Marilyn Sitzman on JFK's Head Wound
- Fred Litwin
- Apr 19
- 6 min read
Marilyn Sitzman worked for Abraham Zapruder and was standing with him when he was filming on Elm Street. Here is a still image from her oral history project with the Sixth Floor Museum that shows the location of Kennedy's head wound.
Here is an excerpt from a transcript (4:31)
Interviewer 1: OK, then you you saw the motorcade turn the corner?
Marilyn Sitzman: Yeah, they turned the corner and they started coming down. And the first thing I remember hearing are what I thought was fire crackers, because Kennedy threw his hands up, and I heard bang, bang. Now there could have been a third bang, I can't swear to that one. But I know there was two bangs very close together and I thought it was firecrackers because of his arms going in the air, and it was way off to my left, and above. So, well, stupid thing to throw a fire cracker. And as they came down, the last shot that we heard was right in front of us, and it was like the same sound. far off and to the left. But I saw his head open up and I saw the brains coming down. So by this time, of course, it knew it wasn't a fire cracker. But those were the only sounds I heard.
Interviewer 1: To clarify it a bit, that would be towards the School Book Depository Building?
Marilyn Sitzman: Towards our left and above.
Interviewer 2: Which would be in the general area of the sixth floor.
Marilyn Sitzman: Yes.
Interviewer 1: You didn't turn or lookin that direction?
Marilyn Sitzman: No, neither one of us. Neither Mr. Zapruder or I turned ever. We kept our attention on what was happening exactly in front of us. And if you look at his film, there's very little jumping. Steady, considering what was going on. And that's why I'm saying the sound we heard, the third sound still sounded in the distance. Cause if it would been as close as everybody's trying to tell us, you know, twenty feet behind us ..
Interviewer 1: Behind the fence?
Marilyn Sitzman: Yeah, we would have jumped sky high.
All the shots sounded the same and Sitzman thought they came from left and from above.
Later, Sitzman is asked about the possibility of a shooter behind the fence: (7:10)
Interviewer 1: What is your analysis of the possibility of a gunman, a second gunman, being behind that picket fence?
Marilyn Sitzman: Well, after looking at the film and doing a lot of reading and other, et cetera, I would say there was a very good possibility there was somebody back there, but they had a silencer. I don't know who was shooting where -- but there was nobody standing behind us that close with a rifle without a silencer on it. That would have had us jumping. That film would have been bounced all over the place. Yeah, literally it would have gone right past our ears.
Sitzman is then asked her immediate opinion of what had happened: (8:03)
Interviewer 1: What was your reaction immediately after the shots? Did you feel immediately that the President had been killed?
Marilyn Sitzman: Yeah. I mean there was no question. I saw the brains coming down the side of his head. He was that close in front of us. I knew exactly what had happened.
It's interesting that Sitzman said that they would have heard a shooter behind the fence. Note what a study of eyewitness reports concluded about a knoll shot:
When David Green, Professor of Psychophysics at Harvard University, testified before the HSCA he said that "any rifle shot from the Knoll was quite evident. It was a very, very loud sound. You almost jumped when the rifle was fired from such a close distance. We were probably 30 to 40 feet of the muzzle blast."
His study also looked at the location of witnesses and their beliefs about the origins of the shots:
Only two of the seven witnesses on the knoll thought the shots came from there.
Sitzman was interviewed by Deputy Sheriff John Wiseman and she said the shots came from the Texas School Book Depository (formerly the Sexton building):
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on the Medical Evidence
Stringer was very clear that he took the photographs of JFK's brain.
Attending physicians often make mistakes in determining the nature of gunshot wounds. Should we care what the Parkland doctors think?
A look at what the Parkland doctors wrote and what they said.
The Boston Globe interviewed some of the Parkland doctors in 1981.
A 1992 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association has some interesting comments from a few of the Parkland doctors.
An interesting interview with Dr. Robert McClelland.
The doctor treating John Lennon was mistaken about his wounds.
Wecht complains about the HSCA's forensic pathology panel.
Wecht has a suggestion for Dr. Baden.
Wecht's memoir mentions his examination of the autopsy materials in 1972 but neglects to talk about his conclusion that the fatal head shot came from behind.
James DiEugenio's obituary of Dr. Wecht leaves out his conclusion that the fatal head shot came from behind.
Dr. Cyril Wecht (1931 - 2024) זיכרונו לברכה
My obituary for Dr. Cyril Wecht.
A letter from Dr. Wecht to Thomas Stamm on the head shot.
A letter from Dr. Wecht to Sylvia Meagher on the head shot.
Dr. Wecht believes that JFK's throat wound was one of exit.
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JFK Revisited makes a big deal about the weight of JFK's brain and ignores a non-conspiratorial explanation.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary makes it sound like the autopsy photographer said that he did not take the photos of JFK's brain that are in the current inventory,
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, features Dr. Charles Crenshaw to bolster its claim that President Kennedy was shot from the front. Viewers are not informed of Dr. Crenshaw's credibility problems.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers on the opinions of Parkland Hospital doctors and Bethesda witnesses regarding JFK's head wound.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers into thinking the Harper fragment was occipital bone that came from the back of Kennedy's head.
Have a look at Dr. Joseph Dolce's bad judgment
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series JFK: Destiny Betrayed uses a variety of supposed witnesses to allege that the wound in the back of Kennedy's head was one of exit. Audrey Bell is one such witness and she doesn't have much credibility.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, tries to make the case that because Parkland Hospital doctors saw cerebellum extruding from Kennedy's head wound, that it indicated an exit wound.
While Gerald Ford edited some language in the Warren Report, he did not change the location of the back wound. Autopsy photographs show exactly the location of the back wound.
Oliver Stone's so-called documentary series, JFK: Destiny Betrayed, alleges that autopsy pathologists were told to fit the wounds to a presupposed conclusion.
A podcast with Robert Wagner who has written an important book on the medical evidence.
