Assassination 3D animation by Mark Tyler

[John Mytton]

This is kind of a small point but i said i'd say it here for completeness. You have the head shot occurring at 12:30. It should actually occur at about 12:30 and 30 seconds. This is because when the vice-presidential car turned the corner onto Houston street, Rufus Youngblood noticed that the Hertz sign ahead of him (on the roof of the TSBD) was already reading 12:30. Here is the relevant WC testimony:

Mr. SPECTER. Are you able to fix the precise time of the assassination?
Mr. YOUNGBLOOD. I would say 12:30. I was to keep the times. The Vice President was asking me if we were running on time, and so forth. And so he asked me how much further, and I would call back to our followup car and ask them how many more miles and so forth.
So, for this reason, I was at that time keeping up with the time very closely. And when we turned the corner, I noticed an illuminated clock sign on this building, which I now know is the School Book Depository Building.
And that clock indicated 12:30. And the reason it is significant is because this was the time we were supposed to arrive at the Trade Mart.

Mr. LIEBELER. Did you hear three shots?
Mr. TAGUE. I heard three shots; yes sir. And I did notice the time on the Hertz clock. It was 12:29.

Mr. WILLIS. I even observed the clock on top of the building, it was 12:33 when I looked up there.

JohnM

[Charles Collins]

This is kind of a small point but i said i'd say it here for completeness. You have the head shot occurring at 12:30. It should actually occur at about 12:30 and 30 seconds. This is because when the vice-presidential car turned the corner onto Houston street, Rufus Youngblood noticed that the Hertz sign ahead of him (on the roof of the TSBD) was already reading 12:30. Here is the relevant WC testimony:

Mr. SPECTER. Are you able to fix the precise time of the assassination?
Mr. YOUNGBLOOD. I would say 12:30. I was to keep the times. The Vice President was asking me if we were running on time, and so forth. And so he asked me how much further, and I would call back to our followup car and ask them how many more miles and so forth.
So, for this reason, I was at that time keeping up with the time very closely. And when we turned the corner, I noticed an illuminated clock sign on this building, which I now know is the School Book Depository Building.
And that clock indicated 12:30. And the reason it is significant is because this was the time we were supposed to arrive at the Trade Mart.

On page 371 of "Pictures of the Pain," author Richard B. Trask quotes Thomas M. Atkins:

"We came to the end of [Main Street] and made that right-hand turn, and were going directly at the [Texas School Book] Depository. Just as we turned, I remember looking at my watch, and it was 12:30, and just as I looked at my watch I heard an explosion.  ... And then immediately following there were two more quick explosions, and my stomach just went into a knot

James C. Bowles, in his rebuttal to the acoustical evidence theory (1979), indicates his studies of the police recordings show the first shot occurred at approximately 12:30:55.

[Michael Walton]

Like a lot of things with this case, people here and elsewhere quibble over the minutiae of this case. Does it really matter if the shots occurred at 12:30 and 14 seconds or 12:29 and 58 seconds?

The larger point here is this animation brings home an excellent bird's eye, real-time view as it happened that day that no single photo nor witness statement could ever match. It's important, too, to remember that people were not standing around that day in DP saying "Wait for it! Here it comes! What time is it...?!" Obviously, no one expected it to happen so, therefore, witness statements about the precise timing the shots occurred are going to vary.

Isn't there a photo taken way down on Elm Street where Jack Daniel was that clearly shows the car heading toward the photographer and it shows the clock in the background? I think the clock shows 12:30? And with the car already out of the kill zone, the Z313 shot would have been fired seconds beforehand?

See what I mean? Does it matter? We should be appreciative of what Tyler has done here. It's an amazing piece of work and I've emailed him to ask him to see if he'd be willing to add more features to it. Not quibbles about when the pilot car went by and the precise time down to the millisecond of when the third shot was fired. Further, his animation has already proven, at least for me, and debunked one of the more ridiculous theories of the case - that the Zapruder film, and then the Nix and Muchmore films as well as photos, have been altered or frames have been removed.

[Charles Collins]

Like a lot of things with this case, people here and elsewhere quibble over the minutiae of this case. Does it really matter if the shots occurred at 12:30 and 14 seconds or 12:29 and 58 seconds?

The larger point here is this animation brings home an excellent bird's eye, real-time view as it happened that day that no single photo nor witness statement could ever match. It's important, too, to remember that people were not standing around that day in DP saying "Wait for it! Here it comes! What time is it...?!" Obviously, no one expected it to happen so, therefore, witness statements about the precise timing the shots occurred are going to vary.

Isn't there a photo taken way down on Elm Street where Jack Daniel was that clearly shows the car heading toward the photographer and it shows the clock in the background? I think the clock shows 12:30? And with the car already out of the kill zone, the Z313 shot would have been fired seconds beforehand?

See what I mean? Does it matter? We should be appreciative of what Tyler has done here. It's an amazing piece of work and I've emailed him to ask him to see if he'd be willing to add more features to it. Not quibbles about when the pilot car went by and the precise time down to the millisecond of when the third shot was fired. Further, his animation has already proven, at least for me, and debunked one of the more ridiculous theories of the case - that the Zapruder film, and then the Nix and Muchmore films as well as photos, have been altered or frames have been removed.

Yes there is the photo of the motorcade with the digital clock showing 12:30 as you described. The cases were solved before midnight on 11/22/63 and LHO was charged with both of the crimes. But we’ve been arguing the minutiae ever since the first few details started being reported in the minutes following the shootings. I was watching the television coverage of 11/22/63 recently and had to chuckle at one news commentator who was already insisting that every new item indicated a conspiracy just had to have occurred. He obviously already had his mind made up about a conspiracy before enough information had been disclosed to even determine what had taken place!

The point is that the controversy will continue and people will continue to argue the minutiae long after we are all gone. And there isn’t anything we can produce that will change that. Yes, the animation is a good and useful thing. But it is also just something else that people are going to argue about.

[Mark Tyler]

This is kind of a small point but i said i'd say it here for completeness. You have the head shot occurring at 12:30. It should actually occur at about 12:30 and 30 seconds. This is because when the vice-presidential car turned the corner onto Houston street, Rufus Youngblood noticed that the Hertz sign ahead of him (on the roof of the TSBD) was already reading 12:30. Here is the relevant WC testimony:

Mr. SPECTER. Are you able to fix the precise time of the assassination?
Mr. YOUNGBLOOD. I would say 12:30. I was to keep the times. The Vice President was asking me if we were running on time, and so forth. And so he asked me how much further, and I would call back to our followup car and ask them how many more miles and so forth.
So, for this reason, I was at that time keeping up with the time very closely. And when we turned the corner, I noticed an illuminated clock sign on this building, which I now know is the School Book Depository Building.
And that clock indicated 12:30. And the reason it is significant is because this was the time we were supposed to arrive at the Trade Mart.

The exact timing of the fatal shot is a tricky one, with different people saying it was 12:29 or 12:30.  Any witness with a watch or clock could well be a minute off either way, so its probably impossible to say exactly what the time was with any confidence.

The other reason I chose 12:30:00 in the animation is for convenience as it makes it easier for the viewer to navigate, such as 30 seconds before or after the fatal shot.  By contrast if I had a more obscure time like 12:30:33 it would be very difficult for the viewer to get their bearings.

[Mark Tyler]

Like a lot of things with this case, people here and elsewhere quibble over the minutiae of this case. Does it really matter if the shots occurred at 12:30 and 14 seconds or 12:29 and 58 seconds?

The larger point here is this animation brings home an excellent bird's eye, real-time view as it happened that day that no single photo nor witness statement could ever match. It's important, too, to remember that people were not standing around that day in DP saying "Wait for it! Here it comes! What time is it...?!" Obviously, no one expected it to happen so, therefore, witness statements about the precise timing the shots occurred are going to vary.

Isn't there a photo taken way down on Elm Street where Jack Daniel was that clearly shows the car heading toward the photographer and it shows the clock in the background? I think the clock shows 12:30? And with the car already out of the kill zone, the Z313 shot would have been fired seconds beforehand?

See what I mean? Does it matter? We should be appreciative of what Tyler has done here. It's an amazing piece of work and I've emailed him to ask him to see if he'd be willing to add more features to it. Not quibbles about when the pilot car went by and the precise time down to the millisecond of when the third shot was fired. Further, his animation has already proven, at least for me, and debunked one of the more ridiculous theories of the case - that the Zapruder film, and then the Nix and Muchmore films as well as photos, have been altered or frames have been removed.

Yes, the "McIntire 1" photo shows the Hertz clock at 12:30 here:



According to the synchronizations I have done, this is around 10-15 seconds after the fatal shot which means that having 12:30:00 as the moment of the fatal shot is accurate within 45 seconds (assuming the Hertz clock is correct of course!).

[Mark Tyler]

Here is the latest release of Motorcade 63 (version 1.7):

https://www.marktyler.org/mc63.html

As well as general tweaking to improve the accuracy (thanks to everyone who helped out this time!), I added a yellow triangle for the Dillard 2 photo (just seconds after the final shot was fired).

Perhaps more importantly, I added the Jack Weaver photo which I calculate as happening at the same time as Zapruder frame Z035 based on the triangulated position of the motorbike turning the corner:





If you look closely, you can see JFK's crooked elbow in Muchmore frame 267 as he pushes his hair back:



The full details are in appendix D.2 of the updated handbook.  Crucially this spell of the Zapruder film was recorded while the Hughes and Muchmore films were also being recorded, which means I have been able to calculate the relative speeds that the films were all recorded at.  For example if the Hughes film was recorded at 18 FPS, then the Zapruder and Muchmore film rates were 18.4 FPS.  If the Hughes film was recorded at 19 FPS, then Zapruder and Muchmore were recording at 19.4 FPS.  We can never know the exact rates, only the numerical relationships between them.

This correlation of different films was possible by matching unique events that were recorded in each of the films, and by doing split second comparisons.  For example I was able to calculate the relative speeds of the Muchmore film and the Hughes film using the front blinking lights on the Presidential Limo.  These observations prove that the Muchmore film was recorded fractionally faster than the Hughes film.

As always, if anyone disagrees with the animation, my calculations, or methodology, please let me know as I am keen to make the work as accurate as possible.

[Mark Tyler]

Thanks, i'd like to see this and see what you come up with.

I got the "JFKs limo was travelling at a speed of between 12-15 miles per hour as he drove down Main Street." from Bill Greers WC testimony.

Hello Margaret

I have just published the latest version of the animation.  In the end I moved the Pilot Car forward by 45 seconds which gets it into the 12:27 range as mentioned in your previous post.

Let me know if any other adjustments are required on this, or if anything else needs my attention.