Chris Bristow

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/27741-nix-frame-40-the-pergola-shot/

Here is a link to the thread on the trajectory over/through the Pyracantha.
 

I think the evidence for the pergola shooter amounts to nothing more than pareidolia.   This is what my eyes tell me but I think there may be physical proof to refute the pergola theory.

The second shot that Leroy Blevins said was the shot to Connally  has a fatal flaw, I believe. Plotting the overhead trajectory shows it passes over or through the pyracantha bush. When you add the vertical trajectory it passes right through the bush. I was very liberal in my estimate and tried to place the trajectory as high as possible but it still did not clear the bush. The bullet would exit the front of the bush very near the center. That means Connally would not have been visible to the shooter. Maybe I'm way off on the numbers. The height of the rifle above sea level is the hardest to estimate .  I will post a link to the thread with all the numbers. It is on this Forum. Unless there's a specific correction to be made to the height above sea level that I used for the rifle and Connally, the pergola shot to Connally does not work.

The vapor trail or muzzle blast seen from the pergola looks very much like scratches on the film that you can see in many previous frames. It does have the right angle to it. But with all the other scratches on previous frames I have to conclude it's just another scratch.

Regarding the JFK headshot there is a clear path from the pergola. I would like to point out though that the vapor trail from that shot would be pointing almost directly at the Nix line of sight. That means we would not see a line we would only see a single Dot of light or a very small horizontal smear of light. In addition the vapor trail in that frame would need to point at a downward angle across the frame not level as it appears in the photo. You would have a downward angle very similar to the theorized shot to Connally

18 minutes ago, Keyvan Shahrdar said:

Hi Chris,

Let's say:

00 top left

01 top right

10 bottom left

11 bottom right

Can you explain each picture you posted and the location to the full frame of the picture?

  I am interested in understanding what you are looking at. 

I am good at discerning figures in fuzzy images.

 

Yes I should explain each of those and they are all about the light and shadows on the wall. I am not identifying and people in the images.
Top Left: Nix film after the shooting when he walked about 20 ft west and dropped a few inches in elevation. A Pullman car window is the square image in the left center. All the arrows point to the north west wall. That is the wall just to the right of the west pergola door. The Moorman Image at top right shows the edge of the wall relative to the shadows and bright spots in question.

Top Right: Close up of the same wall in the Mary Moorman photo.

Bottom Left: Nix film during the shooting. Nix has not moved west yet so the Pullman car window should be behind the pergola wall. The same 6 bright spots are shown in each image.

Bottom Right: A screen grab from the first video in your post.

Here are several images of the shadow and light on the wall of the pergola. The blustery wind caused this to change second by second. But if you start with the Mary Moorman image in the upper right you should recognize a pareidolia face on the wall. It sort of looks like the joker and is facing slightly left. The top arrow in Moorman and the arrow marked A in the upper left (Nix) image point to the Jokers left eye. Below the face are 3 bright spots marked B in the Nix image. At the bottom are two more bright spots on the wall seen in all the images. (Mary Moorman was a bit lower so the lowest two spots barely rise above the wall in the foreground.)
 I think those 2 lower spots should have been blocked for a second if somebody past in front of them as they exited the pergola. Maybe they could duck down and go under the 3 spots (B) while they stepped over the two lower spots of light? Seems like quite a squeeze.
  Unrelated to this post is the CT that the bottom left nix image  revealed a shooter in the background. The 'shooter' image is made up of the two lower bright spots. In comparing that image in the Moorman and Nix images it is obvious the head and left arm of the 'shooter' is light falling on the wall of the pergola.

Here is an overlay of frames 274 and 275. The limo does stay in focus because Z was panning with the limo.

22 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

I said it was safe to say he either actually was told such a thing by Kinney, or was pretending he did after reading what's been written online.safe to say he either actually was told such a thing by Kinney, or was pretending he did after reading what's been written online.

As far as motive...yikes... To me it's clear as day.

The SS agents in Kennedy's detail were horrified by the assassination, and were horrified by the looky-loos who'd been trying to get a peak at the brain and blood in the limo. So Kinney started cleaning it up. He quickly realized his actions were inappropriate, however--seeing as the limo was a crime scene--and stopped mid-wash.  

He'd already picked up the bullet, however. What was he to do with it? It belonged to the Dallas authorities, who had jurisdiction over the case. If he brought it back to Washington, for what's worse, he'd have to admit he cleaned up the limo, and risk termination.  So he went Inside and placed it on the stretcher he thought had been used to bring Kennedy inside, and high-tailed it out of there. It's perfectly understandable to me, and not remotely surprising. 

We know, moreover, that Kinney was uncomfortable with his clean-up of the limo, as he never mentioned it any report. We know further that he wasn't the only one made uncomfortable by this. While the clean-up was widely reported in the press by newsmen who'd witnessed it firsthand, it went unreported in all the SS reports on the assassination, and was even rejected by William Manchester, who'd personally interviewed a number of those in Kennedy's detail. 

That no such clean-up occurred was part of LN lore, for that matter, until writers such as myself began compiling all the eyewitness accounts by newsmen, and the Disco channel admitted there was a clean-up in one of their Oswald-did-it specials. 

 

 

"I don't think I was alone in concluding Kinney had moved the bullet...long before Loucks came forward and said Kinney admitted moving the bullet. As a result, it's safe to say that he either was told such a thing by Kinney, or was pretending he did after reading what's been written online.""
  I would think it is very safe to say Loucks may have made up the story because it was already online. I don't think it becomes any safer to say anything about Kinney based on Loucks claims simply because he had access to the story online.

 When we attribute peoples behavior to being 'horrified' it can explain crazy illogical behavior and there is no doubt they were horrified. But SS agents destroying evidence is a hard one to grasp. They could have easily put the top on or moved the limo and they did both. This makes it harder to accept that they went to the trouble of getting a bucket and did some cleaning only because they were horrified.
 I have had a long standing question about the limo seat and the wiping up of the blood. Looking at the back seat I would expect to see multiple large wipe marks if someone wiped a sponge across the seat. Did no one attempt to clean the main part of the gore. Did they just clean around the edges?
Sorry for any typos here. My neighbor just drove their car thru my garage door a few minutes ago. Thought a bomb went off!

39 minutes ago, Pat Speer said:

I don't think I was alone in concluding Kinney had moved the bullet...long before Loucks came forward and said Kinney admitted moving the bullet. As a result, it's safe to say that either 1) Kinney really did move the bullet and tell this to Loucks, or 2) Loucks had read oniine discussions of the possibility Kinney moved the bullet, and had decided to spice things up by claiming Kinney had admitted moving the bullet. 

I would have to know more about Loucks before deciding which one is more likely. 

Did anyone look into Loucks' background after he came forward? 

I don't know that it is " safe to say"  that Kinney moved the bullet. It is an assumption made by more than one person but that does not allow us to say it's likely true. Loucks jumping on the bandwagon of an existing Theory may be interesting but in itself doesn't allow us to assume  it is true.

Maybe there are some related facts that support the story that I am not aware of. But at this point I can find no logical reason for Kinney to plant the bullet. I think the theory is lacking a credible motive for moving the bullet. 

On 7/1/2022 at 11:28 PM, Vince Palamara said:

I tend to agree. It is hard to dismiss Loucks "revelations" as a whole, but, at the same time, I am skeptical, especially based on my own interviews with Kinney (2 in all) which pre-date the release of the 1978 HSCA interview with Kinney in 1996 by the ARRB, Kinney's death in 1997 and Loucks revelations in 2013.

After Loucks  told the story about Kinney moving the bullet I lost any faith I had in his credibility. It does not effect Kinney's cred though.

2 hours ago, John Butler said:

Chris,

Are there any other markings such as other initials on the bullet?  Shouldn't there be markings by Secret Service, FBI lab, or other police folks who handled the bullet before Elmer Todd?

I assume that but am not that familiar with the issue.

The reasoning given for why Kinney moved ce399 from the limo to the stretcher makes no sense to me. He took ce399 out of the limo because "He wanted to get the car cleaned up"? The limo had JFK's brains all over the back seat, how does removing a bullet help clean it up at all? It is completely nonsensical.
   "He didn't want the president to be remembered like that". Like what? finding the bullet on the stretcher as opposed to the limo somehow preserves what JFK was "remembered" as?
 This story defies logic. I know people can act strange in such circumstances but even that explanation falls way short. imo.

On 6/30/2022 at 2:50 PM, Mark Ulrik said:

Fair enough. But is it really that surprising that the gouge looks different from different angles?

EDIT: I refer to the darker areas as shadows but they are really just reflecting less light due to the angle of the gouge changing at the demarcation of darker and lighter areas.

  I think a most confusing part of understanding these two images is the reversed shadows. The top image illuminates the left side and leaves the right side darker because it sits at a slightly different angle to the light. The bottom photo is taken from farther right and illuminates the top right side and puts the left side of the ridge in shadow.
That left side is out of focus and the shadow line in not clear but it appears to lean a bit more than the bottom demarcation. That would be the effect of the camera being a little more to the right in the bottom image.
     In the bottom photo the far right side of the mark has an almost vertical edge. In the top photo that same edge leans maybe 15 degrees to the left.
   The bottom photo is looking straight at that vertical edge and so you can't see the top of it is leaning directly away from the camera. It is leaning away from the camera because the bullet gets smaller as you get closer to the tip.
 But in the top photo you see that vertical edge from the side. The bullet narrows towards the top and the slightly oblique angle reveals that. That is why it appears to lean left more in the top photo.
 The mark having multiple angled surfaces makes the lighting of different parts change form one photo to the other. Beyond that there are maybe a dozen markers that match between the two images.

1 hour ago, Andrej Stancak said:

As to what head wound the Parkland doctors and nurses could see on Kennedy's head, Dr Aguilar's narrative explains the situation in Trauma Room One. The head wound could not be seen from a side view and therefore, it could not be located on the convexity of the parietal bone, and it took some effort to observe the head wound in the back of the head:

"Author David Lifton reported that Parkland emergency nurse Audrey Bell claimed that JFK's skull wound "was so localised at the rear of JFK's skull that, from her position on the right side on the right hand side, with Kenned's lying face up, she couldn't see any damage". It is certainly likely that a blown-out skull wound on the right side would have been visible to witnesses standing on that side. But had the skull defect been more on the back of JFK's head, rather than on the side - which, as we'll see is what virtually all the witnesses first reported - then some sense can be made of Jenkins' and Bell's comments that the wound was not visible to side witnesses. It would also help explain the similar, previously suppressed, report from a witness who was present at JFK's autopsy - General Phillip C. Wehle, Commanding Officer of the military District of Washington, D.C. After interviewing Wehle in 1978, House Select Committee on Assassination (HSCA), councel D. Andy Purdy  J.D., reported that, (Wehle) noted the wound was in the back of the head so he would not see it because the President was lying face up..." (page 179)

"The Boston Globe reported that "some (Parkland) doctors doubted the extent to which a wound to the rear of the head would have been visible  since the President was lying supine with the back of his head on a hospital cart." 

The Globe immediately refuted that speculation, reporting. "But others, like (Dr. Richard Dulaney) and (neurosergeon Dr. Robert) Grossman, said the head at some point was lifted up, therefore exposing the head wound". Similarly, author David Lifton reported that Parkland emergency nurse Audrey Bell, who couldn't see JFK's head wound though she was standing on the right side, asked Dr. Perry. "Where was the wound?", Perry pointed to the back of the President's head and moved the head slightly in order to show her the wound". During sworn interviews with the ARRB in 1998, Dr. Paul Peters reported , "(anesthesiologist Dr. Marion T.) Jenkins said, "Boys, before you think about opening the chest, you'd better step up here and look at his brain." And so at that point  I did step around Dr. Baxter and looked into the President's head...". The ARRB's Gunn inteviewed neurosurgeon Robert Grossman, M.D. on March 21, 1997. reporting, "He (Grossman) and Kemp Clark (Chairman of Neurosurgery at Parkland) (sic) together lifted President Kennedy's head so as to be able to observe the damage to the President's head." (page 193).

Quoted from Aguilar, G, The converging medical case for conspiracy, In: Murder in Dealey Plaza, J. Fetzer (ed.), Chicago Press, 2000.

I would think at least part of the head wound would have been visible as JFK lay supline. As you know the location described and illustrated by so many put the wound on the right rear not the absolute rear.
 When Dr Peters called Dr Clark's attention to the wound he was able tell Dr Clark it looked "fatal". Dr Peters also puts the wound on the "right" occipital parietal.
Dr Clark inspected the wound well enough to say it was "mortal"(Per Perry and Peters). In his WC testimony it says  "insurviuvable"  and confirmed it was in the right* posterior.

 I have seen many instances where witnesses say "Back of the head" but then more specifically point to the right O.C. Theran Ward said "Back of the head in his report but is shown touching his fingers to the right mastoid area. Nurse Bowron said 'Back of the head" but the drawing she agreed with was in the right rear.
 The back of the head is the entire posterior half and it seems common for people to say back of the head as a generalization. I seem to recall even McClelland using the term back of the head as he pointed to the right occipital parietal. But of course we know he has placed it in the right rear all his life.
I wonder if after turning JFK's head to show Bell did Perry turn it back to face up? Or did he leave it turned a bit as the doctors would soon be inspecting it after the initial efforts of restoring breath and circulation. Bell was there very early on so if Perry left the head slightly turned it would be visible for all the doctors who saw it after Audrey Bell.
 I think it is possible all the gore, scalp and hair may have made it hard to find the wound initially. But in stark contradiction to that many staff saw the large amount of blood and brain tissue being ejected with every chest compression. Multiple staff mentioned this. So how is it they can't find the wound at first when blood comes gushing out with every chest compression? Baxter said in his WC testimony that 'literally the right* side of his head had been blown off". Specter asked him what he saw "when he arrived". Baxter said when he arrived in the room he noticed a head wound that was largely covered in blood and it's extent was not immediately determined.
 Dr Carrico who was the first doctor there said they removed his clothes then looked at he throat wound. They felt around his back for wounds then verified there was no large sucking chest wound, "then we proceeded to look at the head wound", "which had been previously observed."  When was "previously"? They had just got his clothes off and made a couple observation but someone had already looked at the head wound. In addition it should be noted that in taking his clothes off the body would have to be moved around a bit. How do you get the shirt and coat off? You have to pull the shirt and coat from under him or lift him up a little.
 So I have to assume that they could see at least part of the wound before tuning the head. I can only assume the term "Back of the head" or "posterior" were used in a general way because far too many staff put the wound on the right rear.
 

10 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

The GIF morphing the black and white and color BOH photos was created by single-assassin theorist John Mytton and posted on the JFK Assassination Forum. He made a similar GIF for the black and white top of the head photos. I used and replicated his work on my website. I later added two additional GIFs to my website, The first one was a GIF morphing together the two color BOH photos. The second was a series of GIFs morphing together the two so-called mystery photos (the photos showing the cranium after the brain had been removed). 

The significance of these GIFs can not be overstated. 

The GIF created by Mytton proves the opposite of what he thought it would. It proves that the so-called hole in the cowlick is not a hole. Upon close inspection, it also demonstrates a hole in the hair an inch or so to the right of the EOP--exactly where the autopsy doctors said it was. This GIF also proves that the top of JFK's skull was shattered and that the right top of his head in the photos was essentially a loose bone flap. IF the dolts in the mainstream media and medical establishment were to study this GIF it would lead to a re-opening of the case, IMO.

The GIF of the top of the head is also interesting. It demonstrates the massive damage to the top of Kennedy's skull.

The GIF morphing the two color BOH photos demonstrates furthermore that the Groden/Mantik claim the back of the head in these photos is a matte...is not a matte, as the back of the head changes slightly, and the instability at the top of the head apparent in the first morph is confirmed.

As far as the GIFs of the two mystery photos...these demonstrate three things which most are still not ready to deal with. The first is that these photos were taken at a specific angle to the table that precludes these photos from being photos of Kennedy's forehead--the interpretation pushed by the HSCA FPP. The second is that these photos reveal a bullet hole an inch or so to the right of the EOP-just where the autopsy doctors claimed it was. And the third is that these GIFs prove that what most assume is a crack on the skull, and what is officially a crack on the skull, is really the handle of a tool sticking out of the skull, presumably a scalpel. This is perhaps my most interesting discovery. One prominent LN cursed me out over this because gosh darn it he realized I was right. The Clark Panel and HSCA FPP grossly misinterpreted/misrepresented these photos, and this can be demonstrated through the GIFs on my website. If the dolts in the mainstream media and medical establishment were to study these GIFs, it would lead to a re-opening of the case, IMO.

 

Thanks for the info about the GIF. It does seem important. I will check out your GIF's.

There is a well known GIF of multiple shots of the back of the head as they turn it. I think it might be Dr Mantik's but I can't access the site.
 I never knew if just the 1st and last images are real and the rest were morphed, or if they are all real. Anyone know about that GIF?

CORRECTION: Nurse Bell was not in charge of the nurses in the E.R. Bell was the head surgical nurse.


When Dr Jones received the call that JFK was coming he immediately turned to Audrey Bell, The surgical nurse supervisor, and told her to get an operating room ready for a quick surgery. (volume 6 pg 51.)
  I have been reading about prepping a room for surgery and it varies depending on what part of the body they are operating on. I would think Nurse Bell would likely take a look at the wound before deciding how to set up the operating room.
 I would also think if she is the supervisor she would look to see which of  her nurses were assisting with JFK before leaving to attend to JC.
 I have heard attacks on her sanity and heard her called a xxxx in the past but I have not seen any real evidence other than conjecture.
 The most often repeated claims I see to explain away the consistency of the Parkland reports is they just made a mistake or they were too busy so they never got a good look, or they miss identified the wound location.
  The WC testimony lays out their inspection of the head wound and utterly refutes the notion that they did not get a good look at it or that they were too busy.
Dr Peters calls Dr Clark's attention to the head wound because it looked "Fatal". Dr's Clark and Jenkins then inspect the wound. Doctor Clark then notes JFK's condition. 'No neurological or muscular response' and Bashour gives a thumbs down on the EKG. Then Clark states to the WC "And the head wound was insurvivable". The WC report does quote him as saying "insurvivable", a typo I assume. Dr's Perry and Peters testified that he used the specific word 'mortal'. The very next words out of Clark's mouth were to instruct the other doctors to stop the resuscitation efforts. So yes they did get a good look at the wound.
 The sheer volume of witnesses who put the wound in the occipital parietal or occipital temporal rule out them all making the same mistake. When you compare the official wound location to the Parkland testimony there is only  a small variance as to location. There are outliers like Dulany and Theran Ward but even if you throw out  questionable witnesses the score is still overwhelmingly on the side of the CT. It is also interesting that most of the doctors described the same slightly protruding right eye and and the slightly deviated pupils. They were paying close attention to JFK.
 I know the argument is made that the staff really put the wound in 'back' of the head. you will find several who say 'back of the head'. but in the same sentence they put their hand on the occipital parietal. There are many cases when they say 'Back of the head" but then more specifically point to or say occipital parietal. Theran Ward wrote "Back of the head in his report. but when photographed he touches his fingertips to the right mastoid area. Nurse Bowron used the same term but then agreed with a drawing that put it in the occipital parietal.
The occipital parietal junction IS in the posterior(Rear) portion of the head. It is claimed the Parkland staff mostly all said it was all the way in the back and since JFK was laying on his back the far rear of the head would not have been visible to them. Therefore if they said it was in the 'back' they must all be wrong because they would not have been able to see it. This is a tortured theory that relies on reinterpreting the witnesses meanings of the wound location.
 Lets say the numbers were reversed and 19 staff supported the official story and only 4 supported the CT. Lets say as a CT person I tried to argue that we should take the word of those 4 doctors over the 19. I would be laughed out of the room for having a weak minded conspiracy brain. In what world would we accept 4 over 19? But in fact it is the skeptics that often accept the 4 over the 19 and don't even question it.
 I have seen multiple debates with skeptics over Parkland end the same way. They said "it does not matter anyway because the autopsy x-rays and photos trump the Parkland staff".
 It is interesting to note that if you get to the last point in the debate and they say "Well it does not matter anyway because.", it seems to be an admission that they did not prevail in the discussion up to that point.
 The final point is illogical though. The fundamental premise of the CT is that the overwhelming testimony from Parkland puts the official autopsy records in doubt. This issue has to be resolved before the autopsy records can be trusted. Problem is there has never been anything close to a satisfactory explanation for Parkland.
 

Thank you Chris and Steven for the weighted average. I have never looked closely at the  3 second difference. I used to think the Wiegman image of the limo was problematic it would loose maybe 40 ft of travel down Elm if it slowed to 2mph for a couple seconds. But seeing the limo was going over 35 mph at the Wiegman position means the 40 ft difference is only about one second. not being able to come up with a dead accurate timing from head shot to Wiegman I have to assume the Wiegman position could represent the limo having slowed to 2mph.

Chris: I think 133 to 485 should be about 468 ft. I get 430 ft from 133 to 471 and frame 485 puts the limo about 40 ft farther into the overpass if going 35 mph. I get 16.8 mph average speed.

353frames (133-486)

425ft

425/353 = 1.2ft per frame = 14.94mph

16.8 - 14.94 = 1.86 difference in our two estimates. 1.86 mph is 2.71 additional feet traveled per second. Over 20 seconds it adds 70 ft. Near the overpass the limo was moving at 50 feet per second so this small difference would account for half of the missing travel time down Elm.

From frame 313 to 471 is 8.5 seconds. The 3 measurements on my chart from 313 to 471 add up to 8.38 seconds.
313 to 414 at 14 mph = 4.88sec.
414 to 454 at 25mph = 2.5sec.
454 to 471 at 38 mph = 1.0sec.
Adding these 3 separately I don't need to do a weighted average of the 3 but each separate one would need to be adjusted. I.E. At 414 the speed is 14 mph but obviously it was moving slower at the start of that measurement at 313.
The weighted average was one mph different than my estimate. I would assume the difference would be much less when calculating the weighted from 313 to 471 as that is when the limo was moving the fastest so it would drag the average down less. 
Does the 3 second difference you found apply to frames after 313 more than before 313?
 

On 6/9/2022 at 7:53 PM, Steven Kossor said:

In 2013, I stood on the same pedestal that Abraham Zapruder occupied when he filmed the assassination of JFK in Dealey Plaza.  Zapruder's film took just 26 seconds to capture the action of the limo moving at about 11 mph down the same patch of street that I recorded.  In my video, the cars were traveling at an average of about 35 miles per hour, and I recorded two passes down Elm Street in a total of 42 seconds -- about 20 seconds per pass.  This means that, if the cars I recorded had been traveling at just 11 mph down Elm Street, it should have taken much, much longer for me to record their passage (about three times longer, in fact).  This indicates that Zapruder's film should have taken 52 seconds, or longer, to capture the action on Elm Street between Houston Street and the triple overpass with the limo traveling at just 11 mph for most of the trip.  Allowing for a much greater speed in the last few seconds would still require more than 26 seconds overall to film the JFK assassination.  Unless the film was edited.  Food for thought.... 

Here's the URL of my video on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/bvsf6bZrzKk

I know it is 26 seconds but I find it easier to evaluate it from fr 133 to 471 in this case. The map below averages the speed along 5 different stretches with an overall average of 16 mph.  430 ft in 18.1 seconds = 16.25 mph. The limo accelerated a lot in the last 100 ft.
I noticed in your video that from the 27 second point to 29 seconds a minivan passes across the screen from left to right. That would mean you were panning slower than the car was moving. In that time the car moves about 110 ft down Elm and you pan about 60 ft along the south lane(The car moving across the frame takes up the other 40 ft.). That should mean your panning rate was about maybe 23 mph for that section of the video.
 There are several factors that are hard to adjust for like the cars in the video are already moving 30+ after they cross Huston, that is why I start with fr 133.  But I think if you adjust for the camera panning around 23 mph and the JFK limo averaging closer to 16 mph the answer will come closer to what we see in the Z film.
 

Samoluk thought the batteries might be bad but obviously never bothered to check or he would have realized there were no batteries.
 

8 hours ago, Gil Jesus said:

2004 Taiwan: Taiwanese president and vice president wounded while riding in an open car.

Shots masked by firecrackers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/international/asia/taiwanese-leaders-survive-shooting-incident-ahead-of-vote.html

Thanks that's very interesting.
"The gunshot occurred just as firecrackers were exploded, so we don't even know how many shots were actually fired,''

If echos were an issue I would think the majority of witnesses would have reported 4 to 6 shots. The majority only reporting 3 shots might indicate they were not fooled by echos. Some reported hearing echos reverberating down Elm and Main and a couple SS reported a big echo from the underpass. It seems many were able to distinguish between shots and echos. I have never heard a combination of two shots very close together sounding like a firecracker but I am no expert. I suppose shots from the Dal Tex and TSB could conceivably have had the sound of the shock waves staggered and created frequency cancellation of the shock wave sound. Of course that would mean 2 shots fired around FR133 and no hits.
 I am not making a case for James files but the weapon he said he used was named for the incorrect load that put out a big flame. Sounds like a Fireball XP100 would put out more smoke with the big flame and may have also created a big puff of steam on that moist morning.
I think the RR workers version of the story had the smoke lingering for just a second or two. The Wiegman film frame is about 8 seconds after the head shot and I doubt there would be smoke still hanging there. At the moment of the Wiegman frame Z is starting to show the trees next to the knoll fence and the blustery wind is shaking them around a lot.
 
 John Costella's site lists the witnesses who heard firecrackers so it will be easy to map out the witnesses. I will post the map when done.
 

8 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

Firecracker mostly but a few also stated motorcycle engine backfire.

Some ID'd the first shot as a "report" ... i.e. rifle gunshot.

One could have really different takes depending on where they were located in that odd structural and landscape layout echo chamber called Dealey Plaza.

Roger Craig and his fellow sheriff's were around the corner on Main street, not even in Dealey Plaza, and yet heard the shots clearly.

 

Good points. If enough people hear the 1st sound as a shot is almost surely is a shot. I mapped out the witnesses who heard the last two shots as very close together and also mapped out knoll vs TSB witnesses. Both were a confused mess with little logic to them. I may map out the firecracker witnesses but I fear it will turn out like the other witness location maps.                                                                                                

It is very curious that many witnesses described the 1st shot as sounding like a firecracker. I never counted but it must be at least 2 dozen. I recall no reports of the 2nd or 3rd shot sounding like a firecracker, just the 1st shot. I think these facts taken together are significant.
 People were not willing to immediately interrupt the 1st sound as a gunshot. Some expressed their initial disbelief with statements like 'I thought to myself, that's not a gunshot". Maybe this had an effect on their opinions about the 1st sound. I'm just throwing that out to be fair but I think there is probably more to the firecracker witnesses.
 Maybe the 1st round was a defective round that did not exceed the sound barrier, but that is uncommon. I have heard reducing the charge in a rifle to subsonic speeds will make it harder to detect the origin of the sound since there is no sonic crack. If the 1st round was subsonic it may take witnesses a bit longer to find and see the source of the shots. If the first shot came from the roof of the Dal Tex which can mimic the 6th floor trajectory to within 3 degrees,(3 degrees being too small for investigators to measure as it represents only a 1 1/2 inch alignment difference between JFK and JC.)  then a subsonic shot would help to set up the patsy on the 6th floor.
 There must be a reason for the number of reports that describe only the first shot as a 'firecracker'. Anyone have a theory?

20 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

I've read a lot of forensics books and articles and don't recall any where the location of a shooter was determined solely by the shape of a dent. 

As far as the location of the strike on the chrome and windshield in comparison to JFK's actual position as viewed from the sniper's nest, the WC in the man of Arlen Specter knew damn well this was a problem, and slid the JFK stand-in over to the center of the car for the 5-24-64 re-enactment photos. The HSCA trajectory analyst Thomas Canning realized this was a convenient deception, and repeated it in 1978. Neither the WC or HSCA offered up a Z-frame which showed JFK's slide to the left, of course. 

The location of the windshield damage (which did not align with a straight shot from the sniper's nest through JFK's head wounds) then suggested that the bullet was deflected upon exit. And this in turn suggests the fatal bullet impacted at the supposed exit. 

Here, from Chapter 15 on my website, is a demonstration of the WC and HSCA presentation of JFK's position at the time of the fatal shot. 

"read a lot of forensics books and articles and don't recall any where the location of a shooter was determined solely by the shape of a dent." .

Me neither, especially if you add the adjective "solely". 

 is it a common experience for most people who go out shooting to have fired on an old abandoned car at some point? That's my experience. Very often you could tell the direction of the gunfire by The Bullet Hole and sometimes the dent. The angle of the dent in the Chrome seems to be 50 or more degrees away from JFK's position. I'm not trying to make a claim  of some proof of a shot from 50 degrees away Based On A Photograph. I'm just noting the peculiarity the photo presents .

 as I understand it a bullet can deviate by about 20 degrees after hitting bone. So the crack or hole in the windshield and the dent in the Chrome don't need to line up directly with it the trajectory from the TSB.

The Getty photo of the dent was taken from about 50  to 60 degrees to the side yet the center part of the dent looks almost perfectly round. It is slightly elongated on the left side. Not sure how a fragment from JFK's head which was almost centered in the limo could cause a near circular dent that faces 50 degrees away from JFK's position. I have seen bullet strikes that leave a rounded circular dent from the tip of a rounded bullet that did not penetrate. Maybe a fragment could leave a circular dent? The outer dent seems to have a tail that sits to the right of the main dent. Anyone know what that may indicate in terms of direction?
I don't how big the device is that sits left of the dent or how far from the chrome strip it is but the dent would appear closer to it from JFK's position. I wonder if a fragment from JFK would even clear the device?