RIP to the Single-bullet theory?

[Jon Banks]

Another hoax “new account” in a new book that “just happens” to be published perfectly timed with the sixtieth anniversary of the assassination. Yawn, these types of things will probably still be appearing on the hundredth and sixtieth anniversary…

Impressive that you’ve reached that conclusion without reading the book.

It’s entirely possible that Landis could be misremembering some details in his old age but he’s almost 90 years old. If he wanted to grift off of the Kennedy assassination, why didn’t he do it decades earlier like others?

[Jon Banks]

I read all three of Clint Hill’s books. I don’t remember him even hinting at anything resembling Paul Lands’ outlandish story or Landis ever mentioning it to him. Apparently Clint Hill is still alive and kicking. But I saw no indications in the Vanity Fair article that anyone has tried to contact Clint regarding Landis’ contentions. And not surprisingly, the naysayers have expressed no skepticism about Landis’ story.

Clint Hill was quoted in the NY Times article about Landis’ book.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/us/politics/jfk-assassination-witness-paul-landis.html


Parkland nurse, Phyllis Hall’s testimony, corroborates Landis’ claim that he put a bullet on Kennedy’s stretcher.

The question is, did Landis know of her story before he started telling others about what he did 60 years ago?

He’s at least credible and not easy to dismiss as a witness. It’s just a matter of figuring out what parts of his story can be corroborated by the evidence or other witnesses.

[Charles Collins]

Clint Hill was quoted in the NY Times article about Landis’ book.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/us/politics/jfk-assassination-witness-paul-landis.html


Parkland nurse, Phyllis Hall’s testimony, corroborates Landis’ claim that he put a bullet on Kennedy’s stretcher.

The question is, did Landis know of her story before he started telling others about what he did 60 years ago?

He’s at least credible and not easy to dismiss as a witness. It’s just a matter of figuring out what parts of his story can be corroborated by the evidence or other witnesses.

Apparently one has to subscribe to The NY Times in order to read the article. What did Clint Hill have to say?

[John Iacoletti]

“Indeed, his partner, Clint Hill, the legendary Secret Service agent who clambered onto the back of the speeding limousine in a futile effort to save Kennedy, discouraged Mr. Landis from speaking out. “Many ramifications,” Mr. Hill warned in a 2014 email that Mr. Landis saved and shared last month.

Mr. Hill, who has set out his own account of what happened in multiple books and interviews, cast doubt on Mr. Landis’s version on Friday. “I believe it raises concerns when the story he is telling now, 60 years after the fact, is different than the statements he wrote in the days following the tragedy” and told in subsequent years, Mr. Hill said in an email. “In my mind, there are serious inconsistencies in his various statements/stories.””

[Jon Banks]

Apparently one has to subscribe to The NY Times in order to read the article. What did Clint Hill have to say?

It was not until 2014 that he realized that the official account of the bullet differed from his memory, he said, but he did not come forward then out of a feeling that he had made a mistake in putting it on the stretcher without telling anyone in that pre-C.S.I., secure-the-crime-scene era.

“I didn’t want to talk about it,” Mr. Landis said. “I was afraid. I started to think, did I do something wrong? There was a fear that I might have done something wrong and I shouldn’t talk about it.”
Indeed, his partner, Clint Hill, the legendary Secret Service agent who clambered onto the back of the speeding limousine in a futile effort to save Kennedy, discouraged Mr. Landis from speaking out. “Many ramifications,” Mr. Hill warned in a 2014 email that Mr. Landis saved and shared last month.

Mr. Hill, who has set out his own account of what happened in multiple books and interviews, cast doubt on Mr. Landis’s version on Friday. “I believe it raises concerns when the story he is telling now, 60 years after the fact, is different than the statements he wrote in the days following the tragedy” and told in subsequent years, Mr. Hill said in an email. “In my mind, there are serious inconsistencies in his various statements/stories.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/us/politics/jfk-assassination-witness-paul-landis.html

[John Iacoletti]

This all is very interesting because a few years ago the claim was made that it was Sam Kinney who admitted finding a bullet in the car and putting it on a stretcher.

But, of course, there is no reason to believe that the stretcher bullet was CE 399.

[Jarrett Smith]

“Indeed, his partner, Clint Hill, the legendary Secret Service agent who clambered onto the back of the speeding limousine in a futile effort to save Kennedy, discouraged Mr. Landis from speaking out. “Many ramifications,” Mr. Hill warned in a 2014 email that Mr. Landis saved and shared last month.

Mr. Hill, who has set out his own account of what happened in multiple books and interviews, cast doubt on Mr. Landis’s version on Friday. “I believe it raises concerns when the story he is telling now, 60 years after the fact, is different than the statements he wrote in the days following the tragedy” and told in subsequent years, Mr. Hill said in an email. “In my mind, there are serious inconsistencies in his various statements/stories.””

"At the first shot, Mr. Landis turned to look over his right shoulder in the direction of the sound but spotted nothing. Then he turned to the limousine and saw Kennedy raising his arms, evidently hit. Suddenly, Mr. Landis noticed that Mr. Hill had leapt off their follow-up car and was sprinting toward the limousine. Mr. Landis thought about doing the same but did not have an angle."

"He said he heard a second shot that sounded louder and finally the fatal third shot that hit Kennedy in the head. Mr. Landis had to duck to avoid being splattered by flesh and brain matter. He knew instantly that the president was dead. Mr. Hill, now on the back of the limousine, turned back and confirmed it with a thumbs down."

I don't believe him 100% because that isn't what happened. Hill did not jump off until Kennedy was already struck in the head. The bang bang with one that was louder I do believe... one from the Knoll, one from the TSBD.

[Charles Collins]

It was not until 2014 that he realized that the official account of the bullet differed from his memory, he said, but he did not come forward then out of a feeling that he had made a mistake in putting it on the stretcher without telling anyone in that pre-C.S.I., secure-the-crime-scene era.

“I didn’t want to talk about it,” Mr. Landis said. “I was afraid. I started to think, did I do something wrong? There was a fear that I might have done something wrong and I shouldn’t talk about it.”
Indeed, his partner, Clint Hill, the legendary Secret Service agent who clambered onto the back of the speeding limousine in a futile effort to save Kennedy, discouraged Mr. Landis from speaking out. “Many ramifications,” Mr. Hill warned in a 2014 email that Mr. Landis saved and shared last month.

Mr. Hill, who has set out his own account of what happened in multiple books and interviews, cast doubt on Mr. Landis’s version on Friday. “I believe it raises concerns when the story he is telling now, 60 years after the fact, is different than the statements he wrote in the days following the tragedy” and told in subsequent years, Mr. Hill said in an email. “In my mind, there are serious inconsistencies in his various statements/stories.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/us/politics/jfk-assassination-witness-paul-landis.html

“I believe it raises concerns when the story he is telling now, 60 years after the fact, is different than the statements he wrote in the days following the tragedy” and told in subsequent years, Mr. Hill said in an email. “In my mind, there are serious inconsistencies in his various statements/stories.”

I would like to add that Paul Landis’ outlandish story most certainly fits my definition of a morphing memory. And therefore could be added to the ones already specified in the thread by that title.


Additionally, there is this from the Vanity Fair article:

But there seem to be only two real possibilities, both of which can be inferred from the Zapruder film. One way is that an undercharged bullet, having already been lodged in the president’s back from an initial gunshot, was jolted out of his body after a subsequent shot to the head caused his upper body to be thrown violently back against the seat, bouncing off of it with great force. A second possibility is that at some point in those hectic moments, the bullet fell out of the president’s back and onto the first lady’s clothing (her white-gloved hand did brush hard against his back, around where the bullet could have been embedded at the moment of the final shot). As one can see in the Zapruder film, Jackie, at this stage, climbed onto the trunk of the speeding car, possibly to look for or retrieve a portion of her husband’s skull—or out of sheer panic to take cover from further gunshots. In fact, the section of the back seat over which she stretched corresponds to the spot where Landis says he found the bullet.

So this “theory” that you suggest might be able to “kill” the single bullet theory apparently depends upon a theory of a reduced velocity bullet that was going slow enough to only penetrate a short distance into JFK’s neck and then fall out. The Vanity Fair article suggests an “undercharged bullet,” something that, despite all the various tests done with the same type of ammunition (by the same manufacturer) after the assassination, no one else has reported (that I am aware of).

I was hit by a BB when I was a much younger and more foolish person. It lodged just beneath the skin but still had to be surgically removed. A typical BB gun from that era fired in the range of approximately a 300 to 400 feet per second velocity. The slowest velocity that I can get the Hornady Ballistic Calculator to calculate a Carcano bullet’s trajectory is 600 feet per second. At that velocity (due to gravity and the resistance of the air) the barrel would need to be aimed 48.92” above the target to hit it at a distance of 58-yards (the approximate distance from the sixth floor window to JFK at Z224). Does anyone really believe that this is what actually happened? If so, please explain your position.

I do plan to read Landis’ book when it becomes available. Mostly because I have in the past enjoyed reading the accounts of the people who were there. Landis’ outlandish story regarding finding a bullet on the top of the back seat of the limo and placing it on the hospital stretcher is just not believable. But maybe his story includes some other information that might be interesting.