The Head Wounds
Background

The damage to John Kennedy's head remains as mysterious as the dark side of the moon. Too many revisions in the evidence, and too many pseudoscientific explanations for these revisions, make it impossible to know what, or whom, to believe.

The word "discrepancy" is inadequate to explain the extreme contrast among some of the different versions of the wounds.

First, it was Parkland (large defect representing an exit wound in the rear of the skull) versus Bethesda (entrance wound in the rear); then it was Bethesda (entrance low) versus the Clark Panel and HSCA (entrance four inches higher); then it was Parkland 1963 (large defect in the rear) versus Parkland 1990's (didn't see any defect; misunderstood what they saw), and so on.

The Parkland doctors in Dallas, including the Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery, William Kemp Clark, described a large defect in the bone at the right rear of the head, evidence of an exit wound they thought -- from a bullet fired from the front.

Dr. Clark and others defined the types of bone along the perimeter of the hole and noted that some of the bone was "avulsed," that is, thrust outward. Inside and out, they saw both cerebrum and cerebellum (brain tissue with distinctly different texture that lies below the cerebrum). Cerebellum (unlike ubiquitous cerebrum) exuding from the defect was considered strongly suggestive of an exit in the rear.

Dr. Clark did not record his observations for merely academic reasons. He had to look carefully into the defect to assess what was left of the brain in order to make a decision on whether to stop resuscitation efforts. He did not try to assess the full extent of the defect.

Late in the evening of the autopsy, three skull fragments, found in the limousine, were delivered. One of those fragments presumably fit into the defect in the rear of the head. It had a semicircular notch on its edge, said to be part of a hole created by an entering bullet.

The alleged entrance wound was defined by a notch on the edge of the skull, put together with a notch on the edge of the bone fragment. The two semicircular notches together made one full circle -- oval in shape -- representing a bullet hole. (For the sake of brevity, I'm omitting all the contradictory testimony on this issue.)

Now consider the location of the completed bullet hole: the pathologists said it was "just above" the EOP (external occipital protuberance) a landmark bump -- low in the rear of the head. This necessarily means that the defect - and the fragment that filled it -- also had to begin low in the rear of the head.

Gary L. Aguilar, M.D. has proven, with great elegance, that what Bethesda reported was not so different from what Parkland reported: a large defect in the rear of the head. Please see How Five Investigations Got it Wrong at www.history-matters.com He was the first to report the significance of the pathologists' measurements of the defect and the fragments -- what these figures meant with respect to the damage in the rear, and what Parkland had reported.

The language used by the pathologists was vague. They said the defect was "somewhat" into the occiput while emphasizing the damage in the front of the head. And their diagrams suggested the bullet hole was much lower than the lowest edge of the defect. (They explained that the diagrams only showed the hole in the scalp as opposed to the bone underneath.) The main Parkland-Bethesda controversy then is not whether there was a defect in the rear - there was -- but whether a bullet entered, or exited, from that area.

Getting back to Dallas, in the 1990's, some of the Parkland doctors said they never saw any defect; they said the back of the head was hidden by a curtain of gore-drenched hair that misled them into thinking a wound was under it. They also revised what they said about the brain: what they thought was cerebellum was just damaged cerebrum.

There is a big problem with this explanation: these doctors also reported seeing damaged cerebrum, tissue which they did not mistake for cerebellum. Obviously they made a distinction between the two. And some of the exposed cerebellum was sufficiently intact to exhibit grossly visible, definable characteristics. Dr. Clark, a distinguished neurosurgeon and the most qualified of all the physicians who saw the head damage, never changed his story.

Michael Baden, to whom Bugliosi often turned for advice, has also made good use of the hair-curtain explanation. He used it to explain how on-lookers at the autopsy could be so "wrong" about the greater defect in the skull. He even used it to explain why the pathologists were "wrong" about where the skull entrance wound was. Baden gives new meaning to the expression "pulling the wool over one's eyes."

Few medical professionals would be fooled by such an explanation. Anyone who has dealt with trauma knows that even the least serious little wound in the highly vascularized scalp can cause a great blood bath. Even brain injuries can look worse than they are. Doctors and nurses always look under the mess for its source.

Another source of the controversy: an object on the skull X-ray (frontal view), presumed to be a bullet fragment. The pathologists, the acting radiologist, and other autopsy witnesses described the largest fragment as just a sliver, shaped like a matchstick, located in the front of the head, right behind the right eye. They confirmed its location in the brain, and extracted it.

The frontal X-ray shows something quite different: a shiny round object with the same diameter as the Carcano bullet, imbedded in the rear of the head. It shows through the eye socket, as obvious as a candle in a pumpkin. And all skull X-rays show the new location of the entrance, four inches higher. (Army experiments on skulls performed in 1964, after the autopsy report was written, showed that the lower entrance resulted in an exit that was also too low. A reason to relocate the entrance?)

Below you will find a few specimens that reflect Bugliosi's attempts to deal with these controversies. There are many more that I have not reported for lack of time.

Autopsy Protocol
Cerebellum

Specimen 8:

But although the autopsy report notes that "the major portion" of the right cerebrum was "exuding" from the large defect on the right side of the president's head, there isn't one word in the report indicating that any part of the cerebellum was missing or even lacerated. 148 (Bugliosi, p. 404)

Specimen 9:

It bears repeating that the autopsy report only mentioned damage to the cerebrum, not the cerebellum. (Bugliosi, p. 405)

Specimen 10:

Dr. Boswell, in response to Parkland doctor Kemp Clark's claiming to have seen "exposedŠ cerebellar tissue," told Dr. Gary Aguilar, "He was wrong.  The right side of the cerebrum was so fragmented.  I think what he saw and misinterpreted as cerebellum was that." (Bugliosi, p. 405)

Significant omission: What Bugliosi does not report is that there is not one word, one way or the other, on the appearance of the cerebellum in the main Autopsy Report or in the Supplemental Autopsy Report, where a description of the organ belonged, under the heading "Gross Description of the Brain." (A significant omission from the autopsy protocol itself, and from Bugliosi's description of it.)

Another significant omission: Bugliosi does not report that in the section on the Microscopic specimens, the cerebellum (item "f. From the right cerebellar cortex") is indeed mentioned as having "significant abnormalities ... directly related to the recent trauma." The entire quote:

"Multiple sections from representative sections are essentially similar and show extensive disruption of brain tissue with associated hemorrhage. In none of the sections examined are there significant abnormalities other than those directly related to the recent trauma." (CE 391, page 2, ARRB MD4)

It is not likely the typist mistook "cerebrum" for "cerebellum." Individual parts of the cerebrum were listed: the right parietal lobe, the right frontal lobe, the left fronto-parietal cortex -- all parts of the cerebrum. The pathologists clearly described both types of brain tissue.

It is standard to mention all normal parts of an organ adjacent to the abnormal parts, and the exclusion of the cerebellum from the Gross Description of the Brain, and its inclusion in the Microscopic Examination, is intriguing indeed.

Occiput

Specimen 11:

Cerebellum certainly wouldn't likely have been expelled from any defect in the right front of the president's head, where the Warren Commission and the autopsy surgeons concluded the exit wound was. (Bugliosi, p.405)

Specimen 12:

Baden: "But, clearly from the autopsy X-rays and photographs and the observations of the autopsy surgeons, the exit wound and defect was not in the occipital area. There was no defect or wound to the rear of Kennedy's head other than the entrance wound in the upper right part of his head." (Bugliosi, p.408)

As a matter of fact, the autopsy surgeons said the great defect was chiefly in the parietal area but "extended somewhat into the temporal and occipital regions." (Autopsy Protocol, p.3) (Emphasis mine.) (And do not confuse the location of the defect with that of the exit.)

Cerebellum "Mistaken" for Cerebrum

Specimen 13:

Dr. Jenkins wrote that "the cerebellum had protruded from the [head] wound ... " However, Jenkins changed his mind after seeing autopsy photographs in 1988, telling author Gerald Posner that "the photos showed the President's brain was crenelated from the trauma, and it resembled cerebellum, but it was not cerebellar tissue." (Bugliosi, p.405)

Specimen 14:

[Quoting Dr. Carrico] "Looking at the shredded pieces of brain on the gurney, it looked like some of it had the characteristics of cerebellum, which kind of has a wavy surface. But because these brain pieces were shredded, this could easily have led to confusion as to whether it was all cerebrum - which has broader bands across the surface - or some cerebellum." (Bugliosi, p. 405)

As Bugliosi reports, several other Parkland doctors revised their statements, but I repeat: there is a big problem with this explanation. These doctors also reported seeing damaged cerebrum, tissue which they did not mistake for cerebellum. Obviously they made a distinction between the two. Some of the exposed cerebellum was sufficiently intact to exhibit grossly visible, definable characteristics. (And it is strange that Bugliosi gives credence to anything said by Marion T. Jenkins, considering this doctor's ability to confabulate. For details, please see my essay, "The Wandering Wounds," at http://www.assassinationweb.com/cranrev.htm.

The Great Hair Curtain

Hair Hides Wound from Parkland?

Specimen 15:

[W]hat is the explanation for several of the other Parkland doctors erroneously thinking that the large exit wound was to the right rear of the President's head as opposed to the right frontal region, where all the medical and scientific evidence proved it to be? Dr. Michael Baden ... has what I believe to be the answer ..."The head exit wound was not in the parietal-occipital area, as the Parkland doctors said. They were wrong ... That's why we have autopsies, photographs, and X-rays to determine things like this. Since the thick growth of hair on Kennedy's head hadn't been shaved at Parkland, there's no way for the doctors to have seen the margins of the wound in the skin of the scalp. All they saw was blood and brain tissue adhering to the hair. And that may have been mostly in the occipital area because he was lying on his back and gravity would push his hair, blood, and brain tissue backward ... (Bugliosi, pp 407-408) (Emphases his.)

Bugliosi quotes several Parkland doctors who now say the wound was obscured by hair, "confirming" Baden's explanation. But how could Bugliosi accept this without question even though he has shown he is familiar with testimony that contradicts it - that these doctors looked beneath the hair, and saw a defect in bone? Doctors and nurses always look under the mess for its source. Among the following quotes, notice all the references to bone:

"[A] large wound beginning in the right occiput extending into the parietal region. Much of the skull appeared gone." (17 WCH 10) "This was a large, gaping wound in the right posterior part, with cerebral and cerebellar tissue being damaged and exposed." (6 WCH 20) "The loss the right occipital and probably part of the right parietal lobes would have been of specific importance. (6 WCH 26). William Kemp Clark

"The wound ... was a large gaping wound, located in the right occipitoparietal area. . . . about 5 to 7 cm. in size, more or less circular, with avulsions of the calvarium and scalp tissue." (6 WCH 6) Carrico

"It seemed to me that in the right occipitalparietal area that there was a large defect. There appeared to be bone loss and brain loss in this area." (6 WCH 71) Peters

"There was a great laceration on the right side of the head (temporal and occipital), causing a great defect." (17 WCH, CE 392) "I really think part of the cerebellum, as I recognized it, was herniated from the wound." (6 WCH 48) Jenkins

"I noted a large avulsive wound of the right parietal occipital area, in which both scalp and portions of skull were absent, and there was severe laceration of underlying brain tissue." (3 WCH 371) Perry

"[T]he parietal bone was protruded up through the scalp and seemed to be fractured almost along its right posterior half, as well as some of the occipital bone being fractured in its lateral half, and this sprung open the bones that I mentioned in such a way that you could actually look down into the skull cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at least, of the brain tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had been blasted out. (6 WCH 33) McClelland

Hair Hides Wound from Autopsy Onlookers?

Specimen 16:

Baden said that Kennedy's head wasn't even shaved of its hair at the time of the autopsy, and hence, any observations by onlookers of the autopsy, as opposed, he said, to the autopsy surgeons themselves, who were working directly with the president's head) would likely have been skewed. (Bugliosi, p.408)

A small hole revealed by shaving the scalp is probably the one thing observers at a distance would not be able to appreciate. But these onlookers observed the scalp being reflected back to show the damage in the actual bone. Some described the brain being removed, and made other very specific observations that were based on a view of naked bone. (These witness statements have been reported so extensively by so many researchers I shall not repeat them here.) Baden apparently wishes to imply these observers saw not much more than what shows in the gory, messy photos taken before the autopsy began. Ridiculous as the comment in Specimen 15 is, Baden has topped it! See next section.

Hair Hides Wound from Prosectors who Performed Autopsy?

Significant omission. Bugliosi knew better than to repeat what Baden said about the four-inch discrepancy in the location of the entrance wound. In Specimen 15, Baden at least admitted that the autopsy surgeons working directly with Kennedy's head had a better view. But you would never know it from this comment which appears in a book Baden wrote for the public:

"Perhaps the most egregious error was the four-inch miscalculation. The head is only five inches long from crown to neck, but Humes was confused by a little piece of brain tissue that had adhered to the scalp. He placed the head wound four inches lower than it actually was, near the neck instead of the cowlick." (Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner, Random House, 1989, p. 16)

As Baden knew very well, the pathologists folded back the scalp to observe the skull directly and, they said, they looked at what was left of the hole from the inside of the skull.

Bugliosi Blames Baden's Co-Author

Bugliosi admitted there were "errors" in Baden's book, and he mentioned a few, giving the greatest space to the one concerning Pierre Finck's background. Baden had said, falsely, that Finck had never performed an autopsy on a victim of a gunshot wound before. But Bugliosi never mentioned the two outrageous assertions from Baden's book that I have quoted in this essay. And the excuses he makes for Baden are just not credible.

Specimen 17:

Baden, one of the top forensic pathologists in the nation, is an extremely busy man, and if I were to wager, he coauthored this book on the run, leaving much of the detail to his coauthor [Judith Adler Hennessee], who is not a doctor. (Bugliosi, Endnote #5, p.219)

"Detail." The "errors" that are the most embarrassing - the ones Bugliosi does not mention -- do not concern "detail." They are assertions concerning facts and logic treated as linchpins in proving the lone assassin theory.

"An extremely busy man." The chapter on the Kennedy assassination was quite small -- just a few pages long -- in a small book. Baden was too busy to review statements made in his name on the Crime of the Century? (Maybe he had hair in his eyes and couldn't see the print?) "If I were to wager." As if he had to guess. As if Baden were not available to ask directly. Considering all the direct personal contact Bugliosi had had with Baden as documented extensively in this book, you would think Bugliosi would have asked Baden himself about all of these strange statements. But, then, maybe they both were too busy.

No Co-Author to Blame for This One

When it came to explaining the four-inch discrepancy to Congress, Michael Baden told a different story:

"[P]reparing the autopsy report 24 hours after the autopsy was completed and after the body had been removed, may have contributed to the more significant mistake of placing the gunshot wound of entrance 4 inches lower than it actually was. The description of the size and shape of the entry wound is correct, but the location is incorrect perhaps due to reliance on memory." (Emphasis mine.) (1 HSCA 306)

The location was incorrect "perhaps due to reliance on memory?" None of the congressmen questioned this. Apparently they were unaware of the notes and diagrams made during the autopsy and used in the preparation of the autopsy report. The wound, as depicted in the drawing on the autopsy descriptive sheet (ARRB MD #1), looks to be precisely at the EOP (external occipital protuberance) - low, far below another memorable landmark, the cowlick. (This interview took place before the growth of the Hair Curtain.)

Authenticating the Skull X-rays

Many of us are skeptical about the authenticity of the skull X-rays because what they show is just too different from what was described by the closest and most qualified witnesses. We are especially skeptical of the shiny new fragment - the perfect slice of a 6.5 Carcano bullet - that no one reported in 1964.

David Mantik, M.D., Ph.D., a radiologist and physicist, has provided highly technical reasons for believing the X-rays are counterfeit. Bugliosi cannot deal with these concepts, and turns to wound ballistics expert Larry M. Sturdivan (BS in Physics, MS in statistics) and Dr. Chad Zimmerman for help in rebutting Mantik's theories. What Zimmerman said about the fragment itself contradicts the opinion of the HSCA's expert radiologist.

Specimen 18:

[Quoting Zimmerman] Personally, I think it may actually have been a bullet fragment that was stuck in the hair or on the skin and later fell off ... I feel it is real because of the lack of film grid lines in the surrounding area, which, in my opinion, are an absolute must ... in order for it to be a post-autopsy forgery. (Bugliosi, Endnotes, p.222)

According to Gerald McDonnel, the HSCA expert radiologist, the metal fragment was imbedded on the inside of the scalp (7 HSCA 133). If McDonnel is right, it could not have been "stuck in the hair or on the skin" as Zimmerman muses.

In any case, this does not explain why no one, including the acting radiologist at the autopsy, saw this obvious fragment on the X-ray.

As for his opinion on what makes a forgery, what are his qualifications? Chad Zimmerman has provided Bugliosi and others with his opinions on several aspects of this case - ballistics, acoustics, neurology, radiology and photography, all promoting the lone assassin theory. He does not provide references from scholarly sources for his opinions; does this mean that he himself is a recognized scholarly source?

With all due respect, who is Chad Zimmerman to disagree with Gerald McDonnel? He is a Doctor of Chiropractic. (Bugliosi, Endnotes, p. 327) According to his advertisements, he offers massage therapy. This case has had quite enough massage therapy.

They Will Say Anything

One thing is clear, if nothing else: there are people who will say anything to promote the lone assassin theory.

It would be nice if you could just cast aside all the words and look at the images, the X-rays for instance. But here, again, you need words - the words of the people who authenticated them. Would McDonnel et al have the sophistication the spot the signs of a sophisticated forgery? Who is qualified to do that? The very people who have the expertise may be the least credible, considering their close association with the government. The relationship between Kodak and the often deceptive CIA is well established.

Would they, too, say anything, true or not?

How would you know?