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Pergola, north side of Elm, in Dealey Plaza. |
The pergola afforded a good view of the presidential motorcade. Abraham Zapruder stood on a low column of the pergola and took the now-famous home movie of the motorcade. This is his view. This is also the view from the acoustic position, slightly behind where Zapruder stood. The plaque was placed on the line of sight between Zapruder and the president at the time of the shooting.
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The Two Shooters' Positionson the north side of the picket fence, known as the Badge-man Position; also on the north side of the fence, known as the Acoustic Position. |
Badge-man Position: Located 15 feet north of the corner of the picket fence on the parking lot side of the fence. Bystander Mary Moorman snapped a Polaroid of the president just as he was shot. The photograph has been blown up and examined many times. It wasn't until 1982 that Gary Mack (at the time the director of the photographic archives for KXAS television station and now the archivist of the Sixth Floor Museum) noticed that there appeared to be a uniformed figure with certain highlights consistent with a police uniform standing behind the fence. Mack's detractors say that what appears to be a badge is actually leaves from nearby trees. The Warren Commission never looked at the photograph during its investigation of the assassination.
SAYS DAVE PERRY: I think it is a very interesting image.
SAYS GARY MACK: All I've tried to do is bring it to the attention of scientists. I noticed something that others had not noticed.
SAYS JIM MARRS: The photo clearly seems to be showing a man wearing a dark shirt and a dark shining object on his chest. Prime candidate for the grassy knoll shooter.
SAYS GERALD POSNER: I never cease to be amazed at how people are willing to abandon common sensethis photograph has been blown up so many times, it is easy to imagine seeing almost anything in those dots. In the regular photo you can see nothing. This location is fairly exposed and to the right of Zapruder who was standing there taking his movie, and yet no one saw anyone with a badge or a gun. How could they not see a shooter in this position?
The Acoustic Position: Also behind the picket fence between the pergola and the parking lot about eight feet west of the corner of the fence. This is the second gunman position, allegedly supported by witnesses saying that they saw a "puff of smoke" arising from this area and from a 1979 determination (discounted by the FBI in 1980) by the House Select Committee which examined ballistic and acoustical analysesthat there was a 95% probability of a second gunman.
SAYS DAVE PERRY: There is enough contradictory evidence in the findings to say that there was a basis for concluding there was a second gunman. Additionally, the House Select Committee on Assassinations reached that very conclusion.
SAYS GARY MACK: In 1963, all police cars had radios and communications were recorded on a Dictabelt machine as a record of what was said during police transactions. No one had thought to check those tapes for gunshot sounds. When I moved here in 1976, I located the tapes from November 22, 1963 and I borrowed them. What I heard on the tapes sounded like there were at least four shots.
SAYS JIM MARRS: Two separate sets of acoustic scientists came up with a near-hundred percent probability that there was another shooter. There are as many as ten sounds on the tape that they couldn't rule out as being gunfire. This is where the government's cover-up becomes obfuscationthey have confused the facts to the point where people can't understand the evidence that is clearly out there.
SAYS GERALD POSNER: This is a real blunder by the House Select Committee. They were running out of money and had to end their review of the acoustical question quickly. The open police microphone detected four impulses that were mistakenly thought to be gunshots, but it was discovered that those sounds came a minute after the assassination. The FBI discredited the House Select Committee's findings three years later.
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