Where Was JFK's Rear Head Entry Wound?
MTGriffith
Michael T. Griffith
1998
@All Rights Reserved
It is becoming clear that the rear head entry wound was where the autopsy
pathologists said it was, a fraction of an inch above and somewhat to the right
of the external occipital protuberance (EOP). This location exonerates Oswald,
since no missile fired from the sixth-floor window could have caused this wound
(unless Kennedy had been leaning about 60 degrees forward when the bullet
struck, which he wasn't). Those responsible for the cover-up must have
realized this, and so later government-hired experts claimed the rear head
entry wound was actually FOUR INCHES above the location identified by the
autopsy pathologists. Here is some of the evidence against the proposed higher
location and for the lower location:
* Dr. David Mantik, a radiologist and an expert in radiation science with a
Ph.D. in physics, scanned the area of the proposed higher entrance wound in
the
skull with an optical densitometer and found no evidence of an entrance wound
in that region. Dr. Mantik discusses the evidence against the proposed higher
location in his chapter on the medical evidence in ASSASSINATION SCIENCE, pp.
94-98 and 108-113.
* Dr. Charles Petty, who sat on the forensic pathology panel of the House
Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), in a 1993 JAMA article, ***endorsed
Humes' placement of the skull entry wound!*** In fact, he said, "there were no
bullet defects other than those described by Humes in his report."
* At the Clay Shaw trial, which, bear in mind, was AFTER Finck had performed
the 1967 review, Finck said, "I don't endorse the 100 mm [relocation of the
entrance wound]. . . . I saw the wound of entry in the back of the head . . .
slightly above the EOP, AND IT WAS DEFINITELY NOT 4 INCHES OR 100 MM ABOVE IT"
(emphasis added).
* Dr. James Humes, the chief pathologist at the autopsy, left no doubt that he
and the other pathologists examined the rear entry wound with the scalp
reflected so that they had a very good view of the wound:
This wound was situated approximately 2.5 cm to the right, and
and slightly above the external occipital protuberance [EOP]. . . .
When one reflected the scalp away from the skull in this region
[i.e., the EOP], there was a corresponding defect through both
tables of the skull in this area. . . .
When we reflected the scalp, there was a through and through
defect corresponding with the wound in the scalp. . . .
The wound in the inner table . . . was larger and had what in the
field of wound ballistics is described as a shelving or a coning
effect. (2 H 351-352)
So let us be clear that the pathologists examined this wound up close, with the
scalp reflected. It is manifestly absurd to suggest that they "confused" this
wound with a wound that was "really" a whopping four inches higher.
* Chester Boyers told the HSCA the rear head entrance wound was "to the right
of the external occipital protuberance."
* The x-rays contain evidence that supports the lower entry point described by
the autopsy doctors.
* Three federal agents who attended the autopsy drew wound diagrams for the
HSCA and all of them placed the head entry wound at or very near the location
described by the autopsy doctors.
* In the May 1992 issue of JAMA, Dr. Humes said,
The fatal wound was BLATANTLY OBVIOUS. The entrance wound
was elliptical, 15 mm long and 6 mm wide, and located 2.5 cm to
the right and slightly above the external occipital protuberance.
* The location of the image identified as the revised (high) entrance wound in
relation to the ruler in the photo of the back of the head itself and the scale
drawing refutes the proposed higher site. The HSCA said the rear head entry
wound was 13 cm from the first prominent crease in the neck. But, when 13 cm
is measured on a scale drawing, "the scalp wound is not located even remotely
close to the 'high' entrance wound" (Joseph Riley, "What Struck John," p. 13).
Dr. Joseph Riley, who is a neuroanatomist, expanded on this point in an e-mail
to me:
The HSCA says the scalp wound is 13 cm above the first prominent crease
in the neck. [Let me go off on a tangent. Just how stupid can these
people be? The scalp wound is 13 cm above lower/mid-neck, but that is
supposed to be 10 cm above the EOP. Therefore, the EOP is 3 cm above
the lower/mid-neck! Using the ruler in the photo, you can measure and 3
cm won't even put you at the level of the skull! Anyway, back to our
story....]
On the scale drawing, 13 cm from the same location (more or less) puts
you "slightly above the EOP" just where Humes et al. placed it.
(E-Mail, 2/21/98)
Continuing, Dr. Riley noted,
The ruler is marked out in 0.5 cm gradations; you can make these out on
clear copies of Dox's drawing. The Clark Panel/HSCA says that this wound
is 10 cm above the EOP. So, what happens when we measure 10 cm "down"
from the scalp wound? Are we anywhere close to the EOP? Nope, we're in
the neck, missing the skull entirely. (E-Mail, 2/21/98)
* In the top-of-head autopsy photos, intact cerebral cortex is visible, as
confirmed by both Dr. Bob Artwohl and Dr. Mantik. "What is unappreciated,"
notes
Dr. Riley, "is that this cortex (superior parietal lobe) corresponds to the
HSCA's entrance site" ("What Struck John," p. 4). Dr. Riley put it this way in
a newsgroup message on the subject:
We have autopsy photographs that show the top of JFK's head. Everyone
agrees (including Dr. Bob Artwohl) that intact cerebral cortex is visible.
If you are a neuroanatomist, you can identify the cerebral cortex
(superior parietal lobule visible). What's the significance of that?
Simple:
that is the part of cortex that is immediately under the high entrance
wound
-- so, the brain at the point of the high entrance wound is not damaged.
Now
that is indeed a magic bullet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael T. Griffith is a two-time graduate of the Defense
Language Institute in Monterey, California, and of the U.S. Air Force Technical
Training School in San Angelo, Texas, and has attended Brigham Young
University,
Ricks College, Austin Peay State University, Mount Wachusett Community College,
and Haifa University in Israel. He is the author of four books on Mormonism
and
ancient texts. His articles on the JFK assassination have been published in
several journals that deal with the JFK case. He is also the author of the
book
COMPELLING EVIDENCE: A NEW LOOK AT THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
(Grand Prairie, TX: JFK-Lancer Productions and Publications, 1996).
MICHAEL T. GRIFFITH. Check out my Real Issues Home Page
at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/MGriffith_2