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The Zapruder Film:
Alleged Tampering,
Selected WC/ARRB Testimony
Clay Shaw Trial Testimony

Comments? Please email: Clint Bradford

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Assassination Science?
Missing Frames?
Superhuman Head Turns?

The Zapruder Film is Authentic

Noel Twyman's book, BLOODY TREASON, is "updated with the latest released documents from the U.S. Government...more than 160 photos and exhibits, including 26 critical frames from the Zapruder film in color, with analysis proving for the first time that the film was altered while in the hands of the U.S. government."

Wow. Pretty impressive claim! There's more...

"A new discovery by Twyman is presented, proving with easily understood analysis that the Zapruder film was altered to conceal what really happened at the time of the head shot."

I was anxious to read this "easily understood analysis" that proved tampering. But not impressed with what I read...

What, exactly, is Twyman examining? A David Lifton slide set.[*] And Twyman tells us beginning in the Acknowledgments and continuing throughout the book that his analysis proves alteration. Why? Because Secret Service Agent Greer's head turns too quickly, according to Twyman.

After demeaning the O.J. Simpson criminal trial jury by insulting their collective intelligence [p. 67], Twyman discusses "evidence" for a whole chapter. But when it comes to defining what copy of the Zapruder film he is analyzing, all we are told is he is using David Lifton's "slide set." He made a copy of Lifton's copy, and compared them with the black-and-white frames published in the Warren Commission Report. Then he compared them with Life Magazine and "frames I obtained from the Secret Service box in the National Archives."

He further states he approached Zapruder family attorney James Silverberg and obtained selected frames and a "continuous film strip copy" allegedly made from the National Archives copy. And his main, Number One finding?

"There is conclusive evidence, based on the impossibly rapid head and shoulder motion of Secret Service Agent William Greer, that the film has been forged (altered) by removal of frames from the film in at least two locations: between frames 302 and 303 and frames 316 and 317. [Author's own emphasis.]

Please look at the new MPI Home Video yourselves. Greer's head turn begins at Frame 301 and lasts until frame 306. It is fluid. It is reasonable. It is believable. It does NOT occur in 1/18th of a second. All of Groden's copies of the Zapruder film show the same, believable head movement, too.

So the MPI Home Video copy - made from the National Archives copy - must be illegitimate. So are Groden's, I guess. They have ALL been altered to show reasonable Greer head turns.

Twyman goes on to tell us that his copies of the Zapruder film do NOT show the President's limo either slowing down or stopping. But the MPI Home Video shows a distinct slowing right before the final head shot(s). Groden's copies show a definite slowing, too.

Twyman tells us that he cannot see blood and brain matter blowing out the rear of the President's head, as "described by doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital." There were NO Parkland "doctors and nurses" in Dealey Plaza that stated they saw such an eruption. Twyman's "Point 4" on page 119 is a very poorly written "conclusion."

And on and on...

Twyman's book has been touted as an authoritative, 900+ page masterpiece. Mary Ferrell herself wrote the Foreword.

What does this all mean? It means we should all demand that researchers who truly desire to offer us the best available materials should fully document their writings before sending them to their publishers. Don't you want to be told the exact heritage of the "Lifton slide set" that Twyman bases ridiculous claims upon? Why in the world would he NOT desire to fully document it?

I am not a paranoid person in the slightest. But before I swallow any extraordinary claims, I want reliable, solid documentation. What Twyman and others are advising us is that their copies of the Zapruder film (whatever they are) must be treated as gospel. Which leaves us with some really well-edited Zapruder footage floating around - copies that have been ALTERED to make Greer's head movements very reasonable.

I don't buy it. We deserve better.

"There is no 'David Lifton Slide Set,'" Lifton writes 08/12/98. "There *is* a 35 mm film I personally made from the 35 mm interpositive that Weitzman made directly from the 8 mm 'original.' A copy of that was provided to Twyman. A copy was donated to the National Archives when I testified before the ARRB at the Los Angeles hearing in the fall of 1996. Would you mind getting your facts straight and stop spreading such lies?"

No reason to call me a "liar," really. Twyman was the one who stated he was using a copy he made of David Lifton's slide set - and no further definition of its heritage is provided. I wish the heritage of ALL studied copies of any evidence was provided to us...that's one of my major gripes as I read extraordinary claims.

So I thanked Lifton for writing, but asked him to please forward his concerns to Laurel Publishing and Noel Twyman. Maybe the heritage of the Lifton slide set can be included in future printings of Bloody Treason, if the author thinks it needs to be clarified.