Chapter 10 Preview - JFK Assassination Mysteries that Have Survived More than 50 Years of Probing
The numerous JFK assassination mysteries, when compared to others that tantalize us, are like mysteries on steroids.
Not even the passage of time seems to diminish them.
The longer mysteries go unresolved, the more they enthrall us, especially when they are associated with real events like the 130-year-old unsolved Jack-the-Ripper murders in London.
In this regard, the JFK assassination is a chart topper.
Poll after poll by news organizations list the assassination as among the most enduring conspiracy theories of all time.
No doubt this is because of the many mysteries associated with it, as outlined in Chapter 9 of Through The ‘Oswald’ Window. For instance:
Why did a police motorcyclist who initiated the turn onto Houston Street, causing JFK’s car to approach the sniper waiting in the Book Depository Building window, suddenly disappear along Houston Street and leave the motorcade?
This officer has never been properly identified to account for his unusual actions.
SPECULATION THE OFFSPRING OF MYSTERIES
The tantalizing thing about mysteries is that they encourage speculation to substitute for fact, such as:
Did the disappearing cop:
- Finish his assignment and simply go home for the day?
- Follow the official parade route or did he improvise on his own?
- Purposely lead the President into an assassination trap on Elm Street?
As you can see, mysteries invite speculation from pure folly to thought provoking possibility.
And then there’s the bizarre antics of an individual who has become known as ‘The Umbrella Man.’
On a beautiful day, this man was the only person to use an umbrella, unfurling it for just six seconds, which happens to correspond with the span of the shots.
When the limousine sped off to the hospital, ‘The Umbrella Man’ is joined by another man. The two sit on the curb for a few moments, get up and walk away, never speaking with the police or Warren Commission.
Even though ‘The Umbrella Man’ was identified and questioned in 1978 as Louie Steven Witt, his strange explanation for using his umbrella for just six seconds has failed to convince skeptics.
He has been unable to quell rumors that he was a spotter in Dealey Plaza who opened his umbrella to signal the multiple assassins that their target was in place.
As mysteries go, these two samples are among several analyzed in the book and e-book.
Of course, of all the baffling JFK assassination mysteries, the most haunting one remains – Who killed the 35th President of the United States?
