Investigators of the JFK assassination have made discoveries recently which go a long way toward solving the mysteries of Dealey Plaza. Amazingly, the key to these discoveries resides in frames of the Zapruder film which researchers have overlooked for more than thirty years.
Most experts agree that shots were fired in Zapruder frames 223 and 313. The earlier shot is evidenced by the lapel on Governor Connally's coat flipping inward. The later shot is all too obvious, as the President's head literally erupts in an explosion of blood and tissue. But most witnesses heard three distinct shots. The timing of that third shot, then, has been the great mystery.
Historians will probably look back at the actions of the Warren Commission and find their greatest failing was in ignoring the vast majority of its witnesses. Despite some discrepancies in their statements, most of the people in Dealey Plaza that day were consistent in their perceptions of the firing sequence. They heard a single shot, some delay, and then two very closely spaced shots.
The most alert and well trained witnesses in Dealey Plaza that day were the Secret Service agents protecting the President and Vice President. Despite claims that they were carousing the night before, there is no doubt that while most of the crowd in Dealey Plaza was still oblivious to what was happening, they were very much on duty and attuned to the situation. Ike Altgens' famous photo taken at Zapruder frame 255 (one and two-thirds seconds after the probable shot at Z224) clearly shows agents on both running boards of the followup car looking around for the shooter(s). We also see agent George Hickey sitting on top of the back seat turned almost completely around, also searching. Here is what some of them had to say:
SA Samuel A. Kinney: As we completed the left turn and on a short distance, there was a shot.... There was a second of pause and then two more shots were heard.SA Winston G. Lawson: As the lead car was passing under this bridge I heard the first loud, sharp report and in more rapid succession, two more sounds like gunfire.
SA Roy H. Kellerman: I turned around to find out what happened when two additional shots rang out, and the President slumped into Mrs. Kennedy's lap...
SA William T. McIntyre: The Presidential vehicle was approximately 200 feet from the underpass when the first shot was fired, followed in quick succession by two more. I would estimate that all three shots were fired within 5 seconds.
SA George W. Hickey Jr: ...I heard two reports which I thought were shots and that appeared to me completely different in sound than the first report and were in such rapid succession that there seemed to be practically no time element between them.
SA Rufus W. Youngblood: I heard an explosion - I was not sure whether it was a firecracker, bomb, bullet, or other explosion... I noticed that the movements in the Presidential car were very abnormal and, at practically the same time, the movements in the Presidential follow-up car were abnormal... During this time I heard two more explosion noises... All of the above related events, from the beginning at the sound of the first shot to the sound of the third shot, happened within a few seconds.
SA Warren W. Taylor: As a matter of course, I opened the door and prepared to get out of the car. In the instant that my left foot touched the ground, I heard two more bangs and realized that they must be gun shots.
This impression of two very closely spaced shots was certainly not limited to the Secret Service people. Mrs. Earle Cabell, wife of the mayor of Dallas, testified that she saw a rifle in the 6th floor Depository window and was turning to tell her husband when "just as I got the words out - the second two shots rang out."
In Mark Lane's documentary film Rush To Judgement: The Plot to Kill Kennedy, Lee Bowers said: "There were three shots and these were spaced with one shot, then a pause and then two shots in very close order, such as perhaps," (Bowers raps on the table once, waits a couple seconds and then raps twice quickly) "almost on top of each other - while there was some pause between the first and the second shots."
Robert Jackson, staff photographer for the Dallas Times Herald, was also in the motorcade. He testified before the Warren Commission, "We were still moving slowly and after the third shot the second two shots seemed much closer together than the first shot, than they were to the first shot."
Many others testified similarly. In fact, the Warren Commission had to concede: "On the other hand, a substantial majority of the witnesses stated that the shots were not evenly spaced. Most witnesses recalled that the second and third shots were bunched together..."
And now for the new information:
Ironically, the conspiracy gave itself away with a shot that was totally unnecessary. It struck the President at frame Z323, about 1/2 second after the first, fatal head shot. Low-resolution versions of some of the frames we'll be talking accompany this article, but I strongly recommend that anyone who is serious about studying this case acquire some means of viewing and analyzing the Zapruder film, one frame at a time. "The JFK Assassination" CD by Medio is excellent for doing exactly that and contains a wealth of other films, photos, and general information about the case. But, let's get back to our analysis:
In Z323, we see the ugly, gaping wound on the right side of the President's head drastically change as the distended tissues stand out in a gruesome circle, much different from any of the preceding and succeeding frames. I used to think this was just some kind of anomaly in the film. But, look carefully at the limo trunk two frames later at Z325 and then at Z326. We start to notice a small, white blob moving back across the length of the trunk. It continues moving that way in each frame, up to about Z331. This appears to be the skull fragment from the back of the President's head, which is retrieved by Jackie a few seconds later as she crawls out onto the trunk. We can see her reaching out and taking it at about Z377.
Is it possible that we are seeing some kind of optical illusion or reflections? There are motorcycles at the left rear of the limo which could be a possible source for a moving reflection. But, although they are not visible in the Zapruder film through most of this sequence, it is easy to watch them in the Nix film (also on the Medio CD). During the equivalent frames, the motorcycles are clearly staying even with the limo. In other words, any secondary reflections of the sun on the surface of the trunk caused by the motorcycles, would not be moving backward.
Of course, the implications of a shot at frame Z323 are tremendous and quite ominous! Since we clearly see a shot at Z313, we know that only 1/2 second separated the two head wounds. The Mannlicher Carcano rifle Oswald is alleged to have used that day required a minimum of more than two seconds to reload and fire (more to aim). Therefore, if we really are seeing what we appear to be seeing, then there can be no doubt! There was indeed more than one shooter, and a certain conspiracy.
This amazing discovery was made by Doug Mizzer. Additional research was done by Chuck Marler and Daryll Weatherly, whose articles have appeared in The Third Decade and Probe.
Of course, this scenario suggests that two shots came from the Depository, and a third from the front (probably the grassy knoll area). Warren Commission supporters point out that officers from the Dallas Police Deptartment found three empty shell casings in the alleged "sniper's nest". If we assume the casings are genuine, there still remains the issue of whether the shooter might have simply left an old, empty round in the chamber which he ejected as he first loaded the weapon in the depository. Of course, this would mean that only two shots came from the "sniper's nest" that day.
It has always seemed puzzling to me that the Warren Commission's star witness, Howard Brennan, was the only person to observe the assassin's window closely enough to describe the rifle barrel and even the shooter himself. Yet, despite the fact that he was concentrating so intently on that window, he only heard two shots. Of course, this makes perfect sense when we consider that the first two shots were fired from the Depository, and the last from a different location.
But what about claims that there was an "early shot" around Z160, as suggested by Gerald Posner in his book, Case Closed?
I am 100% (okay, 99.7%) convinced that it never happened. A careful study of the Zapruder film during the frames at Z160 and shortly after reveal absolutely no convincing evidence of people responding to a shot. In particular, we see an alert Clint Hill poised on the running board of the Secret Service car, never flinching or moving his head at a time when a high powered rifle is supposed to be going off at the closest proximity to him of any of the shots. Of course, the entire crowd, including the other special agents (see below for comments on SA Bennett) are equally oblivious.
Interestingly, one of the few apparently good witnesses for an "early shot" actually turns out to support the case for two head shots!
Secret Service agent Glenn A. Bennett gave the following testimony:
At this point I heard what sounded like a fire-cracker. I immediately looked from the right/crowd/physical area/and looked towards the President who was seated in the right rear seat of his limousine open convertible. At the moment I looked at the back of the President I heard another fire-cracker noise and saw the shot hit the President about four inches down from the right shoulder. A second shot followed immediately and hit the right rear high of the President's head.
Of course, the problem is that approximately five seconds elapsed between the President's first wound and the head shot at Z313. The only way Bennett could have perceived the head shot as coming "immediately" after the back wound was if the first shot he heard actually was the back wound. JFK did not immediately fall after that first shot, and of course the agents in the follow up car could not see his face. So, Bennett thought the first shot missed. He looked around for the shooter, then looked at the President's back, noticing the wound just as the Z313 shot struck Kennedy in the head. The shot at Z323 would have been the shot that followed "immediately."
The other witness for the "early shot" whose testimony has been equally perplexing was Texas Governor John Connally. Gerald Posner quotes him extensively in Case Closed. Connally claimed that he heard a shot, then looked to his right, but could not turn far enough to see the President. He said as he turned back toward the front, he was struck by a bullet. In the Zapruder film, we do indeed see him turn to his right at about frame Z160. By the time he was struck at Z224, he had turned almost fully back toward the front. He elaborates on this a bit in his testimony before the HSCA:
Mr. DODD. Now. Governor, as I understood it from what your testimony was, you heard what sounded like a shot?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct.
Mr. DODD. And you turned to your right?
Mr. CONNALLY. Right.
Mr. DODD. But you did not see the President when you turned around?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct, I didn't turn all the way around, I was sitting, basically facing forward. I heard the shot, I looked over my right shoulder, I did not see the President out of the corner of my eye, and I mentally said I will turn to my left and see if I can see him, and I never made that full turn, I got halfway back facing forward when I was hit.
Here is the problem -- just a few days after the assassination, when his memory should have been most fresh, Connally was interviewed in his hospital room by reporters. This is what he told them in this interview:
We heard a shot. I turned to my left.
I was sitting in the jump seat.
I turned to my left to look in the back seat.
The President was slumped.
Now, he ain't said nothin.
Almost simultaneously, as I turned, I was hit.
And, I knew I'd been hit badly.
Not only was Connally turning left in this version of his story, but here, he actually claims he saw the wounded President!
After this statement, two of his aides appear onscreen. One of them again talks about how Connally turned to his left and then explains in a somber voice that had the governor not turned left, the bullet would have undoubtedly pierced his heart!
This was from The Two Kennedys video, which is available at most Blockbusters.
Of course, we can easily see in the Zapruder film that Connally was not turned leftward and viewing the President at any time in which he (Connally) could have been struck. In other words, his original story was totally false. Undoubtedly, this was pointed out to him before he appeared before the Warren Commission. After studying his motions in the Zapruder film, Connally then produced a second version of his tale which was totally different, and visually consistent with the film!
I can't help but suspect that like Jackie, who couldn't recall climbing out on the trunk, Connally totally spaced out the sequence of events during the shooting, but couldn't bring himself to pass up the sympathetic publicity a dramatic story would get him. He was definitely a politician's politician. A simple, "I can't remember" does not get you on the evening news!
So, Connally's story that he turned right in response to a gunshot, along with most of his other testimony must be viewed with extreme skepticism. Undoubtedly, he turned right and left countless times during the course of the motorcade as he waved to his constituents. To call this "evidence" for a shot makes no sense at all.
I suppose it's necessary to discuss Posner's other "evidence" which is the actions of Rosemary Willis. Here is what Posner says on p.321 (hardback edition): "Beginning at frame 160, a young girl in a red skirt and white top who was running along the left side of the President's car, down Elm Street, began turning to her right. By frame 187, less than 1/2 second later, the enhancement clearly showed she had stopped, twisted completely away from the motorcade, and was staring back at the Texas School Book Depository."
This is another point in which it is really handy to have the Medio CD (or some other Zapruder film). The Willis girl did not "begin turning to her right" at Z160! In fact, she is running and looking over her right shoulder throughout most of the frames in which she is visible -- beginning in the early Z140's! She starts to slow down just before Z190 and can be seen, looking back over her right shoulder, but her head is turned very sharply. This is probably a subjective call, but I think most people would say she was looking toward her father - not the Depository.
The really important question is, can we accept the possibility that hundreds of witnesses including police officers and the highly trained Secret Service agents would be unable to discern a high powered rifle shot which a 10 year old child could recognize?
Two more points; First, the tiny minority who heard a shot anywhere near Z160 are outnumbered by hundreds of witnesses who thought the first shot came later. Second, there is no physical evidence whatsoever for an "early shot" -- no bullet marks, fragments, or anything else. Stripped of the support of Connally and Bennett's testimony, the 10 year old Willis girl stands almost entirely alone in defense of the lame "early shot" theory.
For those who are still uncertain about this, I would suggest the following experiment: Take a high powered rifle like the Mannlicher Carcano up to the 6th floor of a building at any busy corner in your town. Open a window, and fire one round up into the air. Now look down and count the number of people who look up at you, dive for cover, or start returning fire. Those of you who believe there was an early shot which went unnoticed should feel unconcerned, since you know you will be totally ignored. Good luck! ;-)
So, we have three shots, the last two near-simultaneous, and a very high probability of conspiracy. Of course, there is one other important issue. The Single Bullet Theory, at least in my opinion, is very probably correct. The strongest evidence for it is that almost no witnesses heard more than one shot at the time of Kennedy's first wounds. Most witnesses heard one shot prior to the head shots, and one shot only. In a future article I would like to elaborate on the angles and trajectories involved. But, once we get past the ridiculously inaccurate drawings presented by both sides of this controversy, I believe it is easy to see that both the vertical and horizontal angles from the "sniper's nest" to Connally's back wound work quite well, while keeping the victims positioned precisely as we see them in the Zapruder film.
Of course, we can certainly speculate about silenced weapons, and I cannot help but be suspicious of the "umbrella man". But if we limit ourselves to the clearest and most objective evidence available, I believe we are forced to conclude that the assassination occurred as described above. The combination of the new visual evidence supported by the testimony of the large majority of witnesses is extremely powerful.
In my opinion, the discovery of this very probable second head shot is the biggest breakthrough in this case in over thirty years. But, do your own research. Examine the Zapruder film carefully, especially the frames around Z323. Make you own determination. Personally, I think this tiny segment of the film will change many (and ultimately, most) minds.
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