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The Mystery of Kennedy's Brain Deepens


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Did Kennedy's brain end up at the AFIP?

I never heard Gunn or Horne ever refer to this.  But Dave Montague told me they were really disturbed by this evidence.

Thanks to Malcolm Blunt and Dave we have it now.  Truly startling stuff that the HSCA never got close to.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-mystery-of-kennedy-s-brain-deepens

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3 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Did Kennedy's brain end up at the AFIP?

I never heard Gunn or Horne ever refer to this.  But Dave Montague told me they were really disturbed by this evidence.

Thanks to Malcolm Blunt and Dave we have it now.  Truly startling stuff that the HSCA never got close to.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-mystery-of-kennedy-s-brain-deepens

Humes admitted that JFK's brain was never weighed during his time doing the autopsy.

He mumbled something along the lines of "gee, I just can't explain why it wasn't."

Bethesda corpsman Paul O'Conner ( who's normal autopsy assisting task was to remove the brain ) stated under oath "there was no brain left to remove."

Just a small handful of eviscerated tissue.

Brain tissue throughout the limo. As far up as the driver's seat.

Brain tissue left on the seat underneath JFK. Brain tissue sprayed onto both rear protecting motorcycle officers.

Brain tissue continuously oozing out the back of JFK's prone head in the ER.

Yet, JFK's brain is given full or almost full normal weight in the final autopsy report?

Please.

 

 

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William Pitzers brain weighed 1625 g. JFK had a big head too. 

Lets do some math.

About 25% of JFKs brain was blown out. 75% of 1600g = 1200g. Then allow for the fact JFKs brain swelled in the 30 minutes between 12:30pm and 1pm by perhaps 15%. This would increase the volume of the brain to approximately 1380g. Then allow for the fact the brain was soaked in formalin for a few days which could add up to 20% extra, but lets say for arguments say it was just 10%. 10% would bring the weight of JFKs brain to 1518g. 

So no mystery here.

Though it would be useful to get JFKs brain as then it would settle the issue of the direction of fatal head shot. 

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5 minutes ago, Micah Mileto said:

Did you hear about the samples of Kennedy's brain which had allegedly been displayed inside of a room at a University, with wooden arrows going through the tissue to apparently show the trajectory?

No, because that never happened. 

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So its possible that up until September of 2011, JFK's fixated brain may have been in the AFIP tissue Depository in Section 54 of Walter Reed hospital.  And they say people cant keep a secret...

from Jim D's article at KandK....   

"Now, if the autopsy was done at Bethesda and the official story has pathologist Jim Humes giving the medical exhibits, including the brain, to Admiral George Burkley—Kennedy’s private doctor-- for the internment, then how did at least a part of Kennedy’s brain end up at the AFIP? And how and why was this kept hidden for literally decades? The inevitable question suggests itself: was this the destination of Kennedy’s real brain, the one that was blasted beyond recognition? According to Montague this information very much interested and troubled Chief Counsel Jeremy Gunn and Military Records analyst Doug Horne, the two leaders of the ARRB medical inquiry. One reason it did so was that it seemed to corroborate a previous interview the ARRB had done. This was one with a man named Ken Vrtacnik who also worked at AFIP. That interview was done on November 12, 1996, as his name had been provided by an outside, unnamed source.

Vrtacnik had been stationed at AFIP during the years 1964-65. He was interviewed by Montague and Horne. In a remarkable piece of testimony, he corroborated Mastrovito. He said that he had seen Kennedy’s brain during the 1964-65 period, and he stated it had been kept in a locked room as part of the AFIP complex. Like Mastrovito, he said he knew it was Kennedy’s brain since it was labeled as such. He also added that it was under very tight control. But he said an AFIP employee, Joyce Manus, who ran the Pathology Data Division, could produce a data sheet which would show when the specimen was received, from whom, and its current status there. This writer has not been able to find any ARRB interview with Manus."

Jim, my follow up question to reading this information is how the fkkkkk did Jeremy Gunn and Doug Horne not get a court order, a senator or two, 4 armed cops and a Swat team and not drive over to Walter Reed in 1996 and kick some doors down. How...how did they sleep at night having this info that, the real remains of JFK's brain could be sitting in a locked cabinet at Walter Reed.....you know these guys...why the fkkk would they sit on this info and do nothing for 20 plus years...or at least in 2010 when it was announced AFIP would be shut down and everything relocated from Walter Reed.....how did Doug Horne never mention these interviews and this information to anyone!!!!!??????

Am i over reacting to this info....for 15 years they knew it was possible the President's brain may have been at Walter Reed...and did nothing!

A.J

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3 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

 

AARB TESTIMONY OF COMMANDER JAMES HUMES:

Q. I'd like to draw your attention to a few items on the first page of this document. Right next to the marking for brain, there's no entry of a weight there. Do you see that on the document?
A. Yes, I see that it's blank, yeah.
Q. Why is there no weight for the brain there?
A. I don't know. I don't really--can't really recall why.
Q. Was the fresh brain weighed?
A. I don't recall. I don't recall. It's as simple as that.
Q. Would it be standard practice for a gunshot wound in the head to have the brain weighed?
A. Yeah, we weigh it with gunshot wound or


Page 75

no. Normally we weigh the brain when we remove it. I can't recall why--I don't know, one, whether it was weighed or not, or, two, why it doesn't show here. I have no explanation for that.

Q. Where did you make the incision on the scalp?
A. Where we usually--in the coronal plane, over the coronal suture. Of course, half of it was already--I mean, you know, it wasn't a neat incision because part of it was over the large defect that was already present.
Q. So did you make any incisions in the scalp other than the one that would be roughly from either right to left or left to right, roughly over


Page 102

the coronal--
A. No, we didn't make any others.
Q. So there were none front to back along--
A. No. There were lacerations of the scalp in several different directions, but, no, we didn't make any other incision.
Q. Where did you cut the bone?
A. I find that--it's hard to recall. Once we got the scalp laid back, some of those pieces could just be removed, you know, by picking them up, picking them up because they were just not held together very well, other than by the dura, I suppose. So other than that, we probably made it like we normally do, in a circumferential fashion from books, like right above the ear around. But it was a real problem because it was all falling apart, the skull. And I can't recall the details of exactly how we managed to maneuver that, because it was a problem.

 

Edited by Joe Bauer
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You know Adam, I tend to agree with what you say in the last paragraph.

At the very least, why did they not try to find Manus to locate where it was?  And how it got there.

But as far as know, I could not locate that interview.

Very puzzling.  

And by the way, although it was Malcolm Blunt who tipped me off about Mastrovito, and he is briefly mentioned by Palamara, I never would have heard about Vrtacnik if I had not called Dave Montague. He is the one who told me about him, and about how troubled Gunn and Horne were when they talked to him.

And to be frank, this is one of the problems i have with Gunn.  As far as I am concerned he has been like the Sphinx since the ARRB dissolved. IMO, he should have tried to find Manus, brought her in for a deposition, got all the info from here, and if it checked out, sent someone down there to verify.

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Joe:

Nice quote.  A mystery that has never been solved.

Why did they not weigh the brain that night? He admits there that it is standard practice.

And Humes could not reply to the question. 

IMO, and I admit it is a guess, I think he was halted from doing that, just like he was stopped from dissecting the back wound.

But he did not want to admit it.

Edited by James DiEugenio
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Q. Where did you cut the bone?
A. I find that--it's hard to recall. Once we got the scalp laid back, some of those pieces could just be removed, you know, by picking them up, picking them up because they were just not held together very well, other than by the dura, I suppose.

So other than that, we --- PROBABLY --- made it like we normally do, in a circumferential fashion from books, like right above the ear around.

But it was a real problem because it was all falling apart, the skull. And I can't recall the details of exactly how we managed to maneuver that, because it was a problem.

Humes could "not recall" how they managed the skull maneuvering to get at and remove JFK's brain in the normal procedural way?

What a ridiculously weak recollection response. Of all the aspects of his autopsy actions that night ( on the President of the United States!) this brain removal one is drawing a blank?

Humes claims it was he that removed JFK's brain. Yet, here he is expressing memory loss and unsureness about how he even separated JFK's entire brain from the shattered skull, ripped scalp and thick dura matter to do so?

Bethesda corpsman Paul O'Conner's detailed description of the brain removal process involved specific cutting methods as well as other nerve and brain stem cutting methods.

Humes seemed less knowledgeable and definitely less experienced in this process than Corpsman O'Conner whose specific job was brain removal.

O'Conner said JFK's brain was essentially gone when he first had an up-close view of the gaping hole into JFK's skull. He also stated he saw no cutting on JFK's skull as you would normally perform in a brain removal procedure.

He said no cutting and peeling back of JFK's skull was necessary, because his brain was not intact enough to warrant doing so.

So, who should you believe here? Humes...or corpsman Paul O'Conner?

I think I recall  ( not 100% sure ) a Humes quote about JFK's brain just kind of falling into his hands when he pulled on it. That it was so obliterated in that way.

Humes being oblivious to the failure to weigh JFK's brain is a totally suspicious red flag to me. I feel he is using this "gee, I don't know why I missed that" excuse to cover up the fact that JFK's brain was much more obliterated than one that later weighed in at 1400 + grams, even considering formalin saturation.

The Warren Commission sure didn't want Paul O'Conner testifying. Or even James Jenkins. Obvious why not.

 

 

Edited by Joe Bauer
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Per Dr. Mantik, there were 3 shots that hit JFK in the head , "JFK was struck by three headshots—including two from the front (one at the frontal hairline and one near the right ear), and one shot from the posterior, entering near the external occipital protuberance, just as reported by the pathologists."

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16 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Did Kennedy's brain end up at the AFIP?

I never heard Gunn or Horne ever refer to this.  But Dave Montague told me they were really disturbed by this evidence.

Thanks to Malcolm Blunt and Dave we have it now.  Truly startling stuff that the HSCA never got close to.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-mystery-of-kennedy-s-brain-deepens

My chapter on James Mastrovito from my fourth book WHO'S WHO IN THE SECRET SERVICE:

 

img_1790.jpg?w=764

img_1791.jpg?w=764

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16 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Did Kennedy's brain end up at the AFIP?

I never heard Gunn or Horne ever refer to this.  But Dave Montague told me they were really disturbed by this evidence.

Thanks to Malcolm Blunt and Dave we have it now.  Truly startling stuff that the HSCA never got close to.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-mystery-of-kennedy-s-brain-deepens

My chapter on James Mastrovito from my third book THE NOT-SO-SECRET SERVICE:

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img_1794.jpg?w=764

 

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img_1798.jpg?w=764

img_1799.jpg?w=764

img_1800.jpg?w=764

img_1801.jpg?w=764

img_1802.jpg?w=764

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Nice one Vince.

I should have checked more thoroughly.

 

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BTW, I have to add, I really mean what I said in the last paragraph of my essay.

I think that today, with everything we know about this subject, Kennedy's brain is like a signal from a lighthouse.

It is one of the most powerful, convincing forensic matters in this case.

I do not think that any objective panel who heard this evidence could possibly not agree that some very serious subterfuge went on that night, before, during, and after the autopsy.  Something really dirty happened with JFK's brain.  And once one understands that, one has to ask: Why?

The other question that poses itself is: why did it take so long to figure that out?  And would it have ever been discovered if not for the ARRB?

I think this really shows  the problems with the HSCA in this regard.  And it may be one reason that Stokes went to the ARRB and said, you have to examine the entire medical area, since no one was satisfied with what  our committee did with it.

You can say that again Lou.

 

Edited by James DiEugenio
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