The Magic Bullet

[John Iacoletti]

  That makes more sense now. I just watched a documentary on the history channel and there were a few witnesses who said they saw Oswald on the 6th floor but no one saw anyone on the Grassy Knoll with a gun...

Both of these claims are untrue.  Brennan was the only one who ever claimed to see Oswald on the 6th floor and he only did so several days later after initially failing to identify him.

There were witnesses who claimed to see a person with a gun on or near the knoll (Jean Hill, Rosemary Willis, Ed Hoffman).

[Bill Chapman]

Both of these claims are untrue.  Brennan was the only one who ever claimed to see Oswald on the 6th floor and he only did so several days later after initially failing to identify him.

There were witnesses who claimed to see a person with a gun on or near the knoll (Jean Hill, Rosemary Willis, Ed Hoffman).

Was this person seen to be aiming the weapon by any chance? Pretty sure Brennan saw a rifle being aimed downrange at the exact time of the shooting sequence... and by the way Euins saw the trigger being pulled at the exact time of the second shot.

Brennan chose not to ID Oswald out of fear for the safety of his family. Buell Frazier left Dallas out of fear for his family's safety. Are you now going to once again laugh at the concept of a man putting the safety of his family ahead of everything else in life?

[Bill Chapman]

 That makes more sense now. I just watched a documentary on the history channel and there were a few witnesses who said they saw Oswald on the 6th floor but no one saw anyone on the Grassy Knoll with a gun... But the headshot looks like it came from the front and not the back.

Google 'freeway man MacAdams'

[John Iacoletti]

Was this person seen to be aiming the weapon by any chance? Pretty sure Brennan saw a rifle being aimed downrange at the exact time of the shooting sequence... and by the way Euins saw the trigger being pulled at the exact time of the second shot.

Brennan chose not to ID Oswald out of fear for the safety of his family. Buell Frazier left Dallas out of fear for his family's safety. Are you now going to once again laugh at the concept of a man putting the safety of his family ahead of everything else in life?

I don't laugh at the concept -- I laugh at Brennan's use of that as an after-the-fact excuse for his embellishing.  He's afraid for his family's safety so he gives his name to reporters.  He's afraid for his family's safety, but he doesn't say anything to his wife.  He's afraid that he'll be a target because he's the only one who saw a shooter, but he was there when Euins said he saw a shooter.  He's afraid it's a "communist activity" but at the same time not afraid once he hears they "have the man for murder" (which they did not have at the time of the lineup).

[John Iacoletti]

Google 'freeway man MacAdams'

It's McAdams, and don't.  Not unless you want more of the same rhetoric you get here from LNers.

[Tim Nickerson]

 That makes more sense now. I just watched a documentary on the history channel and there were a few witnesses who said they saw Oswald on the 6th floor but no one saw anyone on the Grassy Knoll with a gun... But the headshot looks like it came from the front and not the back.

Yeah,  the headshot does look like it came from the front. No doubt that's how the vast majority of people felt upon first viewing the Zapruder film. However, those familiar with ballistics, or with any real knowledge of physics, knew better. The momentum of a bullet striking the head would not have resulted in the degree of backward movement that we see in the Zapruder film. The momentum of the bullet striking kennedy's head did result in some movement but only a couple of inches. That was a forward movement. John Mytton has a Gif that shows it quite nicely.

A couple of Mythbusters episodes looked into whether a bullet striking a body could violently propel it backwards. They found that they couldn't even do it with a 50 caliber bullet.

James Tague believed that he was hit by either the second or third shot but he wasn't sure of which one.

Mr. TAGUE. I would guess it was either the second or third. I wouldn't say definitely on which one.


It had to have been the third shot. A fragment strike from the second shot is just not plausible at all.

The violent backward movement of Kennedy resulting from the head shot was a neuromuscular reaction.

[Jack Trojan]

Yeah,  the headshot does look like it came from the front. No doubt that's how the vast majority of people felt upon first viewing the Zapruder film. However, those familiar with ballistics, or with any real knowledge of physics, knew better. The momentum of a bullet striking the head would not have resulted in the degree of backward movement that we see in the Zapruder film. The momentum of the bullet striking kennedy's head did result in some movement but only a couple of inches. That was a forward movement. John Mytton has a Gif that shows it quite nicely.

A couple of Mythbusters episodes looked into whether a bullet striking a body could violently propel it backwards. They found that they couldn't even do it with a 50 caliber bullet.

James Tague believed that he was hit by either the second or third shot but he wasn't sure of which one.

Mr. TAGUE. I would guess it was either the second or third. I wouldn't say definitely on which one.


It had to have been the third shot. A fragment strike from the second shot is just not plausible at all.

The violent backward movement of Kennedy resulting from the head shot was a neuromuscular reaction.

JFK might have been hit simultaneously from the front and back, but you being a physicist, why wouldn't a "blast-out" from the back not push the head forward? (then violently back and to the left)

[Tim Nickerson]

JFK might have been hit simultaneously from the front and back, but you being a physicist, why wouldn't a "blast-out" from the back not push the head forward? (then violently back and to the left)

A "blast-out" from the back could have pushed the head forward a couple of inches if there had been a "blast-out" from the back. There wasn't.