[John Valentine]

The fact bullets travel faster than sound, it's easy to confuse where the sound came from. I find it more than likely they pointed forward, towards the knoll, becuase that was the direction the sound traveled.

It's like hearing a commercial jet fly over and you first look up to when you heard the sound but your eyes tell the brain it's in a forward position. Thus, your brain then points to the acutal plane you see and not where you first heard the sound.

I hate to tell you this old son, but this theory of yours doesn't hold up.

Our ears don't hear where a sound is heading - NEVER - we hear the sound at it's source.

And that is why when we hear a high altitude jet passing overhead, the sound seems to emanate from bbehind the plane. The sound is heard where it came from, not where it's going. While the sound was travelling to our ears, the plane continues flying. Since the speed of light is essentially instantaneous at these distances, and especially in comparison with the speed of sound, we see the plane whre it is at the moment the sound reaches or ears, which is a different place than it was when it's sound started its journey to our ears.

OK, now just what the hey you think this has to do with the percieved direction of the shot(s) fired that day in Dealy Plaza completely escapes me.

People would hear the sound coming from where ever the rifle was fired, even if the bullet had already passed through the victim when the sound reached the hearer's ear.

If people heard shots from the grassy knoll, then that's exactly where the sounds came from, and misdirected analogies about planes passing overhead can't overcome that fact.

[Fledermaus]

You are not getting my point while also confirming it.

I know how fast light travels compared to sound. Which is why, at long distances, you hear a plane and then see it ahead of the sound. The bullet was fired in much closer proximity. I was simply pointing out how the brain takes sight over hearing into account.

There are plenty of other pictures showing people looking up at the book depository. Again, it depends on where they stood and what they saw. As you can see in the pictures and the Magruder film, people are looking all over. Shots ringing out in that type of setting create richochet sounds as they focus on the forward movement of the vehicles. Their brains convince them the shots came from a forward position. Many others heard it from behind. Also, many are convinced the shot to the head had to come from the front because it exploded from the front when any hunter knows the exit wound is where the damage occurs, not the entrance point.

Orientation is key. Haven't you ever had a cricket in the house and you just can't seem to find where the chirping is coming from? As you move more towards where you THINK you heard it from, it changes. Not because the cricket is moving, but because once you change orientation it effects your perception.

Again, my point was the difference between seeing and hearing and how the brain interprets those inputs. My analogy is far from misdirected. It proves my point. Some people SAW the head shot before they heard it and their brain just convinced them it was from the knoll and not behind them at the book depository. The sound came too late for them to make a correct judgement.

Thanks for proving my point.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Our ears don't hear where a sound is heading - NEVER - we hear the sound at it's source.

Unless you are hearing an echo and your ears happen to be closer to the echo than the source.

[The Good Doctor]

True, but incomplete analysis. We also perceive sound reflecting (echoing) from other structures as the source of that sound, even though the true source may be from a completely different direction. So the fact that people "heard shots from the grassy knoll", is not at all conclusive that shots actually came from that location.

More conclusive would be to have some physical evidence LIKE A BULLET FIRED FROM SOME GUN OTHER THAN OSWALD'S.

[SoCal Pubbie]

If you actually look at the records of interviews done at the time, the vast majority of witnesses thought the shots came from the direction of the School Book Depository, not the grassy knoll.