The Shifting Single-Bullet Theory--It Always "Works" No Matter What

[Andrew Mason]

We all can readily explain your falling for the Knott 3D study because you know little about perspective and line-of-sight analysis.

I would be interested in your list of the errors that you have found in the Knott model.  If you have a problem with their placement of JFK and JBC you should be able to explain the problem.

Knott Laboratory concluded that the path through JFK at z223 cannot strike JBC anywhere close to his right armpit.  They say that the straight line path through JFK's midline goes 6 inches to the left of JBC's armpit. 

Now we know that it did not strike him 6 inches left of the right armpit.  My point has been that z223 is not where the JFK neck shot occurred.  There is a lot of evidence that it was the first shot and that the first shot was just before z202 - likely z190-195, at which time JBC was turned to the right:


 and the right to left angle from the SN to the car direction was 15 degrees:



At that angle, a shot through JFK exiting on the left side of hit tie knot about 1 cm left of his midline, will travel 6.4 inches or 16.3 cm farther left over the 24 inch distance between JFK's throat exit wound and the plane of Gov. Connally's seatback (24tan(15)=6.43).  The photographic experts at Itek working for the HSCA concluded that JBC may have been inside JFK anywhere 10.2 to 20.3 cm (4-8 inches) (6 HSCA 49 - footnote).  The distance from JBC's midline to his right armpit entry wound was 20 cm (6 HSCA 48 - figure II-18).  All I am saying is that this still puts the bullet through JFK anywhere from 6.1 cm left of JBC's midline to 4 cm to the right of his midline when it crossed the plane of JBC's seatback.  That is 16 cm to 26.1 cm left of his right armpit entry wound. 

So in the best case scenario for the SBT at z193, the bullet passes 16 cm left of JBC's right armpit entry wound and it could have been up to 26.1 cm left of the actual wound.

With JBC turned to the right as he is at that point, this does two things:  It moves the left side of his back farther away from the seatback, allowing he bullet to travel even farther to the left.  It also reduces the effective width of his back for the bullet to strike.

[Michael T. Griffith]

I would be interested in your list of the errors that you have found in the Knott model.  If you have a problem with their placement of JFK and JBC you should be able to explain the problem.

Knott Laboratory concluded that the path through JFK at z223 cannot strike JBC anywhere close to his right armpit.  They say that the straight line path through JFK's midline goes 6 inches to the left of JBC's armpit. 

Now we know that it did not strike him 6 inches left of the right armpit.  My point has been that z223 is not where the JFK neck shot occurred.  There is a lot of evidence that it was the first shot and that the first shot was just before z202 - likely z190-195, at which time JBC was turned to the right:

 and the right to left angle from the SN to the car direction was 15 degrees:

At that angle, a shot through JFK exiting on the left side of hit tie knot about 1 cm left of his midline, will travel 6.4 inches or 16.3 cm farther left over the 24 inch distance between JFK's throat exit wound and the plane of Gov. Connally's seatback (24tan(15)=6.43).  The photographic experts at Itek working for the HSCA concluded that JBC may have been inside JFK anywhere 10.2 to 20.3 cm (4-8 inches) (6 HSCA 49 - footnote).  The distance from JBC's midline to his right armpit entry wound was 20 cm (6 HSCA 48 - figure II-18).  All I am saying is that this still puts the bullet through JFK anywhere from 6.1 cm left of JBC's midline to 4 cm to the right of his midline when it crossed the plane of JBC's seatback.  That is 16 cm to 26.1 cm left of his right armpit entry wound. 

So in the best case scenario for the SBT at z193, the bullet passes 16 cm left of JBC's right armpit entry wound and it could have been up to 26.1 cm left of the actual wound.

With JBC turned to the right as he is at that point, this does two things:  It moves the left side of his back farther away from the seatback, allowing he bullet to travel even farther to the left.  It also reduces the effective width of his back for the bullet to strike.

Have you bothered to read the Knott Lab material? For one thing, they tested trajectories using Z210 and Z225. See the following sources:

https://knottlab.com/blog/knott-laboratory-presents-digital-reconstruction-and-findings-on-the-assassination-of-president-john-f-kennedy/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkQyYgr_aqY

As I mentioned in my previous reply, the Knott Lab engineers placed the JFK and JBC figures after creating a digital twin of Dealey Plaza and then using AI-assisted photogrammetric analysis of the Zapruder film, photos of the limo, and various other photos to place the figures in the limousine. They made the digital twin of the plaza by doing an exhaustive laser survey of the plaza, collecting millions of data points to enable a digital 3D recreation of the plaza that was an exact duplicate of the plaza in every aspect. After making the digital twin, they used photogrammetric analysis to place the Kennedy and Connally figures in the limousine (as well as to place the limousine in the correct position on Elm Street).

The Knott Lab website explains:

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Using a 3D laser scanner (Leica RTC360), we conducted 36 laser scans of Dealey Plaza. This laser scanner captures up to two million points per second and HDR imagery, resulting in a point cloud, or digital twin, of the scene. This provides forensic engineers with a scientifically accurate model from which measurements can be taken. The Dealey Plaza point cloud has over 851 million data points.

The next step was to reconstruct the scene to historic accuracy for November 22, 1963. To do so, our visualization experts used historic photographs of the plaza and presidential limousine, as well as the “Zapruder film,” which is widely considered the best video footage of the incident. Using a process called photogrammetry, the visualization team was able to place these images into the point cloud, syncing their locations within the scene. Altogether, 25 historic photographs and 7 frames of the Zapruder film were used for this photogrammetry. . . .

Photogrammetry, camera matching, camera tracking and object matching processes were also used to establish the location of Oswald’s perch, the correct dimensions of the limousine, create the digital models of President Kennedy and Governor Connally, and establish their positions, frame by frame, throughout the incident. (https://knottlab.com/blog/knott-laboratory-presents-digital-reconstruction-and-findings-on-the-assassination-of-president-john-f-kennedy/)
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Questions about the SBT that bear repeating and that WC apologists can't credibly and rationally answer:

-- Why did the first two drafts of the autopsy report say nothing about the throat wound being an exit wound for the back wound?

-- How could a bullet have exited the throat without tearing through the tie or at least nicking the edge of the tie knot? You realize that when Harold Weisberg finally obtained clear close-up photos of the tie from the National Archives, we learned that there was no hole through the tie and no nick on either edge of the tie, right? Right? You know about this, right?

-- Why did the Parkland doctors who saw and/or treated the throat wound describe a laceration of the pharynx and trachea that was larger than the wound itself? As Dr. Nathan Jacobs pointed out, the fact that the damage behind the throat wound was larger than the wound itself indicates that the throat wound was entrance wound (Sylvia Meagher, Accessories After the Fact, p. 158).

We should also keep in mind that autopsy x-ray technician Jerrol Custer told the ARRB that he was certain he took x-rays of the C3/C4 region of the neck and that those x-rays showed numerous fragments. Custer added that he suspected the reason those x-rays disappeared was that they showed a large number of bullet fragments in the neck (Deposition of Jerrol Francis Custer, ARRB, Transcript of Proceedings, October 28, 1997, pp. 168-170). Custer noted that when he drew attention to the bullet fragments in the C3/C4 area during the autopsy, he was told to “mind my own business” (p. 169).

These were probably fragments from the projectile that entered the throat and ranged downward. This would explain the damage to the pharynx and the trachea behind the wound. This would also explain why the autopsy doctors determined with absolute certainty, after prolonged and extensive probing after removing the chest organs, that the back wound was shallow and had no exit point. Several of the men standing near the autopsy table could see the probe pushing against the lining of the chest cavity--that was where the back wound ended.

-- Why was the throat wound only about 4-5 mm in diameter and punched-in, when every single soft-tissue exit wound in the WC's own wound ballistics tests was much larger and punched-out? (Apparently even the WC's wound ballistics experts knew that the collar would have had no effect on the wound's appearance.)

-- Why did the three Parkland doctors who saw the throat wound before the shirt was removed and who commented on the wound's location state that the throat wound was above the tie knot/collar?

-- If the irregular slits in the collar were made by an exiting bullet, why did the FBI fail to find any metal traces in the fabric of the slits--or in the tie? As Rockefeller Foundation scholar Henry Hurt noted, "the FBI laboratory—after spectrographic analysis—could find no metal traces on the tie or the neckband of the collar, traces that should have been there if a bullet had caused the damage" (Reasonable Doubt, pp. 59-60). The FBI found metal traces around the holes in the back of JFK's shirt and coat, but no traces on the tie or around the slits in the front. Why?

-- If the irregular slits in JFK's shirt collar were made by an exiting bullet, why is there no fabric missing from the slits? When bullets exit clothing, they invariably remove some fabric, just as the bullet that exited Connally's chest removed fabric when it made the holes in Connally's shirt and coat. FYI, the bullet that entered JFK's back also removed fabric when it made the holes in JFK's shirt and coat? What gives?

-- Why did the first FBI lab report on the shirt slits said only that the slits could have been made by a bullet fragment? Clearly, the FBI experts, before they knew what they were supposed to say, recognized that the slits were not bullet holes.

 

[Michael T. Griffith]

The Knott Laboratory digital illustration of trajectory alignment at Zapruder frame 225 is misleading and requires rectification to portray a more accurate representation of events. The green line entry point is at JFK's midline, not at the actual bullet wound entry location, which was approximately 3-4 centimetres to the right of his spine. Also, the green line exit location appears to be imprecisely placed further to the left of the actual location of the throat exit wound.

Therefore, when Knott Laboratory uses Zapruder frame 225 as the time of the second shot—instead of the actual bullet strike at Zapruder frame 224—a correction to their placement of wound entry and exit locations to the precise locations at this frame (225) would place the green trajectory line at a different angle, and align more accurately with the entry wound near Governor Connally's right armpit.

The change in the President and Governor Connally's positions relative to each other between Zapruder frames 224 and 225 are so minuscule that it is almost negligible. There will be a slight difference in trajectory alignments to the sixth-floor window between these two frames.

This is all nonsense. The Knott Lab 3D simulation gives the SBT the benefit of the doubt by not considering the fact that the back-would bullet entered at a sharply upward angle and traveled sharply upward after it made the wound, as the HSCA FPP established from the photo of the wound and as numerous private experts have confirmed. The Knott simulation also gives the SBT the benefit of the doubt regarding the throat wound's location.

But, the Knott Lab analysis does place the back wound where the clear weight of the evidence places it (especially the hard physical evidence of the rear clothing holes), i.e., at around T3. However, the most severe alignment problem is the horizontal misalignment, not the vertical.

Furthermore, Knott Lab's horizonal placement of the back wound is perfectly valid. It is not at JFK's "midline." Where do you get that? Have you looked at the simulation still frames that show the back wound's location? It is clearly and visibly to the right of the midline.

You guys are the gang that time has passed by. Your Z224 hit was destroyed over 40 years ago by the HSCA PEP. You guys are still in denial over this fact.

Even worse, your SBT was blown to pieces when Harold Weisberg obtained clear photos of the tie, which prove that no bullet went through the tie or nicked either edge of the tie. This explains why the FBI found no metallic traces on the tie or in the front shirt slits, whereas it did find metallic traces around the rear coat and shirt holes. If a bullet had exited the shirt beneath the tie and had transited or nicked the tie, it would have left metallic traces in/around those locations, just as it did in the rear clothing holes. But you guys are still in denial about these facts too.

[Andrew Mason]

(John Mytton)

That Griffith and you are on the same page in not seeing the mismatches of the Knott 3D frame superimposed on Z225 is telling.

That is helped when they have the bullet enter JFK's back at (or maybe a bit left of) the mid-line and exit the left chest. Their study doesn't have the bullet exit at Kennedy's throat mid-line. That fix alone would gain six inches lateral.

What is the basis for that claim, Jerry?  Here is what Knott shows as the trajectory at z225:

Not to worry. Those good folks at Don Knotts Lab will get your theory to work.

Thanks Jerry. I am always impressed with your graphics skills.  But I would be more impressed with your points if you acknowledged the error range in your assumptions.  For example, you have JFK's elbow completely outside the car and his rib cage pressed against the side of the car.  There has to be an error range associated with that position. Also, you are making assumptions about the distance from JFK's rib cage to his spine, and the width of JBC's back.  You are also using a downward angle of exactly 18 degrees.  That is based on the height of the SN above the entry wound and the horizontal distance from the rifle to the entry wound as well as the exact angle that the car is to the horizontal.  There are all error ranges in those figures.

Also:
1. you have the jump seat inside the car by 6 inches.  The Hess & Eisenhardt drawings show 2.5 inches.  Simple measurement on an actual photo from CE874 (allowing a generous amount for the space between the seat edge and door) shows that the space between the door and right edge of the jump seat shows that the space is between 15 and 18% of the seat width, which was 20.5 inches wide according to H&E.  That works out to 3.1 to 3.7 inches.



2. you have JBC's left leg out to the side but not with his knee very high. The jump seat was on the floor and the knees had to be well above the seat:


Taking all those errors and error ranges into account, the bullet through JFK goes close to the left thigh.  Keep in mind that the bullet was almost certainly tumbling after exiting JFK's neck.  Even if the trajectory was to the left edge of JBC's back, a tumbling bullet striking very obliquely on the turned back might have grazed the back of his suit but not penetrated.  It would be interesting to see what a close examination of the back of the jacket might show....

[Andrew Mason]

The animated gif by JohnM that I posted shows the Knott Lab trajectory exiting the President's left chest (I have also step-paused the video to confirm this).



The alternative-angle still just posted by Paul McBrearty shows their (or CT John Orr's) trajectory entered well over on the left side of Kennedy. I could be wrong, but the President's head seems unnaturally over to the left, as well.

The tip of his elbow extends over the car. I see nothing wrong with that; my guide is the Zapruder film. I don't think I have ever had JFK's "rib cage pressed against the side of the car" in any model. Certainly not in this model, which has a decent match for JFK to his position in Z193.

Knott has placed JBC where he appears to be from their analysis of the zfilm.  That is the JBC on the right.   The position of JBC that makes the SBT work is the JBC on the left.  I agree that on the z225 frame the green line trajectory is about an inch or so too far left. So move the left side JBC an inch or so to the right.  He is still sitting on the drive shaft!  That, incidentally, is where Thomas Canning had placed him for the SBT to work.  Are you suggesting that he was sitting that far left?

The point is that a right to left bullet trajectory through JFK goes well to the left of JBC's back entry wound.

This is another of your long-running charges against me, and again with no merit.

If your jump seat is as you have shown now at 2.5 inches, I apologize - my mistake. One thing you have to keep in mind, however, is that the distance between JFK's neck exit wound and the plane of the seat back is on a downward path. I measured it to be 24.5 inches on my model:


Knott has placed JBC where he appears to be from their analysis of the zfilm.  That is the JBC on the right.   The position of JBC that makes the SBT work is the JBC on the left.  I agree that on the z225 frame the green line trajectory is about an inch or so too far left. So move the left side JBC an inch or so to the right.  He is still sitting on the drive shaft!  That, incidentally, is where Thomas Canning had placed him for the SBT to work.  Are you suggesting that he was sitting that far left?

The point is that a right to left bullet trajectory through JFK goes well to the left of JBC's back entry wound.

His leg is comfortably high. That can be adjusted but you have to first get the bullet pass Connally's left torso. Oh yeah, what about how poorly "Mason Theory" Connally is away from matching the Governor's true position in the Zapruder film?


"Grazed the back of his suit but not penetrated". You're beginning to sound like Griffith and his imaginary "missile path" through the corpus callosum and Top-of-the-Head claim that the cowlick wound is visible where the vertex area actually is.

Just looking at the positions at z195. Nothing imaginary about that.  The fact is that we do not have direct evidence of what the bullet (CE399) struck after it exited JFK's neck and grazed his tie knot.

[John Mytton]

-- How could a bullet have exited the throat without tearing through the tie or at least nicking the edge of the tie knot? You realize that when Harold Weisberg finally obtained clear close-up photos of the tie from the National Archives, we learned that there was no hole through the tie and no nick on either edge of the tie, right? Right? You know about this, right?

JohnM

[John Mytton]

Myers Vs. Don Knotts.



Connally's position as the Limo entered Houston and compare Don Knott's original Connally location which is virtually in front of Kennedy with Dale Myers much closer to reality position.



Also note how Don Knotts Lab has Connally's head too far forward, so that in their matching of Connally's head into Zapruder Z225, they could fraudulently place their Connally model further to the right!







JFK back wound was further to the right than Don Knott lab's guess and Myer's nailed it.



For a change, here's the Zapruder film reversed and Connally and Kennedy are both reacting simultaneously.



As Connally emerges from behind the sign his jacket billows as CE399 passes through and his right shoulder thrusts forward as his left shoulder violently raises.



At the same split second both Connally and Kennedy react simultaneously



Connally's hat flip and look of immense pain happen way before Z230.



Don Knott's lab say that in addition to the Autopsy drawings, they used the clothing of Kennedy, but in the final product how much of the position of the back wound was influenced by the clothing?

Using the Warren Report, autopsy drawings, and images of both President Kennedy and Governor Connally’s clothing, the bullet entry points on each individual were established in the digital model.
https://knottlab.com/blog/knott-laboratory-presents-digital-reconstruction-and-findings-on-the-assassination-of-president-john-f-kennedy/

Because Kennedy's jacket was clearly bunched in Croft's photo.



And lastly, don't forget that Don Knott's had to satisfy their paying client, John Orr.

Knott Laboratory was hired by John Orr....
https://knottlab.com/blog/knott-laboratory-presents-digital-reconstruction-and-findings-on-the-assassination-of-president-john-f-kennedy/

JohnM

[Andrew Mason]

Myers Vs. Don Knotts.



Connally's position as the Limo entered Houston and compare Don Knott's original Connally location which is virtually in front of Kennedy with Dale Myers much closer to reality position.



Also note how Don Knotts Lab has Connally's head too far forward, so that in their matching of Connally's head into Zapruder Z225, they could fraudulently place their Connally model further to the right!

...
JFK back wound was further to the right than Don Knott lab's guess and Myer's nailed it.

Except that Myers refuses to show us:

1. How far he places JBC's jumpseat from the inside of the door to JBC"s right.
2. The angle from the trajectory from the SN  to the car direction at the time of the shot through JFK's neck
3. the view of the exact same position of the two men as seen from Zapruder's position.

Knott does all of this and provides the details.  When Myers does the same, we can make a fair comparison.

For a change, here's the Zapruder film reversed and Connally and Kennedy are both reacting simultaneously.

They do not begin reacting at the same time, but they are reacting at the same time.  The question, however, is: what is JBC reacting to? The sound of the first shot (which he said he recognized as a rifle shot and feared and assassination occurring so he turned around to check on JFK) or being hit in the back by it?  How can you tell it is the latter?

And lastly, don't forget that Don Knott's had to satisfy their paying client, John Orr.

Knott Laboratory was hired by John Orr....
https://knottlab.com/blog/knott-laboratory-presents-digital-reconstruction-and-findings-on-the-assassination-of-president-john-f-kennedy/

I am not sure why you think a professional, obviously well equipped and capable lab would compromise their professional integrity to please a client.  Orr's original 1995 report can be downloaded from the link in the first comment on this youtube page.