The lay of the landThis high-resolution CAD rendering of Dealey Plaza shows salient features of the Plaza, which was a WPA project on the edge of downtown Dallas. Made by Paul Burke and included here with permission. History and Dealey Plaza The history of this unique piece of land is put into perspective in two essays by Jerry Organ: A History of Dealey Plaza, from the founding of Dallas by John Neely Bryan to the WPA project in the 1930s that created the Plaza until the 1960s, when Dallas was unfairly labeled the "City of Hate." A history of the Texas School Book Depository, which has served as a plow factory, a wholesale food warehouse, a textbook distribution center, and (most recently) a museum. Where does the term "Grassy Knoll" come from? Many people claim to have invented the term "Grassy Knoll", but only one man did. Here's the scoop from Gary Mack, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza. I'll give you a hint: it wasn't Jean Hill. The knoll at the time of the shooting Tons of "suspicious" happenings: the "Black Dog Man", "Badgeman", the "rush to the knoll" of witnesses following the shooting, and "smoke on the knoll". These are all topics covered in Jerry Organ's "'Smoke' on the Grassy Knoll." The Umbrella Man Was this man, standing in Dealey Plaza with an open umbrella and no rain in sight, part of some conspiracy? The House Select Committee on Assassinations has identified the Umbrella Man, a guy named Louis Witt engaged in a rather dark form of political protest. Here are two graphics, one of which shows Louis Witt's umbrella being opened before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, to the general cheer of all present. The second shows the Umbrella But...... in the center of the card ......it is possible for an object hit by a bullet to move in the direction from which the bullet came. Richard Trott demonstrates this by shooting melons. Here's his first melon, and here's his second. This "jet effect" phenomenon was first suggested and demonstrated experimentally by physicist Luis Alvarez. Trott shows that the average citizen with a rifle can recreate the effect. Lattimer's skull shooting experimentDr. John Lattimer reproduced Alvarez's results with human skulls and with a rifle and ammunition identical to those used by Oswald. Clicking on the image on the right will download a video clip of one of Lattimer's shooting experiments. To play the clip, you will need Real Player. The video clips on this site are too high resolution to "stream" unless you have a broadband connection. If not, download the clip to your hard drive and you can play it from there.