It appears that Nicholas Turner has solved a mystery, at least to my satisfaction.
Below is a frame from the Wiegman film showing the “Smoke Cloud”:
This was discovered by Robert Groden who published this claim in his book “The Killing of a President”.
This claim, on the surface seems dubious because this frame was taken about 7 seconds after the headshot. Could a gun smoke cloud hang around that long?
Maybe it could. Some deeds are so dark that the paranormal may take effect. In these cases, a gun smoke cloud may hang around for several seconds, perhaps much longer, as a sign to any passerby of the dark deed that was committed there. Indeed, there are some who hold that this dark cloud may hang over the Grassy Knoll to this day.
However, Nicholas Turner has pointed out the Towner 2 slide:
And there it is, the “Gun Smoke Cloud Tree” in all its glory.
I believe it was Robert Groden that first used this picture to “prove” that there was a gun smoke cloud hovering over the Grassy Knoll. He had many pictures that he could have used to “prove” this. The problem is that most of these pictures were in color, which clearly show a tree turning yellow in the fall. But a black and which photograph is much harder to interpret. It could be gun smoke cloud, which would be gray, of course. Or it could be a tree that is turning yellow, which would also look gray in the black and white photo. Groden, being the genius that he is, went with a black and white image.
Question:
Does anyone know if this tree is still there?From time to time, people on this forum state that they are going to visit Dallas and intent to take some pictures of Dealey Plaza while they are there. The next LNer to visit in November should check to see if the tree is still there and if so, get a picture of himself under the Gun Smoke Cloud Tree. It would be great if you can get some black and white shots as well as the usual color shots.
And even better if you can get a picture of you and Robert Groden under the tree. I believe he can be found at the Plaza from time to time. No, you should skip the Groden part because you would have to slip him a 20. But, if you can skip the payment part and just drag him over to the tree, that would be great.