When Was JBC Hit?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

I told you how I reached my conclusion. Can you tell me how you reached yours?
The phenomenon of camera jiggle in reaction to gun shots is well established. Zapruder's camera jiggle is consistent for the second and third shots and we can determine that because we know when those shots were fired. Jiggle analysis allows us to be accurate to with in one frame. It is strong evidence for the first shot fired at Z147-148 although it's not as conclusive as for the later shots. We don't have visual evidence of that shot hitting anyone or anything.

CE888 gives us the earliest view from the sniper's nest during the recreation of the shooting. It shows the view from the sniper's nest at Z161 and JFK is just starting to pass under that tree. It could be that as Oswald was tracking JFK through his scope, that tree suddenly came into view in the mid 140s and that could have caused him to rush that shot resulting in a bad miss. Just speculation, of course, but it seems to be a reasonable possibility.

Question: Zapruder said he heard only two shots. Not three. Why didn't (or wouldn't) he remember hearing the first shot that caused him to "jiggle" the camera?

Wouldn't he have remembered a shot or sound that startled or shook him enough to jiggle the camera for that third (in your scenario, the first) shot? It's loud enough to cause him to "jiggle" but not loud enough for him to remember?

[Michael T. Griffith]

We've known when Connally was hit for over 60 years now. He was hit at Z234. We know this from Connally himself. After viewing the Zapruder film in slow motion several times, he told the WC he wasn't hit before Z230. In 1966, LIFE magazine allowed him to study a high-quality print of the Zapruder film under high magnification. After doing so for some time, Connally reached two key conclusions:

1. He was certain he was not hit before Z229.

2. He identified Z234 as the moment of impact.

Connally had valid reasons for selecting Z234 as the moment of impact. Starting in Z238 his right shoulder rapidly collapses, his cheeks puff, and a pained expression appears on his face. The right-shoulder collapse matches Connally's earliest descriptions of the bullet's impact: he said the impact felt like someone hit him powerfully in the back with their first.

A Z234 hit makes perfect sense with what we see in the Zapruder film. It makes total sense that a bullet that hit Connally in the back would only take four Zapruder frames--4/18ths of a second or 218.4 milliseconds--to drive his right shoulder downward. 218.4 milliseconds is in the range of the speed of an eye blink. Eye-blink speed ranges between 100 and 400 milliseconds.

Similarly, the forced expulsion of air from Connally's lungs would have been quite rapid and forceful, quickly causing his cheeks to puff, just as we see in the Zapruder film virtually simultaneously with his right-shoulder drop. The cheeks start to puff just a frame or two after the right shoulder starts to drop.

Also, the shattering of 4 inches of rib bone alone was extremely painful and would have quickly caused a pained expression to appear on Connally's face. Forensic science tells us that when people experience a sharp pain, it only takes 150-300 milliseconds to react with a pained facial expression.

Jim Moore, one of the most honest WC defenders around, concludes that Connally was hit at Z236 and he basis this partly on the rapid collapse of Connally's right shoulder starting in Z238 (Conspiracy of One, pp. 198-199, see also p. 159, where he says that Connally's right shoulder "drops dramatically").

Obviously, these reactions make no sense in a Z224-hit scenario. It most would not have taken Connally's right shoulder 14 frames to begin to be driven downward, nor would it have taken 14 frames for Connally to react with a pained facial expression and for his cheeks to puff.

It is worth noting that Dr. Robert Shaw, Connally's chest surgeon, studied the Zapruder film and concluded the bullet struck the Governor at Z236, "give or take 1 or 2 frames, and that Dr. Charles Gregory, Connally's wrist surgeon, opined that the hit occurred between Z234 and Z238.

But, of course, WC defenders here cannot accept the fact that Connally was not hit before Z229 because it destroys any version of their untenable Z220-224 SBT.

[John Corbett]

We've known when Connally was hit for over 60 years now. He was hit at Z234. We know this from Connally himself. After viewing the Zapruder film in slow motion several times, he told the WC he wasn't hit before Z230. In 1966, LIFE magazine allowed him to study a high-quality print of the Zapruder film under high magnification. After doing so for some time, Connally reached two key conclusions:

1. He was certain he was not hit before Z229.

2. He identified Z234 as the moment of impact.

Connally had valid reasons for selecting Z234 as the moment of impact. Starting in Z238 his right shoulder rapidly collapses, his cheeks puff, and a pained expression appears on his face. The right-shoulder collapse matches Connally's earliest descriptions of the bullet's impact: he said the impact felt like someone hit him powerfully in the back with their first.

A Z234 hit makes perfect sense with what we see in the Zapruder film. It makes total sense that a bullet that hit Connally in the back would only take four Zapruder frames--4/18ths of a second or 218.4 milliseconds--to drive his right shoulder downward. 218.4 milliseconds is in the range of the speed of an eye blink. Eye-blink speed ranges between 100 and 400 milliseconds.

Similarly, the forced expulsion of air from Connally's lungs would have been quite rapid and forceful, quickly causing his cheeks to puff, just as we see in the Zapruder film virtually simultaneously with his right-shoulder drop. The cheeks start to puff just a frame or two after the right shoulder starts to drop.

Also, the shattering of 4 inches of rib bone alone was extremely painful and would have quickly caused a pained expression to appear on Connally's face. Forensic science tells us that when people experience a sharp pain, it only takes 150-300 milliseconds to react with a pained facial expression.

Jim Moore, one of the most honest WC defenders around, concludes that Connally was hit at Z236 and he basis this partly on the rapid collapse of Connally's right shoulder starting in Z238 (Conspiracy of One, pp. 198-199, see also p. 159, where he says that Connally's right shoulder "drops dramatically").

Obviously, these reactions make no sense in a Z224-hit scenario. It most would not have taken Connally's right shoulder 14 frames to begin to be driven downward, nor would it have taken 14 frames for Connally to react with a pained facial expression and for his cheeks to puff.

It is worth noting that Dr. Robert Shaw, Connally's chest surgeon, studied the Zapruder film and concluded the bullet struck the Governor at Z236, "give or take 1 or 2 frames, and that Dr. Charles Gregory, Connally's wrist surgeon, opined that the hit occurred between Z234 and Z238.

But, of course, WC defenders here cannot accept the fact that Connally was not hit before Z229 because it destroys any version of their untenable Z220-224 SBT.

JBC was wrong. He attempted to place the time of the first shot by looking at when he made the reaction he REMEMBERED which was doubling over and dipping to his right. That did happen in the Z230s.There is no reason for him to look for the involuntary reflexive response he made to being struck in the wrist when he suddenly flipped his right arm upward. He had no memory of that action. He didn't even know he had been shot in the wrist until he came out of surgery.

I have pointed out this arm flip to you on numerous occasions and each time you simply choose to ignore it, apparently because you have no explanation for it that fits your narrative that JBC wasn't hit until Z234.