Unseeing the Headshot

[Dan O'meara]

FWIW, I retrace the entire history of wound ballistics literature in chapter 16 and 16b of my website, patspeer.com, and demonstrate that the explosion of Kennedy's skull was many times what one would expect should Kennedy have been struck by a bullet on the back of the skull that traversed the brain without breaking up before exploding from the top of the skull. It's night and day. (And gruesome. Beware.)

One of my most firmly held beliefs about the shooting of JFK has been overturned.
After reading your work relating to the head shot I am convinced the shot came from behind.
It explains the large flap of scalp that seems to be blown from the upper part of the skull and is hanging down by the side of JFK's head (exposing the inside of the scalp)
The biggest sticking point for me was JFK's head and body movement - back and to the left.
At the moment of impact JFK's chin appears to be resting on his chest. The tremendous force of the 'explosion' forces his chin further into his chest which then causes his head to rebound backwards.
No neuromuscular reaction.
No "jet effect".
Just simple physics.

[Jack Trojan]

One of my most firmly held beliefs about the shooting of JFK has been overturned.
After reading your work relating to the head shot I am convinced the shot came from behind.
It explains the large flap of scalp that seems to be blown from the upper part of the skull and is hanging down by the side of JFK's head (exposing the inside of the scalp)
The biggest sticking point for me was JFK's head and body movement - back and to the left.
At the moment of impact JFK's chin appears to be resting on his chest. The tremendous force of the 'explosion' forces his chin further into his chest which then causes his head to rebound backwards.
No neuromuscular reaction.
No "jet effect".
Just simple physics.

Simple physics? How does it explain a non-exploding FMJ bullet shot from behind exploding in JFK's head, forcing his head backwards and to the left?



Note the hinged skull fragments at the right temple blowout. That is an entrance wound from a frangible bullet that exploded in JFK's head causing most of the damage you see above. This pushed JFK's head violently to the left.

However, another entrance wound from a near simultaneous shot came from the front at JFK's hairline, right about here...



That shot blew out a fist sized hole in the occipital region at the back of JFK's head, which was blacked out on the Z film. That shot pushed JFK's head violently backward.

Otherwise, how does your physics explain the explosion in JFK's head that blew his scalp backwards? (note the blacked out region at the back of JFK's head, which was done using an optical printer while making a copy of the Z film, which is what Zapruder had returned to him)

[Jack Trojan]

A Pressure Cavity Blew Kennedy's Head Apart
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/exploded.htm

The simplest assumption about the explosion of Kennedy's head is that an exiting bullet ripped a large defect and the bullet and brain matter exited at the defect. In fact, the process was a bit more complicated. When a bullet hits human tissue, it loses a lot of energy in under a millisecond, and that energy has to go somewhere. In fact, the energy creates a pressure cavily in the tissue — almost as though a small stick of dynamite had been set off within the body.

You mean like the huge exit hole that the magic bullet blew out of JFK's throat? Or was that exit wound actually a tiny hole in his throat which was disguised by performing a tracheostomy on a dead man? I guess the tiny bullet exit hole wasn't big enough to put a tracheostomy tube thru. JFK's corpse wound up getting a hole cut in his throat so big it surely would have killed him if he wasn't dead already. All to cover up a bullet entrance wound like this post-surgery Dr. Humes performed on JFK to remove a small hole in his head from another shot from the front.

[Dan O'meara]

Simple physics? How does it explain a non-exploding FMJ bullet shot from behind exploding in JFK's head, forcing his head backwards and to the left?



Note the hinged skull fragments at the right temple blowout. That is an entrance wound from a frangible bullet that exploded in JFK's head causing most of the damage you see above. This pushed JFK's head violently to the left.

However, another entrance wound from a near simultaneous shot came from the front at JFK's hairline, right about here...



That shot blew out a fist sized hole in the occipital region at the back of JFK's head, which was blacked out on the Z film. That shot pushed JFK's head violently backward.

Otherwise, how does your physics explain the explosion in JFK's head that blew his scalp backwards? (note the blacked out region at the back of JFK's head, which was done using an optical printer while making a copy of the Z film, which is what Zapruder had returned to him)

Hi jack,

If you read the OP you will see that I had pretty much the same opinion as yourself right now.
I'll try to explain what I'm seeing now but I also spent a bit of time reading Pat Speer's work regarding the history of headshots and how it relates to JFK. It was quite illuminating and helped me understand the discrepancy I was seeing in the Z-film regarding how JFK's scalp was hanging forward in the Z-film (something you seem not to have noticed).

The first point is to clear up this notion of a bullet exploding in JFK's head. You mention it a couple of times in your post and I don't know where you're getting that information from. I can't find anyone who says the bullet explodes in his head.

As for JFK's head movement - even though I explained my current view in the post you responded to (which you don't seem to have picked up on) I would like to look into it further. I would like to ask you a serious question - If you study the Gif I posted (Reply #56)
of the moment of the headshot, what is the very first movement of JFK's head immediately after the impact?

One last thing, you're idea that the Z-film has been altered to cover up a blow out in JFK's head is 
The Z-film has not been altered.
To any observer of the moment of the assassination, the most obvious giveaway that there is a shot from somewhere other than the TSBD is the 'back and to the left' movement of JFK. If that can't be altered there's no point in altering anything else.

[Allan Fritzke]

I have based the gif on the Lightbox frames available,   Z350,Z353,Z356,Z359  are not available to use.   Each of these are 3 frames apart which would slow the car down in the gif.     They are valuable as it gives clearer definition of how high Jacqueline's arm is above JFK's head when leaving the car seat.  When I aligned the images with the car seat to keep it stationary, it removes much of slight frontal movement you see in Dan's gif.   My gif shows that his head doesn't move forward - maybe slightly!
 
Jacqueline's reactions coincide well with Z323 and Z330 (with windshield light aberration), her shock, and splatter seen on her dress thereafter.  She really takes notice at Z325 and shocked at Z337 when her gaze comes up from looking earlier at his chest and hand in that area that she is observing. If skull cracking at Z313, didn't immediately alert her to head issues, I don't know what did?  Looks clearer in Gimp Software.   "Two shots in quick succession" as reporter at the scene said in his radio interview which coincides with pseudo Malcom Summers rolling in the grass beside Altgens.   Some suggested car momentarily halted, would make sense using an automatic pistol and having the SS jump off the back car and catch the front!  At 10 mph constant speed or car speeding up from that - impossible even if it was a big boat! 

https://i.postimg.cc/6QVrNjnQ/z310toz371-8bit.gif

[Dan O'meara]

I have based the gif on the Lightbox frames available,   Z350,Z353,Z356,Z359  are not available to use.   Each of these are 3 frames apart which would slow the car down in the gif.     They are valuable as it gives clearer definition of how high Jacqueline's arm is above JFK's head when leaving the car seat.  When I aligned the images with the car seat to keep it stationary, it removes much of slight frontal movement you see in Dan's gif.   My gif shows that his head doesn't move forward - maybe slightly!
 
Jacqueline's reactions coincide well with Z323 and Z330 (with windshield light aberration), her shock, and splatter seen on her dress thereafter.  She really takes notice at Z325 and shocked at Z337 when her gaze comes up from looking earlier at his chest and hand in that area that she is observing. If skull cracking at Z313, didn't immediately alert her to head issues, I don't know what did?  Looks clearer in Gimp Software.   "Two shots in quick succession" as reporter at the scene said in his radio interview which coincides with pseudo Malcom Summers rolling in the grass beside Altgens.   Some suggested car momentarily halted, would make sense using an automatic pistol and having the SS jump off the back car and catch the front!  At 10 mph constant speed or car speeding up from that - impossible even if it was a big boat! 

https://i.postimg.cc/6QVrNjnQ/z310toz371-8bit.gif

Hi Allan,
the copy you have created is really poor quality and has lost a great amount of detail. Let's stick with the far superior quality copy I posted:



As you correctly pointed out, the very first movement of JFK's head after the impact is forward.
I would argue that, after he is first shot, JFK begins to lower his head and just before the headshot his chin is, more or less, resting on his chest. That's how it appears to me at least.
When we look at the horrifying Gif John posted showing the full extent of JFK's head injury, we must conclude that an immense amount of force was required to cause that amount of damage and that a force this great would knock JFK's head around on his neck showing us from which direction the force came. Until recently I was convinced that the 'back and to the left' motion of JFK's head clearly demonstrated that the force which destroyed JFK's head came from the front right.
However, in the OP I show that doubts creep into to this way of looking at things when I notice that the massive flap of blown-out scalp hanging from the side of JFK's head hangs forward.
Reading Pat Speer's work on headshots convinced me that the shot came from behind and it explained why the 'massive flap of blown-out scalp' looks the way it does.
This left me with the 'back and to the left' motion'.
How could this be caused by a shot from the back?

Once I was looking at it as a shot/force from behind it became obvious:

A massive force is applied to the upper part of JFK's head from behind
JFK's head pivots forward on his neck
However, his chin is resting on his chest so this forward momentum of his head, 'rebounding' off his chest, is converted into upwards and backwards momentum.
JFK's head pivots backwards moving his body slightly backwards as well.

If this above scenario is correct then the very first movement we should see after the impact to JFK's head is forward
And this is exactly what we do see

One final point
when JFK's head rebounds, it is not rebounding backwards but upwards
I believe this upwards momentum is reflected in JFK's arm movements after the impact of the headshot which seem to have an 'upward component' to them.

I see you have your usual nonsense about Jackie's reaction time and Malcolm Summers diving out of the way of shots being fired.
I know you view every scratch, mark, line, blur on the Z-film as potential alteration and I know I'll never be able to dissuade you from  this tinfoil approach so I usually ignore it but I am completely fascinated by these sentences:

"Some suggested car momentarily halted, would make sense using an automatic pistol and having the SS jump off the back car and catch the front!  At 10 mph constant speed or car speeding up from that - impossible even if it was a big boat!"

What are you saying here?

[Allan Fritzke]

Yes I can't recreate the quality I have in Gimp using the original lightbox frames gif'd together.  I actually tried video taping it but it is grainy.   However using a poor quality slowed down video recreation has its benefits.  Each one of the frames should show JFK's head.   I believe there is a great amount of editing which took place.   If you follow the whole mass of his head and the golden nugget that is placed over it, either he has no head or the head is behind it and masked off.   If you believe that there are "real" autopsy photos available, they do not line up with golden globe seen in film.  Nor with a tracheotomy being done on a wound not located over the windpipe but off to the side.  To be honest, I think the head was just starting to move forward with his initial injury done a few seconds earlier and a slump occurring that you are seeing.   I see evidence of all heads in vehicle moving forward moments later when the brakes were applied too. 

In other words,  if the shot came from the front or grassy knoll and knocked off part of his skullcap off at Z330  (initial doctors in Dallas declared this),  it makes sense.   That is also backed up by the press release early that day by Malcom Kilduff at hospital and where he placed his hand pointing to the wound on himself and told the public Kennedy was dead.



It would lead to credibility that it was a frontal / possible side shot to the head while his head was down.   Pure speculation on my part, but some material fell out from the RHS location of the wound as shown in Z335.  Having the wound off to the RHS was why Jacqueline's reaction was delayed and she likely responded more to a skullcap breakage at Z330 and then seeing what dropped to his lap.  The other side of his head showed no signs of injury.



I think at that point the head was located facing down and front.  However we see no head there and can't visualize where it disappeared to other than pictoral blending obscuring it!  John Mytton's post #35 points this out well.  Head on both side of white glove, where is the head?  We only see sunlight glimmer at front but no head there!



 Missing Lightbox frames show her hand going way up (Costella frames Z350 & Z353) above his head.   





You can clearly see Jacqueline's glove path, even in my poorly presented gif over the entire Z340 interval!  Note also Kennedy's head rolls back at the same time as Connally's body does when the car accelerates.  As head rolled back, she had to lift her arm higher to clear it!





I will try again to get a better video.  You can't concentrate on the few frames that you have represented.  Jacqueline was unfazed by it for at least half a second - way too much reaction delay if you heard skull blow up in your face and your face located in the cloud that made that explosion!  To me it is an impossible shot.