Umbrella Man

[Greg Schmidt]

Has anybody else noticed that "Umbrella Man", and the "Tall Tramp" seem to be wearing the exact same thing? Probably just a coincidence, just thought it was kinda odd.

[Ron Ecker]

I've rewritten my online article on the Umbrella Man, as my view has changed on who he might have been. For those interested, here's the link:

http://www.hobrad.com/acreumbr.htm

Ron

[Jack White]

I've rewritten my online article on the Umbrella Man, as my view has changed on who he might have been. For those interested, here's the link:

http://www.hobrad.com/acreumbr.htm

Ron

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ron...a very nice summary of the known TUM information. And

congratulations for reaching no firm conclusion based on the

information you present.

However...you left out one important bit of information. The late Mary

Ferrell was a close "associate" of Gordon Novel...as she was with

MANY witnesses and researchers. Mary used her motherly approach

with Novel, as she did with many others, to gain bits of insight and

information and to gain trust. So on many occasions, Mary served

as hostess to Novel WHENEVER HE VISITED DALLAS. Mary had a

spare bedroom where she let visitors stay, including Novel. She

frequently would let visiting researchers use the room for weeks

at a time while they pored through her files and interviewed her.

They got a place to stay free, and Mary harvested information.

Novel was one of these frequent guests. He often had a dog with

him, and Mary would sometimes keep the dog for weeks at a time.

She described Novel as THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA.

Mary was convinced that Novel was the umbrellaman.

Once when Novel was in prison, Mary continued her regular contact

with him. At the urging of Robert Cutler, Mary used her vast

influence and contacts to make a prison interview possible. Mary

promised Novel that in return for TAKING A LIE DETECTOR TEST

for her and Cutler, she would arrange for him to be released.

Novel agreed. HE FLUNKED THE TEST when asked whether he

was in Dealey Plaza on November 22. True to her word, Mary arranged

Novel's release. An account of this is published in one of Cutler's

books.

This is only ONE of several reasons that I believe Novel is the

umbrellaman.

Jack

[Tim Gratz]

I've rewritten my online article on the Umbrella Man, as my view has changed on who he might have been. For those interested, here's the link:

http://www.hobrad.com/acreumbr.htm

Ron

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ron...a very nice summary of the known TUM information. And

congratulations for reaching no firm conclusion based on the

information you present.

However...you left out one important bit of information. The late Mary

Ferrell was a close "associate" of Gordon Novel...as she was with

MANY witnesses and researchers. Mary used her motherly approach

with Novel, as she did with many others, to gain bits of insight and

information and to gain trust. So on many occasions, Mary served

as hostess to Novel WHENEVER HE VISITED DALLAS. Mary had a

spare bedroom where she let visitors stay, including Novel. She

frequently would let visiting researchers use the room for weeks

at a time while they pored through her files and interviewed her.

They got a place to stay free, and Mary harvested information.

Novel was one of these frequent guests. He often had a dog with

him, and Mary would sometimes keep the dog for weeks at a time.

She described Novel as THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA.

Mary was convinced that Novel was the umbrellaman.

Once when Novel was in prison, Mary continued her regular contact

with him. At the urging of Robert Cutler, Mary used her vast

influence and contacts to make a prison interview possible. Mary

promised Novel that in return for TAKING A LIE DETECTOR TEST

for her and Cutler, she would arrange for him to be released.

Novel agreed. HE FLUNKED THE TEST when asked whether he

was in Dealey Plaza on November 22. True to her word, Mary arranged

Novel's release. An account of this is published in one of Cutler's

books.

This is only ONE of several reasons that I believe Novel is the

umbrellaman.

Jack

Are people aware of Novel's connection with Watergate?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Tim Gratz]

I've rewritten my online article on the Umbrella Man, as my view has changed on who he might have been. For those interested, here's the link:

http://www.hobrad.com/acreumbr.htm

Ron

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice article! For those interested, Novel worked for Koshogi [saudi oil sheikh] on his boat [largest private one in world] as his 'security man'. Anyone know if Novel is still alive?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Novel should be about 65. He was alive as of October 28, 2004, when he was threatening to sue Dave Reitzes through Ramsey Clark. He had been associated with Clark through the Branch Davidian case.

Reitzes' correspondence with Novel:

http://www.jfk-online.com/novelpost.html

Novel's involvement in the Branch Davidian case:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/waco/waco100.html

[Ron Ecker]

you left out one important bit of information. The late Mary

Ferrell was a close "associate" of Gordon Novel...as she was with

MANY witnesses and researchers.

Jack,

I left this out of the article because Ferrell's relationship with Novel, the lie detector test he was given etc., is all news to me. Is all this in Cutler's book(s)? I believe Cutler wrote a book about the Umbrella Man which I have tried before to find, but I never found even a used copy available. Any other published source(s) on this?

Ron

Edited January 2, 2005 by Ron Ecker

[Jack White]

Ron...Most of what I wrote above is quoted from Mary Ferrell. However,

I have all of Cutler's books, including the one about the results of the

lie detector test, but a rapid flipping of pages failed to locate it. I will

keep looking for it.

Jack

[Robert Howard]

Ron...Most of what I wrote above is quoted from Mary Ferrell. However,

I have all of Cutler's books, including the one about the results of the

lie detector test, but a rapid flipping of pages failed to locate it. I will

keep looking for it.

Jack

I am sure this information is by no means new to Forum members, but in the past few months didn't Novel sprout up as an advisor to 'Jacko' aka Michael Jackson?

[Mark Stapleton]

I just recieved Michael Collins Piper's book "Final Judgement" (thanks again for that Michael). There's a photos section and in it the author suggests that UM might have been Mossad hitman Michael Harari. There's a 1985 photo of Harari showing some resemblance. Does anyone have a circa 1963 photo of Harari? He was the team leader of the Mossad squad which went after the Munich terrorists in the early seventies.

I just had another look at Ron Ecker's excellent piece on UM and DCM on his website (see Ron's earlier post for the link) and one thing I find strange is that if these guys were signalers for the gunmen, why weren't they worried about getting hit in the crossfire? (both are quite close to the limo). One photo shows DCM standing with arm raised aloft after JFK has already been hit. He doesn't appear to be flinching or ducking. FWIW, I'm not persuaded by Louie Witt's coming forward 15 years later as Umbrella Man. Does the idea of a fleshette or poison dart fired from the umbrella to immobilise JFK stand up to scrutiny?

[Ron Ecker]

Does the idea of a fleshette or poison dart fired from the umbrella to immobilise JFK stand up to scrutiny?

Mark,

The weapon existed, the CIA had it. As to whether or not it was used on JFK, I keep coming back to the question of how could the shooters count on JFK remaining seated upright if the first one or two shots didn't do the job. Were they counting on a back brace to hold him up? Were they counting on luck? Wouldn't they naturally fear that if one or two shots didn't do it, JFK would either get down himself or his wife would pull him down, where it would have then required a shot from the overpass or some other high point, or a bomb, to kill him? A paralyzing dart weapon was a natural answer to this concern for the conspirators, and in turn it's a natural answer as to why JFK remained upright, indeed looking paralyzed after briefly raising his arms.

Aside from the dart question, I recently came across something in Palamara's writing that had not occurred to me before. He makes the offhand statement that UM was used as a visual distraction, the umbrella drawing attention as the shooting started. By the same token, DCM's raising of his hand or fist and waving could have been nothing more than an act of distraction.

Ron

[Mark Stapleton]

Ron,

I guess it makes sense to immobilise JFK to make the headshot easier, they may have assumed the unlikelihood of scoring a headshot with the first volley. The poison dart seems a bit James Bond-like, although this doesn't preclude the possibility that it was used. Btw, how do you know the CIA had it--has an ex-officer stated this? Had it been used in other covert ops, prior to '63?

p.s. have you recieved your copy of MCP's book?

[Thomas Graves]

The poison dart seems a bit James Bond-like, although this doesn't preclude the possibility that it was used. Btw, how do you know the CIA had it--has an ex-officer stated this? Had it been used in other covert ops, prior to '63?

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Mark and Ron,

I found this article by googling "Prouty" and "dart":

The JFK Assassination

By David Giamarco 1998

WASHINGTON -

[....] That's not the only bombshell Prouty dropped over the course of numerous meetings and conversations in Washington. Look closely at the famous Zapruder film of the assassination, and standing alongside the motorcade on Elm Street is an unidentified man holding up an open, black umbrella, even though the weather is sunny and warm. He is standing in front and to the right of Kennedy's car at the moment Kennedy was struck in the throat. Prouty asserts that was no ordinary umbrella, and again finds evidence of Lansdale.

Prouty remembers Lansdale introducing him to a man in 1961 or '62 who had invented a new weapon ideal for clandestine operations: silent rocket-propelled darts, only a few centimeters long and fired from a tube no longer than a milk shake straw. After an impressive demonstration in which the man imbedded a dart in Prouty's office wall, Prouty arranged for research money. Within months, the CIA had adapted the device for many uses - including hiding it in an umbrella.

"When the umbrella was closed, nothing showed. When it was open, the bearer would hold it over his head and on the center rod of the umbrella there was a small wire-like piece that was his end of the sighting mechanism, as he sighted toward the object with one umbrella rib-tip directly in line. The nylon dart - just one - was located in a small tube that was aligned with the sighting mechanism."

Prouty says he never thought of the weapon again until shortly after the assassination. "I knew the rules of Presidential protection and I knew that no one along the parade route was ever permitted to open an umbrella as the President's car went by. They let that happen. Why this omission? Why that umbrella? And when you watch the Zapruder film, you can see the man slowly rotating the umbrella as he lines up his shot as the car approaches."

This corroborates the medical findings of Dr. Charles Crenshaw, who worked to save JFK's life in Trauma Room One at Parkland Hospital. "The throat wound in the president was a very small wound of entry -- three to five millimeters," says Crenshaw, who is now director and chairman of the surgery department at Tarrant County Hospital District.

"Intimidation, fear and career mindedness," is what Crenshaw admits were his reasons for not refuting the all shots from-behind story Kennedy's wounds. ''Back then, it became quite obvious very fast that something funny was going on. I was very fearful in the first few years. So I never said anything. But now it's in the open, I don't fear anything. Kennedy's fatal gunshot wound is now believed to have come from in front, sending him hurtling beck and to his left at 100.3 feet per second. There was no doubt in my mind that the bullet that entered his head come from in front," Crenshaw concurs. "As it passed through he cranium, the high velocity missile obliterated part of the temporal and the parietal and occipital lobes before it lacerated the cerebellum."

"The whole right side of his head was shot off, and the back of his head was blown out." [....]

FWIW, Thomas

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[James Richards]

There's a 1985 photo of Harari showing some resemblance. (Mark Stapleton)

Hi Mark,

Is there any chance you can post that photograph?

James

[Mark Stapleton]

Should have looked first, I guess. Sprague, Schweiker and Prouty made the case for the flechette back in 1975. A good summary is here:

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/TUM.html

The dissolving flechette explains the small throat entry wound. It also explains why TUM and DCM just walked away (after briefly sitting together on the kerb), not telling the police and FBI what they witnessed. It explains why the umbrella was "rotated", as seen in the Z-Film, as the limo progressed down Elm Street. It also explains why UM was the only person photographed in DP to be carrying an umbrella. There's nothing innocent about their presence in DP, IMO. So who's Louie Witt?

Edited March 7, 2006 by Mark Stapleton

[Thomas Graves]

_________________________________________________________

[sEE POST #13, SAME THREAD, ABOVE]

[....] Prouty says he never thought of the weapon again until shortly after the assassination. "I knew the rules of Presidential protection and I knew that no one along the parade route was ever permitted to open an umbrella as the President's car went by. They let that happen. Why this omission? Why that umbrella? [....]

_________________________________________________________

OK, I'm just wondering... What should the SS and/or local law enforcement have done when they saw the guy opening the umbrella? Tackled him? Shot him?? Any ideas? Duke?

Two other questions:

(1) Just who WAS Louie Steven Witt, anyway?

(2) In the Z film, is the umbrella "tracking" JFK before, during, and/or after the UM shoots JFK in the throat with the flechette/dart? I can understand why "before" and "during" (obviously), but why "after"? No biggie; just curious.

FWIW, Thomas

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Edited March 7, 2006 by Thomas Graves