The evidence

The grassy knoll

Smoke, a fence, “Badge Man,” the umbrella man and the head snap

The Newman family shelter on the grass after the shooting, November 22, 1963. This is the White House photographer’s view, not the separately copyrighted news photograph.
Cecil W. Stoughton / JFK Library · Source & image context ↗

RECORD / AT A GLANCE

Real witnesses; no physical evidence

Unproven. The witnesses and the head motion are real. The House committee’s photo experts found no gunman in the pictures, the pathologists found no wound from the front, and the acoustics finding that once supported a knoll shot was rejected by the National Research Council.

THE EVENTS / THE INVESTIGATION / THE STORY

The chronology.

READ THE FILE

Evidence & assessment.

Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

5 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.

All 155 rated claims ↗

OPEN THE RECORD

Sources & limits.

Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.

  1. S. M. Holland: Warren Commission testimony, volume VI (AARC mirror) ↗

    Railroad supervisor on the overpass who said he saw a puff of smoke under the trees on the knoll.

  2. Lee Bowers: Warren Commission testimony, volume VI (AARC mirror) ↗

    The railroad towerman behind the knoll who described cars in the lot and something that caught his eye near the fence.

  3. HSCA volume XII: Dealey Plaza witness analysis (AARC mirror) ↗

    How the committee sorted 178 witness statements on where the shots came from.

  4. HSCA photographic panel: alleged gunmen in Dealey Plaza, volume VI (AARC mirror) ↗

    Enhancement of the knoll, the Moorman Polaroid and other pictures for signs of a shooter.

  5. Dale Myers: photogrammetric analysis of “Badge Man” ↗

    A researcher’s analysis of the height and position the Moorman shape would need.

  6. Louie Steven Witt: HSCA testimony, 25 September 1978 (AARC mirror) ↗

    “Umbrella man” explains himself, umbrella in hand.

  7. HSCA final report, part I-A: Oswald fired three shots ↗

    The committee’s review of the rifle, the wounds and Oswald.

  8. Alfred Olivier and HSCA medical panel testimony on head motion (excerpts) ↗

    Primary excerpts: wound-ballistics tests in which struck animals moved toward the gun.

  9. Nicholas Nalli, “Gunshot-wound dynamics model for John F. Kennedy assassination,” Heliyon, 2018 (PubMed record) ↗

    Peer-reviewed physics model finding the head motion consistent with a shot from behind. PubMed blocks scripted fetches; confirmed by search.

  10. JFK Facts: “The trouble with Nicholas Nalli’s paper” ↗

    A skeptic’s critique of the 2018 model and its assumptions.

  11. HSCA final report, part I-B: scientific acoustical evidence of a second gunman ↗

    The committee’s acoustics finding: a “high probability” that two gunmen fired, one from the knoll.

  12. HSCA final report: summary of findings and recommendations (1979) ↗

    The House committee’s headline findings: Oswald fired three shots and the fatal one; Kennedy “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy”; Soviet and Cuban governments, organized crime as a group and anti-Castro groups as groups not involved, but individual members not ruled out.

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