Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

This is new research by Dr. David Mantik. It concerns the Harper fragment, which was a piece of skull bone found by Billy Harper on the infield grass the day after the assassination, so November 23, 1963.

Several pathologists identified it as a piece from the occipital bone in the back of the head, which would mean that the fatal head shot came from the front. But later, a couple other government pathologists tried to claim that it wasn't occipital. But, Dr. Mantik makes the case here that it was an occipital fragment, and hence, the fatal head shot did come from the front. 

OPTION A: ABSTRACT (by Mantik) 

On Saturday, November 23, 1963, Billy Harper found a skull fragment on 
the infield grass at Dealey Plaza. Three Dallas pathologists agreed 
that it was occipital bone. After photographs were taken in Dallas, 
the FBI took possession of the bone, and then gave it to Admiral 
George Burkley, MD, the president's personal physician. Before Burkley 
lost the bone (forever), the FBI X-rayed it, but then these X-ray 
images also disappeared for many decades. 

In this monograph I examine the photographs and X-rays of the Harper 
fragment (hereafter "HF") and I list (in Section 6) fifteen 
independent and self-consistent signs for its origin from JFK's upper 
occiput. In addition (in Appendix K) I present a multiple headshot 
scenario that encompasses all of the significant evidence related to 
JFK's head wounds. 
        HF has great importance for one reason: if it derives from the 
occiput, a frontal shot is strongly implied-and that means conspiracy. 
The Forensic Pathology Panel (FFP) of the (1977-1979) House Select 
Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) and their consultant, J. Lawrence 
Angel, disagreed with one another on the precise origin (in the skull) 
of this fragment, but they agreed that it was not occipital. Two 
subsequent researchers, Joseph N. Riley, an expert in neuroanatomy, 
and Randy Robertson, a diagnostic radiologist, also disagreed with an 
occipital origin. This paper reviews and critiques their arguments. 
Riley, in particular, claimed that occipital bone does not show a 
pattern of vascular grooving; he also claimed that it never shows 
foramina (small dimples in the surface). For him, such criteria closed 
the case-HF could not be occipital. 
        In an earlier essay, I had critiqued Riley's opinion and 
concluded that multiple lines of evidence (many not discussed by 
Riley) actually favored an occipital origin. In particular, standard 
anatomy textbooks disagree with Riley's two key points. Many textbooks 
(discussed here)-from 1906 to 2006-display vascular grooves in 
occipital bone. As for occipital foramina, a human skull in my 
possession clearly shows them; many textbooks also display occipital 
foramina. This refutation of Riley's two chief points opens the door 
(quite widely) to an occipital origin for HF. 

Based on the coherence of all of this evidence, and especially based 
on the fifteen signs, HF must derive from the upper occipital area. 

                OPTION B: From an Amazon Review by Douglas Horne 

Backstopped by extraordinary detail and footnoting, and by brilliant 
clarifying illustrations, the reader will quickly reach the conclusion 
that this work is the "final word on the JFK head shots"-as much as 
any "final word" can be determined today, that is-in view of the 
completely discredited JFK autopsy report, and incomplete and suspect 
collection of JFK autopsy photographs and skull x-rays. Dr. Mantik 
brings his expertise as an M.D.-a radiation oncologist quite familiar 
with and qualified to read skull x-rays-and as a physicist, to this 
extensive, illustrated monograph. 

                OPTION C: SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS (by Mantik) 

1.        Harper's discovery site is not very useful. 
2.        A hole existed in JFK's high occipital bone, where the Harper 
Fragment (HF) originally lay. 
3.        Riley was wrong about the occipital bone; it can indeed 
contain foramina and grooves. 
4.        The HSCA's parietal placement of HF was wrong. Angel's 
parietal placement of HF was also wrong. 
5.        HF most likely was not ejected at Z-313, but rather closer to 
the steps at the bottom of the Grassy Knoll. 
6.        JFK was struck by multiple headshots, likely more than one 
after Z-313