Cowlick Vs Occipital Protuberance

[Gerry Down]

The HSCA said the entrance wound to JFKs head was in the cowlick area (which is the area where the hair parts at the back top of your head). However, Humes, Boswell and Finck told them they were misreading the autopsy x-rays and photos and the entrance wound was actually 4 inches lower in an area slightly to the right and above the Occipital Protuberance (which is the bony area at the base of your skull on the back).

In the attached drawing, i've drawn the angle at 17.5 degrees (which is what Dale Myers said the angle coming down was, i dont know what the HSCA said it was). On the drawing, the exit wound we see on frame Z313 seems to match more closely with what Humes, Boswell and Finck were saying about the entrance wound being low in the base of the skull.

Finck said the actual entry wound (as per the autopsy photo of the back of JFKs head) was near a white colored blob near the hairline as opposed to the darkened oval shape visible in the cowlick area. (see Reclaiming History pages 395 to 396 for where Humes, Boswell and Finck contradict the HSCA about the location of the entry wound on the head)

[Joe Elliott]

Larry Sturdivan, a ballistic expert, in his book “The JFK Myths”, believed the Occipital Protuberance area made more sense.

What people forget is that we don’t have three points to line up:

1.   TSBD sniper’s nest.
2.   JFK’s entrance wound on the head.
3.   JFK’s exit wound on the head.

There is a fourth point:

4.   The frame of the windshield, roughly, because of a bullet fragment hit up high on the windshield, a second fragment hit even higher on the windshield frame itself, and a third, evidently, higher still that cleared both the windshield and its frame, likely striking James Tague.

These four points do not line up. The explanation is simple. Real world Ballistic observe bullet fragments following curved paths through ballistic gel, not straight lines. And they general follow a simple curve, not curing downward at one instant and then upward. They tend to follow a consistent curve. Once they start travelling through the air, they follow a much straighter line. Although they will curve some over a distance of 100 yards.

The near ‘Occipital Protuberance’ or EOP entrance makes sense. It strikes the back on the skull and starts to fragment. It curves in a random direction, which happens to be upwards. But the time it exits the skull, there are at least 3 major fragments, following slightly divergent paths. Which results in the windshield strikes and clearance.

The cowlick entrance does not make as much sense. The bullet would have to curve downward, then abruptly change direction and curve upward to exit the skull to result in the windshield strikes. And this would be true if fired from the TSBD sniper’s nest, or any other position not above the nearby building’s roofline.

[John Tonkovich]

Both. Three shots. Three hits.

[Jerry Organ]

The upper missile track (white-line) better relates to where the epicenter of the exit wound occurred.


The red-line trajectory is below the epicenter of the exit wound. We can see all of the right ear and it is below the head explosion.

The red-line trajectory would mean a distance of 7 to 8 inches between the near-EOP in-shoot and forehead out-shoot. Humes described in the Autopsy Report "an actual absence of scalp and bone producing a defect which measures approximately 13 cm. in greatest diameter." That's about five inches.The entry wound was back from there and under some scalp, but not three inches back. And certainly not near the EOP.

[Joe Elliott]

I forget to point out that not only do the following four points do not line up:

1.   TSBD sniper’s nest.
2.   JFK’s entrance wound on the head.
3.   JFK’s exit wound on the head.
4.   The frame of the windshield, roughly, because of a bullet fragment hit up high on the windshield, a second fragment hit even higher on the windshield frame itself, and a third, evidently, higher still that cleared both the windshield and its frame, likely striking James Tague.

but the first three points do not line up as well. This is to be expected since the fragmenting bullet would follow a curve line path through the brain. So, it is no good to get an estimate of location of the entrance wound by choosing a point that is on the line from the TSBD sniper’s nest to the exit wound.

[Thomas Graves]

Larry Sturdivan, a ballistic expert, in his book “The JFK Myths”, believed the Occipital Protuberance area made more sense.

What people forget is that we don’t have three points to line up:

1.   TSBD sniper’s nest.
2.   JFK’s entrance wound on the head.
3.   JFK’s exit wound on the head.

There is a fourth point:

4.   The frame of the windshield, roughly, because of a bullet fragment hit up high on the windshield, a second fragment hit even higher on the windshield frame itself, and a third, evidently, higher still that cleared both the windshield and its frame, likely striking James Tague.

These four points do not line up. The explanation is simple. Real world Ballistic observe bullet fragments following curved paths through ballistic gel, not straight lines. And they general follow a simple curve, not curing downward at one instant and then upward. They tend to follow a consistent curve. Once they start travelling through the air, they follow a much straighter line. Although they will curve some over a distance of 100 yards.

The near ‘Occipital Protuberance’ or EOP entrance makes sense. It strikes the back on the skull and starts to fragment. It curves in a random direction, which happens to be upwards. But the time it exits the skull, there are at least 3 major fragments, following slightly divergent paths. Which results in the windshield strikes and clearance.

The cowlick entrance does not make as much sense. The bullet would have to curve downward, then abruptly change direction and curve upward to exit the skull to result in the windshield strikes. And this would be true if fired from the TSBD sniper’s nest, or any other position not above the nearby building’s roofline.

Nope,

The chip of concrete that wounded James Tague most likely was sent flying by the jacket-less bullet that struck the curb near him as a result of Oswald's missed shot -- the shot he fired about 1.4 seconds before Zapruder resumed filming at Z-133, which bullet lost its copper jacket when it glanced the traffic light's cross arm, thereby explaining how the metallic smear left behind on the curb had no trace of copper in it.

--  MWT 

[Jerry Organ]

I forget to point out that not only do the following four points do not line up:

1.   TSBD sniper’s nest.
2.   JFK’s entrance wound on the head.
3.   JFK’s exit wound on the head.

4.   The frame of the windshield, roughly, because of a bullet fragment hit up high on the windshield, a second fragment hit even higher on the windshield frame itself, and a third, evidently, higher still that cleared both the windshield and its frame, likely striking James Tague.

Here's the defection necessary for metal fragments to cause the windshield strikes and for one to continue on to Tague. Not saying Tague's injury was caused this way, but the area he was standing was in the line of fire at the moment of the head shot.

but the first three points do not line up as well. This is to be expected since the fragmenting bullet would follow a curve line path through the brain. So, it is no good to get an estimate of location of the entrance wound by choosing a point that is on the line from the TSBD sniper’s nest to the exit wound.

The graphic's proposed deflection of the metal fragments at the exit wound to the windshield is much lower that the upward "curve" from a bullet strike near the EOP necessary to exit the right-front-top of the head.

[John Tonkovich]

Might want to check Robert West's survey work.
Plots out the three hits.