What If Grassy Knoll Sounds And Smoke Were "Only" A Diversion?--A Fun Update!

[John Mytton]

Ya would think those eighteen or so people standing on the overpass might have seen people down there by the fence.

Yep, the only unaccounted person seen with a rifle in Dealey Plaza was a slender white male seen on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository.



JohnM

[Gary Craig]

[John Mytton]

Thanks Gary, but as far as we know the case that the man was carrying could have contained curtain rods, so my original statement still stands, "the only unaccounted person seen with a rifle in Dealey Plaza was a slender white male seen on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository."

Btw a man who is 6 foot 7 will always stand out and is an odd choice for a rifle courier where secrecy is paramount.



JohnM

[Benjamin Cole]

Dan--

Thanks for reading and you sensible commentary. Of course, what you suggest makes sense--if the diversion was poorly timed and too early---it would alert the Secret Service and others.

I posit the diversionist was told something along the lines of, "Wait until you hear gunshots. Then, do your diversion." After the first gunshot, the Secret  Service is alerted anyway (well, they should have been).

So, I think a diversion plan holds water, if the diversionist is told to hold his shot-and-smoke show until after the first "real" shot.

BTW, this diversion action may explain why so many witnesses describe the first shot as not as loud as subsequent shots.
 

[Benjamin Cole]

Dan--

Thanks for reading and you sensible commentary. Of course, what you suggest makes sense--if the diversion was poorly timed and too early---it would alert the Secret Service and others.

I posit the diversionist was told something along the lines of, "Wait until you hear gunshots. Then, do your diversion." After the first gunshot, the Secret  Service is alerted anyway (well, they should have been).

So, I think a diversion plan holds water, if the diversionist is told to hold his shot-and-smoke show until after the first "real" shot.

BTW, this diversion action may explain why so many witnesses describe the first shot as not as loud as subsequent shots.

[Benjamin Cole]

John---thanks for your comment.

In some ways, that is my point.

The Grassy Knoll diversionist selected a spot hidden from other bystanders, and was armed with a snub-nose .38. The diversionist may not have behind the stockade fence, but rather alongside the pergola-colonnade in the bushes. He may have even fired from a crouched position (naturally enough, not wanting return fire from the secret Service or to be seen), with his revolver pointed skyward but over the motorcade.

I too wonder why no one saw a long-rifle anywhere near the Grassy knoll, with the exception of one dubious witness. I conclude the gunshot noises and smoke were made with a snub-nose or improvised fiorecracker.

[Steve Thomas]

Benjamin,

Without addressing your basic premise, I wouldn't give too much weight to the "hysterical woman" in Joe M. Smith's testimony.
I'm not sure whose affidavit Gary Craig was referencing, but he quotes someone as saying in their affidavit that, "?Some stopped to talk to people standing there as there were a number of women who were hysterical.?
The woman Smith encountered was just one of them.

It's really helpful to pull up CE 354 (as the WC staff did when questioning Joe Smith) and have it side by side when you go through his testimony.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1133#relPageId=973&tab=page

The way I am reading it, he encountered the woman very near the Depository, and then proceeded down the Elm St. extension. He encountered the "Secret Service Agent" in, or very near the parking lot that runs behind, or on the north side of the concrete structure some people refer to as the pergola.

I don't know enough about rifles vs. revolvers and the smell they produce to comment intelligently on your basic premise.

Steve Thomas

[Benjamin Cole]

Craig: Great list.

To me, even more telling than gunshot noise is the sight and smell of gunsmoke.

One could posit that sound bounces, there were echos, and other noises that day in Dealey Plaza. Personally, I think people accurately heard shots from the Grassy Knoll-colonnade area, but a weak case can be made witnesses were mistaken.   

But no one seriously posits that Dealey Plaza witnesses were smelling gunsmoke from the TSBD, 80 yards downwind. The LN crowd stumbles on this, and the WC just ignored it. The HSCA, more or less, concluded that shot was a miss.

You miss a limo from 75 feet?

Some witnesses recall the sight of gunsmoke, but say it was in the trees etc., so some witnesses could miss that.

To me the basic premise survives: It strains credulity that there were gunshots and copious gunsmoke on the Grassy Knoll just as the President was being assassinated, and yet no shot from the front-right hit even the limousine. 

A intentional diversion fits the facts.

Add on: Seems also a real assassin would want a secluded place he could camp out for a while (even 10 minutes), and level a long-rifle. Oswald (if it was Oswald) had that, and so might assassins in the Dal-Tex building.

Who would bring a rifle alongside a parade route for the President? If even one witness spotted such a individual even three minute before the shooting, the gig would likely be up. 

But a snub-nose .38 is perfect as a diversion. 

The "hysterical woman": Sure there are photos of women crying that day, and even lots of guys, naturally enough. But one summoned Patrolman Smith, and made clear gunman were in the bushes, somewhere around the pergola-colonnade. He took her seriously, and began searching that area.