What a Difference a Frame Makes
Posted August 14, 2004
Two frames of the Zapruder film show an uncharacteristic movement of President Kennedy and the eruption of tissues from the right front of his head. These frames are Z330 and Z331.
The next and back buttons step from one frame to another. Meanwhile the color of the text belonging to the displayed frame changes to black. Two buttons, zoom and undo, control size of the frame. The zoom button hides the scrollable text and clicking the undo button restores the original view. All buttons respond to navigational keystrokes. The Tab key shifts focus to the right and the Shift Tab combination moves focus to the left. Pressing Enter while a button has focus is equivalent to clicking the button. These navigational keys enable a user to select an action, place their mouse pointer on an object and press Enter to observe minute changes in detail.

Frame Z329 shows the positions of the Kennedys and the orientation of the limousine. This information is necessary to establish movements of these subjects immediately before the motions reported by frames Z330 and Z331.

Z330 shows the rear of the limousine appeared to move toward the viewer as its front moved away. These changes show that the limousine was rounding a curve.

A careful comparison of the positions of the Kennedys show changing perspective due to the curving limousine caused part, if not all, of their apparent motion. Regardless of cause this motion is the standard for evaluation of uncharacteristic movements of President Kennedy on the subject frames.

Blur of Z331 prevents saying whether Z330/Z331 show a comparable or somewhat smaller motion of Mrs. Kennedy. However, the magnitude of the change in President Kennedy's position overcomes the blur. Without doubt the Zapruder film reports a forward head snap with upper torso motion.

Z331 shows tissues and perhaps fluids erupted from President Kennedy's head and obscured its shape.

On Z332 a vertical motion blur elongates the shape of Mrs. Kennedy's head. This distortion indicates how an unaltered head of the President would appear. In sharp contrast with the minor aberration of Mrs. Kennedy's head, the grossly mis proportioned dimensions of the President's head show that a catastrophic change had occurred. Following frames of the Zapruder film show the reality and permanence of this change.

Conclusions

Frames Z330 and Z331 show that President Kennedy's head moved with a nodding motion and dragged his upper torso. This compound motion is evidence of a mechanical reaction to a head shot from the rear.

Blur of Z331 obscures recognition of a head spin. However, later frames show no transfer of spin momentum from the head to the torso. This infers a shot acting within inches of a diameter of the head.

The relative scarcity of ejectra is consistent with a second bullet transiting a head whose previously fractured skull contained diminished contents.

Bullets accelerate victims during transit. After the bullet stops within or exits, the acceleration ceases and an unrestrained victim continues moving with a constant speed. These considerations place the time of impact prior to Z331. The absence of a motion blur of President Kennedy's head on the preceding frame limits the time of impact toward the end or after Z330.

Although the torso movement is slow compared with the head snap, it represents a considerable increase in momentum imparted by a slowing bullet. In fact a minor movement of the torso represents a gain of more momentum than possessed by a M-C bullet.

Using the overlay method to compare these later copies of Z329 to Z332 with frames published by the WC show agreement of contents with one minor exception in the sprocket area of Z331. Apart from this unsurprising discrepancy, frames Z329 to Z332 present a strong case for a second head shot.

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Last Updated on December 23, 2008 by Herbert Blenner