X Rays

[John Dolva]

Extreme enhancement of xrays showing fracture lines and opaque fragmentation through hair and possibly cavitation as well.

[John Dolva]

Extreme enhancement of xrays showing fracture lines and opaque fragmentation through hair and possibly cavitation as well.

Areas that may be of interest selectively colourised.

[Frank Agbat]

Extreme enhancement of xrays showing fracture lines and opaque fragmentation through hair and possibly cavitation as well.

John,

Intriguing graphics, as always.

I think it is save to say that the skull experienced comminution as a result of the headshot. This is consistent with what Paul K. O'Connor said in William Law's In the Eye of History,"... There was no need for me to open up the cranium becaus the cranium was completely shattered. When I say 'shattered,' not only was the brain blown open, where nothing was left, but the rest of the cranium -- the skull cap -- was totally fractured. By 'totally fractured,' I mean it was comminuted. Comminution means if you took a hard boiled egg and dropped it on the floor, there are hundreds of fractures in the shell and that's the way the president's skull was. It was just malleable -- moved back and forth -- and what was left of the cranium was completely shattered."

The question I have related to your most recent postings is this: Do you have high-quality scans of the x-rays to work with? Specifically -- is there risk that some of the things that are seen are a result of compression artifacting, scan artifacting, etc?

Regards,

Frank

[John Dolva]

Extreme enhancement of xrays showing fracture lines and opaque fragmentation through hair and possibly cavitation as well.

John,

Intriguing graphics, as always.

I think it is save to say that the skull experienced comminution as a result of the headshot. This is consistent with what Paul K. O'Connor said in William Law's In the Eye of History,"... There was no need for me to open up the cranium becaus the cranium was completely shattered. When I say 'shattered,' not only was the brain blown open, where nothing was left, but the rest of the cranium -- the skull cap -- was totally fractured. By 'totally fractured,' I mean it was comminuted. Comminution means if you took a hard boiled egg and dropped it on the floor, there are hundreds of fractures in the shell and that's the way the president's skull was. It was just malleable -- moved back and forth -- and what was left of the cranium was completely shattered."

The question I have related to your most recent postings is this: Do you have high-quality scans of the x-rays to work with? Specifically -- is there risk that some of the things that are seen are a result of compression artifacting, scan artifacting, etc?

Regards,

Frank

Frank, yes absolutely. As one can easily see to a large part the artifacts have a uniform quality in the form of squares and vertical/horizontal lines. The pattern formed bythe actual data is not uniform in structure.

The xrays are the best I can find published by the HSCA.

EDIT:: (reply to below) Thank's for recommending, I'll look at it. (gotta do some stuff so will look in a few hours)

Further edit:: A point of clarification. The image is built with a cumulative zero point shift enhacing each value stepwise. Hence the fragmentation while there is not as fine as it might appear. I'll elaborate on the technique later. It is the pattern that emerges when values are not diminished according to where on grayscale it appears that are highlighted here.

Edited December 15, 2005 by John Dolva

[Frank Agbat]

Thank you, John.

I *assumed* that this was, in fact, what I was seeing, but rather than proceed on conjecture, I thought I should ask.

Not to provide 'information overload' but have you ever read Sherry Gutierrez's work with Blood Spatter Analysis and the Z-film (I think it is available on the jfklancer forum)?

I posted the z-film with autopsy x-ray overlays over there and she had some very interesting an informative comments about entry/exit wound locations as it relates to splatter. I'm still trying to digest all the information and attempting to reconcile Pat's work, Sherry's article & post, and understand this subject on my own.

[John Dolva]

(image temporarily removed)

Edited December 15, 2005 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

It is clear to me that prior to cross-referencing the xrays in order to locate individula features one needs to establish benchmarks as to orientation etc on each individually.

On an enhanced version of the Lateral xray at the area anterior (or in front of) of the ear it appears that the sella turcica* is viewed obliquely from above and to the rear in such a way as to indicate the head, when placed to produce this xray, was tilted slightly 'top towards' the xray machine and slightly 'face away'. This is important in locating fragments and bone structures elsewhere in a 3d sense. And only AFTER determining this (and after similar evaluation of the AP xray) can one reliably start to cross reference the xrays.