The Magic Bullet Theory

[David Lifton]

What made O’Connor important is what he told the House Select Committee, and is recorded in the HSCA Outside Contact Report of Purdy and Flanagan, in 1977, and it comes down to 3 basic facts concerning the JFK autopsy:

1. JFK’s body arrived in a shipping casket

2. Inside, it was in a body bag

3. The cranium was empty.

O’Connor is a direct witness to these events, which is surely what was being suppressed by the “order not to talk,” which he (and the others) were placed under verbally, and then in writing, on November 26, 1963, the day after JFK’s funeral. Moreover, it was the recision of the “order not to talk” which made it possible for him (and the other) Bethesda witnesses to be interviewed by the HSCA.

Those interviews were conducted in 1977/78, and the appropriate reports written. But then Blakey didn’t like what they said and it was all locked up — and not scheduled for release until 2029.

Two things changed that schedule for the much delayed release of this information:

(1) I learned of, located, and interviewed the witnesses in 1979; and incorporated their accounts into Best Evidence, which was submitted in manuscript form by April, 1980, and was in the book stores by January, 1981..

(2) The JFK Records Act—passed as a result of Oliver Stone’s 12/91 release of JFK—led to the original HSCA documents being released in 1993/94.

Of course, the public didn’t have to wait until 1993/94; they could (and did) read Best Evidence, published in January, 1981.

The substance of what O’Connor (and the others) had to say made its first public appearance in Best Evidence, which was number one on many best seller lists by April of 1981. Further, I arranged to film his account, in October, 1980, at his home in Gainesville, Florida,, and that was broadcast nationally on several shows in the Spring of 1981 (e.g. Tom Snyder) plus in many cities across the U.S. where I went on my book tour, always carrying with me a 3/4” video of O’Connor and the other key Bethesda witnesses.

Neither the way O’Connor’s account became public nor any of the 3 key points that O’Connor made that made his account historically significant is mentioned in the obituary. The obit about Paul O’Connor should be focused on what was important about him as a witness, and the information he had which pointed to fraud in the autopsy; and how those facts became known—not on who fraternized with whom, and in what year.

When then HSCA report was released in July, 1979, and I saw the statement about the body bag, I located O’Connor (and the others), interviewed him (and the others, all in the fall of 1979) and published their accounts. (This is described in Chapter 26 of B.E.)

O’Connor’s statements that the body arrived in a body bag, inside a shipping casket; and that the cranium was empty—all that is nowhere to be found in the obituary but is spelled out in the HSCA (Purdy/Flanagan) Outside Contact Report, and it would have remained locked up until 2029, were it not for the JFK Records Act, which made it available in 1993/94. It only became available in 1981—a full 13 years earlier---because of Best Evidence.

In short, I played the major role in locating and interviewing (at length, and on camera) Paul O'Connor--and seeing to it that he was exposed, repeatedly, to a national television audience. None of that is mentioned in

the obit. Instead, the obit limits my involvement to this single sentence: "Mr. O'Connor was interviewed by David Lifton for Best Evidence”—as if events that happened in 1979-1981 can be ignored. They cannot and should not.

Starting in the Spring of 1981, Paul O’Connor’s face was all over the tv, in national broadcasts (e.g. Tom Snyder show) and in major news shows in individual cities across the country, where I was sent on tour, always carrying 3/4” video tapes of his account. Another burst of publilcity occurred on the 20th anniversary (1983), another on the 25th (1988) and still more on the 30th (1993).

As Paul himself said to me back then, “Thanks for putting me on the map, buddy.”

Of course, I realize that the obit ought to be focused on Paul O’Connor, not me; but we are inextricably linked because my book and video were the means by which Paul O’Connor’s critical information became available to the world. The obit, as currently written, misses all that entirely. Instead of being written about the events of 1977-1981, when all this occurred, its as if its focused on the year 2000, or who O’Connor was fraternizing with in the late 1990s, or what he said to William Law 22 years after I first interviewed him and filmed him.

Why in the world is there this misplaced emphasis? The role of B.E. is not just diminished, it is ignored. Further, what O’Connor had to say that was important is also ignored.

The result: that O'Connor's account, and its 3 key features (the way the body arrived--shipping casket, body bag, etc.--and the empty cranium)--is omitted.

That’s like writing an obit of Thomas Edison and omitting the fact that he discovered the electric light bulb.

For your reference, I’m attaching a chronology of my involvement with O’Connor. Perhaps what you generate in the future can be a more accurate reflection of this record.

[John Simkin]

For anyone who has never seen it:

[Gil Jesus]

What we are left with is the FBI having reported a solid chain of possession for #399 to the Warren Commission. But the links in the FBI’s chain appear to be anything but solid. Bardwell Odum, one of the key links, says he was never in the chain at all and the FBI’s own, suppressed records tend to back him up. Inexplicably, the chain also lacks other important links: FBI 302s, reports from the agents in the field who, there is ample reason to suppose, did actually trace #399 in Dallas and in Washington. Suppressed FBI records and recent investigations thus suggest that not only is the FBI’s file incomplete, but also that one of the authors may have been right when he reported in 1967 that the bullet found in Dallas did not look like a bullet that could have come from Oswald’s rifle.

I'd like to stick my two cents in here as well. Without a bullet track through the body, there is no PROOF of a transiting bullet. A metal-jacketed bullet would have transited the body and left its track through the body. But when the prosectors tried to probe the back wound, the probe would not go through ( Boswell testimony to ARRB ). For the SBT to be REAL, that probe should have come out the throat wound.

It didn't. That tells me that the wounds weren't made with any military-type ammunition and the SBT is nothing but BS.

[Michael Hogan]

I agree Gil, the evidence of the ARRB about the probing of the wound with a malleable instrument is compelling.

The failure of the Warren Commission to question Sibert and O'Neil and the decision not to include their report in the 26 volumes is telling.

In 1966 Paul Hoch found what's come to be known as the Sibert-O'Neil report in the National Archives and distributed it to researchers

The probing of President Kennedy's back wound and the inability of the autopsists to find a point of exit has been known for a long time.

[Thomas H. Purvis]

What we are left with is the FBI having reported a solid chain of possession for #399 to the Warren Commission. But the links in the FBI’s chain appear to be anything but solid. Bardwell Odum, one of the key links, says he was never in the chain at all and the FBI’s own, suppressed records tend to back him up. Inexplicably, the chain also lacks other important links: FBI 302s, reports from the agents in the field who, there is ample reason to suppose, did actually trace #399 in Dallas and in Washington. Suppressed FBI records and recent investigations thus suggest that not only is the FBI’s file incomplete, but also that one of the authors may have been right when he reported in 1967 that the bullet found in Dallas did not look like a bullet that could have come from Oswald’s rifle.

I'd like to stick my two cents in here as well. Without a bullet track through the body, there is no PROOF of a transiting bullet. A metal-jacketed bullet would have transited the body and left its track through the body. But when the prosectors tried to probe the back wound, the probe would not go through ( Boswell testimony to ARRB ). For the SBT to be REAL, that probe should have come out the throat wound.

It didn't. That tells me that the wounds weren't made with any military-type ammunition and the SBT is nothing but BS.

"That tells me that the wounds weren't made with any military-type ammunition"

NOPE! Merely tells that the bullet that struck only penetrated a short distance.-----Something that has been documented and known for a long, long time.

"and the SBT is nothing but BS."

Actually, the SBT is a demonstrated fact. Just that CE399 IS NOT the SBT.

[Thomas H. Purvis]

Actually, the SBT is a demonstrated fact.

Really? Demonstrated by whom?

Whomever it was that shot JFK from the sixth floor of the TSDB!

[Mike Rago]

Here is a link to a related post...

http://educationforu...=90#entry257981

Here is my hypothesis of what might have happened.

When the bullet exited the presidents neck it was slowed down enough that it either got caught in Connally's clothes or landed in his seat and somehow got picked up when Connally got put on the stretcher. That bullet is the bullet we know as the "pristine" bullet. That bullet looks like a bullet that did not strike any bone structures. This implies that Connally was hit by a separate shot, fired almost simultaneously, which missed the president completely.

Here is a picture of that bullet from the bottom. It looks like that bullet "squeezed" through something. I think it "squeezed" through the presidents body. But it does not look like it hit any "bone" structures. Therefore it cannot be the bullet that struck Connally.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Mike Rago

[Rodney Rivers]

nm

Edited August 9, 2012 by Rodney Rivers

[Mike Rago]

Connally's flinch.

John Connally flinches to his left before he turns back to the right. He is hit by the second bullet as he turns back to the right.

You know what?

I think the bullet that passed through JFK's neck did hit Connally. It hit him on his left side but it was traveling so slow it only made him flinch. I would not be a bit surprised if that bullet ended up in Connally's hat!

Edited August 10, 2012 by Mike Rago

[David Josephs]

Problem being that neither LIFE nor NPIC found a shot between 213 and 242...

That JFK was hit either at 190, 203 or 213...

and JC says he was hit AFTER the first shot.... so does Nellie

and then there's those pesky downward angles that don't add up....

You're getting close...

DJ

[Mike Rago]

Your animation obscures the flinch.

I did say that Connally was struck by the second bullet.

I have provided a context in which one can view and interpret the following scene...

http://educationforu...81

Edited October 2, 2012 by Mike Rago

[Mark Knight]

Mike, the Tom Purvis theory MIGHT fit the scenario as you see it.

If I understand Mr. Purvis correctly, his theory is that the first shot went through a limb on the live elm tree in front of the TSBD...explaining the "squeezing" of CE399. This also scrubbed velocity and trajectory off the bullet, which Purvis believes tumbled end-over-end before striking Kennedy's jacket in a base-first position. This is how Purvis explains the type of wound that is seen in the back, as well as the type of damage to the clothing, as if a "wadcutter" bullet was used [Google it if you don't understand the concept of the wadcutter round].

According to Purvis, this would explain why the bullet only penetrated the body a short distance. His explanation for the throat wound is that a fragment of the lead from the center of the bullet was extruded, and it broke free from the rest of the bullet while in JFK's body, and made a smaller exit hole through the neck.

Purvis' theory then calls the Z313 hit the second shot, and says it was also fired from above and behind. Purvis believes, as I understand it, that the second shot is NOT responsible for ALL the damage to JFK's skull...because he believes the third shot, also from above and behind, occurs just as AP photographer calls it, directly in front of him at approximately Z-345. Purvis believes that Connally wasn't seriously hit until this third shot; that Connally was attempting to "hit the deck" in the only manner he could, in his wife Nellie's lap [after being unable to get the door open to exit the limo at around Z240].

As I understand Purvis' "3 shots, 3 hits" scenario, JFK was slumped far forward when he was struck by the 3rd bullet. The bullet entered the body at the hairline, tunneled under the skin a short distance,went through the already-weakened skull and exited near the top of the skull....and THEN went on to do most of the damage to Connally. THIS, according to Purvis, was the TRUE "single-bullet," and Connally's wrist injury was most likely caused by the fragment exiting JFK's throat, from the FIRST shot.

At least that's how I understand Purvis' theory. [Your understanding may be different.] And I may have a few details of his theory incorrect; I apologize to Mr. Purvis if I have misrepresented anything, because it certainly wasn't intentional.

Now, Mike, this may not be the theory you are wanting to see/hear...but it doesn't require any "magic" bullets, as the WC's SBT does. Do I believe Purvis' theory? I'm still not sure. BUT it makes more sense to me than the WC's "magic bullet" and "the shot that missed" scenario. [Don't ask me if I believe Oswald was firing the rifle from the 6th floor SE window of the TSBD; I have reasons to believe that, based on trajectories, at least one shot may have been fired from the southWEST window of the TSBD, rather than from the alleged "sniper's nest." But that's another topic, for another time.]

[Mike Rago]

Hi,

I am not familiar with Tom's theory but from what you describe I can say that his theory is not the theory I am putting forward.

I am not a ballistics expert but I do not think a bullet passing through a tree limb would cause the squeeze without deforming the lateral dimensions of the bullet significantly.

The 800 lb gorilla in the room is the evidence that two wounds , no exits and no bullets were found on the presidents body. The simplest and most reasonable explanation for that is a single bullet passed through the presidents body.

The fact that we have a bullet(the pristine bullet) that bears the evidence of being squeezed but not hitting any bone structures(or tree limbs) is very strong evidence to support a single bullet passing through the president.

A much simpler way to make most of the evidence that we know ( the pristine bullet, its longitudinal deformation only, the Connally flinch, two wounds , no exits no bullets) is the bullet passed through the presidents neck, slowed down and ended up in Connally's lap. (Not the presidents lap)

BTW, the longitudinal deformation (squeezing) of the bullet indicates , I believe, significant slowing of the bullet did occur as it passed through the object that squeezed it. I think Tom recognizes this. He is trying to slow the bullet before it got to the president but the other data does not support this.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Mike Rago

[Mark Knight]

Mike, I'm pretty sure that soft tissue and muscle alone would not--and COULD not--account for that kind of deformation of the bullet. Apparently you think it could.

[Mike Rago]

Mike, I'm pretty sure that soft tissue and muscle alone would not--and COULD not--account for that kind of deformation of the bullet. Apparently you think it could.

Yes I am sure it could, it did. The pristine bullet, with its longitudinal deformation only, is evidence for that.

Once again, the 800 lb gorilla in the room is the evidence we have that there are two wounds, no exits and no bullets.

In reality we do have one bullet. And that bullet is deformed in a way that is completely consistent with a bullet that passed through a body. But that bullet is not consistent with a bullet that struck bone structures so there must have been a second shot.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Mike Rago