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

One of the things that instigated me to get into the JFK assassination earnestly was the ridiculous program that appeared in 2011, The Lost Bullet, by Max Holland. In it, he claimed, rather matter of factly, that the first shot that missed hit the frame of the traffic light, bounced off of it, and traveled down the entire length of Dealey Plaza to hit the sidewalk and then graze James Tague. 

I thought it was absurd at the time, and I still think so. And David Von Pein agrees. This is by him: 

It turns out that in a written report called "The DeRonja-Holland Report: Technical Investigation Pertaining To The First Shot Fired In The Kennedy Assassination", which is a report that appeared online at the "Washington Decoded" website on November 20, 2011 (the same day the "Lost Bullet" program first aired on television), Max Holland had essentially eliminated the white spot on the traffic light as being a possible bullet hole way back in June of 2011 (see photo below). But Mr. Holland then went ahead and said it possibly WAS a bullet hole on the "Lost Bullet" special anyhow. That's a strange situation.

Here is the report:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130814061906/http://www.washingtondecoded.com/site/2011/11/the-.html

It seems rather disingenuous and dishonest on the part of producer Robert Stone and the other people connected with the production of the "Lost Bullet" program to allow Mr. Holland's comments (regardless of when they were put on film) about a possible bullet defect in the traffic light to be aired in the special on 11/20/2011.

I suppose it's possible that the NatGeo producers just couldn't bear to edit out the one thing that was, by far, the biggest "new" revelation (or "bombshell", if you prefer that word) that came out of the one-hour "Lost Bullet" documentary. So, they just let the viewers think that the "defect" (white spot) that we see in the traffic light could possibly have been caused by a bullet from Lee Harvey Oswald's gun.

But if that last statement I just made is correct, then if I were Max Holland, I'd be boiling mad and fit to be tied. Because the net result of the "Lost Bullet" program (as it aired on November 20th, 2011), plus factoring in the information produced in the "DeRonja-Holland Report" (which clearly has Mr. Holland's name on it as a co-author) is this:

A.) There's almost no way in the world that the "white spot" that we see on that traffic light (in the 11/27/63 Secret Service film) is the result of a bullet.

B.) Max Holland, five months before the "Lost Bullet" special aired, knew full well that Point A above is true.

C.) The National Geographic Channel went ahead and aired Holland's opinion anyway that the white spot could still be a bullet defect in the traffic light.

Any way you slice it, there's a bad odor coming from this whole "traffic light" situation, in my opinion.


I can tell David why they didn't make any retraction: the whole program was based on the theory. The whole idea was that Oswald didn't have just 6 seconds to shoot, but rather over 11. Of course, they didn't point out that even if the theory were true, it didn't do anything to lengthen the interval between the second and third shots.

But, the theory is not true, and let's point out that it could have been easily tested, and it didn't have to be in Dealey Plaza. They could have gone out to the desert and done it. But, even if the test was successful proving that it was possible, it would not have meant that it necessarily happened. 

So, it was very dishonest, irresponsible, and outrageous that they ever went with it. But, they did base the whole show on it, and if they had taken it out, what would they have had left? Nada. And that's why they didn't take it out.