BK Gjerde (2004): Dealey Plaza Deceptions: The Zapruder Film 1 Dealey Plaza Deceptions: The Zapruder Film by Bjørn K. Gjerde © Copyright 2004 Bjørn K. Gjerde While working on my article about the forged autopsy photographs and the second autopsy of President John F. Kennedy, I occasionally took a look at the Zapruder film and other films and photographs taken at Dealey Plaza immediately before, during and after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. I was particularly interested in the Zapruder film, and looked at the complete film as well as the individual frames to some extent, comparing them with other images from the assassination scene. While doing so, I noticed some features in the film that didn’t match with that which could be seen in other photographs from Dealey Plaza. However, I didn’t have the opportunity to study the matter properly at that time, since I felt it was urgent to finish the article about the forged autopsy photographs and the second autopsy. So in that article I merely stated that: “Since the Secret Service and the FBI were involved in the conspiracy to kill President Kennedy, every piece of evidence from the assassination these agencies processed, must be looked upon with great suspicion. The other evidence may be just as falsified as the medical evidence presented in this article.” Having published my article about the forged medical evidence and the second autopsy on April 30, 2004, I began to take a closer look at the Zapruder film and other images from Dealey Plaza. I soon found out that the Zapruder film as well as several other photographs from the assassination scene were just as falsified as the autopsy photographs and x-rays of President Kennedy, but due to other obligations, it has taken several months to finish the present article about these falsifications. The authenticity of the Zapruder film has been debated for many years. In September 2003 James H. Fetzer and co-authors published the book 'The Great Zapruder Film Hoax: Deceit & Deception in the Death of JFK' (Catfeet Press) about what they claimed to be alterations in the film. I have not read the book itself, but I have read some of the discussions on the Internet about the claims put forward in that book. As far as I can determine from these discussions, the authors have pointed out some anomalies in the film, which suggest editing, and one of the authors, John Costella, has even claimed that the complete film is a fabrication, in which other images were put together to produce the final product. However, these authors seem to have failed to discover all the major ‘alterations’ or inconsistencies in the film, which will be described in the present article. My examinations have been based entirely on images available on the Internet, since I have not had access to any printed photographs. Some of the available images have not had as high a resolution as desirable, which has made it somewhat difficult to arrive at a conclusion about some details (and to make good illustrations for this article). The fact that I have never been to Dealey Plaza, Dallas, has also been BK Gjerde (2004): Dealey Plaza Deceptions: The Zapruder Film 2 a disadvantage when examining the Zapruder film and other films and photographs from the assassination scene. The peculiar topography of Dealey Plaza, particularly the fact that Elm Street makes both a downhill and winding course through that area, makes it very difficult to interpret two-dimensional images taken from any point in Dealey Plaza showing the Presidential limousine travelling down that stretch of Elm Street. However, when analysing photographic images, the skill of the analyst is often much more important at arriving at a correct interpretation than the quality of the images themselves. Some people have an inherent skill to interpret photographic images (understanding perspective and seeing three dimensions from two-dimensional images) – others don’t. Unfortunately, most of the photo ‘analysis’ in this case has been done by people from the latter category. During my study, I have scrutinised thousands of images and compared what is depicted in the Zapruder film with that which is shown in other photographs. I have emphasised examining how the physical features of Dealey Plaza (topography, streets, trees, buildings etc.) as depicted in the Zapruder film, match the same features in real life as shown in other images and maps, assuming initially that the film was made from Zapruder’s position on the pedestal. However, I have also compared whether the same people and actions are seen in the different images of the assassination. First, I will describe the different discrepancies between the extant Zapruder film on the one hand, and other images and the topography of Dealey Plaza on the other hand, and then I will try to explain why these discrepancies are there, and discuss the implications of having a Zapruder film different from Zapruder’s camera-original film. The discrepancies will be dealt with in roughly chronological order as they appear in the Zapruder film. Since the question of authenticity of the Zapruder film is intimately associated with the authenticity of other photographs from Dealey Plaza, several other photographs will also be discussed in the appropriate sections. The Zapruder film discrepancies The history of the Zapruder film has been described numerous times by different authors, and will not be repeated in detail here (see for instance: ‘The History of the Zapruder Film‘ by M. Shackelford, and ‘Abraham Zapruder Film Chronology‘ by The Sixth Floor Museum). As is well known, Mr. Abraham Zapruder, using his 8mm Bell & Howell camera, filmed the Presidential limousine as it proceeded down Elm Street from the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets toward the triple underpass. Mr. Zapruder was standing on a concrete pedestal of the North Pergola of Dealey Plaza together with his receptionist Marilyn Sitzman. From his elevated position on the north side of Elm Street, he had a good view of the entire route the motorcade was travelling through Dealey Plaza, i.e. from it turned right off Main Street onto Houston Street, and then turned left onto Elm Street and passed immediately in front of him going toward the triple underpass. On his original film, Zapruder reportedly captured the entire assassination of President Kennedy. The crucial question is whether the extant Zapruder film is identical to the film Zapruder recorded with his camera on November 22, 1963. THE WHITE BUILDING ON ELM STREET Frames Nos. 1-132 of the Zapruder film (Z1-Z132) show parts of four buildings along Elm Street to the east of the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets (Figure 1A) (note: when reference is being made to items visible in different Zapruder frames, the sprocket hole area of the frames is also included). On the south side of Elm (on the right-hand side of the frames as seen from Zapruder’s position) is the northwest corner of the Dallas County Records Building, and on the north (left) side of Elm, we see the southeastern corner of a building known from its street address as 509 Elm Street. The 509 Elm Street building is lying immediately adjacent to the Dal-Tex building (501 Elm Street), which is on the northeastern corner of Elm and Houston, immediately across Houston Street from the Texas School Book BK Gjerde (2004): Dealey Plaza Deceptions: The Zapruder Film 3 Depository Building (TSBD) at 411 Elm Street. Neither the Dal-Tex building nor the TSBD is visible in the Zapruder film. Further to the east on Elm Street we see the corner of the Purse & Co. building (601 Elm Street), which is lying on the corner of Elm and North Record Street. Finally, beyond the Purse & Co. building we see a fairly large part of the wall of a white building, which seems to have a brown, pitched roof. However, the brown roof-like area might also be the wall of a brown building behind the white building. From its relative position, this white building should be situated on the corner of Elm and North Market Streets. An increasingly smaller portion of the white wall of this building remains visible also in frames Z133-Z189. The peculiar alignment of the white building caught my interest early on. I simply couldn't understand how a building supposedly situated on the northeast side of Elm Street could project that far into the street and have such a totally different alignment from the two other buildings visible on the north side of the street. Since Elm Street extends in a straight fashion eastwards from the intersection of Houston, one would expect that only the (southwest) corner of a building would be facing Zapruder, rather than a large section of its wall. Hence, I started examining other available photos of that area to see if there really was such a building on that part of Elm Street at the time of the assassination. It turned out that few available photos taken at Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963 showed Elm Street to the northeast of the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets. However, the film shot by Tina Towner, clearly shows this part of Elm Street. Tina Towner stood on the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets (Figure 1A), so from her position, she would have had roughly the same view eastwards up Elm Street as Zapruder had from his position. In the Towner film only a small white area is visible behind the Purse & Co. building, and this might be the corner or wall of a white building (Figure 1C-D).