his three "evenly spaced" shots from the TSBED window with Kennedy's limousine position being where the "X's" appear on Elm Street--i.e., at the Altgens 6 location and the Moorman Photograph location. So that is where Pierce Allman's sequence in my animated .gif below comes from.
From Patricia Ann Lawrence Donaldson, we get her "first" shot location as occurring at the Altgens 6 position (having missed the "Moonwalking Bear" of the Smith/Allman shot). She is not specific about the limousine locations for her last two shots, but she is specific about the "double-bang" (her "bam-bam")--which matches many witness accounts for the last two shots. I place her double-bang as being the same as Mary Moorman's double-bang--which happened when the limousine was farther down Elm Street than when Mary Moorman took her photograph. For precisely where, I use the FBI "Visual Aid" model's "third" shot limousine location. So that is where Patricia Ann Lawrence Donaldson's sequence in my animated .gif below comes from.
Mary Moorman (later Krahmer), placed her "first" shot as being simultaneous with her photograph. She says in one interview that she had "lowered" her camera to see Kennedy's "hair lift" with the next shot of her three (in another interview no longer available on YouTube, she was looking through the view finder hoping to take another picture when she saw the "hair lift." She is clear that she didn't really know what was going on at the time, and only speculated that Kennedy had been hit by the "first" shot that occurred simultaneously with her picture, because he was "slumped" in her picture. She was in a perfect position to see an explosive head shot when she took her picture, and yet she doesn't describe the "hair lift" as occurring until the next shot after she had taken her picture. So we have Moorman's definite placement for her "first" shot. For her double-bang ("pow-pow" with the second shot in her sequence being the one with the "hair-lift,") which occurred when the limousine was farther down Elm Street than in her photograph, I use the FBI "Visual Aid" model position for their "third" shot. Moreover, the FBI's position for their "third" shot aligns pretty well with what Greg Burnham described as seeing in the "other" Zapruder film--saying that he saw the head shot occurring when the limousine was farther down Elm Street and "closer to the stairs" than the extant film shows. So that is where Mary Moorman's sequence in my animated .gif below comes from.
Of course, the missed shot that caused Tague's minor wounds would not have appeared in The Zapruder film. Tague wasn't sure at exactly what point in the shooting sequence he was struck, but he had an impression that it was with the "last" shot. The FBI model doesn't show a double-bang (the original Zapruder film was silent), but in Sheriff's Deputy Buddy Walther's same-day report, he expressed his belief that the curb strike that caused Tague's wound had to have occurred with the "last" TSBD shot, based on how the curb strike aligned with the limousine's position and the TSBD window. I see no reason to disagree his assessment. And of course, it's important to note that the Oswald weapon could not have produced a double-bang. But in the acoustical evidence and by witness accounts, there was only a half second or so between the last two shots. Given the minimal time it took to recycle the Mannlicher-Carcanno gun, both shots of the "double-bang" could not have come from Oswald.
So while it is true that most witnesses reported "three" shots (with a minority of witnesses reporting four or more shots), those witnesses did not report the same three shots. When we place the limousine locations in Dealey Plaza where witnesses reported it being when a shot occurred, we get about five different positions--and five shots just so happens to match the acoustical evidence.
My animated .gif below illustrates those positions:
The first of these positions is the "Allman/Smith" or JFK "Forehead" shot, coming from the TSBD window, the second position is the "Altgens 6" or "Secret Service Warning" shot, the third position is the "Mary Moorman Photograph" or "Connally" shot, the fourth position is the "FBI Kennedy Head" or "AR-15" shot, and the last position is the "Tague" or "Missed" shot.
So the "Moorman" photograph shot and the "Connally" shot are the same. But the Moorman photo has been associated with the JFK "Head" shot. That association has come about for three reasons: 1) because Moorman herself assumed that her photo was concurrent with the shot that "got" Kennedy and said so in same-day radio and TV interviews; 2) because a subsequent myth developed that the Moorman photo was concurrent with a head shot; and 3) because the Zapruder film seems to show a head shot at Z313.
So let's look at what the Moorman photo actually shows, what Mary Moorman herself actually said in her same-day interviews, and the surprising thing that can be found in the (altered) Zapruder film.
So the "Moorman" photograph shot and the "Connally" shot are the same. But the Moorman photo has been associated with the JFK "Head" shot. That association has come about for three reasons: 1) because Moorman herself assumed that her photo was concurrent with the shot that "got" Kennedy and said so in same-day radio and TV interviews; 2) because a subsequent myth developed that the Moorman photo was concurrent with a head shot; and 3) because the Zapruder film seems to show a head shot at Z313.
So let's look at what the Moorman photo actually shows, what Mary Moorman herself actually said in her same-day interviews, and the surprising thing that can be found in the (altered) Zapruder film.
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Mary Moorman's Photograph
It has been a long-standing myth of the JFK Assassination that the Moorman photo shows the exact instant that Kennedy was struck in the head by the "fatal" shot.
But what does the photo actually show?
But what does the photo actually show?
Looking at the Moorman photograph above, do you actually see anything resembling the Z313 "explosion"? What you actually see is the President learning to his left. Mary Moorman herself, who was in a perfect position to see the head explosion, didn't even know Kennedy had been hit, even though she heard a shot simultaneously to taking her picture, until she actually saw her picture, and saw him "slumped." In fact, by her accounts, it was next the shot after she had taken her picture when she saw Kennedy's "hair lift." We'll look at Moorman's own words in a moment, but for now, let's look at her photograph. Here is one of the better ones I've been able to find online, although showing the fingerprint that appeared in the picture after it was returned to her from being on loan to the government.
The Moorman photo as found on https://www.silberstudios.com/jfk-assassination-photographer-mary-moorman-gives-first-interview-in-48-years/ The fingerprint appeared after one of the photos multiple trips into government hands--damage that Moorman complained about in various interviews, saying "They know who did it."
Do you see any "head explosion"? I don't, either. What I do see is something like a "cloud" behind Kennedy, over the trunk of the car, which might or might not be a lighter area on the grass. But there is also a light streak between Connally's head and Jackie's, which, as we will see in a moment when we look at the Hofeling .gif, is possibly of more importance in interpreting the image. Kennedy is clearly slumped to his left, which as we will see from Moorman's accounts, was her only indication that a bullet "got him" at the same "instant" when she took her picture. But that "slump," I contend, was purely coincidental. He "slumped" because he was struck in the head by the very first shot, not by this one, and had lost consciousness.
My point for now is, don't let the myth of what you've been told you're seeing influence your interpretation of what you are actually seeing.
My point for now is, don't let the myth of what you've been told you're seeing influence your interpretation of what you are actually seeing.
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Mary Moorman's Accounts
In her same day interviews, Mary Moorman described her pictures as being concurrent with what she believed to be the "first' shot. She believed that the shot she heard at the same time she took her picture "must have been the one that got him (Kennedy)" not because of anything she saw while taking her picture, but because she saw him "slumped" in her picture. In fact, when specifically asked if she realized what had happened when she heard the shots, she replied, "No, I didn't. There was, oh, three or four, real close together. It must've been the first one that shot him, because that was the time when I took the picture. And during that time, after I took the picture, and the shots were still being fired, and I decided I better get on the ground."
So let's unpack what she said here:
In another interview, Mary Moorman was again asked, "Did you know he was shot?" and her response was, "No, I didn't. (But) I must have sensed it immediately, because he slumped."
- She thought her picture was simultaneous with the first shot (having missed the "Moonwalking Bear" of earlier shots), and shots were still being fired after she took her picture.
- She only knew Kennedy was hit because he was "slumped" in her picture.
- Notice how the FBI and Secret Service were immediately collecting not only her picture, but also an 8mm (not the Zapruder, but name not given) film that the reporter mentioned.
In another interview, Mary Moorman was again asked, "Did you know he was shot?" and her response was, "No, I didn't. (But) I must have sensed it immediately, because he slumped."
In the video below, there isn't much of interest until 3:27, where it reiterates that of her 3 shots, her picture was with the first, and she heard 2 more shots afterward. (Prior to that, the announcer's words (different announcer) are not Moorman's but reflect his own bias, in my view.)
In the video below, note how she reiterates that she took her picture with the "first" shot. Obviously she had missed the "Moonwalking Bear of any earlier shots. (Her mind had been on seeing Jackie.) Then she heard two more "sounds" of gunshots after she took her picture. In this interview she said she had the camera up when she heard the first shot (the one with her picture. Then she put the camera down and heard two additional sounds she described as, "pow-pow." (There was a series of "Antique Mall" videos that had an in-depth interview few of Moorman, broken into about 4-5 parts. In that interview, she said that she was looking through her view finder preparing to take another picture, when she saw Kennedy's "hair jump." Apparently the setting for those videos has been changed to "private" as I learned when I tried to locate the clip I wanted to post here. Part 3 was at https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=GXkjNWsRmPM. The change to "Private" setting is disappointing to say the least.) Moorman also describes someone in the government as having put the fingerprint onto her picture "because they were the only ones holding it within the few days that they were using it" (when the fingerprint appeared). She also noted how "the Kennedy's" had contacted Sotheby's when she wanted to auction off her picture, and why it wasn't advertised for sale to a larger audience. The Kennedy family had told the Sotheby's auction house that "it was too sensitive, and they didn't want it sold"--which is why Sotheby's hadn't sold it and Moorman had to go with a lesser auction house (Cowan's). So the Kennedy family, while they couldn't completely control the sale of the picture, had managed to control some aspect of the sale of the picture, undoubtedly netting Mary Moorman less money for her picture than she would probably otherwise have received. (Of course, the Kennedy family wasn't hurting for money! They could have sent someone to the auction and bought the damn picture, without causing harm to Moorman!) Moorman had to go to the Cowan House, who was interested in the picture, but not interested enough, apparently, to pay Moorman what she had apparently previously been told the picture was worth. (But I digress from the point of Moorman's picture being simultaneous with the "first" of her three shots.) Also interesting is that when the HSCA subpoenaed her picture, she had to hire an (expensive) attorney at her own expense to get her picture back. The influence wielded over the auction house and the necessity of having to hire an attorney to get her property back are, in my view, examples of how ordinary citizens have been punished in the interests of the cover-up--with the exception of Abraham Zapruder, of course, who was apparently willing to go along with the alterations to his film and was awarded millions by the government for the possession of his film.
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The key takeaways from Moorman's videos are that:
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Moorman obviously missed the "Moonwalking Bear" of any shots previous to her picture. She may also have heard some of the other bystanders talking about how Kennedy had been "got" by the first shot, and since she thought her picture was simultaneous with the "first" shot, naturally assumed that this was the one that had "gotten" him.
From there, it was media and other accounts that just "assumed" that Moorman's picture was simultaneous with the "fatal head shot" that struck Kennedy, helped along by the altered Zapruder film. From there it became "myth." To quote a section of the "Truth" speech by John F. Kennedy (who in turn is quoted by Sherry Fiester in one of her videos), "The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."
It is a myth that Kennedy was struck by the bullet simultaneous with the Moorman photo, a myth propagated by the lie of the Zapruder film.
Moorman never saw the "hair lift" or violent skull eruption when she took her photograph--and she should have, if it had actually happened at that point.
It didn't.
From there, it was media and other accounts that just "assumed" that Moorman's picture was simultaneous with the "fatal head shot" that struck Kennedy, helped along by the altered Zapruder film. From there it became "myth." To quote a section of the "Truth" speech by John F. Kennedy (who in turn is quoted by Sherry Fiester in one of her videos), "The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic."
It is a myth that Kennedy was struck by the bullet simultaneous with the Moorman photo, a myth propagated by the lie of the Zapruder film.
Moorman never saw the "hair lift" or violent skull eruption when she took her photograph--and she should have, if it had actually happened at that point.
It didn't.
Back Spatter
In a moment, you'll understand why back spatter is important in interpreting the impact of this shot that was concurrent with the Moorman photograph. Back spatter is a phenomenon wherein a bullet strike ejects blood and body fluids backwards, out of the entrance wound.
Below is a video demonstrating back spatter of a bullet striking a bloodied sponge. The bullet strikes the angled sponge from a horizontal trajectory. The trajectory angle is wrong for my scenario, as is the bullet type, but the video does illustrate the concept of "back spatter."
In a moment, you'll understand why back spatter is important in interpreting the impact of this shot that was concurrent with the Moorman photograph. Back spatter is a phenomenon wherein a bullet strike ejects blood and body fluids backwards, out of the entrance wound.
Below is a video demonstrating back spatter of a bullet striking a bloodied sponge. The bullet strikes the angled sponge from a horizontal trajectory. The trajectory angle is wrong for my scenario, as is the bullet type, but the video does illustrate the concept of "back spatter."
Back spatter is undoubtedly part of the reason why the later AR-15 head shot, entering the back of Kennedy's head, ejected from the rear of the head (the rest is because this area contained a blow-out hole, making it the weakest part of the head for the energy from the high-speed bullet to escape)--but the AR-15 head shot is not the shot currently under discussion. I'll talk more about the AR-15 head shot in my next article, "Shot 4." In this article, I want to talk about the back spatter from the shot that struck Governor Connally.
But before I do that, I want to mention how alterations to a single frame of the Z-film (Z313) and the concept of back spatter managed to fool a well-respected expert in ballistic forensics, the late Sherry Fiester, into believing that a bullet had entered Kennedy from the right-front, creating an entrance wound in "the stephanion."
Fiester's Fallacy
Shortly after the video A Coup in Camelot was released, I was able to speak on the telephone with Sherry Fiester. I forget who first contacted whom (whether I first tried to contact her or whether my name was passed to her by Dr. Mantik), but she wanted to speak on the phone, and I was willing, so we talked. She was seriously sick at the time, but was able to hold a lucid conversation. It was then that she clarified to me that her entrance point to Kennedy's head was "the stephanion" or "a little bit forward of the stephanion" (reiterating what she had said in her book Enemy of the Truth), and I was able to share with her that the stephanion was not what was being portrayed as her entrance in A Coup in Camelot. (What was being portrayed as her entrance was the forehead entry.) During our conversation, I did send her this image from A Coup in Camelot, where it uses her voice with an accompanying animation portraying the forehead entry:
Shortly after the video A Coup in Camelot was released, I was able to speak on the telephone with Sherry Fiester. I forget who first contacted whom (whether I first tried to contact her or whether my name was passed to her by Dr. Mantik), but she wanted to speak on the phone, and I was willing, so we talked. She was seriously sick at the time, but was able to hold a lucid conversation. It was then that she clarified to me that her entrance point to Kennedy's head was "the stephanion" or "a little bit forward of the stephanion" (reiterating what she had said in her book Enemy of the Truth), and I was able to share with her that the stephanion was not what was being portrayed as her entrance in A Coup in Camelot. (What was being portrayed as her entrance was the forehead entry.) During our conversation, I did send her this image from A Coup in Camelot, where it uses her voice with an accompanying animation portraying the forehead entry:
In our conversation, Ms. Fiester assured me that that image was someone else's interpretation of her fracture pattern discussion. Instead, she put her in-shoot "a little forward of the stephanion," which is more on the side of the head/temple area, placing her in-shoot at about the same location as the HSCA Forensic Pathology Panel's (and Warren Commission's) out-shoot. (In her book, Fiester quotes HSCA Forensic Panel member Dr. Lawrence Angel as saying "stephanion" as the out-shoot in his HSCA testimony. This is about the same location above the right ear where I place the out-shoot for my AR-15 shot, as will be discussed in a later article.)
Here is an image from Wikipedia showing the location of the stephanion (albeit on the left side rather than the right):
Here is an image from Wikipedia showing the location of the stephanion (albeit on the left side rather than the right):
Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanion
Of course, the image would have to be flipped to show the right (not the left) side stephanion to match with Fiester's entrance, but you get the idea.
In her book Enemy of the Truth, Fiester points out many of the problems with the various trajectories (Presumably including the Warren Commission's, but specifically the HSCA's, and even the Discovery Channel's) and (correctly) concludes that neither the HSCA's nor the Discovery Channel's trajectories could be correct. (The Warren Commissions, of course, can't be correct, given Kennedy's head position in the frame immediately before the head shot, as ballistics expert--and first Hickey-theorist--Howard Donahue previously realized.)
Feister believed that the "spray" shown in Z313 was "back spatter." Fiester's "shooter" was at the corner of the Triple Underpass closest to the knoll--where exactly no witnesses actually reported seeing a shooter. But there's a reason she believed "the stephanion" (or maybe "a little forward of the stephanion") was the entry point for Kennedy head shot. That reason had to do with the Z313 head shot as portrayed in the Zapruder film--a film that she apparently believed was authentic--and her reliance on the "fracture patterns" in the autopsy X-rays--images that she also apparently believed were authentic.
I discuss the X-ray images elsewhere on my website (see my article on the HSCA Published X-rays). I am quite certain they were altered, as Dr. Mantik contends, but with my additional observations concerning the composite of the "living" right lateral X-ray over the autopsy left lateral X-ray, done to make it appear as if the blow-out was at the right-front instead of the left-rear, where the witnesses placed it.
To me, looking at Z313, Fiester's entrance would seem to have to be at the apex of the triangle formed by the left edge and top edge of the "spray," making the entrance higher on the skull than the "stephanion" (or "a little forward" of that) at the top of the head, but that's just me. Also, the edges of the "spray" emanating from Kennedy's head look too straight to be authentic. Again, maybe that's just me, because apparently this frame has been good enough to fool a lot of people--including Fiester. Perhaps, if she had studied this individual frame rather than just the moving film and realized that the X-rays had undergone some amount of alteration,, she might have reached a different conclusion. (I don't recall asking her that question specifically, but I'm sure I must have mentioned my belief that the Z-film was altered, and it is unfortunately too late to have any additional conversations with her. She never responded to my follow-up email questions, but again, she was terminally ill at the time.)
In her book Enemy of the Truth, Fiester points out many of the problems with the various trajectories (Presumably including the Warren Commission's, but specifically the HSCA's, and even the Discovery Channel's) and (correctly) concludes that neither the HSCA's nor the Discovery Channel's trajectories could be correct. (The Warren Commissions, of course, can't be correct, given Kennedy's head position in the frame immediately before the head shot, as ballistics expert--and first Hickey-theorist--Howard Donahue previously realized.)
Feister believed that the "spray" shown in Z313 was "back spatter." Fiester's "shooter" was at the corner of the Triple Underpass closest to the knoll--where exactly no witnesses actually reported seeing a shooter. But there's a reason she believed "the stephanion" (or maybe "a little forward of the stephanion") was the entry point for Kennedy head shot. That reason had to do with the Z313 head shot as portrayed in the Zapruder film--a film that she apparently believed was authentic--and her reliance on the "fracture patterns" in the autopsy X-rays--images that she also apparently believed were authentic.
I discuss the X-ray images elsewhere on my website (see my article on the HSCA Published X-rays). I am quite certain they were altered, as Dr. Mantik contends, but with my additional observations concerning the composite of the "living" right lateral X-ray over the autopsy left lateral X-ray, done to make it appear as if the blow-out was at the right-front instead of the left-rear, where the witnesses placed it.
To me, looking at Z313, Fiester's entrance would seem to have to be at the apex of the triangle formed by the left edge and top edge of the "spray," making the entrance higher on the skull than the "stephanion" (or "a little forward" of that) at the top of the head, but that's just me. Also, the edges of the "spray" emanating from Kennedy's head look too straight to be authentic. Again, maybe that's just me, because apparently this frame has been good enough to fool a lot of people--including Fiester. Perhaps, if she had studied this individual frame rather than just the moving film and realized that the X-rays had undergone some amount of alteration,, she might have reached a different conclusion. (I don't recall asking her that question specifically, but I'm sure I must have mentioned my belief that the Z-film was altered, and it is unfortunately too late to have any additional conversations with her. She never responded to my follow-up email questions, but again, she was terminally ill at the time.)
Z313 from the MPI Frame Set at https://sites.google.com/site/lightboxzframes/mpi-frame-sets/z270-z332?authuser=0 .
Fiester's Fallacy is the same as Donahue's: a reliance on altered images. It's the same reason that the experts haven't seemed to agree on what the trajectory for the head shot actually was, because they have relied on the visual "evidence" presented in the Zapruder film, especially frame 313, Was the entrance at the EOP? The cowlick? Fiester's "stephanion" (or "a little forward of that")? But those trajectories have necessarily relied on belief in the Zapruder film's authenticity. It was not authentic. It was altered. The extent of that alteration is open to question, but it was altered.
Nonetheless, there is still something very interesting in the Zapruder film related to back spatter, especially if you take out the extremely distracting Z313 frame and correct the color.
The Hofeling .gif
Very recently, I found something very interesting, in a .gif posted on the JFK Assassination Debate forum by researcher Keven Hofeling.
If one removes the highly distracting Z313 image (some color correction also helps, as does removing an odd blurry frame or two), a rather different picture of the gunshot that happened when the limousine was in the Moorman photo position emerges. There is a "spray" that happens--a spray that lasts for longer than a single frame (as the obvious Z313 spray does, as critics have pointed out). This spray originates in front of JFK, and blows backwards over him towards the rear of the car.
I contend this spray originates not from Kennedy, but from Connally, as back spatter from the shot that struck the Governor, the one concurrent with the Moorman photograph.
I had already concluded that the shot about concurrent with the limo position in Z313 was the shot that struck Connally (not Kennedy), based on Mary Moorman's statements and the FBI "Visual Aid" model, when I found this very interesting slow-motion .gif posted by Hofeling, along with accompanying statements by Governor Connally about his actions when he was shot, at https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/30406-greatest-challenge-to-conspiracy-side-greatest-challenge-to-lone-nut-side/page/3/ In the .gif, starting at 314, a "spray" can be seen behind Connally, passing over Kennedy.
If one removes the highly distracting Z313 image (some color correction also helps, as does removing an odd blurry frame or two), a rather different picture of the gunshot that happened when the limousine was in the Moorman photo position emerges. There is a "spray" that happens--a spray that lasts for longer than a single frame (as the obvious Z313 spray does, as critics have pointed out). This spray originates in front of JFK, and blows backwards over him towards the rear of the car.
I contend this spray originates not from Kennedy, but from Connally, as back spatter from the shot that struck the Governor, the one concurrent with the Moorman photograph.
I had already concluded that the shot about concurrent with the limo position in Z313 was the shot that struck Connally (not Kennedy), based on Mary Moorman's statements and the FBI "Visual Aid" model, when I found this very interesting slow-motion .gif posted by Hofeling, along with accompanying statements by Governor Connally about his actions when he was shot, at https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/30406-greatest-challenge-to-conspiracy-side-greatest-challenge-to-lone-nut-side/page/3/ In the .gif, starting at 314, a "spray" can be seen behind Connally, passing over Kennedy.
In his Warren Commission testimony, Connally (as Hofeling notes) had described the moment he was shot as this:
GOVERNOR CONNALLY: "We had just made the turn, well, when I heard what I thought was a shot. I heard this noise which I immediately took to be a rifle shot. I instinctively turned to my right because the sound appeared to come from over my right shoulder, so I turned to look back over my right shoulder, and I saw nothing unusual except just people in the crowd, but I did not catch the President in the corner of my eye. and I was interested, because once I heard the shot in my own mind I identified it as a rifle shot, and I Immediately—the only thought that crossed my mind was that this is an assassination attempt. So I looked, failing to see him. I was turning to look back over my left shoulder into the back seat, but I never got that far in my turn. I got about in the position I am in now facing you. looking a little bit to the left of center, and then I felt like someone had hit me in the back..."
Note how Connally's stated actions precisely match those in the film to the point when we see that spray originating in frame Z314. Then, the Governor falls towards his wife.
GOVERNOR CONNALLY: "We had just made the turn, well, when I heard what I thought was a shot. I heard this noise which I immediately took to be a rifle shot. I instinctively turned to my right because the sound appeared to come from over my right shoulder, so I turned to look back over my right shoulder, and I saw nothing unusual except just people in the crowd, but I did not catch the President in the corner of my eye. and I was interested, because once I heard the shot in my own mind I identified it as a rifle shot, and I Immediately—the only thought that crossed my mind was that this is an assassination attempt. So I looked, failing to see him. I was turning to look back over my left shoulder into the back seat, but I never got that far in my turn. I got about in the position I am in now facing you. looking a little bit to the left of center, and then I felt like someone had hit me in the back..."
Note how Connally's stated actions precisely match those in the film to the point when we see that spray originating in frame Z314. Then, the Governor falls towards his wife.
I contacted Hofeling to ask him about his source frames for the .gif. It was created using frames from Steve Thompson's MPI's Version of the Zapruder Film (which you can see at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1f2TR19fDk) which Thompson then color-corrected.. Note that the MPI version posted on Google Lightbox is specifically noted as not color-corrected, which I believe is true of the original source (the MPI DVD). As the poster of the Lightbox source notes in a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen (https://sites.google.com/site/lightboxzframes/mpi-frame-sets?authuser=0 ):
Thompson was apparently able to correct the color problem. Hofeling took Thompson's color-corrected frames, removed the Z313 head shot and turned the frames into a .gif. The result is what I posted above.
- The “MPI” frames (1080 x 720) have a problem with the color and contrast that I can't correct. Frame number errors that were in the latter frames in the “MPI” set were corrected.
Thompson was apparently able to correct the color problem. Hofeling took Thompson's color-corrected frames, removed the Z313 head shot and turned the frames into a .gif. The result is what I posted above.
There's an additional interesting "something" to see in this color-corrected .gif than the back spatter originating from Connally starting in frame 314.
In the early frames of the .gif, starting at say Z248 to Z312, we can see hints of matter or debris that seem to originate from the back of Kennedy's head and blow backwards onto and over the trunk of the car. I contend that this was matter/debris from a continuation of ejection from the original head shot (forehead entry), Shot 1.
This interpretation might suggest that the "back, and to the left" head snap occurred because Jackie had released her support of Kennedy in response to seeing Connally shot, and not because Kennedy himself was shot. Frame removal, as Doug Horne suggests, sped up his leftward fall into a "snap."
It might also be that Jackie's "limo-crawl" began with Connally's wounding, not the AR-15 head shot. In my studies, I have come across a previous researcher theorizing that the limo-crawl began before the head shot. Sadly, I didn't make note of who that researcher was, and I can't source his/her work at this point. But I do recall having come across that assertion.
In the early frames of the .gif, starting at say Z248 to Z312, we can see hints of matter or debris that seem to originate from the back of Kennedy's head and blow backwards onto and over the trunk of the car. I contend that this was matter/debris from a continuation of ejection from the original head shot (forehead entry), Shot 1.
This interpretation might suggest that the "back, and to the left" head snap occurred because Jackie had released her support of Kennedy in response to seeing Connally shot, and not because Kennedy himself was shot. Frame removal, as Doug Horne suggests, sped up his leftward fall into a "snap."
It might also be that Jackie's "limo-crawl" began with Connally's wounding, not the AR-15 head shot. In my studies, I have come across a previous researcher theorizing that the limo-crawl began before the head shot. Sadly, I didn't make note of who that researcher was, and I can't source his/her work at this point. But I do recall having come across that assertion.
The other thing I want to note is that Bill Newman, whose statements are often confusing and contradictory ("The shots came from directly behind me./"The shots came from my left." etc.) said in one interview that he only thought Kennedy had been shot when the limo was in the Z313 position only because of Kennedy's rapid left-ward fall. Newman may have seen the back spatter coming from Connally, and that it came from Kenned, or he might have seen a piece of matter ejecting from the back of Kennedy's head at somewhere around the same time as the Z313 Connally shot and just assumed that Kennedy had been hit at that point, or viewings of the altered Zapruder film might have affected his memory. In at least one interview, Newman himself mentioned that he seemed to remember things differently at different points over the years. I don't attribute anything nefarious to the inconsistencies in his accounts, but rather that his memory is probably more susceptible to influence than that of other witnesses, like Mary Moorman, whose accounts have been consistent since the first day.
At any rate, a deep dive into Newman's statements is on my to-do list
At any rate, a deep dive into Newman's statements is on my to-do list
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The Power of Myth
"For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic." John F. Kennedy, Yale University Commencement Speech, 1962.
Sherry Fiester uses this quote as the main part of the title for her book book Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination, and quotes this on her front cover.
It is a myth that Kennedy suffered "the fatal head shot" when the limousine was in the position of frame 313 of the extant Zapruder film. The myth began with Moorman's inadvertent mistake of thinking that Kennedy was hit at the exact instant when she took her picture (because he was "slumped" in her picture), and was perpetuated by the altered Zapruder film.
The reason the Kennedy assassination has remained unsolved for so long is because of the persistence and persuasiveness of the myths surrounding it.
I ask you to set aside the myths, and focus on what is left. It is a difficult task, to be sure, but I ask it of you nonetheless.
"For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic." John F. Kennedy, Yale University Commencement Speech, 1962.
Sherry Fiester uses this quote as the main part of the title for her book book Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination, and quotes this on her front cover.
It is a myth that Kennedy suffered "the fatal head shot" when the limousine was in the position of frame 313 of the extant Zapruder film. The myth began with Moorman's inadvertent mistake of thinking that Kennedy was hit at the exact instant when she took her picture (because he was "slumped" in her picture), and was perpetuated by the altered Zapruder film.
The reason the Kennedy assassination has remained unsolved for so long is because of the persistence and persuasiveness of the myths surrounding it.
I ask you to set aside the myths, and focus on what is left. It is a difficult task, to be sure, but I ask it of you nonetheless.
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Addendum: The Ballistic Evidence
I should probably have mentioned something about this earlier, but I actually address the ballistic evidence for this shot in my article . This was the bullet that Governor Connally described in his autobiography as having fallen from the stretcher "onto the floor" (actually, it was probably the pavement by the car) when he was moved to a stretcher. It was picked up by a nurse (probably Diana Bowron, who was admittedly involved in loading Connally onto his stretcher from the car, and had a history of putting stuff (Kennedy's watch) into her pocket, and being a very recent graduate from an English nursing school on a 9-month, I think, job at Parkland, was unfamiliar with American Law Enforcement procedures. She was probably told by O.P. Wright to put the bullet in an evidence envelope and give it to a uniformed law enforcement officer. She gave her envelope to uniformed Texas Highway Patrolman Bobby Nolan, who then took it to the DPD police station and left it on Will Fritz's desk. Meanwhile, fragments from Connally's wrist and thigh were recovered from the surgery by more experienced nurse Audrey Bell, who turned her envelope over to FBI/Secret Service agents (probably Gordon Shanklin and Forrest Sorrels) the next day. I wrote about the problematic chain-of-custody for this bullet and the AR-15 bullet, and how substitutions were made in an attempt to subtract a bullet to make "three shots from Oswald" in my article Multiple Stretcher Bullets AKA The Connally Bullet Revisited. This article traces the Connally/Nolan bullet, the Connally/Bell fragments, and the intact "pointed" Tomlinson/Wright AR-15 bullet (for which the round-tipped CE-399 Carcanno bullet was a substitution). There were 3 different chains of custody, when it was desired that only 1 bullet (given the limousine nose and tail fragments) be found, so some evidence was made to "disappear" while distinct chains of custody were attempted to be merged into single chains.
I should probably have mentioned something about this earlier, but I actually address the ballistic evidence for this shot in my article . This was the bullet that Governor Connally described in his autobiography as having fallen from the stretcher "onto the floor" (actually, it was probably the pavement by the car) when he was moved to a stretcher. It was picked up by a nurse (probably Diana Bowron, who was admittedly involved in loading Connally onto his stretcher from the car, and had a history of putting stuff (Kennedy's watch) into her pocket, and being a very recent graduate from an English nursing school on a 9-month, I think, job at Parkland, was unfamiliar with American Law Enforcement procedures. She was probably told by O.P. Wright to put the bullet in an evidence envelope and give it to a uniformed law enforcement officer. She gave her envelope to uniformed Texas Highway Patrolman Bobby Nolan, who then took it to the DPD police station and left it on Will Fritz's desk. Meanwhile, fragments from Connally's wrist and thigh were recovered from the surgery by more experienced nurse Audrey Bell, who turned her envelope over to FBI/Secret Service agents (probably Gordon Shanklin and Forrest Sorrels) the next day. I wrote about the problematic chain-of-custody for this bullet and the AR-15 bullet, and how substitutions were made in an attempt to subtract a bullet to make "three shots from Oswald" in my article Multiple Stretcher Bullets AKA The Connally Bullet Revisited. This article traces the Connally/Nolan bullet, the Connally/Bell fragments, and the intact "pointed" Tomlinson/Wright AR-15 bullet (for which the round-tipped CE-399 Carcanno bullet was a substitution). There were 3 different chains of custody, when it was desired that only 1 bullet (given the limousine nose and tail fragments) be found, so some evidence was made to "disappear" while distinct chains of custody were attempted to be merged into single chains.