George Sawtelle

Michael W The original Zapruder film was used by Dino Brugioni to make the first set of briefing boards. Before Homer McMahon made the second set the original was altered. Only minor alterations were performed; touch up paint, splicing and removal of frames. The touch up paint job on Kennedy´s head is obvious, but it´s the best that could be done at the time. They wanted to hide the huge hole in the back of Kennedy´s head. A splice was made to join Z-208 with Z-212 due to the alleged damage to five frames, Z-208-212. The spray that spurts out as a bullet hits Kennedy in the head was lessened because of the touch up paint job, IMHO. Frames were removed and the remaining were spliced. Later on, frames Z-158 -160 were discolored to hide the effects of Kennedy arching his back as a result of being shot in the back. IMHO, frames were removed and added to show Kennedy smiling throughout this segment of the film, eventhough a loud backfire like shot occurred. The altered film shows that Kennedy didn´t even flinch in response to the ¨backfire¨ sound. Also, as shown by a poster on this forum, John Butler, people standing on the sidewalk looking at the motorcade are there in one film but not there in another. This indicates frames have been removed. This part of the Zapruder film, all frames before Z-173 were not turned into the Warren Commission for their investigation.

Jeff Doug Horne is the only real authority on this issue. With all due respect to you, who I believe knows quite a bit about film alteration, no one has done more work on this issue and has generated more documentation than Horne. Plus, he interviewed both Brugioni and McMahon. I suggest you read what Horne has to say if you haven´t done so already. What I know comes from Don Thomas and Doug Horne. I believe they are better suited to discuss this subject with you than I am.

Jeff Two sets of briefing boards were made on the weekend of the assassination. The first set was made under the guidance of Dino Brugioni and the second set was made under the guidance of Homer McMahon. Brugioni worked on his set on Saturday and McMahon on Sunday. Between the time the first set was complete and the start of the second set the original, which was given to a LIFE rep by Zapruder, was altered. All copies that were made in Dallas were then destroyed and the original altered film was used to make copies. The briefing boards made by McMahon were released for review but the briefing boards made by Brugioni have never been released. Could it be that the reason McMahon´s boards were released is because he used the altered original but Brugioni used the unaltered original.

Jeff If a first generation copy of the original w/o the damaged frames existed why wasn´t it given to the Warren Commission for their investigation? My earlier statement about the Warren Commission not having the frames necessary to see the effects of the first and second shots is still valid. Why would a private enterprise have ownership of a copy of forensic evidence in a murder case and be trusted to give that evidence to a government agency investigating the murder case? The evidence should be transfered from a federal agency to the Warren Commission.

Chris Dino Bruglioni said he worked with the original at the NPIC to make the briefing boards. Dino is an expert in the field. He knows the difference between an original and a copy.

Jeff If there was a complete unflawed copy directly from the original, first generation AS THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN, then one would have been given to the Warren Commission for their investigation. It would have been one of the demands by at least one or two of the commissioners.The fact that the Warren Commission has never explained why it accepted and used a flawed copy of the Zap film for it´s investigation should tell us why the Warren Commission remained silent. They couldn´t say ... well we asked for a complete copy but there isn´t any. ¨Hear No Evil¨ Don Thomas pg 218 ... ¨The movie was originally shot with standard 16 mm film which was reversed and then split in two during processing [ Warren Commission Memo dated 28 Jan 64 reprinted in Weisberg (1976) p. 142]. LIFE provided a copy of the film and a set of slides which appear in vol. 18 of the Warren Commission Hearings on pages 1-80. For unexplained reasons, the set begins with frame 173 and ends with frame 334. LIFE did not provide the frames before 173 and the commission did not print frames 335- 343 which they did receive. Frames 208-212 were not provided by LIFE. These were allegedly destroyed by accident by a LIFE technician. The film copy provided to the Warren Commission was spliced at 208-212. The frame labeled 212 in vol. 18 of he hearings is actually the top of 208 and the bottom of 212 spliced together, [see Weisberg (1976a) p. 144]. Is Don Thomas mistaken?

Jeff Thank you. It´s not conclusive. When the ¨film¨ shows the limo in slow motion passing behind the freeway sign frames are shown and when the limo passes fast behind the sign it´s much too fast. The first question I would ask is ... why would the Warren Commission use a copy from LIFE with frames missing when the SS had a complete copy of the Zap film? I´m sure the Warren Commission asked the other government agencies who had copies for their complete copy but the FBI, SS, or CIA did not come forth with their copies. Which leads me to believe the other agencies who had copies did not have complete copies. The Warren Commission used flawed evidence for the most important investigation in the history of the United States when they could have used a complete copy that was not flawed (assuming one was in existence). Not only were frames Z-208-212 missing but all frames of LIFE´s copy before frame Z-173 were missing. LIFE gave no explanation why frames Z-135-172 were missing. So the Warren Commission never saw the effects of the backfire (firecracker) shot and the throat shot.

Chris Doug Horne explains what occurred during the time the original arrived at the NPIC and when the second set of briefing boards were made. He says there was about 10 hours at which time alterations could have been made (between the making of the first set of briefing boards and the second). Alterations as simple as splicing, frame removal, touch up paint. Why two sets of briefing boards? Leads to questions about conspiracy. And why make briefing boards? Why not show McCord the film and let him make up his own mind. I´m sure in two days the SS can find a projector and screen.

Jeff Sherry Conway I´m sure is a very competent forensic detective. I would believe what she says about blood splatter. If her analysis on the Kennedy spray from his head is not counter to the law of gravity I agree with her.

Jeff I´m interested in an extant film that includes Z-208-212. Frames won´t do. Have you seen the film that includes the damaged frames in question? If so I would like to see it.

Jeff I have never seen an extant Zap film that includes Z-208-212. I would appreciate a direction to a Zap film that does. Thanks in advance for any and all consideration.

Jeff Thank you for the article. I believe it is the most balanced and fair article on the subject. Extremely informative also. The formula I used to determine the time it would take for matter to fall from the air above JFK to the trunk of the limo (the closest surface) is t = sq. root 2y/g where t is time, y is the highest distance the brain matter went up and g is the gravitational constant. Being conservative, lets say the brain matter went up 2 feet above JFK´s head. The top of JFK´s head was probably 6 inches above the trunk. So y is 2.5 feet. Calculating for t we get 0.4 seconds. Two frames is approximately 0.11 seconds. I think it´s a significant difference Using 2.5 ft as the distance the brain matter went up we should see approximately 7 frames of brain matter in the air on the Zap film. I´m 100% sure the frames that were destroyed accidently by a LIFE technician show the arms and throat of JFK. Someone is still playing games with those frames. The point I was trying to make about the proliferation of the film is that on the weekend of the assasssination the government had tight control over the Zap film.

Jim D On the weekend of the assassination, not much alteration could have been made. I would imagine that Z-208, Z-209, Z-210, Z-211 and Z-212 were removed. Those are the frames located immediately before the limo traveled behind the freeway sign. LIFE, who gave a copy of the original to the WC for their study, said a technician accidently destroyed those frames. Those frames are extremely important because I believe they show Kennedy grabbing his throat before the limo reaches the freeway sign. According to the WC panel who studied the film, Kennedy was reacting to a shot as early as Z-199.Then at Z-204-206, Kennedy raises his right elbow to an artificially high position. Since Z-212 was the last frame before the limo travels behind the sign, Z-207 was diagonally spliced to Z-212 apparently by LIFE. Refer to ¨Hear No Evil¨ by Don Thomas pgs 195 and 218. Dino Bruglioni said when he saw the original film the first time he noticed that more than one frame showed the brain matter in the air after Kennedy was shot on the right side of the head. The extant film shows only one frame with brain matter in the air. Dino thinks the extant film has been altered. I must agree with Dino. If we have only one frame showing brain matter in the air then the law of gravity does not hold for the Kennedy assassination. How could all the brain matter disappear after only one frame? One frame is milliseconds. If all the brain matter fell to the ground or into the car or on the car in milliseconds then the gravitational constant is not the same for the real world as opposed to the Kennedy assassination. Based on Dino´s observation, I believe frames after Z-313 were spliced out on the weekend of the assassination. The frames after Z313 may have been discolored to hide the gapping hole in the back of Kennedy´s head. The original film was given to LIFE by Zapruder on the day of the assassination or early morning the next day. The LIFE rep told Zapruder that he would return the original asap. The original could have been changed the weekend of the assassination and then promptly returned to Zapruder. Zapruder is the only individual that the government must worry about with regard to making copies and handing them out to whomever. The government agencies who have a copy of the original are going to sit on their copy until they´re told to destroy them. Then copies of the original with the changes are given to the agencies who destroyed their copy. Carter mentioned that Josiah Thompson had mentioned that umpteen copies of the Zap film may have been made by those who had copies on the weekend of the assassination but Zapruder was the only person who had a copy who didn´t work for the US government.

Thomas G Paul T said the call by the imposter to the russian embassy was made from the Cuban consulate. I understand the call could have been made from anywhere, but how do we know it was made by Morales?

Paul T Has anyone identified Morales as the person who called the Russian embassy from the Cuban consulate? I assume someone would have seen Morales making the phone call. Please explain.

Paul T ¨ LHO was acting on orders from a provocateur (Guy Bannister) ...¨ Why would the radical right send Morales to MC to impersonate Oswald, the Oswald Ruby killed, then turn around and send the same Oswald to MC at the same time to get a visa to Cuba? Wouldn´t that defeat the purpose of the impersonation?

David I´ve read a little by Armstrong but not the book. Not read anything from the Baylor library on the assassination. Nothing on CD images. I know there were two Oswalds in Dealey Plaza on the day Kennedy was killed. How they got there, the personality of both, ect, ect, I´m not interested. Whether Armstrong is right or wrong I don´t care. It´s not important. I tried to make light of Jeremy´s last post to me simply because there is solid evidence that the Oswald who Ruby killed took a bus, got off the bus and took a cab to his apartment. Trying to muddy up the waters is a CIA trick and I´m not going to waste time arguing about it. I´m not saying Jeremy is CIA, but he used a CIA argument. Armstrong has opened up a few avenues for researchers to concentrate their efforts. A good example is Oswald the loner. Armstrong shows that Oswald is anything but a loner. Armstrong has shed light on the CIA´s relationship with Oswald. All in all Armstrong deserves credit and respect for his work. The ridicule and criticism directed towards Armstrong reeks of fear because he may be right.

Thomas G Please direct me to the post where you tried to express the same idea.

Jeremy Yes one Oswald walked down the grassy knoll and got into a rambler and the other took a bus, got off the bus and took a cab to his apartment. We don´t have to insert plausible deniability into our equation; makes it messy.

Jeremy Eyewitness testimony can be a problem, however in this case one eyewitness was one car length behind the rambler, a second witness was two car lengths behind the rambler and the lady who said she may have seen Oswald´s twin was standing on the sidewalk not far from the grassy knoll. Craig was across the street from the rambler probably within 50 feet of it. That´s four witnesses very close to the second Oswald. These four eyewitnesses saw a second Oswald at the same time. To me that is very compelling for a second Oswald. The chances of all four being wrong are slim and none.

Jeremy Four eyewitnesses saw a second Oswald in Dealey Plaza the day Kennedy was killed and one saw the rambler with it´s dark complexioned driver near or in Dealey Plaza before the second Oswald entered the rambler. Five eyewitnesses is strong evidence that there were two Oswalds in Dealey Plaza on 22 Nov 1963. Armstrong attempts to explain how a second Oswald could have existed. His work in no way takes away from the fact that there were two Oswalds in Dealey Plaza. I may not agree with everything he presents as evidence, but I respect his work tackling a very complicated issue.

Thomas G Phillips could tell Veciana to do something for him and then say go to such and such a place and pick up a man by the name of Oswald. You will know who he is because he´ll be wearing such and such and he´ll have a dollar bill torn in half with him. His torn dollar bill will match the one I gave you. So Veciana goes to meet a man he has never seen. In the business these guys are in the trust factor is not there. Veciana may refuse to work with Oswald just on instinct. I have the impression that you believe it was a chance encounter, a mistake in timing on the part of Phillips. Veciana felt the same way. However I doubt Phillips makes mistakes; his life depends on his decisions. He lived in Havana during the start of the Cuban revolution. For a spy to survive in Castro´s Cuba requires guts, guile and intelligence, which Phillips seemed to have in abundance.

Thomas G Yes, for Phillips to allow Veciana to see Oswald by chance didn´t seem believeable. But it wasn´t by chance it was by design. Once I realized it was by design it´s not surprising. Phillips requesting Oswald to fly from New Orleans to Dallas to briefly chit chat is not believeable. But that is what you believe.

Thomas G Oswald flys about 300 miles Sept 7, 1963 to met Phillips briefly in Dallas at about noontime. Veciana flys about 400 miles Sept 7, 1963 to meet Phillips for lunch in Dallas at about noontime. Oswald and Phillips briefly chat and then Phillips asks Oswald to leave. Phillips doesn´t want Veciana to see Oswald with Phillips. However Veciana is 15 minutes early to the meeting with Phillips and he sees Oswald. The three are together for a few seconds and then Oswald leaves and Phillips and Veciana go to a cafe and eat lunch. This scenario makes no sense. Or in the famous words of the esteemed senator from Louisiana, Hale Boggs, that dog don´t hunt. If Phillips wanted to briefly chat with Oswald a much more efficient way would be to call him, not force him to travel by airplane to Dallas. Phillips wanted Oswald and Veciana to meet. He wanted Veciana to see Oswald face to face. If and when Phillips wanted both men to work on a project there would be familairity and Veciana would know that Oswald was Phillips´s man. If Phillips told Veciana to meet with a man named Oswald w/o seeing him first, do you believe Veciana would be willing to trust Oswald? Phillips wanted Veciana to see Oswald with him so that Veciana would trust Oswald.

Thomas G I don´t think it was a chance meeting. It was by design. You disagree. That´s fine; everyone is entitled to their opinion.