My thoughts on body alteration.

At one time as a JFK researcher I may have held the view that JFK's body was not altered.  I honestly don't recall when or where I said or wrote that.  I've been at this a very long time.  It has consumed me.   I've spent most of my adult life being a JFK researcher and in many ways to my own detriment. Friends and classmates have gotten married, some have children of their own now who are the age their parents were when I knew them, if not older.  They've pursued their education, married, had kids, bought homes, etc. One has died. In some ways I wonder where I would be if I didn't pursue this JFK stuff. I know my imaginary doppelgänger of myself would certainly be better off educationally, financially, professionally, and probably personally.  However, I just knew I had to get involved in this.  I am glad I did what I did.  I'm grateful I got to travel and meet the people I did. I'm grateful I've made the friends I did who also care and continue to study this case.  But, it does come at a cost.

I've changed my opinions and beliefs in some aspects of the case as new evidence or information has come in.  This case is large, immense. It calls to mind what Hercule Poirot said in Mr. Ratchett's train cabin in the film "Murder on the Orient Express, "there are too many clues in this room."  It takes a great deal of time to be conversant on the basic topics or issues in the case. And very few people do it well.  Jim DiEugenio and John Newman are some of the best presenters of JFK assassination information both old and new.  New information is coming to light from the newly declassified documents and other areas that make us rethink areas of the case. This is certainly true in the area of the medical evidence.

David Lifton's book "Best Evidence" was ground breaking.  You have to own a copy and you have to read it and comprehend what David Lifton discovered.  It is a great achievement.  Lifton found in the records of the Warren Commission an FBI document written by agents Sibert and O'Neill who were in the autopsy room in Bethesda when JFK's body was removed from a casket and placed on the autopsy table.  "The president's body was removed from the casket in which it had been transported and was placed on the autopsy table, at which time the complete body was wrapped in a sheet and the head area contained an additional wrapping which was saturated with blood.  Following the removal of the wrapping it was ascertained that the President's clothing had been removed and it was also apparent that a tracheotomy had been performed, as well as surgery of the head area, namely, in the top of the skull."  

There were several problems with this.  It's a different casket. Where did JFK's clothes go? Who took them off, where and when? And most importantly, what's this about surgery of the head area?

Best Evidence's weakness, however, is when Lifton speculates where and when the body alteration occurred.  But,  you have to understand when it was written.  This was back in 1981.  The House Select Committee on Assassinations had just finished its investigation.  We only had the HSCA Final Report and its volumes.  The HSCA gave a very different description of the wounds from what the Warren Commission described.

We now have a great deal of the HSCA's files thanks to the ARRB.  Doug Horne worked for the ARRB and was a driving force for what they did in the medical aspects of the case.  He wrote a 5 volume series on the medical aspects of the case ( Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5 ).  He built upon and expanded what Lifton found.

So, let me state my current beliefs. Yes, I believe the bronze ceremonial casket was empty when it arrived at Bethesda.  This is the conclusion you must come to when you hear Denis David and Jerrol Custer who worked at Bethesda.  They have examined JFK's corpse, taken photos and X-rays.  And when going from the autopsy room with X-rays and photos to develop, or having developed them and were returning to the autopsy room they see RFK and Jackie arriving from a grey Naval ambulance that supposedly has JFK's corpse still in the bronze ceremonial casket.  JFK's corpse cannot be in the bronze ceremonial casket if Custer and David have already examined it.  JFK's corpse cannot be in two places at the same time.

Yes, I do believe the body was altered.  No, I do not believe body alteration occurred at Parkland, somewhere else in or near Dallas on the way to Love Field, at Love Field, in AF1 or AF2 at Love Field or in the air on route to Andrews, or somewhere else in or near Washington, D.C.  I believe it happened at Bethesda.  It's the best place for it to happen.  The conspirators can totally control the area and its personnel and there is no time problem to do it and then get it to Bethesda.  I think Doug Horne has got it right on this.

As for my possible discovery of RFK going up some stairs and entering AF1 it's on this blog, the post is entitled "Is this RFK going up the stairs of Air Force One and into the plane as it arrived at Andrews Air Force base? "

 Unfortunately, the CBS video of this put up on Youtube.com that I linked to in my earlier post has since been taken down. I took some still shots from that video.  Another video shows the same scene.  At about 1:27:25 the anchor is now Harry Reasoner.  He takes over from Charles Collingwood.  Reasoner is told what they are showing is live video of AF1 arriving at Andrews Air Force base. You will hear a voice say, "It is live, live, live!"  You will see stairs being brought to the front of the plane.  I only see two men enter and one is wearing a white military hat.  I think the other man is RFK.  We know RFK went to Andrews and entered the plane this way. So, it's probably him.

Almost in the dead center of this image (below) is a man going up the stairs.  I think this is Bobby.  Yes, I know it's not a great clear image.  And, yes, I could be wrong.  But, I think it's a strong possibility it's him.