Assassination 3D animation by Mark Tyler

[Joe Elliott]

One thing that I notice is that this animation shows Officer McLain, across from Officer Baker, nowhere near the intersection of Houston and Elm, at the time of the first shot, as predicted by the acoustic experts. This animation is correct in this respect. This prediction by the acoustic experts has proven false. There is a big gap between the four motorcycles riding just behind the limousine and the next two motorcycles, Officer McLain and Baker, with location of alleged microphone right in the middle of this gap, a few feet before Elm Street.

[Mark Tyler]

Did Skelton mean viewer left or car's left (driver-side)?

The witness statements are generally unreliable and any well-meaning reconciliation usually leads to confirmation bias, no matter how immune we figure we are. The Zapruder film has just two bullet strikes in it: the head shot at Z312-313 and the double-wounding in the early-Z220s.

Maybe not an error, but I always see, starting with Thompson in 1967, Bower's reference to a "wall" taken to be the pergola's East Shelter.



Most of the car disappears from Bowers' view about the Z150s. There are then people between Bowers and the top area of the car until it goes behind the pergola. My model doesn't show the trees and spectators, and so seems more open-spaced. I only have a rough estimate of Bowers viewing position. Maybe Bowers meant the low wall extending from the shelter to the street.

Skelton gave several statements, but he said this to the FBI on December 17, 1963:

"Mr Skelton noticed that as an open limousine turned on Elm Street, it had moved approximately one hundred feet at which time he noticed dust spray up from the street in front of the car on the driver's side."

This is helpful as it corroborates the statement Virgie Baker gave later to the Warren Commission regarding the first shot timing, and location of the road where the bullet struck.

I completely agree with you Jerry, the Zapruder film only shows two obvious times of gunshots, 5 seconds apart.  Hunting down the exact moments of the other shot(s) is tricky, but without an audio recording we sadly have no choice but to parse the witness statements and try to make sense of the many contradictions.  As you say it's very easy to be led astray through misinterpreting a statement so I'm always grateful to hear an alternative point of view to help avoid this trap.

Lee Bowers is very helpful regarding the shots.  He gave a few interviews before his untimely death in 1966, with this quote from a Mark Lane interview:

"Directly in line - uh - there - of course is - uh - there leading toward the Triple Underpass there is a curved decorative wall - I guess you'd call it - it's not a solid wall but it is part of the - uh - park..."

Dale Myers helpfully mentions this in reference [114] here:

https://www.jfkfiles.com/jfk/html/badgeman_4.htm

By saying the wall is curved and not solid he is referring to the pergola which is curved and has holes in it.  Therefore my interpretation is that he failed to hear any shot or shots before Z250, after which the Presidential limo disappeared behind the pergola, and he then heard three shots fired.  Helpfully he said the final shot was around the time it re-emerged which seems to be around Z390-Z400 which helps pin the final shot several seconds after the head shot.

[Mark Tyler]

One thing that I notice is that this animation shows Officer McLain, across from Officer Baker, nowhere near the intersection of Houston and Elm, at the time of the first shot, as predicted by the acoustic experts. This animation is correct in this respect. This prediction by the acoustic experts has proven false. There is a big gap between the four motorcycles riding just behind the limousine and the next two motorcycles, Officer McLain and Baker, with location of alleged microphone right in the middle of this gap, a few feet before Elm Street.

Indeed Joe, the position of McLain contradicts the HSCA acoustics analysis.  The other important point which proves that the microphone wasn't in Dealey Plaza is that it failed to pick up any sirens blaring after the shots.  Many witnesses reported that a siren started very soon after the head shot which does not appear at all on the dictabelt audio.  The dictabelt is a red herring!

[Dan O'meara]

Further, his animation has already proven, at least for me, and debunked one of the more ridiculous theories of the case - that the Zapruder film, and then the Nix and Muchmore films as well as photos, have been altered or frames have been removed.

Hi Michael,

Great thread.
I wonder if you would expand on this point as I believe it is of great importance in this case to separate discussion between 'the alterationists' and those who believe the various video/photographic evidence are a faithful representation of what occurred that day.
Between those who want to understand what actually happened that day and those who participate in this for their own ends.

[Mark Tyler]

Hi Michael,

Great thread.
I wonder if you would expand on this point as I believe it is of great importance in this case to separate discussion between 'the alterationists' and those who believe the various video/photographic evidence are a faithful representation of what occurred that day.
Between those who want to understand what actually happened that day and those who participate in this for their own ends.

Hi Dan.  While I was studying the films and photos for the animation I didn't notice any contradictions between any of the photos and the films so I assume they are indeed a faithful representation of what happened.  Also, the resulting animation smoothly moves the various cars and bikes which suggests there were no gaps or jumps in the continuity of what was recorded.  If a person running, or a car or bike suddenly speeded up or slowed down I would be suspicious, but everything seems to fit.

[Jim Brunsman]

Thanks to Mark for his efforts on this animation. I find it fascinating and eerie. One of the films shot shortly after the shooting shows a large number of spectators running up the grassy incline toward the fence. Not sure when this occurs, but it would be good to include it if it fits within the time parameters of your animation.

[Mark Tyler]

Thanks to Mark for his efforts on this animation. I find it fascinating and eerie. One of the films shot shortly after the shooting shows a large number of spectators running up the grassy incline toward the fence. Not sure when this occurs, but it would be good to include it if it fits within the time parameters of your animation.

Thanks Jim.  The running up the knoll by the spectators seems to start after officer Haygood gets off his bike and starts running up the knoll towards the fence and then the railway bridge over the underpass.  Here is the Willis 6 photo about 80 seconds after the head shot showing Haygood starting his run with the knoll completely empty:


Cabluck 2 taken about 8 seconds later shows some teenage boys running across in front of the pergola with Haygood in the distance:


Then we have the Bond 6 photo taken about 100 seconds after the head shot which shows the knoll with all of the people running across it towards Haygood who is scrambling up the wall.


Lastly we have the Cancellare 3 photo 116 seconds after the head shot showing all of the boys and other curious spectators have clustered around Haygood on top of the wall:


All of these photos are depicted in the animation, and are shown as yellow flashes with the text in the top left explaining each of them (just press the pause button to catch them).  The are some later films depicting an even larger swarm of people on the knoll but this was several minutes later and not captured in the animation.  When I completed the animation I was surprised it took well over a minute for people to charge up the knoll, but this project has been full of surprises for me as I uncovered the exact timing sequence of events!

[Jerry Organ]

Thanks Jim.  The running up the knoll by the spectators seems to start after officer Haygood gets off his bike and starts running up the knoll towards the fence and then the railway bridge over the underpass.  Here is the Willis 6 photo about 80 seconds after the head shot showing Haygood starting his run with the knoll completely empty:

Cabluck 2 taken about 8 seconds later shows some teenage boys running across in front of the pergola with Haygood in the distance:

Then we have the Bond 6 photo taken about 100 seconds after the head shot which shows the knoll with all of the people running across it towards Haygood who is scrambling up the wall.

Lastly we have the Cancellare 3 photo 116 seconds after the head shot showing all of the boys and other curious spectators have clustered around Haygood on top of the wall:

All of these photos are depicted in the animation, and are shown as yellow flashes with the text in the top left explaining each of them (just press the pause button to catch them).  The are some later films depicting an even larger swarm of people on the knoll but this was several minutes later and not captured in the animation.  When I completed the animation I was surprised it took well over a minute for people to charge up the knoll, but this project has been full of surprises for me as I uncovered the exact timing sequence of events!

    "Bowers and others saw a motorcycle officer dismount hurriedly and
     come running up the incline on the north side of Elm Street. The
     motorcycle officer, Clyde A. Haygood, saw no one running from the
     railroad yards."

          -- Warren Report

While the Report correctly identifies Haygood as the running policeman, they are probably wrong about Bowers having seen Haygood.

     Bowers: At the time of the shooting there seemed to be
          some commotion, and immediately following there was
          a motorcycle policeman who shot nearly all of the way
          to the top of the incline.
     Ball: On his motorcycle?
     Bowers: Yes.
     Ball: Did he come by way of Elm Street?
     Bowers: He was part of the motorcade and had left it for
          some reason, which I did not know.
     Ball: He came up---
     Bowers: He came almost to the top and I believe
          abandoned his motorcycle for a moment and then
          got on it and proceeded, I don't know
     Ball: How did he get up?
     Bowers: He just shot up over the curb and up.
     Ball: He didn't come then by way of Ell, which dead
          ends there?
     Bowers: No; he left the motorcade and came up the
          incline on the motorcycle.
     Ball: Was his motorcycle directed toward any
          particular people?
     Bowers: He came up into this area where there are
          some trees, and where I had described the two men
          were in the general vicinity of this.

Bowers is describing the short run by Officer Hargis to the corner of the retaining wall. Only Hargis didn't ride his motorcycle there; Bowers pictured that in his mind. It would be impossible for Bowers to see to where Haygood dismounted and ran up the knoll. Maybe after Haygood arrived at the abutment. Dale Myers determined that the "two men" Bowers refers to were in the area between the pergola's west shelter and the wooden fence, so Bowers could have seen Hargis' white helmet as he got to the retaining wall.

Haygood was a block away when he heard three shots. He passed the Newman family who were on the ground. He said: "Some of them were pointing back up to the railroad yard, and a couple of people were headed back up that way." When he returned to his cycle, he was told the shots came from the Depository.

    "A motorcycle policeman, Clyde A. Haygood, dismounted in
     the street and ran up the incline. He stated that he saw no
     one running from the railroad yards adjacent to the overpass.
     Subsequently, at 12:37 p.m., Haygood reported that the shots
     had come from the Texas School Book Depository Building."

          -- Warren Report



The man in the suit running on the sidewalk is NBC reporter Robert MacNeil. Richard Trask in "Pictures of the Pain" thought it might have been Dallas Morning News reporter Kent Biffle. MacNeil was in the same Press Bus as the photographer, Harry Calbuck, who was working for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

James Altgens is standing at the left edge of the Calbuck photo. This would be after he's taken his photo of Zapruder and Sitzman down off the pedestal, and himself having crossed the street.