For years I have written on this forum and others that one of the lies Oliver Stone pushed in his 1991 movie is that the WC had concluded the first shot had missed. I had based that on my memory of the scene in the movie where Garrison and his assistant (Lou Ivon) are in the sniper's nest discussing the plausibility of Oswald having fired the shots that killed JFK. I had a clear memory of Ivon telling Garrison, "They said the first shot missed.". In reviewing that scene yesterday for another thread, I discovered that hadn't been said. They were discussing why Oswald didn't take the shot while the limo was on Houston and what could have happened had he missed.". In reality, a statement similar to that was made later in the movie but it was made by Senator Russell Long played by Walter Mattheau. What he said was, "I tell ya the first shot would always be the best." Apparently, I conflated those two scenes creating a false memory in my mind. Prior to yesterday, I would have been willing to be a large chunk of money that my memory of the scene was fairly accurate. My mistake was an honest one but it was still a mistake and one I will not repeat it in the future.
False memories are a real thing. We are all subject to them. It's because we tend to remember bits and pieces of events and over time our minds will fill in the blanks. That is why I am always skeptical of statements witnesses have made many years after the fact when there are no contemporaneous statements by the witness that says the same thing.
