Conspiracy Museum Adds Plot Twist for Those with Wild Imaginations

Dallas Journal Conspiracy Museum Adds Plot Twist For Those With Wild Imaginations

By DAVID BARBOZA ple visit the Dealey Plaza area each don. Apart from the museum's "offi- •• DALLAS, May year. More than 1.200 people have cial" theories, Mr. Rice has a few of 27 — The voice visited the museum since it opened his own, and will show some fuzzy 1coming from the on April 4. pictures as proof of his case. "If we could export the Kennedy f television monitor assassination to Japan," said one of The director, Tom Bowden, a for- 4 tells of a vast con- mer information systems analyst, spiracy to control the White House. the museum's three staff members, Ron Rice, "we'd be instant million- says his goal is to push the mu- It says the Warren Commission Re- seum's conspiracy theories into the port was "born long before the Pres- aires." In attendance has mainstream. "We just want people ident was assassinated." And it even recent years, nearly doubled at the Sixth Fluor, the to think," he said. "Maybe that way asserts that Lee Harvey Oswald is permanent exhibit on the Kennedy we can correct the textbooks so that still alive. they contain information about the Make another selection on one of legacy that opened In 1989 in the former Texas School Book Depository, larger conspiracy." six video monitors and the ominous voice will declare that the "umbrella on the floor from which the Warren That "larger conspiracy" comes Commission said Oswald shot Ken- man," who is seen in the most com- from Mr. Cutler, who claims the plete film footage taken of the assas- nedy. And several private compa- "Professional War Machine" is be- sination, actually shot a poison dart nies now offer tours of other assassi- hind just about every political assas- into President John F. Kennedy's nation sites, like the rooming house sination in the past 30 years. where Oswald stayed. throat and that the White House is He calls the lone gunman theory a controlled by a group of financiers, But for hard-core theorists, the Conspiracy Museum is the only fairy tale, and contends that three war mongers and government bu- men shot and poisoned Kennedy, one reaucrats, labeled the "Professional place that aggressively examines the plot. Whereas the atmosphere in using a gas-powered umbrella pistol. War Machine." Oswald was a "patsy," he says. In Glance to the left or right, and fact, he posits, Oswald was not even there is a 108-foot-long mural cov- Oswald. He was an Oswald double ered with abstract bloodstains that named Alek Hide'', a C.I.A.-trained is meant to illustrate several more `Seek help,' a spy. theories, all of which coalesce around one overarching conspiracy: visitor advises a On the museum videos, Mr. Cut- a conspiracy that binds all conspira- ler's voice can be heard saying cies, from the death of Mary Jo Ko- museum near things like, "Clear the Oswald name pechne at Chappaquiddick (a plot to of all guilt" and "You must never keep Senator Edward M. Kennedy where Kennedy forget, the Warren report is a lie." from the Presidency), to the down- Mr. Cutler, who practices Zen, ends Ing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 (a each voiceover with the word, Central Intelligence Agency plot to was shot. "ahimsa," meaning non-forceful- prolong the cold war). ness. "It's really strange," Linda While Mr. Cutler said one purpose McCabe of nearby Plano said recent- the Sixth Floor is tight, professional of the museum is to help people • ly as she turned away from a moni- and historical, that in the Conspiracy come to peace with the events of No- tor. "I think you'd really have to be Museum is loose, free-thinking and vember 1963, some visitors leave . into conspiracies to come here." speculat ive. more confused than ever or frustrat- • Another visitor advised on a com- Gerald Posner, whose book, "Case ed with the spare displays. "I Can't ment card, "Seek help." Closed" (Random House, 1993), was believe I just paid $7 to hear some- The videos are part of the Conspir- widely praised as a convincing argu- body's opinion," said Henry Thomas acy Museum, an exhibit space that ment that Oswald worked alone, said of Fort Worth. opened last month in Dallas, just Mr. Cutler was known for construct- three blocks from Dealey Plaza, ing one of the most thorough maps of More visitors, though, are like Jay where Kennedy was shot. In highly ❑ealey Plaza. But as for Mr. Cutler, Wilson, an all man from Stephens, conspiratorial tones, the museum the theorist, Mr. Posner said, "Even Ark., who says that although he does traces the American history of as- among conspiracy theorists he's not not accept the museum's theory of sassinations back to the Age of An- in the mainstream." the Kennedy assassination, he also • drew Jackson, who was the target of Certainly, the museum is short on doubts the Government version. a tailed attempt on his life. artifacts and long on suppositions, "There's one thing for sure," he said, The museum is the pet project of a which are explained in its art work, turning to his wife, Fay, "We know it • Harvard-educated architect, R. B. diagrams and "video kiosks." didn't happen like they said it hap- Cutler, a self-proclaimed "assassin- Its bookstore is stacked with Ken- pened." ologist." Mr. Cutler, 81, who is from nedy books, as well as titles like "It's a wealthy family that made its mon- a Conspiracy" and "Unsolved Texas ey to the fertilizer business, says he Mysteries" and "Paranoid" maga- has spent about $400,000 on the mu- zine. seum, which promotes and displays Admission is $7 and includes a his theories. walking tour with Mr. Rice, a former The museum is in the right place. police officer who says he has spent City officials say about 8 million peo- 18 years researching the assassina-

IONAL SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1995

Scat Anderson for The New York Times "We just want people to think," said the director of the Conspiracy Museum, Tom Bowden, in front of a 108- foot-long mural that illustrates several conspiracy theories with abstract bloodstains.

IONAL SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1995