The Autopsy Doctors' Rear Head Entry Site vs. the Autopsy Photos of the Brain

[Andrej Stancak]

My problem with an entry wound just above the external occipital protuberance is that there is no credible exit wound for such entry, at least in my understanding. 

Could it be that Kennedy received two headshots in quick succession? One headshot, in my opinion, entered the right temple above the eye orbit (Malcolm Kildulff's early localisation of the entry wound), in an area covered by hair, causing a well defined circular wound; the bullet would damage the right frontal lobe and exit in the right parietal area, going straight back. The next shot was likely to the right temporal area above the right ear (described by Dr Jenkins in his book "The Cold Shoulder of History"). It was a tangential shot and it was possibly responsible for the bone flap above the right ear seen in couple post Z-312 frames. That shot would also exit the parietal area; these two shots together devastated the right cerebral hemishere and caused a fist-size hole in the right parietooccipital region of the skull. However, the right frontal lobe of the brain would also show a funnel-shape damage expanding toward the back of the brain due to the shot in the right lateral supraorbital area.

The extensive fracturing of the skull seen in extant X-rays could hardly be caused by only one bullet entering the occipital bone as low as the external occipital protuberance.

Ida Dox's drawing (HSCA F-302) (in Best Evidence, 4th Ed., 1988, p. 471) illustrates the vast damage to the whole right hemishere. It is not possible to sustain this amount of damage by receiving only one head shot. A bullet entering a spot above the external occipital protuberance would not cause the damage in the frontal lobe seen in F-302. In absence of an exit wound in the right frontal bone, it could be only be a frontal shot in right supraorbital region that would be responsible for such damage to the frontal lobe of the brain.

The autopsy pictures show what the cover-up wanted us to see, e.g., a lack of the gaping hole in the right parietooccipital area. However, I think I was able to approximate the parietooccipital head wound in one existing autopsy picture which, in my view, was most likely tampered with.

I have posted my analysis a while ago: 

 

Briefly, my analysis evaluated the depth profile of grey values, and found a black instead of grey (skin-like) background in an area which shows hair, suggesting a dark, hollow space beneath hair.

 

 

[Michael Griffith]

28 minutes ago, Andrej Stancak said:

My problem with an entry wound just above the external occipital protuberance is that there is no credible exit wound for such entry, at least in my understanding. 

Even allowing for the modest forward tilt of JFK's head in Z312-313, a bullet fired from the sixth-floor window and entering at the EOP site would have blown out part of the face and could not have created the exit wound described in the autopsy report. 

[Michael Griffith]

18 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

Even allowing for the modest forward tilt of JFK's head in Z312-313, a bullet fired from the sixth-floor window and entering at the EOP site would have blown out part of the face and could not have created the exit wound described in the autopsy report. 

We can see this fact clearly in CE 388, Humes's diagram of the rear head bullet's path through the skull. In order to get the bullet to create and exit the alleged exit wound above the right ear, Humes had to assume JFK's head was titled forward by about 60 degrees. Of course, Z312 shows no such pronounced forward tilt.

CE 388 also shows the path of the fragment trail from the EOP site to a point just above the right eye socket, and it includes the 7 x 2 mm fragment that Humes removed. Compare the location of the low fragment trail as illustrated in CE 388 with the high fragment trail, and then try to imagine how even a first-year medical student could have mistaken one for the other. 

Also, compare the EOP entry site and the fragment trail in CE 388 with the location of the cerebellum in images that show the cerebellum in a skull, and you will see that the cerebellum would have been severely damaged. The fragment trail clearly, self-evidently would have gone through part of the cerebellum. 

Edited June 3, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Michael Griffith]

On 5/31/2023 at 2:35 PM, Gerry Down said:

About the size of a fist, that sounds about right. 

Oh, then you must agree that the autopsy brain photos are clearly fraudulent, since, as Dr. Baden was nice enough to acknowledge, they show a virtually complete brain that's missing no more than "an ounce or two" of its substance. A fist-sized clump of brain tissue would weigh a lot more than two ounces, not to mention the fact that the autopsy brain photos show no such amount of missing brain. 

Let's remember what Vincent Bugliosi said about all the evidence of a large amount of missing brain. He waved it aside by quoting Dr. Baden, who based his claim on the brain photos! Yes, he did:

          "Contrary to the myth," Dr. Michael Baden told me, people who have said that the president lost a good part of his brain “are absolutely wrong.” Baden says he saw the photographs taken of the president’s brain at the time of the autopsy, and under his direction the HSCA’s medical illustrator, Ida Dox, drew a diagram of the brain viewed from the top. (See sketch in photo section of book.) As Baden said in his testimony before the HSCA, the diagram “represents extensive damage and injury to the right top of the brain” (1 HSCA 304). (“It’s an exact depiction,” he told me.) Note the words “damage and injury” as opposed to saying a large part of the brain was “missing.” 

So just never mind all the brain matter that we know was splattered inside the limo (right passenger door and back seat), on the limo's trunk, on the follow-up car (hood and windshield), on Jackie's dress, and on two of the trailing patrolmen (both of their uniforms and windshields)? That makes a total of 10 surfaces that were splattered with brain matter.

No rational, credible person can read the descriptions of the brain matter that was splattered on those 10 surfaces and believe that they are describing only two ounces of brain tissue. 

What about all the witnesses, in three different locations, who said a large amount of brain tissue was missing? What do we do with all of their accounts? Just assume that, well, they were all "mistaken"? 

And what about the fact that OD measurements confirm that the x-rays show that over half of the right-hand side of the brain was missing, and that brain matter was also missing on the left side? Well, just never you mind. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[David Von Pein]

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com / President Kennedy's Brain

 

[Michael Griffith]

2 hours ago, David Von Pein said:

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com / President Kennedy's Brain

You're kidding, right? Your blog article does not even address most of the evidence of a substantial amount of missing brain. It does not even mention all the brain matter that was splattered in and on the limo, on Jackie's dress, on the follow-up car, and on two of the patrolmen. Did you not read the previous replies in this thread before citing your blog article? 

Let me repeat some of the evidence that has been discussed:

Floyd Riebe, who assisted John Stringer with taking photos at the autopsy, said that less than half the brain was present:

          Q: Did you see the brain removed from President Kennedy?
          A: What little bit there was left, yes.
          Q: Were any photographs taken of the brain?
          A: I think I did some when they were putting it in that stainless steel pail.
          Q: When you say that there was not much left, what do you mean by that?
          A: Well, it was less than half of a brain there. (Deposition of Floyd Albert Riebe, ARRB, 5/7/1997, pp. 43-44)

From Clint Hill's 11/22/1963 report, in which he describes what he saw at very close range as he rode on top of the back seat on the way to Parkland--part of the brain was gone and there was a wound in the right-rear part of the head:

          As I lay over the top of the back seat I noticed a portion of the President's head on the right rear side was missing and he was bleeding profusely. Part of his brain was gone. (11/22/1963 report, p. 3)

From Clint Hill's WC testimony--there were pieces of brain matter "all over" the rear part of the car, and he still saw the right-rear head wound:

          Mr. SPECTER: What did you observe as to President Kennedy's condition on arrival at the hospital?

          Mr. HILL: The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head. (2 H 141)

Mortician Tom Robinson, who witnessed the autopsy and who reassembled JFK's skull after the autopsy, said that the amount of brain missing in the back of the head was about the size of a closed fist:

          Robinson said that he saw the brain removed from President Kennedy's body and that a large percentage of it was gone "in the back," from the "medulla," and that the portion of the brain that was missing was about the size of a closed fist. He described the condition of the brain in this area as the consistency of "soup." (Meeting Report, ARRB, 6/21/1996, p. 2)

Gloria Knudsen, wife of Robert Knudsen, who processed some of the autopsy photos, said her husband told her that JFK's brains were largely missing:

          Mrs. Gloria Knudsen said that her husband Robert had told her that . . . the President's brains were largely missing (blown out). (Meeting Report, ARRB, 5/10/1996, p. 2)

Patrolman Bobby Hargis, who was riding closely behind and to the left of the limousine, said that when the explosive head shot occurred, he was "splattered with blood and brain":

          Mr. HARGIS. Yes; when President Kennedy straightened back up in the car the bullet him in the head, the one that killed him and it seemed like his head exploded, and I was splattered with blood and brain, and kind of a bloody water. (6 H 294)

Patrolman B. J. Martin, who was riding beside Hargis, said blood and "other matter" were splattered on his uniform, windshield, and motor:

          Mr. BALL. What about your uniform?Mr. 
          Mr. MARTIN. There was blood and matter on my left shoulder of my uniform.
          Mr. BALL. You pointed to a place in front of your shoulder, about the clavicle region?
          Mr. MARTIN. Yes, sir.
          Mr. BALL. Is that about where it was?
          Mr. MARTIN. Yes.
          Mr. BALL. On the front of your uniform and not on the side?
          Mr. MARTIN. No, sir.
          Mr. BALL. That would be left, was it?
          Mr. MARTIN. Yes ; on the left side.
          Mr. BALL. And just below the level of the shoulder?
          Mr. MARTIN. Yes, sir.
          Mr. BALL. And what spots were there?
          Mr. MARTIN. They were blood spots and other matter.
          Mr. BALL. And what did you notice on your windshield?
          Mr. MARTIN. There was blood and other matter on my windshield and also on the motor. (6 H 292)

Jack McNairy, who saw the limousine up-close at Parkland Hospital, said in a video-taped interview that there was "gray matter" splattered over a large part of the back seat:

          As I looked around, I saw that there was gray matter splattered here [pointing to the inside of the rear passenger door to the right JFK's seat] and along the back of the front seat. (LINK)

Patrolman H. B. McClain, who helped Jackie get out of the limousine at Parkland Hospital, said in a video-taped interview that there was "matter" splattered all over the inside of the right-hand side of the car:

          I could see what looked like a piece of skull, some hair, and matter splattered all over inside the car. It was all on the right-hand side of the car, except the part of the skull--it was laying right in the middle. (LINK)

When interview by CBS News in 2013, Clint Hill repeated his account of seeing a large amount of missing brain:

          Scott Pelley: What did you see?

          Clint Hill: Brain matter, blood, bone fragments all come out of the wound.… Then Mrs. Kennedy came up on the trunk. She was trying to grab some of that material and pull it back with her.… I got a hold of her and I put her in the backseat. … And when I did that, his body fell to its left into her lap. His face--is head was in her lap. The right side of his face was up. I could see his eyes were fixed. I could see an area through the skull that there was no brain matter in that area at all. So I assumed it was a fatal wound. (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/agent-who-jumped-on-jfks-limo-recounts-fateful-moments/)

Secret Service agent Sam Kinney, who rode in the follow-up car, stated in a recorded interview with Vincent Palamara that brain matter splattered "all over" his windshield and arm:

          The back of that Lincoln would be directly in front of me. Well, I had brain matter all over my windshield and arm. That's how close we were. (LINK, 19:33-19:47)

In 2003, Dr. Robeert Grossman, one of the Parkland doctors, wrote that Jackie's dress was splattered with brain tissue and blood:

          Her face was very white and she appeared to have been crying. She was wearing a light-colored dress. The lap of her dress was covered with blood and brain tissue. (https://www.deseret.com/2003/11/22/19797270/neurosurgeon-recalls-examining-the-dying-jfk)

Clearly, the autopsy brain photos do not show JFK's brain. Similarly, the claim that JFK's post-assassination brain weighed 1,500 grams is obviously bogus. Even if we assume the brain was weighed after it had been fixed in formalin, the weight of 1,500 grams is ludicrous. Fixing a brain in formalin may add about 100 grams of weight, but it may also reduce the weight by that amount. The average male human brain weighs about 1,350 grams.

And Baden's claim that edema fluids increased the weight of the brain borders on silliness, given the fact that we know that brain fluid was also blasted out of the skull and splattered on several surfaces. Hargis specified that brain tissue and brain fluid splattered on his windshield. 

Shall we mention that the Zapruder film shows a blob of brain matter and blood blowing upward and toward the camera? That blob alone looks like much more than just two ounces. To give you some idea of little two ounces are, consider that two ounces equal four tablespoons of fluid. The blob in the Z film alone is clearly more than that. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Gerry Down]

Alot of these eyewitness accounts are very subjective. How much is "alot" of brain tissue? The shot at Z313 pulverized JFKs brain which would have allowed a small amount of brain to cover a large amount of the interior of the limousine in the form of greyish matter. 

Connallys account it noteworthy. He said a piece of JFKs brain, the size of a thumbnail, landed on his knee. The way he says this it sounds like this piece of brain matter was so noteworthy that this may have been the largest piece of brain matter that he saw inside the limousine though i know he does not explicitly say so. 

Hargis was not a doctor and so was in no position to identify what type of matter was blown back onto him by the wind. 

Floyd Riebes account is interesting, but only because he is the only witness who said there was less than half a brain there. No one else said this. Which makes one wonder if Riebe had a tendency to exaggerate. Mortician Robinson for example directly contradicts Riebe by saying only an amount of brain matter the size of a closed fist was missing.

[Michael Griffith]

1 hour ago, Gerry Down said:

Alot of these eyewitness accounts are very subjective. How much is "alot" of brain tissue? The shot at Z313 pulverized JFKs brain which would have allowed a small amount of brain to cover a large amount of the interior of the limousine in the form of greyish matter. 

Connallys account it noteworthy. He said a piece of JFKs brain, the size of a thumbnail, landed on his knee. The way he says this it sounds like this piece of brain matter was so noteworthy that this may have been the largest piece of brain matter that he saw inside the limousine though i know he does not explicitly say so. 

Hargis was not a doctor and so was in no position to identify what type of matter was blown back onto him by the wind. 

Floyd Riebes account is interesting, but only because he is the only witness who said there was less than half a brain there. No one else said this. Which makes one wonder if Riebe had a tendency to exaggerate. Mortician Robinson for example directly contradicts Riebe by saying only an amount of brain matter the size of a closed fist was missing.

You're simply determined to see the emperor's new clothes. If you could be objective, you would readily admit that the accounts of substantial missing brain certainly rule out the idea that no more than two ounces of brain were missing. The witnesses saw the brain from different angles and in different circumstances, so naturally there is some variance in their descriptions of the amount of missing brain, but they all make it clear that more than two ounces were missing. 

No, Riebe was not the only witness who said that more than half the brain was gone. Three other witnesses said that more than half was gone (Knudsen, O'Neill, O'Connor), and one other implied it (Hill). And, a clump of missing brain the size of a closed fist would be far, far more brain matter than is missing in the brain photos. But never mind that, right?  

You are misrepresenting Connally's testimony about the amount of brain matter he saw. He made it clear that he saw more brain matter than just the clump of brain tissue on his knee. He said he saw brain matter on his clothes and on the interior of the car. Let's read his statement together:

          So I merely doubled up, and then turned to my right again and began to--I just sat there, and Mrs. Connally pulled me over to her lap. She was sitting, of course, on the jump seat, so I reclined with my head in her lap, conscious all the time, and with my eyes open; and then, of course, the third shot sounded, and I heard the shot very clearly. I heard it hit him. I heard the shot hit something, and I assumed again--it never entered my mind that it ever hit anybody but the President. I heard it hit. It was a very loud noise, just that audible, very clear. Immediately I could see on my clothes, my clothing, I could see on the interior of the car which, as I recall, was a pale blue, brain tissue, which I immediately recognized, and I recall very well, on my trousers there was one chunk of brain tissue as big as almost my thumb, thumbnail. (4 H 133)

"Hargis was not a doctor. . . ." Oh, boy. This comment shows you have no interest in fact or truth on this issue, but just in peddling the lone-gunman myth. Hargis said he saw blood, brain matter, and some kind of clear fluid, which he logically viewed as brain fluid. So, pray tell, other than the blood and the clear fluid he described, what other substance splattered onto Hargis's clothes and windshield, if not brain tissue?  

And, pray tell, what was the substance that splattered on the follow-up car's windshield, on Kinney's clothes (follow-up car occupant), on Jackie's dress, and on Officer's Martin's windshield? The people who saw it specified that the substance was separate from the blood. We all know it was brain matter, but you can't admit this without admitting that the brain photos are bogus.

I concluded that you weren't interested in fact and candor on the JFK case when you floated the ludicrous and long-debunked bunched-clothing argument, even though it's refuted by Betzner 3 and Willis 5, and when you insisted that the autopsy doctors left JFK's right arm lying on the table during the whole time they were positioning the body "every which way" to probe the back wound, even after they removed the chest organs and could see the end of the probe, and even though Boswell admitted to the ARRB that they had no trouble probing the wound after they removed the chest organs. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Gerry Down]

10 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

I concluded that you weren't interested in fact and candor on the JFK case when you floated the ludicrous and long-debunked bunched-clothing argument, even though it's refuted by Betzner 3 and Willis 5, and when you insisted that the autopsy doctors left JFK's right arm lying on the table during the whole time they were positioning the body "every which way" to probe the back wound, even after they removed the chest organs and could see the end of the probe, and even though Boswell admitted to the ARRB that they had no trouble probing the wound after they removed the chest organs. 

There is no account of the autopsy doctors moving the right arm in varying positions to see if that would change the layout of the shoulder muscles to allow a straight passage through. And you cant blame them. No one would think of doing such a thing. 

None of the other witnesses at the autopsy mention such an occurrence. Not the FBI agents, not the Secret Service agents, not James Jenkins etc etc. Maybe no one mentions it because it was never done. 

And even if it had been done i'm not convinced it would have made a difference as the back muscles would have swelled due to the bruising making it very difficult to find the tract of the bullet out to the throat. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Gerry Down

[Charles Blackmon]

2 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

 

I concluded that you weren't interested in fact and candor on the JFK case when you floated the ludicrous and long-debunked bunched-clothing argument, even though it's refuted by Betzner 3 and Willis 5, and when you insisted that the autopsy doctors left JFK's right arm lying on the table during the whole time they were positioning the body "every which way" to probe the back wound, even after they removed the chest organs and could see the end of the probe, and even though Boswell admitted to the ARRB that they had no trouble probing the wound after they removed the chest organs. 

Its not a Gerry Down post unless it deals in wild speculation. The canard about the bullet missed the brain because the brain looked largely intact takes the award!

[Gerry Down]

Here is what ChatGPT thinks if you Michael:

 

In the world of conspiracy and doubt  

A man stands tall, his name devout  

Michael Griffith, a researcher true  

With a passion to uncover what might be due  

 

He delves into the past with zeal and care  

To uncover every clue, every snare  

For the assassination of JFK  

Is a puzzle still left in disarray  

 

Through archives and documents he goes  

To find the truth, the highs and lows  

For every piece is like a gem  

Bringing closer the ultimate end  

 

In this quest he's faced many a challenge  

Yet, he perseveres with a faith so strong  

For the truth is his ultimate call  

And he'll pursue it tirelessly through it all  

 

So here's to Michael Griffith, the researcher brave  

Whose tireless efforts and courage will save  

The truth may be elusive, but the journey's grand  

And with his work, the mystery may eventually be at hand.

[Gerry Down]

Here is what ChatGPT thinks if you Charles:

 

Charles Blackmon is his name

All his theories are lame

He will never solve the JFK assassination

Cos he don't make no sense

 

[Paul Cummings]

These last two posts don't make a lick of sense.

[Charles Blackmon]

5 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

Here is what ChatGPT thinks if you Charles:

 

Charles Blackmon is his name

All his theories are lame

He will never solve the JFK assassination

Cos he don't make no sense

 

Doesn't rhyme. Try again.

[Gerry Down]

50 minutes ago, Paul Cummings said:

These last two posts don't make a lick of sense.

Just having a bit of fun. 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Gerry Down