FIRECRACKERS

[Chris Bristow]

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?

[Joe Bauer]

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.

 

[Chris Bristow]

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.                                                                                                

[Paul Brancato]

I think there were echoes off the buildings that confused people. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:

I think there were echoes off the buildings that confused people. 

@Chris Bristow

If a shot was fired from the SBD or the Dal Tex building, you’d get all sorts of reverberation and echo. If two shots were fired close together, it might sound like a series of firecrackers. I suspect the sound could be replicated under the right conditions. 

[Michael Crane]

My theory is that JFK was hit 4 times & Governor Connally probably 3 with a minimum of two times.

Plus 6 missed shots.No question that alot of shots were heard,but alot had to of been fired using a silencer or suppressed weapon.

No need for echoes IMHO.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Michael Crane

[Larry Hancock]

There is also the possibility that an actual "squib" or firecracker device was set off behind the fence line on the knoll, generating the excess smoke that can be seen in that area and was reported by the railroad workers on the overpass and others.  The device would have served to divert crowd attention to the fence line and away from actual shooting positions - which did happen.  A relatively safe way to do a diversion with low risk.

[Michael Crane]

Larry,

That was more like a darn smoke bomb & probably the reason that witness's said that they smelled gunpowder.

[Larry Hancock]

Yes, Mike, the smoke was excessive for a weapon and from that position the wind would have carried it right down Elm street where gunpower type smoke was noted by several witnesses.  Something like a squib used in railroad work for signaling would have done the trick and left little to no evidence.

[Larry Hancock]

Another forum member thought he recalled Currey stating something about a "railroad torpedo" and he was correct.   The following is part of his 1964 statement:

Mr. CURRY. . . . we heard this first report, I couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from. . . . I thought at first that perhaps this was a railroad torpedo... I said what was that, was that a firecracker, or someone said this, I don’t recall whether it was me or someone else, and from the report I couldn’t tell whether it was coming from the railroad yard or whether it was coming from behind but I said over the radio, I said, "Get someone up in the railroad yard and check."

https://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/witnessMap/Curry.htm

[Steve Thomas]

I always thought that the first sound may have bee a .22.

I live around a lot of hunters, and the crack of a .22 is a lot different from the boom of  .45 or a .30-06.

Steve Thomas

[Joe Bauer]

The smoke from behind the fence.

Reported by too many within seconds after the shooting to be viably discounted.

Surely smoke did arise from there and it wasn't Camel non-filter cigarette exhale.

The shots from the TXSBD were right at the window.

Yet, no one ever reported seeing or even smelling smoke, even the three employees just ten feet under that window.

Larry's picket fence smoke device diversion idea makes sense.

I'm no expert, but what rifle shooting I have ever seen didn't create hardly any visible smoke from the barrel.

Now, those civil and revolutionary war rifle shots sure did however.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Joe Bauer

[Michael Crane]

57 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

The smoke from behind the fence.

Reported by too many within seconds after the shooting to be viably discounted.

Surely smoke did arise from there and it wasn't Camel non-filter cigarette exhale.

The shots from the TXSBD were right at the window.

Yet, no one ever reported seeing or even smelling smoke, even the three employees just ten feet under that window.

Larry's picket fence smoke device diversion idea makes sense.

I'm no expert, but what rifle shooting I have ever seen didn't create hardly any visible smoke from the barrel.

Now, those civil and revolutionary war rifle shots sure did however.

Joe,I have seen footage of a gunman shooting down at people,and the smoke that was emitted from the rifle was astounding.I would have never believed it if I didn't see it for myself.Now,I'm not saying that the rifle smoke was equivalent to the smoke coming from the trees.

A long time ago,there was a researcher on here that was able to capture some movement coming from that tree.But it was nothing that could be proven that it was a person.

 

[Michael Crane]

Edited May 26, 2022 by Michael Crane

[Lawrence Schnapf]

why should it be surprising that civilians might not recognize a gunshot from a firecracker.