JFK Assassination Forum

I can attest that the super-slow motion memory of watching that snake strike at where my leg had just been is a very real phenomenon. It is quite understandable to me that, due to this phenomenon, JBC might think that a second shot was what hit him. However, in reality, it was the same shot that hit JFK. If I remember correctly, JBC even acknowledges that he could be wrong in his book. I will try to find that passage when I get a chance.

I recall seeing an interview when JBC was asked if it was possible that he and JFK were hit on the second shot and he admitted it was possible, but he also said that the best witness - Nellie - didn't believe it because she saw JFK reacting before he (Gov. Connally) was hit.

The interview was for the CBS 1967 4 part special "A CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report" hosted by Walter Cronkite.  David Von Pein's site has all four parts: http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2011/05/cbs-news-inquiry-warren-report.html

The part referred to is in Part 2, at the 52 minute mark:

Question: Where are the witnesses who said the shots sounded like they came from both the TSBD and this other location, e.g., fence, overpass?

If shots were fired from two locations then it seems to me that we should have had a number of witnesses - 10? 20? 100? - who said that: E.g., they heard 2-3 shots from the TSBD and another from behind the fence. But I am not aware of a single earwitness who said that. 

So, as Enrico Fermi asked about extraterrestrial aliens: "Where are they?"

That's a great point.  If there is a single issue that the witnesses are in agreement on in this case, it is one shooter firing three or fewer shots.  They may disagree on the location from which the shots originated given the sound distortions, but there is widespread agreement on the number of shots and only one shooting location.

I can't agree with the details of your theory but I agree totally that there were 2 different attacks under way.  People who follow this case and have from Day 1 and who don't think LHO is responsible always had the problem that there is a awful lot of evidence that (to put it mildly) that LHO was up to something that day.  OTOH, Lone Nutters had a problem dealing with the eye witness testimony that at least one shot did not come from the TSBD.  Why not both?

Question: Where are the witnesses who said the shots sounded like they came from both the TSBD and this other location, e.g., fence, overpass?

If shots were fired from two locations then it seems to me that we should have had a number of witnesses - 10? 20? 100? - who said that: E.g., they heard 2-3 shots from the TSBD and another from behind the fence. But I am not aware of a single earwitness who said that. 

Correction: SS Agent Paul Landis said he heard shots both from behind - the TSBD - and then a last shot from front of the limo. He seems to be the only person in this tabulation that heard this: https://www.jfk-assassination.net/earwitnesses.htm

Landis said he first heard a shot that sounded like it came from behind him, over his right shoulder. Then this:  "My immediate thought was that the President could not possibly be alive after being hit like he was. I still was not certain from which direction the second shot came, but my reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front, right-hand side of the road."

That's a pretty solid account but he is vague as to the locations.

So, as Enrico Fermi asked about extraterrestrial aliens: "Where are they?"

As usual, you take a piece of what I have posted and ignore the rest of it that actually answers your query, as if it didn't exist.
I posted the following quotes from "Does Time Really Slow Down during a Frightening Event?"  [Chess Stetson, Matthew P. Fiesta, David M. Eagleman. Published: December 12, 2007https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001295]:

"Observers commonly report that time seems to have moved in slow motion during a life-threatening event."

"Our findings suggest that time-slowing is a function of recollection, not perception: a richer encoding of memory may cause a salient event to appear, retrospectively, as though it lasted longer."

"Temporal judgments – such as duration, order, and simultaneity – are subject to distortions."

I then went on to note that:

"The distortion of "temporal judgements" when trying to recollect a traumatic event are commonplace and it is in this light that JBC's recollections should be viewed. JBC is genuinely recalling events to the best of his ability, the problem being that his memory of the event is subject to various distortions."


What you have pointed out is a perfect example of one of the "temporal distortions" that occurs to the memory of someone who is recalling a traumatic, life-threatening event. As I pointed out in the other part of my post that you have tried to pretend doesn't exist, Connally is going out of his way to describe the incredibly short gap that exists between the moment he heard the first shot - a loud noise that he immediately recognised as a rifle shot  - and the moment he was aware of feeling the impact of a shot:

A very, very brief span of time
Two or three people involved
Automatic rifle
My God it was fast
A split second
Unbelievably quick

Why would Connally think three people were taking the shots?
Why would he think someone was using an automatic rifle?
It is because he literally experienced a "split second" between the two events.
The point is - he shouldn't have experienced them as two separate events because they were part of the same event...he heard the first shot and was hit by it.
Because his memory has slowed down the event he can discern this "split second" gap as two separate events.
The rapidity of events is in contrast to his recollection of "10 to 12 seconds", but this recollection of how long the shooting took has been distorted. He remembers it as being much longer than it actually was. As happens regularly when a person is recalling a traumatic event, time has slowed down.

I can attest that the super-slow motion memory of watching that snake strike at where my leg had just been is a very real phenomenon. It is quite understandable to me that, due to this phenomenon, JBC might think that a second shot was what hit him. However, in reality, it was the same shot that hit JFK. If I remember correctly, JBC even acknowledges that he could be wrong in his book. I will try to find that passage when I get a chance.

When asked about the time between the first and third shots he said it was a "very brief span of time", 10-12 seconds (4H134):

Mr. SPECTER. What is your best estimate as to the time span between the first
shot which you heard and the shot which you heretofore characterized as the
third shot?
Governor CONNALLY. It was a very brief span of time; oh, I would have to
say a matter of seconds. I don’t know. 10, 12 seconds. It was extremely rapid,
so much so that again I thought that whoever was firing must be firing with an
automatic rifle because of the rapidity of the shots ; a very short period of time.

So, the question is if a "very brief span of time" is 10-12 seconds in JBC"s mind, how much is a "very, very brief span of time"?

As usual, you take a piece of what I have posted and ignore the rest of it that actually answers your query, as if it didn't exist.
I posted the following quotes from "Does Time Really Slow Down during a Frightening Event?"  [Chess Stetson, Matthew P. Fiesta, David M. Eagleman. Published: December 12, 2007https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001295]:

"Observers commonly report that time seems to have moved in slow motion during a life-threatening event."

"Our findings suggest that time-slowing is a function of recollection, not perception: a richer encoding of memory may cause a salient event to appear, retrospectively, as though it lasted longer."

"Temporal judgments – such as duration, order, and simultaneity – are subject to distortions."

I then went on to note that:

"The distortion of "temporal judgements" when trying to recollect a traumatic event are commonplace and it is in this light that JBC's recollections should be viewed. JBC is genuinely recalling events to the best of his ability, the problem being that his memory of the event is subject to various distortions."


What you have pointed out is a perfect example of one of the "temporal distortions" that occurs to the memory of someone who is recalling a traumatic, life-threatening event. As I pointed out in the other part of my post that you have tried to pretend doesn't exist, Connally is going out of his way to describe the incredibly short gap that exists between the moment he heard the first shot - a loud noise that he immediately recognised as a rifle shot  - and the moment he was aware of feeling the impact of a shot:

A very, very brief span of time
Two or three people involved
Automatic rifle
My God it was fast
A split second
Unbelievably quick

Why would Connally think three people were taking the shots?
Why would he think someone was using an automatic rifle?
It is because he literally experienced a "split second" between the two events.
The point is - he shouldn't have experienced them as two separate events because they were part of the same event...he heard the first shot and was hit by it.
Because his memory has slowed down the event he can discern this "split second" gap as two separate events.
The rapidity of events is in contrast to his recollection of "10 to 12 seconds", but this recollection of how long the shooting took has been distorted. He remembers it as being much longer than it actually was. As happens regularly when a person is recalling a traumatic event, time has slowed down.