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

This is the infamous frame 313 from the Zapruder film, supposedly the split-second the fatal head shot impacted his head, but I don't believe in the authenticity of this image, and neither should you. 

So, what exactly is that supposed to be? It can't be the moment of impact because a full metal jacket bullet would enter the head cleanly. There certainly would not be an explosion at the site of entry. If anything, there would be an explosion at the site of exit. So, is that what we are supposed to be seeing? But, look at the location, It's centered on the right temple area. And if JFK had an exit explosion there, how could his autopsy photo look like it does? That area is intact. 

Witnesses did say that his head "exploded." They used that word. But, they didn't say it exploded there. Officer Cheyney said that he was splattered with JFK's brain matter from the blow-out in back. I think the word he used was "soaked." But, he was behind JFK on the left side. So how could there be an explosion at the right front? 

That red splotch isn't real. That has to be paint; paint that is still on the original Zapruder film, to this day, if it still exists. But, there's no paint on the copies. And that explains why the National Archives was willing to send copies out to anyone the Zapruders designated, but when the family finally asked for the film back, that's when they found out that they didn't own it at all.  

But, what story were they trying to tell when they painted that red splotch on the frame? And I think that, most likely, "they" were  Dino Brugioni and his team at the CIA's "National Photographic Interpretation Center."  Just think: he wrote a book called Photographic Fakery, which I have and have read twice, in which he shows all these examples of photographic fakery starting with the Civil War, but then when he gets to the JFK assassination and the Zapruder film, he went on, at length, about why all those images are real and authentic. Methinks he defended it too much. 

But, why did they do it this way, giving us this dramatic red splotch? And the red has to be blood, right? It isn't muzzle flash, not when the gun was so far away. And, it was followed by the infamous "back and to the left" movement of JFK's head, that we heard Kevin Costner, as Jim Garrison, say over and over in JFK the movie. 

If you believe that the fatal head shot came from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll, as many do, including me, then the location of the red splotch does correspond approximately to where he was hit, and the movement of his head does correspond to the movement that followed. You can read Head Shot, by naval physicist G,. Paul Chambers, who explains why, according to Physics, that has to be true.

https://www.amazon.com/Head-Shot-Science-Behind-Assassination/dp/1616145617

But, the question is: why did they leave all that in the Zapruder film if they were going to claim that the fatal head shot came from the rear?

I believe they left it in to authenticate the whole film. They knew, in advance, that once it went public that conspiracy researchers and the general public would think that the shot came from the front. They knew that they would use the film to vouch for that. And that is what happened. Remember, the HSCA was formed in response to the public outcry that followed the airing of the Zapruder film. So, why did Dino and them do it that way? If they were going to spend years altering the Zapruder film, why do it that way?

They did it that way because they knew that that is what would attract focus and attention. And they had a plan for it. They were going to claim that even though his head moved back and to the left, that he was still shot from the rear, from the 6th floor window, that under some circumstances, a shot from the rear can do that to an object, such as a head. It's no more absurd than NIST telling us that "office fires" can cause a steel-framed building to collapse. But, they decided that they would rather deal with that, and the fallout from that, if it would authenticate the film, and keep people from focusing on what they cut out, which was JFK getting shot in the back high on the hill. 

Look: they figured that people can be bamboozled about Physics because that's over their head. It's too complex; too brainy. But simple Arithmetic is something that anyone can do, even a moron. So, people can count, and if they knew that there was a shot that missed that grazed James Tague in the cheek, and a shot that hit Kennedy in the back high on the hill, and then another shot that hit Kennedy behind the sign, and even if they said that that shot also hit Connally and did all the damage to him, that you have to leave one more shot to account for the fatal head shot, and that means 4 shots. And they knew that Oswald could not possibly have gotten off 4 shots, even theoretically. 

So, the bottom line is that they would rather argue with researchers about the Physics of it than the simple Arithmetic of it. They had to get rid of that shot to the back. There was no room for it in the count. So, they did major surgery on the Zapruder film, moving the sign up so that JFK got to it right away. The limo rounded the corner, passed the Depository, and then right away it got to the sign, and JFK disappeared behind it: unhurt. And he emerged from it: hurt. That is the story they wanted to tell. It's the story they needed to tell. 

So, they left the back and to the left in to keep the conspiracy crowd preoccupied, to keep them away from noticing what they did earlier in the film to shorten the distance to the sign, but why did they add the red splotch? It's because the red splotch covers up what was actually shown. It's like a curtain. Apparently, the raw film really showed that the shot came from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll. Even though the red splotch looks bad, apparently, the raw film looked worse- from their perspective. 

So, it was all very calculated. After much consideration, they realized it was their best recourse to do what they did. At least, it saved the Single Bullet Theory, and they knew damn well that they were f_cked without that.