Gayle Nix Jackson

Denis!!!  Thank GOD for JFK research like this. You Linda and Alex deserve huge Kudos! 

I wish James Richards was still on here David and Hi!!!  He told me years ago, the Nix film was also shown to FBI, CIA and Secret Service training classes.  I could never verify.

Steve Thomas, if still on the forum, studied this as well.  See here: 

I

On 5/27/2023 at 4:45 PM, Keyvan Shahrdar said:

 

sorry for the delay in answering.  Go to the JFK Assassination Debate portion of this site.

Best of luck!

OMG Greg, I'm so very sorry I'm just now seeing this.  I have SOOOO much more in regards to this, but still no DPD record.  As for Father Machann, I was so worried about his safety and then when he sent a cryptic email saying, (and I quote) "get me out of here and I'll tell you whatever you want to know about the JFK Assassination" it scared me.  That he felt that he's in that much trouble to say that to me means something.  I tried my best to find people within the so-called JFK Community to help me find an Ambassador or something, but to no avail.  IDK what's going on with Father Machann other than he's getting up in age; his son is military special ops and has obviously taken over his well-being; and I've spoken with Father Machann's sister and she too has no clue as to what's really going on.  I fear that if we don't ask him more, he'll soon no longer be with us.  As for Lt. Butler, I have MANY suspicions about him, but that's it...suspicions.  Lucille Connell has since passed away and our efforts at trying to find the answers to this part of the mystery are quickly fading.  Silvia was still alive as of 2020... I don't know now.  I still cannot get in touch with her.  Yes, Kennedy Ripples is but a torrid love story, but set against the truth of people who were around/knew of/familiar with the JFK assassination.   Marianne's son is still someone to contact, though he hasn't shared much more than what I wrote.  I cannot tell you how happy I am that there are other people out there who think the things I find interesting in the JFK case, they do as well.  Thank you Greg.  PS.  In the next 60 days there will be BIG news about the Nix film, the Muchmore Film and the JFK Autopsy photos.  Also, with the information that will soon be out, there will be more about missing evidence and the Zapruder film as well I believe (IDK how much will come out)  Thank you again for this topic's replies and for your studies!

My notes must be in storage Greg, 

I'll get them as soon as I can.  I do remember though, how this line of research progressed.  Marie Fonzi, one of the most wonderful people in the world and the late Gaeton Fonzi's wife answered several of my questions regarding Silvia and Lucille through his notes.  Then I found a transcript of a tape that the late Harold Weisberg made of his interviews with Trudi and Colonel Castorr.  I'm going to try and upload part of that here.  Then I found the La Fontaine's book OSWALD TALKED (no critique here) but it mentioned all the people I just spoke about:  Silvia, Lucille, Marcella Insua, Father Machann, Sarita, etc.  I did more research and found that Lucille had shared her story in testimony.  It must be the HSCA and I haven't time to look right now.  Anyway, the La Fontaine book led me to a little known romance book (supposedly fiction) where the author changed from her married name.  Marianne Rahmes=Marianne Sullivan and the book is Kennedy Ripples.  I tried to contact the author who has passed away, but I did converse with her son for over a year.  He told me to get in touch with Faith Leicht, and I asked her about the movie story.  She remembered it clearly, but unfortunately, she too has since passed away.  Anyway, Gary Shaw told me that Wallace Milam had been studying this for years so I got in touch with him.  We share info back and forth and I finally went to meet Father Machann in person.  Since you've read the book, you know how that interview went.  So many people say that was the worst chapter of the book but I love it because I wrote out our interviews in longhand after transcribing them and sent copies to Machann.  He and I are still in touch though I'm quite worried about him.  He's in Thailand and he says he's being held there by his son who won't let him return to the US.  He has been emailing me cryptic letters saying, "Please help me get out, I'll tell you all you want to know" and it worries me.  Is he truly in jeopardy?  Is he just saying this because of his age?  WTH is going on?  

Okay the file is too big.  Go here:  http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/C Disk/Castorr L Robert Colonel/Item 02.pdf

More to come I promise!

Gayle

Hi Greg!

Thank you so much for your questions and for reading our book.  Most of my research is in a storage building, but I'm just now reading this so I'm going to go through several files I have here and see if I can give you the information you're asking me.  Faith Leicht told me the story first, about 6 years ago.  Unfortunately, she passed away.  I then found the Connell testimony and you know, what...it may be HSCA testimony (I know I should know that off the top of my head) Anyway, Dave Perry works with a suburban Police department and when I found this information, I immediately begged him to snoop around because the DPD told me they had no records going that far back.  He came up empty as well.  In a REALLY long answer here, i haven't answered a thing, but give me a bit of time and I'll find those files for you!  As for Father Machann saying he thought the story was made up, why would Lucille and Faith say the same thing?  They weren't even friends!  Faith and Marianne Rahmes (aka Sullivan) were friends and Father Machann remembers Faith well.  He also didn't remember Trudi and Colonel Castorr which I find odd.  Your conjecture could be right, but why would Lucille say that?  She too had a crush on Father Machann and eventually took him on a trip to Connecticut I think.  She, though friends with Silvia, was jealous of her too.

Be back with more info!

Gayle

On 7/16/2021 at 1:41 PM, Paul Brancato said:

Can’t help you Gayle, but it sure is an interesting story. If you had to speculate, what do you think happened to Silvia on April 10, 1963? 

Hi Mr. Brancato,

I think there was MUCH more to the DRE/JURE Silvia and her sister Sarita were dabbling in. Sarita did much more dabbling.  Was Silvia there because she was aware of the Walker shooting?  Had her sister Sarita told her?  I just don't know why she would be there.  It was so far away from where she was that evening and definitely too far away from her home in Oak Cliff.  

Yes Mr. Johnson,

I'll try to find the memo or my interview transcripts and send it to you!

Gayle

15 hours ago, Steven Kossor said:

I'd welcome any deeper understanding of the rest of the visual record of the JFKA.  The Zfilm has received entirely too much ink (in more ways than one).

Thank you so much for your curiosity Mr. Kossor, the next long reply will be made to you.  I have a few calls to make and I'll be back (in my best Schwarznegger accent"

Gayle Nix Jackson

In the interim, look at the splice.  Why?  This isn't the Nix film, its the Muchmore film, but for years they were together at UPI.  There are splices in the Nix film as well.  

19 hours ago, David Andrews said:

Butting in: Gayle, please feel free to regale us here.  We won't be bored.

Hi David,

Okay, I think there are several important facets of the Nix film, I'll try and focus on a few with each answer for you kind people who have asked to know.  

First and foremost, if anyone needs to know details, timelines, etc, the person who is most knowledgeable about those is my dear friend Chris Scally.  If ya'll don't know him you should.  He, along with Jones Harris and a scant few others have known the value of the Nix film for years.  Okay, on to the first facts from me:

I may be looked upon as a Pollyanna, but I know my grandfather was there for a reason.  His personal reason was to show me the president of the US, but since he had to work that morning at the GSA, we were to meet him at Houston and Main.  The crowds were so prolific, I was such a bratty kid and my 24 year old  Mom was losing patience with my constant questions and observations and needs to go to the bathroom.  Urged on by my grandmother, we stopped at the "10 cent store" as my granny called it (across from the Adolphus) and found a booth, played Elvis records and went to the restroom. I later found out she and my grandmother had made plans to meet there should they get lost.  A man handed my Mom one of the "Kennedy for Treason" handbills which she immediately trashed.  The time kept ticking.  We were to meet my grandfather by 12 as we knew the motorcade would come by at 12:15ish.  There was no way we could get through the crowds so we stayed at the "10 cent" store.  The shots rang out; everyone in the place went silent and we all got anxious because what if something happened to pawpaw?  What if there was coup?  I mean, our minds were filled with worry, sadness and unknowing.

About an hour later, 1:15ish or so, my grandfather came walking by the store and since we were in the booth next to the window, we saw him and he came in.  From there, we went home because the despondency fell over Dallas like a huge thunderstorm.  There were flashes of horrid people yelling, "good riddance" or "he asked for it"  and I look back as a child who now has many years of age and think, those people were like the January 6th people.  I digress.

Anyway, he took my grandmother back  the  next morning around 7:30 to show her where it all happened.  That's on the original Nix film and some copies.  He still had film left, so since most if not all of the football games had been canceled, he used it the following Saturday, after the deaths of Tippit, Oswald and Jack Ruby's arrest.  In other words, the govt had no idea there was still a film out there that showed the assassination.  My grandfather didn't even know it.  You see, he was tall, about 6'7 and he was so freaked out about the shots around him, he gripped the Keystone grip at his waist (like white knuckling a steering wheel) which opened the shutter and the Nix film was made. He didn't see it until the first of December on a wall at Dynacolor, played over and over.  My grandfather was in shock!  

UPI had told he and my dad we could have the film back after 25 years;  1988.  I called UPI and asked for it.  One of the kind lawyers there said "absolutely" but then I got a call and a subsequent letter from another lawyer saying that lawyer was no longer with them and the laws had changed so we couldn't have it back until 1990.  When everything was finalized legally, we went to the NARA, UPI, UPITN and the company that took over UPI's holdings:  WTN.  No original film.  My experts?  Robert Groden and Gary Mack (more on that later)  Copies upon copies are everywhere, but no original?  How could that be?  How can a film the SS used to figure timing for the Zapruder film in a Dallas re-enactment be missing?  How can a film that shows the knoll and surrounding areas and then pans back after the murder be missing?  How can a film that has been analyzed by JPL, Aerospace, the WC, The HSCA, the Church Committee, the Rockefeller Commission be missing??  HOW????? People with no understanding say, "There are copies, you can find answers there."  No you can't.  You may get guesses, but not truth.  Once an original image burns the celluloid in taking the film, there are details that are lost through every regeneration.  It's like a clone.  Yes, it looks like what happened, but it doesn't have the details only the original would have.  

That's the first of many,many stories regarding the Nix film.  It's truly our own version of National Treasure and I am determined to find it, or find out what happened to it before I die.  I want the world to at least have an answer one way or another.  Was there or was there not shots from that area?

I don't want to bore you guys with all my stories, but there's the genesis and my motivation for finding it.  I so hope any of you who care decide to join in my cause contact me.  This is real.  This isn't theory.  This is like JFK's brain missing.  WHY????

Gayle Nix Jackson

On 7/16/2021 at 11:24 AM, Joe Bauer said:

Ms. Jackson, hello.

How long have you been trying to find the missing film?

Why do think the film has disappeared?

I'm not informed at all regards the Nix film.

Could you maybe share what you have been told regards what your grandfather's film might have shown that was possibly so important versus the other known films? Possibly even earth shaking?

Hi Joe,

Our family got the copyright back in 1988, but didn't happen until 1990.  At that time, we found the original film was missing.  Since that time, I've been trying to find out what happened to it.  I don't mean to whine, but I don't know why more people in the JFK Community aren't concerned about finding it.  It could prove or disprove there was a shooter behind the retaining wall and fence.  I of course have my reasons for thinking it disappeared, but it could be malfeasance, governmental ineptitude or something more nefarious.  I don't know what's worse:  thinking our government is untrustworthy or just inept.  Very sad to me!  Feel free to contact me and I will happily regale you with Nix stories.  I don't want to bore everyone here.  I will tell you, my grandfather ALWAYS believed shots came from what he and Tink Thompson called "The stockade fence".  I have written 2 books about it.  They are required reading at UVA and LaSalle College.  They're not best sellers, but they're considered great academic research.  God I hate tooting my horn!

ooh, I forgot to add this.  When I interviewed Faith Leicht before she passed away, she mentioned this story to me as well.  In the torchy romance novel, KENNEDY RIPPLES, Faith Leicht is the person Marianne Sullivan refers to as "HOPE".

I am trying to keep my mind off other things right now and thought I would present this to the Forum.  In my research, I found that Lucille Connell, a good friend of Sylvia Odio and Father Machann, testified to the WC that Sylvia Odio went to the Lakewood Theater with her younger sister Annie and her cousin, Marcella Insua.  During the movie, Sylvia said she had to go to the Ladies Room, but never came back.  Alarmed, Annie and Marcella searched for her frantically.  They then called Lucille Connell who called Father Machann to see if he knew where she was.  She was found wandering around the Turtle Creek area.  Now, the thing is, who picked her up?  How did she get there?  And why isn't there a record of this? This was April 10th, 1963.  The same date LHO allegedly took a shot at Walker.  The police picked Odio up and took her to Connell's home.  I asked the DPD, FOIA'ed, everything I could do to find evidence of this.  Does anyone else have any info?   I checked the KENNEDY RIPPLES thread to see if I could find any more info but to no avail.  I wrote a chapter I left out of my last book about all this because I couldn't find supporting evidence, just hearsay with no police report.

On 5/28/2021 at 8:11 AM, David Lifton said:

4. I believe it is a fact that the true "camera original" of the Nix lilm is nowhere to be found; and the same is true for Muchmore.   Gail Nix, Orville Nix's niece (not sure, as I write this, of the precise relationship) has navigated these complex waters with Robert Groden, (who, she realizes  probably has her uncle's property).  She finds it very upsetting -- similar in reaction to someone who suffers in the aftermath of a kidnapping.

Hello David and seriously?  You forgot how to spell my name and who I am?  I'm so upset!  I am Orville Nix's granddaughter, author of Orville Nix:  The Missing JFK Film and Pieces of the Puzzle.  You sent me a multi-page fax when I was on Geraldo.  And the part you did get right is that you're right.  I'm very upset because I have been given the run-around not only by our government but also by so-called researchers who have promised to help me find it.  The only researcher who has truly done the work I have is Chris Scally---a highly intelligent, serious, open-minded, meticulous researcher who knows more about my grandfather's film than I do.  After almost 60 years, we may be able to find an answer soon.

1 hour ago, David Boylan said:

Steve,

I'd recommend reading Gayle's book. (plug ) She goes into quite a bit of detail on the White Rock Lake picnic. She also interviews Larry Schmidt, Robert Surrey's children and Father Machann. 

This may be of interest. You have Sylvia Odio's friend Father Machann asking Sylvia Odio's Uncle Joaquin Insua to introduce John Martino at a JBS sponsored event. Also some discussion on changing a bumper sticker from "Kan the Kennedy Klan" to "Kill the Kennedy Klan." It also covers the crew at "Hollandale."

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=69111#relPageId=1&tab=page

Oswald giving speeches to anti-Castro Cubans - http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/O Disk/Odio Sylvia/Item 35.pdf

 

You are so awesome David!  Thanks for the plug and thanks for reading my book.  You know, when I asked him about John Martino, he had no recollection.  I'm hoping that changes as our communications continue!  Happy Easter and thanks again!

Gayle

19 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:

Gayle,

 

Here's why I have been asking.

Mike Kilroy and I have been having a conversation in another thread on the Forum entitled, "CNN: One JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theory that Can't Be Debunked is that the CIA Did It!" that was started by Jim Hargrove, about the speed with which the DRE released biographical background on Oswald on the afternoon of Nov 22nd.

 

It was my contention that, by doing so, the DRE got ahead of the story and killed two birds with one stone. They not only undercut LHO by portraying him as a "rat bastard, Castro-loving commie"; but they also undercut the CIA. I think they were whispering behind the scenes that not only was LHO was a commie, but also that he was an informant for the government. I think the exiles has been compiling a dossier on Oswald from a long time back. Every time an "Oswald" was around, their plans were foiled.

April, 1963 a planned raid in Cuba is waylaid (Alpha 66)

July, 1963 a training camp in Lake Ponchtrain is raided (MDC)

August, 1963 Carlos Bringuer voices suspicion that Oswald is an informant (DRE)

September, 1963 a "Cuban associate" of Sylvia Odio is told to stay away from Oswald (JURE)

November, 1963 the Miller/Whitter/Jhn Thomas Masen gun deal goes bad (Alpha 66)

Didn't Gerry Partick Hemming say that Oswald had contacted him and offered to help and Hemming told him to get lost?

After a while, you have to believe that people are putting two and two together.

I think this partially explains the CIA's post 11/22 panic over the Mexico City affair. The January 22, 1964 WC Executive Session analysis is spot on.

The DRE was initially formed as a propaganda arm. In this case, I think they out-Hunted Hunt and Phillips.

 

PS: Just as an aside, I read yesterday that the CIA AMSPELL cryptonym for the DRE was developed by Bill Harvey in November, 1962. When you put the DRE in front of it, it spells DRE/AMSPELL. Cute huh?

 

Steve Thomas

Dear GOD Steve!

I so agree with everything you're saying and it fits in nicely with my "pet theory" that the DRE was the key to the Odio visit...as you remember, when Annie first answered the door, they asked for Sarita.  As I mention in my book, Sarita was a member of the DRE and from all the interviews I did with people who knew her (including Father Machann's sister), she was the political one of the family.  Now, Silvia is affiliated with JURE, not the DRE, and it is my contention (though I cannot prove it) that Silvia was protecting her sister and her sister's politics from these strangers at the door.  Silvia, by all accounts, was very bright and knew Hemming as well. Her uncle, Augustin Guitart, her friend/intimate Father Machann; her cousin Marcella Insua....all these people were aware of her political leanings as well as her sister Sarita's.  I have heard rumor that Silvia also knew Oswald before the visit, but I cannot confirm that.  I interviewed Kiki Masferrer's son and he had nothing positive to say about the Odio family, nor could he confirm or deny the rumor about Oswald.  Father Machann and his sister are just the opposite in regards to the Odio sisters.  I agree with your contention about the DRE getting ahead of the story.  It was the DRE that shared the missile pictures as well.   Dreamspell huh?  WOW!

Gayle

20 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

David,

 

On the contrary. I have come to believe that the name Oswald was well known in the Cuban exile community as somebody to stay away from. His name goes back as early as August in New Orleans, when he visited Bringuer and offered to "help"; and probably as early as late March/early April when an "Oswald" tried to board a ship in Miami bound for a commando raid. That person was so obnoxious that Jerry Buchanan had to punch him in the mouth and knock him down. (Does that "Oswald" behavior sound familiar?)

According to Buddy Walthers, Oswald was seen going in and out of that house on Harlendale in the months prior to November 22nd.

I will be on the lookout for references, not in the U.S. spy community, but in the Cuban exile community to an "Oswald".

 

Steve Thomas

I too believe that Oswald was known to many in the Cuban Refugee Community, thus the thrust to "find" Father Machann and interview him.  By the way, Machann told me it wasn't the Secret Service that interviewed him and asked him to call Silvia, it was his parishioner, James Hosty.  Thanks for this enlightening thread Steve, it's right up my alley!

Gayle Nix Jackson

James Wagenvoord has written a chapter in my soon to be released book.  Yes, his story has been sourced and yes he is the real deal.  As Mr. Hancock says, we should be wary of "sources' but we should also, IMO, seek and try to validate stories from living witnesses as I have tried to do and let the reader decide for themselves if they are telling the truth or not.  So many of us in the JFK field, have agendas.  Mine is to find my grandfather's film as well as the truth as to what happened.  James Wagenvoord's only agenda is truth.  He has written 40+books that have nothing to do with the JFK Assassination.  The stories he tells in my book are from a personal memoir he wanted his daughter to have regarding his times at Life Magazine.  I'm indebted, honored and happy to call him a friend and have great respect for his whistle-blowing words.

Hi Pat,

Did you ever find a copy of this video?  Does anyone know who was on the photo panel?

Thanks,

Gayle

Hello Mr. Root,

Could you please contact me when you have time?

Thanks,

Gayle Nix Jackson

Thanks Jim (I hope you weren't being facetious!)

Is Mr. Dunne no longer with us?