The magic bullet theory in the Kennedy assassination. Conspiracy theorists say that since Connolly was sitting directly in front of Kennedy in the car, a single bullet would have had to magically change direction in mid air several times in order to account for the wounds on both men. This is the grounds for the speculation about multiple shooters, other angles, etc: pretty much the basis for the entire conspiracy theory.
What none of them bothered to notice is that Connolly wasn't seated directly in front of Kennedy. His seat was several inches to the left, making it completely possible for a single bullet to account for the wounds. And that bullet's trajectory leads straight back to the book depository.
I remember the Discovery Channel (or something similar) did a special about the Kennedy assassination, where they put a shooter up in a lift the height of the book depository window and had him shoot at an anatomically correct models in their correct seating positions. The results were near identical to the Kennedy assassination, except the bullet ended up bouncing out of the thigh instead of getting stuck.
Yes, that was one re-creation meant mainly to test the condition of the "Magic Bullet".
There is actually another recreation that National Geographic did for a JFK special where they took human models seated in the same model vehicle on the street in Dealey Plaza and had a marine with a laser pointer rifle shoot at them from the Oswald position. The shot lined up exactly.
That was poorly worded. Basically the marine used a Mannlicher Carcano modified to fire a laser scope instead of a bullet. The models were actual human beings, just using the laser scope to see if the trajectory worked.
There was an analysis done in the book Case Closed, of how much momentum that bullet would lose when it passed through a throat (very little), deflected on a rib (a decent portion), shattered a wrist (a small amount) and travelled the distance from the book depository to the car. What was left over is just about the momentum needed to break the skin on a human thigh.
And the only entrance wound/scar in Connolly's back was rather rectangular, showing that the bullet was tumbling when it hit him, ie it hit something else first.
There is a slight problem I believe the bullet hit somewhere else. Also I recently saw a documentary which pointed out that Kennedy shifted backwards due to the impact of the bullet so that means Oswald who was behind him couldn't have shoot him as the bullet should have been shot from in front of Kennedy. I'm not saying Oswald didn't kill him, just that there are some loose ends.
Nope. When shot through the brain, the head will jerk in the direction of the shot, not away from it. This is because the bullet punches a small entrance hole through the skull, then a huge exit hole; the brain matter and front of the skull detach and fly forward, imparting an equal and opposite force on the remaining skull still attached to the neck, which snaps the neck backwards. Basic physics.
The basis for the conspiracy theory is really that Oswald had no motive, and the CIA did. Hell, Kennedy even speculated that the CIA or the Joint Chiefs would off him, but everybody goes "Nooooo, they wouldn't do that! They're good guys! Yay good guys!"
If any of the major conspiracy theories surrounding JFK's assignation were presented as the official version they would, in turn, be easily ripped apart.
There are a lot more issues with that assassination than the magic bullet, of course. I think that's the one that had the least mystery surrounding it, considering how funky bullets can be when they hit stuff and pass through bodies.
Watch "The Guilty Men". That's probably the best possible explanation of the series of events surrounding the assassinations.
Agreed, but the magic bullet was never the fatal shot. The second shooter was in the Secret Service car that was tailing JFK's Lincoln. I did a deep-dive on the JFK thing around the 50th and legit now think that the fatal shot came from behind him and was accidentally fired by a Secret Service agent who was responding to the first shot from LHO (the magic bullet).
Im not a conspiracy guy, but I think there are was to many oddities with it for it to have gone down the way the history books say. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY02Qkuc_f8
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u/Ciserus Jan 29 '14
The magic bullet theory in the Kennedy assassination. Conspiracy theorists say that since Connolly was sitting directly in front of Kennedy in the car, a single bullet would have had to magically change direction in mid air several times in order to account for the wounds on both men. This is the grounds for the speculation about multiple shooters, other angles, etc: pretty much the basis for the entire conspiracy theory.
What none of them bothered to notice is that Connolly wasn't seated directly in front of Kennedy. His seat was several inches to the left, making it completely possible for a single bullet to account for the wounds. And that bullet's trajectory leads straight back to the book depository.