Question unanswered!

[Florient Roy]

The Zapruder movie show clearly the right temple of Kennedy literaly explode. We can`t see nothing get out from the back of his head. But almost all doctors and witness of the body of JFK saw this large hole in the back of the head. His anyone can explain that? And i very surprise that nobody ever came with that question anywhere. I think it's fondamental.

[Joe Elliott]

The Zapruder movie show clearly the right temple of Kennedy literaly explode. We can`t see nothing get out from the back of his head. But almost all doctors and witness of the body of JFK saw this large hole in the back of the head. His anyone can explain that? And i very surprise that nobody ever came with that question anywhere. I think it's fondamental.

Carefully cherry picking of statements of the witnesses, along with the right interpretation of these statements, all show, without exception, a large hole in the back of the head of JFK. As a LNer, I can find no obvious explanation of this anomaly.

[Tim Nickerson]

The Zapruder movie show clearly the right temple of Kennedy literaly explode. We can`t see nothing get out from the back of his head. But almost all doctors and witness of the body of JFK saw this large hole in the back of the head. His anyone can explain that? And i very surprise that nobody ever came with that question anywhere. I think it's fondamental.

The answer is that those who reported early on that there was a large hole in the back of the head were mistaken. Most of them never viewed the actual back of the head because it rested supine on the table in the trauma room. Those who recalled years later of seeing a large wound in the back of the head simply had faulty recollections. Not only does the Zapruder film not lie, the autopsy photos and X-rays do not either.

[Jerry Organ]

There's hardly a lengthy topic thread on this Forum that doesn't get around to the Parkland "back of the head' debate.



The very back of the President's head was hidden from view as it lay on the table at Parkland. So they saw the same gaping area as seen in the Zapruder film. The debris of matter ejected from the head went forward (as it fell, the motorcyclists rode into; ie: the debris wasn't ejected backward).

People's ears are generally in the rear-half of the head. So a gaping wound above the ear would be in the rear region.


Parkland doctors have pointed to the area above the right ear.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

The Zapruder movie show clearly the right temple of Kennedy literaly explode. We can`t see nothing get out from the back of his head. But almost all doctors and witness of the body of JFK saw this large hole in the back of the head. His anyone can explain that? And i very surprise that nobody ever came with that question anywhere. I think it's fondamental.

I think if you do a search here - "head wound" or "bullet wound" or something similar - you'll find dozens if not hundreds of posts on this question. It's probably among the top three or four most disputed areas between the two sides. Although it's hard to narrow down the number since the two sides agree on almost nothing at all. It's a long, long list.

As you point out, the film clearly shows the top/side of JFK's head "open up." With nothing in the back or rear opening up. And the eyewitnesses there at the time say they also saw the side of the head wounded. E.g., Zapruder, the Newmans (the young couple on the grassy know with their children), the AP photographer James Altgens (although he said left side and not right), the two motorcycle officers who were immediately behind JFK, Billy Hargis and Jim Chaney. The Connallys and the driver and SS agent all said they were hit by bloody matter/material after the shot. The front of the limo had blood on it, the hood, the windshield.

If the bullet exited the back of the head then how did all of this take place? We have physical evidence and eyewitness.

But then we have numerous other witnesses saying the wound was in the back of the head. Including highly trained doctors who treated him (although if he's laying face upward how did they see the back of the head?).

Who to believe? I think you have to go with those who spent the most time examining him and not people who saw him in a rushed environment. That would be the autopsy doctors. Add the other physical evidence and unless one thinks that was all faked (and many conspiracy believers do think this) then the wound must have been on the side/top of the head and not the rear.

There, I settled it <g>. Welcome, good luck.

[Zeon Mason]

I think the lateral X-ray of JFK shows a large fragment of skull in the upper occipital parietal  region ( upper right quadrant) of the skull,  which  is probably the piece of skull which was in an autopsy photo of a gloved hand holding this piece of skull in place via the hair. It’s where  the entrance hole was supposedly at but which is not clearly visible in the photo , hence the Ida Dox pencil rendering to illustrate where the hole (theoretically) was.

I have to remain somewhat skeptical about the definition of the “hole” , however IF that is the location of an bullet entrance wound at the upper right rear quadrant , then I can visualize that  the large fragment of skull held back in place by the gloved hand , was originally turned INWARD as the bullet entering from behind  fractured the skull and that this is what accounts for the flattening black shape (hair raised ) effect of the back of JFKs head in the frames immediately following the Z313 frame.

The movement of JFKs head forward from Z312 to Z313 is supposedly indicative of the momentum of the bullet transferred to the head from behind in the 1/18th sec of traversing thru the skull and the bullet fragmenting causing the right side explosion of blood spray and matter which appears to be going forward in a spray that dissipates remarkably quickly in another1/18th of a sec.

This effect has been replicated(approximately) in the 2003 Beyond Conspiracy experiment (Gary Mack commentating)

[Michael T. Griffith]

The Zapruder movie show clearly the right temple of Kennedy literaly explode. We can`t see nothing get out from the back of his head. But almost all doctors and witness of the body of JFK saw this large hole in the back of the head. His anyone can explain that? And i very surprise that nobody ever came with that question anywhere. I think it's fondamental.

This issue was identified many years ago and has been addressed in numerous books and articles. This is indeed a fundamental issue.

Yes, you are correct in saying that there is overwhelming, compelling eyewitness testimony that there was a large wound in the right-rear part of JFK's head. This testimony consists of literally dozens of accounts given independently by credible witnesses in three different locations.

You are also correct in nothing that in the extant Zapruder film, no spray is seen coming from the back of the head, only from the right-frontal part of the head, and no wound is visible on the back of the head. If you study the film with any care, especially in slow motion or with still frames, you will see there is an odd black patch on the back of JFK's head after Z313. Numerous experts who have examined the film have concluded that this patch was added to the film. Obviously, it was added to conceal the right-rear wound that was seen by dozens of witnesses, including two neurosurgeons, nurses, ER doctors, medical personnel at the autopsy, and federal agents.

One of those federal agents was Clint Hill, who climbed onto the back of the limo after the head explosion and stayed there while the limo drove to Parkland Hospital. Hill, who obviously had a prolonged, close-range view of JFK's head, said that while on the back of the limo, he saw a large wound in the right-rear part of JFK's head, and that he saw that same wound when he viewed the body later. Yet, no such wound is visible in the extant Zapruder film, because it is covered by the black patch.

[Jerry Organ]

This issue was identified many years ago and has been addressed in numerous books and articles. This is indeed a fundamental issue.

Yes, you are correct in saying that there is overwhelming, compelling eyewitness testimony that there was a large wound in the right-rear part of JFK's head. This testimony consists of literally dozens of accounts given independently by credible witnesses in three different locations.

You are also correct in nothing that in the extant Zapruder film, no spray is seen coming from the back of the head, only from the right-frontal part of the head, and no wound is visible on the back of the head.

Always the cheap semantics with you. You just moved the "large wound in the right-rear part of JFK's head" to the "back of the head" visible in the Z-film, which in the Z320s is the occipital bone.


In the film, the large bright area in front of the ear is an hinged (attached by scalp) bone flap that sprung open.



Critics who don't tell trusting readers about the bone flap want to make it seem the Z-film shows the gaping head wound forward of the ear. The missing area we need to look for is above (and from that level, behind) the right ear, and these exceptionally-clear Z-frames show an indentation in the contour of the area above (and from that level, behind) the ear. The large gaping head wound is totally consistent with the wound location in the film, how the Parkland doctors perceived the wound location seeing the supine head with ooze dripping down onto the table, and the descriptions from the autopsy report.

If you study the film with any care, especially in slow motion or with still frames, you will see there is an odd black patch on the back of JFK's head after Z313. Numerous experts who have examined the film have concluded that this patch was added to the film. Obviously, it was added to conceal the right-rear wound that was seen by dozens of witnesses, including two neurosurgeons, nurses, ER doctors, medical personnel at the autopsy, and federal agents.

One of those federal agents was Clint Hill, who climbed onto the back of the limo after the head explosion and stayed there while the limo drove to Parkland Hospital. Hill, who obviously had a prolonged, close-range view of JFK's head, said that while on the back of the limo, he saw a large wound in the right-rear part of JFK's head, and that he saw that same wound when he viewed the body later. Yet, no such wound is visible in the extant Zapruder film, because it is covered by the black patch.

"Odd black patch". You must think people are stupid.