evidence during the Warren Commission's hearings, was seen as in a condition good enough to be fired again. At the time, CIA and FBI officials produced a diagram of the bullet's supposed trajectory and explained with physics how the bullet could perform it's bizarre maneuvers. However, much of the math in their calculations was incomplete and/ or incorrect. Also, the algorithm-supported hypothesis was never tested in a labratory, and thus is deemable as inconclusive. Interestingly enough, years later the CIA issued a new schematic for the bullet's course, only this time they'd moved Connally's body to align itself with Kennedy's. Some, however, disregard this as another aspect of a coverup.
So for now lets disregard the Oswald theory and look into another popular theory, that of one or more shooters on "The Grassy Knoll." Within plain view of the motorcade there is fenced area surrounded by trees. From this position it is quite possible that a shooter could have fired on the President with incredible accuracy and, because of the train tracks behind the knoll, vanished without a trace. Multitudes of eyewitness reports that day claim they heard shots fired from the general area of the knoll, and not from the book depository building. Most of them claim they saw two or more people behind that knoll and watching the motorcade, and a few of them even say they turned away from the motorcade prior to the shooting to see men aiming weapons at the President. Some claim they attempted to get help from the Police, but were too late. An employee of the train yard nearby claimed he saw two men open fire and quickly run away in the confusion, but mysteriously, the Warren Commission did not use his statement in their report. This supports the theory that other gunmen killed the President, and not Oswald. Perhaps Oswald was a scapegoat, or perhaps he attempted to kill the President also but had no clear line of fire. Or perhaps Oswald was somehow not connected in any way.
There are two other people now considered crucial to the telling of this story, from the perspective of a conspiracy theorist. Umbrella Man and Dark Complected Man. Umbrella Man turned out to be Louis Steven Witt, who came forward in 1978 to admit his identity and claim he had no idea he was sparking controversy. In one of the more popular films of the assassination, the "Zepruder Film," as well as multiple other films and photographs of that day's events, Witt can be seen across from the Grassy Knoll holding an Umbrella. As the Presidential Motorcade turned the corner onto Elm St., Witt opens the umbrella, seemingly to signal gunmen. Please note that it was 66 degrees and sunny that day. Anyway, as the Presidential Motorcade nears Witt, he begins to rotate the umbrella in the same speed that the motorcade is travelling. After President Kennedy was hit, Witt pumps the umbrella up and down, then closes it. Across the street there is "Dark Complected Man," whose identity is still unknown to this day. This man, apparently of African American decent, raises his hand high above his head after the President had been shot, and while everyone else was cowering and ducking for cover, he continued to stand there seemingly-unphased by the events that had just taken place. Some speculate that they saw him talking into a walkie-talkie, and that he had a bulge in his back pant's pocket. In 1978, when Witt came forward about being the Umbrella Man, he claims he had no knowledge of the Dark Complected man existing, although in the Zepruder film you can clearly watch them walk off together and sit on a nearby curb, chatting casually, only moments after the assassination took place. |
