Who’s telling the truth: Clint Hill or the Zapruder film?

[James H. Fetzer]

Well, I certainly admire your perseverance. As I have explained in many places. I believe the shot to the back of his head was fired from the Dal-Tex, but not that came out the side of his head. The skull flap appears to have occurred as an effect of the shock wave set up by the frangible bullet, which entered at the right temple. Your position not only assumes the film is authentic, which is provably false, but that the best witnesses to the throat wound and the back-of-the-head wound are wrong, which is irresponsible. You are entitled to your opinions, Albert, but they are not supported by the weight of the evidence, which apparently does not bother you. But they are not well-founded and cannot qualify as rational.

JF: If the first head shot had exited at the side of JFK's head around his right ear, then it would have been the case that the second shot, which created shock waves, would have blown brains out the right side of his head. Those brains, however, would not have included cerebellum and, in fact, his brains were blown out to the left rear. It follows that the first head shot did not exist the side of JFK's head around his right ear.

What I'm trying to point-out here is there is a forensic universe to which the claimed shots must conform. For instance, if you postulate a shot that enters the rear and exits around the right ear you have to associate that with a source. Such a shot would trace back to a point of origin in that line. If you consider the angles involved with such a shot the point of origin would be the Dal-Tex Building > south.

I'm sorry but to the best of my knowledge the orientation of the wounds does not provide any direction for ejecta to the left rear from the wound seen at Parkland. It's clearly on the back right side of the occiput. Shockwave or not, the linear direction for such a wound, starting with a shot to the temple, is not in the back and to the left direction. If Kennedy's head was turned 23 degrees left the direction of the ejecta would be to the Depository side (If there was any ejecta because the plug plopped straight down and onto the seat).

You are only accentuating the problems. If you contend Zapruder was forged, and therefore Kennedy's head turn was not 23 degrees left but was straight, then by necessity you have to answer to the trajectory of you right ear-exiting shot which now rotates in an even more unfavorable direction. There's that nagging total universe showing up again. It has to match.

Furthermore, the parietal burst occurs at 313 in Zapruder. Since you admit the skull flap, you have a problem because you have a visible wound occurring at frame 313, forged or not. This flap resembles a wound bursted-out by pressure. And there's more to the parietal wound than just red coloring, there's flexible flesh movement and whitish scalp colors.

JF: We already have evidence that the blood spray was painted in, as John Costella has explained in his tutorial on the film. I am troubled that you are basing your arguments on the presumption that the Zapruder film is authentic, when we have already proven that it is a fabrication.

I'd be curious how you reconcile the skull flap wound you've already admitted and this blood burst? Was there no burst from the skull flap wound? Some burst? Partial burst enhanced by painting?

JF: I find it fascinating how you are willing to promote a single witness to debunk the mass of evidence we have that the blow out was at the right rear of his head, which, of course, includes that it can be seen in frame 374 and that the Parkland physicians all confirmed it, including the extrusion of cerebral as well as cerebellar tissue.

Here's where you're in trouble. The witness who heard the pumpkin smashing sound spoke of it shortly afterwards, unprompted, and immediately. I think most reasonable people would say that it was unlikely he either fabricated this or decided to make it up. It has the spontaneity of a legitimate witnessing. I'm forced to say this can't be answered by calling him "a single witness". Even worse, I believe there were other people who corroborated this horrible sound (and blood burst).

JF: Since he was a world authority on the human brain and we already know that the Zapruder film has been faked, I really don't understand why you are attempting to promote your personal "speculation" in lieu of his expertise. What you see in the Zapruder film, given it has been recreated, has virtually no probative value. Indeed, you appear to positively revel in taking positions contrary to the weight of the evidence.

I think my point is once you establish the Zapruder Film was faked there's a lot of possibilities that can fit in there. The overly-broad reference to the film being altered doesn't adequately address this IMO. The guiding factor then becomes how does all this conform to the other means of recording this, which is then mainly the witnesses and forensics.

JF: We already have Perry's description of the wound as a wound of entry (three times during the Parkland press conference), Crenshaw's diagrams of the wound before and after the tracheotomy (ASSASSINATION SCIENCE, Appendix A), and Weldon's study of the trajectory having passed through the windshield before hitting his throat. Again, you seem to derive pleasure from discounting the best evidence about these things.

Forgive me, but I don't think either side would allow no thorough examination of the tie.

JF: Since the skull flap was to the side of his head, any blood spray would have been distributed to the side, not upward as it appears in the film. I wish there were reason to think you are serious about all of this, but the persistence with which you maintain your position on the basis of a fabricated film and by disregarding the best testimony from the best witnesses suggests to me that you are treating this as a playful exercise.

No, I disagree. I believe the skull flap opened-up on the ridge of the head and flopped-open on a hinge of flesh on the side of the head. Zapruder does show something like this - for whatever it's worth.

There are several skull pieces caught flying upward in a whitish jet of materials in Zapruder. One is very triangular-looking. I think it could very possibly be the Harper Fragment. Since this could be connected to a know real event, then that reinforces the authenticity of the parietal burst seen in Zapruder. The Harper Fragment went well south of the limousine which would be in the opposite direction of your "side of the head" claim. The Brehm skull piece was also to the south quadrant.

I beg you to consider there's more to this than the forged film.