JFK's Tie Knot

[Bob Prudhomme]

Now that I've had a look at the full picture of the tie in the Archives, it is apparent to me that the torn area is too far toward the tail end of the tie to be the top of the knot, or any part of the knot. In a Windsor knot, or double Windsor knot, the last "bend" of the tie material (as it passes over the top and then thru the horizontal bit of tie that holds it in) is closer to the fat front end of the tie, than the rest of the knot. If the nick was the top of the knot, or even the front of the knot, when you undo the knot, the nick would be closer to the fat front than halfway for sure. The tail end of the tie in the Archives, on the contrary, has the nick in it.

The tail end of the tie passes almost straight thru the knot. It is the axis around which the fat side of the tie is woven to create the knot. If the nick/bloodstain is where the Archives photo seems to indicate, then it appears that the nick is roughly where the narrow end of the tie would enter a Windsor knot. I note that the tie has been cut clean into 2 pieces, which perhaps lends support for the nick being a part of that cutting activity.

Here's what I'm wondering. Why would you cut the narrow end of the tie below the knot? You'd still have to pull part of the narrow end of the tie through the bulk of the knot to remove it, possibly still having to apply force to the back of the patient's neck to get the job done. Why not loosen the tie (enough to avoid cutting the patient) and slice it ABOVE the knot, making the removal of the whole thing easier?

If CE394 was sliced in two above the knot, then that nick/bloodstain is truly in the wrong place (by 3-4 inches) to be a part of the neck wound. IF CE394 was sliced in two below the knot, and if the nick/bloodstain can't be INSIDE the knot (or else other parts of the tie would be damaged), then the nick would have to where the thin part of the tie emerges from the knot. To the right side (as you face JFK), which seems to me to be out of line to the proposed magic bullet path... and the projectile would have to travel through the shirt!

Hey Drew

Awfully sorry, old chap, haven't been here in ages. I just happened to be reviewing this thread and came upon your penultimate post above.

All I am able to say about your deduction is: Bloody brilliant bit of work, man! Bravo!

From my perspective, you have found the last piece of the puzzle, and not only destroyed the Single Bullet Theory but solved the mystery of what became of the projectile that exited the throat.

If the throat wound was caused by a part of a frangible bullet that grazed the rear base of JFK's skull and impacted and broke up at the C3/C4 vertebrae, with a fragment continuing on through the 2nd/3rd tracheal rings, is it inconceivable to think such a downward ranging fragment could make two "slits" below the collar band through the shirt and nick the tail of the tie as it passed just BELOW the tie knot? Would the tail of the tie not be curled inward by the tie knot, placing the 2nd icon (where the nick was) at the outer edge of the tail?