The Entrance Wound in the Throat, the Front Shirt Slits, and Tie Knot Nick

[Lance Payette]

Fancy Pants,

The tinfoil-hat JFKA CT scenario I spelled out is so implausible as to be ridiculous, whereas the so-called Single Bullet Theory isn't implausible at all -- especially when one realizes that the reason JBC "reacted so much later than JFK" was because JFK's spinal column was nicked and JBC's wasn't.

In order to discount the SBT (and, by definition, become a tinfoil-hat JFKA conspiracy theorist) one has to explain:

1) How it is that three shells were found on the Sniper's Nest floor

2) Why the majority of witnesses said they heard three shots

3) How CE-399 was so unusually deformed

4) Why CE-399 had marks from Oswald's Carcano on it

5) How CE-399 ended up in Parkland Hospital

6) Why seven witnesses (JFK, Jackie, Governor and Mrs. Connally, and Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman in the limo, and Rosemary Willis and Secret Service Agent George Hickey outside it) can be seen in the Zapruder film consciously reacting to the sounds of the first, missing-everything shot in less than half-a-second of each other (except for JBC who took 5 frames longer than the average), indicating that Oswald's first, missing-everything shot was at hypothetical "Z-124," i.e., half-a-second before Zapruder resumed filming.

7) If Oswald fired all three shots and scored three "hits" but none of the bullets wounded both JFK and JBC, how do answer the following questions:

A) Where did the bullet that transited JFK's upper-back / lower-neck go when it exited JFK's throat?

B) How is it that the bullet that penetrated JBC's back didn't pass through JFK first?

Dear Paranoid Latter-Day McCarthyite,

As stated, I accept the SBT as the most likely explanation. That being said, it is highly problematical. The alignment of the holes in the clothing with the throat wound. The appearance of the throat wound as observed at Parkland. The condition and provenance of CE 399. The failure of the autopsy doctors to dissect the back wound. The continuing confusion over the location of the back wound and the need for Gerald Ford to make his convenient alteration to the draft of the Warren Report. The fact that the SBT was the brainchild of Arlen Specter, not of any medical or ballistics expert. The fact that umpteen attempts at forensic reconstruction have produced very differing conclusions. That's a lot of weird guano surrounding one rifle shot.

62 years after the fact, there is still heated debate about the number and timing of the shots. I say the SBT is possible, albeit not plausible. I say it is not impossible, albeit not likely. I am not, alas, a fanatic in either direction. I, unlike the fanatics (on both sides), simply don't "know" what happened or what is "impossible." Because I don't "know" as much as the fanatics (on both sides), I don't necessarily believe there is a straight line from concluding the SBT is incorrect to concluding there were two gunmen.

[Tom Graves]

Dear Paranoid Latter-Day McCarthyite,

As stated, I accept the SBT as the most likely explanation. That being said, it is highly problematical. The alignment of the holes in the clothing with the throat wound. The appearance of the throat wound as observed at Parkland. The condition and provenance of CE 399. The failure of the autopsy doctors to dissect the back wound. The continuing confusion over the location of the back wound and the need for Gerald Ford to make his convenient alteration to the draft of the Warren Report. The fact that the SBT was the brainchild of Arlen Specter, not of any medical or ballistics expert. The fact that umpteen attempts at forensic reconstruction have produced very differing conclusions. That's a lot of weird guano surrounding one rifle shot.

62 years after the fact, there is still heated debate about the number and timing of the shots. I say the SBT is possible, albeit not plausible. I say it is not impossible, albeit not likely. I am not, alas, a fanatic in either direction. I, unlike the fanatics (on both sides), simply don't "know" what happened or what is "impossible." Because I don't "know" as much as the fanatics (on both sides), I don't necessarily believe there is a straight line from concluding the SBT is incorrect to concluding there were two gunmen.

Dear Lance,

Did Dr. Perry observe an abrasion collar (indicating entrance wound) around the bullet hole in JFK's throat?

Regarding Ford's heinous crime of "altering" the location of the entry wound in JFK's upper-back / lower-neck, did the "dot" on the autopsy cover sheet accurately reflect the measurements that were written down in the margin of that document?

The condition of CE-399 actually argues *for* the SBT.

How many medical or ballistics experts had opined on the number of shots, where they had come from, the damage (if any) that each one of them had wrought, and the number of seconds involved altogether when Specter "cooked up his cockamamie" SBT?


Your Big Buddy,

-- Tom

PS Although Joe McCarthy was basically right (pardon the pun), he was perverted (pardon the pun) by Roy Cohn.

As was, undoubtedly, your boy, The Traitorous Orange Bird (rhymes with "Xxxx").

[Royell Storing]

  Forget the "dot" on the autopsy cover sheet. Just look at the JFK Autopsy BACK Photo. The pictured bullet hole is Not at the base of the neck. It's very clear.

[Tom Graves]

Forget the "dot" on the autopsy cover sheet. Just look at the JFK Autopsy BACK Photo. The pictured bullet hole is Not at the base of the neck. It's very clear.

Storing,

The AUTOPSY photo was MISLEADING because JFK was a bit of a HUNCHBACK and because RIGOR MORTIS had ALREADY set IN.

Do'h.

[Michael T. Griffith]

Certain facts appear to be self-evident and beyond dispute:

-- No bullet exiting the front shirt slits could have nicked the left edge of the tie knot, given the thickness of the knot and given the fact that the knot was neatly centered between the edges of the collar band. 

-- The fact that JFK's tie had no hole through it invalidates the single-bullet theory and proves that no bullet exited the throat. A bullet exiting the shirt slits would have had to tear through the middle part of the tie knot, but we now know that the tie had no hole in it.

-- A throat wound behind/underneath the shirt slits would not have been visible until JFK's shirt and tie were removed, not even partly visible. Yet, three doctors said they saw the throat wound before the shirt and tie were removed, and two of them specified the wound was immediately above the shirt and tie. 

-- The FBI found no metallic traces around the shirt slits because no bullet exited the slits and because the slits were cut by the nurses as they hurriedly removed JFK's clothing, as Dr. Carrico and one of the nurses confirmed.

-- Lone-gunman theorists cannot explain the three small puncture wounds in JFK's right cheek. Those wounds are strong evidence that more than one gunman fired at JFK. 

-- Lone-gunman theorists cannot explain the back-of-head bullet fragments on the outer table of the skull some 4 inches above the EOP seen on the JFK autopsy skull x-rays. Those fragments are powerful evidence that more than one gunman fired at JFK.

-- Lone-gunman theorists cannot explain the autopsy doctors' stunning failure to mention in the autopsy report the high fragment trail seen on the extant skull x-rays. They could not have missed it, and they surely did not "mistake" it for a trail that started at least 2 inches lower at the EOP and ranged upward to the right orbit. 

-- Lone-gunman theorists cannot explain the fact that the extant skull x-rays do not show the low fragment trail that the autopsy doctors described in the autopsy report and that they reaffirmed after viewing the autopsy materials for five hours in November 1966. They could not have "mistaken" the low fragment trail for the differently angled and much higher fragment trail seen on the extant skull x-rays. The high fragment trail's lowest point is at least 2 inches above the EOP and on the opposite end of the skull, while its highest point is over 4 inches above the EOP and does not even extend to the rear outer table of the skull. 

[John Mytton]

Certain facts appear to be self-evident and beyond dispute:

-- No bullet exiting the front shirt slits could have nicked the left edge of the tie knot, given the thickness of the knot and given the fact that the knot was neatly centered between the edges of the collar band.

-- The fact that JFK's tie had no hole through it invalidates the single-bullet theory and proves that no bullet exited the throat. A bullet exiting the shirt slits would have had to tear through the middle part of the tie knot, but we now know that the tie had no hole in it.

Here's another GIF comparison from a completely different angle that absolutely destroys your latest lame "certain fact".





JohnM

[Royell Storing]

  Hey John - How do you explain the claim that 3 Dr's reported seeing the throat wound BEFORE the JFK shirt/tie was removed? Also, based on your diagram of the bullet path, where would the bullet impact Gov Connally or the jump seat? This is why the SBT does Not work. You line up the shot to match the JFK throat wound and it then does Not line up with striking just above the jump seat and the back/armpit of Gov Connally. You have presented only a portion of this equation.