Early study of Acoustics Evidence?

[Steven Kossor]

David Lifton has been working on the ambulance angle for the past several years.  He and I have talked about it quite a bit over the past 10 years, but I'm not sure when he will be finishing this sequel to Best Evidence.  The transcripts of the dictabelt radio transmission recordings (the FBI transcript included) are not accurate (or consistent) so it really requires a prodigious effort to collect the actual recordings, transcribe them carefully and completely, and then try to explain what they are talking about.  I'll leave it to David to complete the story.

[Michael Griffith]

Dr. Paul Hoch and Dr. Murray Miron found evidence that the dictabelt recording has been altered in the segment that contains the suspicious transmissions regarding Tippit's presence in Oak Cliff. It is also entirely possible, if not certain, that the dictabelt in evidence is a copy, and that the timing of some transmissions was affected in the copying process.

These are two other reasons that it's problematic to try to correlate the gunshot impulses on the recording with events in the Zapruder film. 

When asked about the issue of which motorcycle recorded the sounds on the dictabelt, acoustical expert Professor Ernest Aschkenasy explained to then-Congressman Christopher Dodd that if the motorcycle was not in Dealey Plaza, it must have been in a replica of Dealey Plaza:

          Mr. DODD. Let me try to conclude this, by asking you this, though. Having said that, and using the expertise that you have in acoustics, you, I think, said, Dr. Aschkenasy, that to have found a sound that you developed in your predicted response in some place other than Dealey Plaza, it would have been necessary to reconstruct, in effect, Dealey Plaza in some other place?

          Mr. ASCHKENASY. Correct.

          Mr. DODD. So that even if that sound that we hear is the third or fourth response, that would have only been able to have come, based on your expertise and your tests, only could have come from Dealey Plaza, unless you could have recreated Dealey Plaza?

          Mr. ASCHKENASY. Congressman Sawyer at that time asked the question, if somebody were to tell me that the motorcycle was not at Dealey Plaza--and he was in fact somewhere else and he was transmitting from another location--my response to him at that time was that I would ask to be told where that location is, and once told where it is, I would go there, and one thing I would expect to find is
a replica of Dealey Plaza at that location. That is the only way it can come out. (5 HSCA 592)

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Michael Griffith

[Matthew Koch]

31 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

 

These are two other reasons that it's problematic to try to correlate the gunshot impulses on the recording with events in the Zapruder film. 

 

 

This book says they do correlate ..

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Second-Dallas-Josiah-Thompson/dp/0700630082/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AX2E47NGEOB0&keywords=last+second+in+dallas+josiah+thompson&qid=1669562831&sprefix=last+second+in+dallas%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1

[Michael Griffith]

On 11/27/2022 at 10:28 AM, Matthew Koch said:

This book says they do correlate ..

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Second-Dallas-Josiah-Thompson/dp/0700630082/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AX2E47NGEOB0&keywords=last+second+in+dallas+josiah+thompson&qid=1669562831&sprefix=last+second+in+dallas%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1

Yes, I'm aware of that. I've read Last Second in Dallas. One problem is that Thompson is wedded to the idea of an unaltered, pristine Zapruder film, whereas I think there are obvious, clear indications in the film that it has been altered. There are several events in the film that simply could not have happened, that were physically impossible. We know from Doug Horne's ground-breaking research that the film was edited at a CIA-contracted photo lab in New York and that two versions of the film were viewed at CIA HQ in Langley. 

Anyone who argues that Connally was hit at Z224 based on the flimsy evidence of the lapel flip needs to explain how a bullet that made Connally's chest exit wound could have caused the lapel to flap when the wound was nowhere near the lapel, not to mention that Connally himself, after studying high-quality blowups of the Z film, said he was certain he was not hit before Z232 and identified Z234-236 as the moment of impact. 

They also need to explain the fact that JFK is visibly knocked forward starting at Z226 and that Connally's shows dramatic reactions starting in Z236, including the sudden collapse of his right shoulder. JFK's sudden forward jolt starting at Z226 is one of the most obvious reactions/movements in the Z film. Yet, JFK is clearly responding to some kind of wound starting at right around Z200 when his right hand abruptly stops in the middle of a wave and drops to the level of his chin/throat, and he starts to turn his head rapidly to the left, and when he emerges from behind the freeway sign he has both hands at his throat--this all happens well before he is visibly jolted forward starting at Z226.

The most likely cause of the lapel flip was the brisk wind that was blowing intermittently in Dealey Plaza during the motorcade.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Michael Griffith

[Gerry Down]

In the HSCAs scenario, it was Oswald who fired shots one, two and four and a second gunman from the grassy knoll fired shot number three but missed. 

Is that correct?

[Michael Griffith]

18 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

In the HSCAs scenario, it was Oswald who fired shots one, two and four and a second gunman from the grassy knoll fired shot number three but missed. 

Is that correct?

Yes, the HSCA--actually Blakey--said that the Z160, Z189, and Z312 shots came from the TSBD, that the Z302 shot came from the grassy knoll, and that the Z302/grassy knoll shot missed.

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Michael Griffith

[Gerry Down]

26 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

Yes, the HSCA--actually Blakey--said that the Z160, Z189, and Z312 shots came from the TSBD, that the Z302 shot came from the grassy knoll, and that the Z302/grassy knoll shot missed.

 

Thanks. 

[Bill Brown]

On 11/10/2022 at 4:29 PM, Gerry Down said:

Apparently a bell can be heard on the dictabelt recording. I have never heard this bell, does anyone know what part of the recording this bell can be heard on?

Apparently a bell was found in Dealey Plaza. I think it was Gary Mack that found it which some used as evidence that the dictabelt recording could have been recorded in Dealey Plaza. At 2 minutes in on the below video a bell can be heard in modern day Dealey Plaza. I dont know if this is the same bell that was there in 1963 but its interesting to listen to for comparison purposes if anyone knows where the alleged bell is in the dictabelt recording:

 

 

That bell is from the Old Red Courthouse.

 

[Bill Brown]

On 11/21/2022 at 11:31 AM, Gerry Down said:

Thanks. I hadn't heard the bell before. But if this was a bell shouldn't it be ringing several times on the audio? Gary Mack makes it sound like it only rang once the way he presents it on that video.

 

One bell ring for 1 PM.

If the Old Red Courthouse bell rings only on the hour, then any bell we (supposedly) hear is unrelated, since the assassination happened at 12:30.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Bill Brown

[Bill Brown]

On 11/21/2022 at 2:31 PM, Matthew Koch said:

We would have to do that since Mack died.

I'll check my Hear No Evil book to see what it says about that. I know they did do a one year later program that the Newsman who interrupted the woman's fashion show to report live that the President had been shot. He was in the plaza with co host during the shooting and they were in Dealey for the broadcast special. That might be what Mack is referencing about the Bell. I'll take a look at that too. 

 

Jay Watson (WFAA-TV)

 

[Michael Griffith]

On 11/10/2022 at 4:29 PM, Gerry Down said:

Apparently a bell can be heard on the dictabelt recording. I have never heard this bell, does anyone know what part of the recording this bell can be heard on?

Apparently a bell was found in Dealey Plaza. I think it was Gary Mack that found it which some used as evidence that the dictabelt recording could have been recorded in Dealey Plaza. At 2 minutes in on the below video a bell can be heard in modern day Dealey Plaza. I dont know if this is the same bell that was there in 1963 but its interesting to listen to for comparison purposes if anyone knows where the alleged bell is in the dictabelt recording:

From my article on the acoustical evidence:

       For years some critics regarded the sound of a carillon bell on the dictabelt tape as evidence that the tape was not recorded in Dealey Plaza. About 8 seconds after the last shot on the tape, the sound of a carillon bell can be heard. Critics argued that there was no carillon bell in or near Dealey Plaza, and that therefore the bell sound on the tape proved the open mike was not in Dealey Plaza 8 seconds after the shooting.

       The HSCA acoustical scientists were aware of this issue, and they plausibly argued that other police microphones could have recorded the bell sound, noting that a number of other policemen talked on Channel 1 (5 HSCA 591-592). After the HSCA investigation, researchers discovered that in 1963 there was a carillon bell near Dealey Plaza, and they found a KXAS TV-News video tape made in Dealey Plaza in 1964 on which the sounds of the nearby carillon bell can be heard.

       In 1982, an analysis of the dictabelt tape by some IBM scientists concluded that the bell sound is on both channels. The IBM scientists speculated that the bell sound might not be a bell sound but radio interference whose frequency mimicked a bell sound (Thomas 2013:643-644).

Edited December 1, 2022 by Michael Griffith