THE SOURCES OF THE SHOTS
In order to understand the assassination, there must be a careful examination of from which location(s), or at least general areas shots were fired. This is a subject of great debate. For years people have argued over what certain witnesses said concerning the location of the shots. This is rather futile. A solid analysis as to the locations of the shots can not positively be determined from witnesses testimony alone because numerous witnesses changed their opinions as to the location(s) of the shots. Different investigators have come up with numerous statistics of witness testimony, however much of this testimony is very subjective, seeing how witnesses would sometimes give vague descriptions like, “from the right”, or “from behind”.
While statistically analyzing witness testimony can be close to impossible, there is some testimony which is impossible to ignore.More witnesses said that they heard shots coming from the Texas School Book Depository than any other location. The Book Depository is to the back and right of the car. Many other witnesses said they heard shots coming from the grassy knoll, which is to the front and right of the car. After examining eye witness testimony it is impossible to ignore that fact that both the Book Depository and grassy knoll are the key locations from which witnesses heard shots from.
Other witnesses did say that they heard shots from other locations. However these witnesses were few. For the purpose of this book the only other location which will be examined as a possible source of shots is the Dal-TexBuilding, which is across from the Book Depository on Houston Street, also behind the car.
Witnesses said that there were two to eight shots. The Warren commission claimed that these were echoes and that there were only three shots. Yet they never performed any acoustical tests to try and prove this Acoustical tests were performed in 1978 by Mark Weiss, Ernest Aschkenasy, and James Barger for the House Select Committee on Assassinations. They performed tests on an audio recording of the assassination made by HB McLain’s police radio in Dealey plaza. They confirmed that the recording was genuine and that based on this recording there were between six and nine shots.
The acoustical experts also fired test shots from both the Book Depository and the grassy knoll in order to create comparison recordings.
They concluded that shots came from the Book Depository and that there was a 95% chance or better that shots had also come from the grassy knoll. They also concluded that two of the gunshots were inconsistent with the Book Depository and the grassy knoll. This would imply that two shots had come from a location other than the Book Depository or the grassy knoll.
The experts concluded there were six separate impulses which could be positively identified as distinguishable gunshots. “Six sequences of impulses that could have been caused by noise such as gunfire were initially identified as having been transmitted over channel 1... All six impulse patterns passed the preliminary screening tests.” However the House Select Committee on Assassinations ruled out two of the gunshots on the grounds that they did not come from either the Book Depository or the grassy knoll. This would indicate that two shots had come from a third source. Since proper tests were never performed to determine for sure if shots had been fired from the Dal-Tex Building, it is unknown whether or not shots were fired from the Dal-Tex Building.
Very few witnesses said that they heard shots from the Dal-Tex Building. However, evidence as to how the shooting occurred may also support the idea that there was a shooter in the Dal-Tex Building. The acoustical experts never performed tests to confirm if shots had come from the Dal-Tex Building, but they did say they could not rule out the possibility of shots from a third source.
Upon hearing this shocking acoustical testimony, which was broadcast on TV, the Committee immediately ended all public hearings concerning the assassination. While this evidence forced the Committee to conclude that Kennedy had “probably” been assassinated by a conspiracy, they emphasized “probably”, because they claim to have found no evidence linking the two gunmen. As if it was mere coincidence that two men just happened to fire on the President at the same place at the same time.
Many discount the acoustical evidence, based on the findings of Harvard professor Norman Ramsey. Known as the “Ramsey Panel”, they concluded, the sounds on the recording were caused by the Automatic Gain Control on the radio. Many people fail to note that McLain’s radio had no Automatic Gain Control.
This author believes that any average person who listened the tape would interpret the sounds not simply as scratches on the tape, but as gunshots.
SOURCES OF THE SHOTS
Weiss, Aschkenasy, Barger:HSCA p.63-77, Vol.II p.17, Vol.V p.556,649.
