Phantom Shot

[Bob Mady]

Before you jump to conclusions about his beliefs, let's let him answer.

Drew and Bob; I have managed to cause quite a stir, and for that I apologize. I will just answer your questions and then stop posting. Mike and myself believed for a very long time that there was a conspiracy and now we don't. It wasn't until we delved into the eyewitness information that we realized that the first impression and initial statements of a large group of eyewitnesses closest to the car and snipers nest was they only heard two shots. They don't mention three shots until subsequent statements and after you read enough of them you start to see how the extra added shot doesn't really fit into the narrative but appears to just be added to the statement. Virtually 100% of the eyewitnesses referenced hearing the first shot and seeing JFK react and then slump to the left or in the case of James Chaney look left. The initial eyewitness statements explain and estimate distances from where they were standing as to when the first shot happened. The Willis and Betzner photos show that JFK is okay and still waving to the crowd at Z202, possibly to Mary Woodward and friends.

I never tabulated the number of shots or the supposed pattern of them. I feel the answer is in what they said in the statement. Initially they were just trying to tell what happened and later trying to conform to the press reporting and general consensus. Once we realized that the eyewitnesses were stating two shots initially and subsequently started changing their statements to three shots like the earwitnesses we focused on the eyewitnesses.As far as the earwitnesses there are only so many ways to say "I heard three shots." There are a few different ones like Garland Slack and James Powell. The 19 deputies statements mentioned looked to me like a form letter that they each signed. The press simply had the information wrong and perpetuated it by reporting it as fact. Merriman Smith an earwitness was the newsman that Walter Cronkite quoted when he said "three shots in Dealey Plaza. " Out of 70 newsmen in Dealey Plaza, James Altgens was the only eyewitness all the others were earwitnesses. Altgens was standing alongside Elm street within feet of JFK's car taking photos. If anybody knew how many shots he did and Altgens reported only seeing and hearing two shots with the last one being the head shot.

To answer your question about additional information as to the shooting I will just refer you to Howard Brennan's statement. He explains that he observed the shooter and he was in no hurry at all let alone struggling to get off 3 shots in 5+ seconds. For whatever reason people want to talk about Amos Euins who was standing next to Howard on the sidewalk facing the TSBD. Howard was a 45 year old pipefitter while Amos was a 14 year old student. I always thought the reason that most people questioned the lone gunman finding was the seemingly impossibilty of firing the rifle in 5+ seconds with a rifle that takes 2.3 seconds to cycle. Theoretically it is possible but was very hard to achieve in reality. It defied common sense especially in view of the other available information like the Zapruder Film and the witness testimony. This doubt led to the thinking that there had to be another shooter or a shot at Z160 or earlier in an attempt to lengthen out the time it took to fire the three shots. If you study the eyewitness statements you come to the conclusion the first shot struck JFK.

　
　
Finally, what I believe is LHO was a psychopath who became increasingly more homicidal. He fired just two shots not three and his sole intent was so that he would be remembered in history by linking his name to JFK's. Given his anti social nature I don't think he was capable of being in a conspiracy. There are a large number of coincidences and happenstance that must take place in order to put JFK in front of the TSBD at noon. I think everytime we mention LHO's name he wins. I also think ultimately everybody needs to decide for themselves whether they think it is a conspiracy or not. The best way to do that is with as much research as possible. The internet has made it possible to have easy access to a lot of information vs the painful information gathering efforts of the past. Also, it is important when reading these eyewitness statements to read the whole statement and not excerpts and come to your own conclusion. There are a number of different sites where the complete statements are posted.

Again I apologize for not reading the rules.

Sorry that I wasted my time with the statistics, obviously you live in another world populated by fiction that is unfounded in evidence.

Good luck to you, I hope the lone nuters enjoy your stories, they seem to thieve on non-sense.