Old Home Movies May Unveil JFK Assassination Secrets
Home footage taken 62 years ago might hold the key to understanding JFK’s assassination, potentially proving that a second gunman was present on that tragic day.
This grainy 8mm film, shot by Orville Nix, a Dallas air conditioner repairman, captures a bullet firing through Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Since it was analyzed by a Los Angeles firm in 1978, it hasn’t been seen again, and federal authorities claim they’ve lost it.
Nix passed away in 1972, and now his granddaughter is continuing the legal fight for the return of the films. She believes this footage is worth over $900 million as it could expose a significant cover-up in history.
A federal judge has recently allowed the case to advance, paving the way for the footage to potentially be released.
Nix’s film, unlike the well-known Zapruder film that showed the moment Kennedy was shot, focuses on the grassy knoll—a location where many witnesses speculated a second shooter was stationed. Conspiracy theories have long argued that someone fired from behind a fence on that hill.
This film captures First Lady Jackie Kennedy entering the presidential limousine and shows the fence just moments after the assassination.
Scott Watnick, the attorney representing Nix’s granddaughter, Gail Nix Jackson, mentioned that advancements in optical technology and artificial intelligence could reveal evidence indicating that Lee Harvey Oswald didn’t act alone.
“This is the only known footage that recorded the grassy knoll of Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination,” Watnick told the Post. He pointed out that the film could support findings from the 1978 House Select Committee on Assassinations, which suggested Kennedy was likely killed as part of a conspiracy. This committee had a hand in obtaining Nix’s film and its ongoing legal saga.
“Utilizing modern optical technology on the original film can bring out details that were not discernible when the commission had it back in 1978,” he added.
Originally, in a 1980 analysis, the FBI found inaccuracies in using acoustic methods to identify a possible second shooter’s location.
Over the past six decades, Nix’s film has changed hands among the FBI, United Press International, Congress, and a private company called Aerospace Corporation, which claimed to have analyzed the film and sent it back to the National Archives.
The National Archives stated in 1988 that only copies remain in their possession. A legal process initiated by Court of Federal Claims Judge Stephen Schwartz recently allows attorneys to compel the government to provide information on the film’s handling.
The current lawsuit invokes the Fifth Amendment, which states the government cannot seize property without just compensation.
Yet, the JFK Records Act of 1992 transferred ownership of evidence related to Kennedy’s assassination to the government, while establishing a process for making these records public.
However, the family faces challenges, as an arbitration panel previously valued the more famous Zapruder film at $16 million in 1999, labeling it a unique historical item.
Nix’s legal team has referenced this valuation as a point of comparison for Nix’s films, but recognizes the hurdles in pursuing a significant valuation for the long-held government asset.
“If we take the film’s worth from 1992 and apply 32 years of compound interest, we get figures in the hundreds of millions,” Watnick explained, with one preliminary estimate reaching up to $930 million.
This case isn’t solely about compensation for Nix’s heirs. Legal proceedings have been delayed since the death of Nix’s son, Orville Nix Jr., in July.
Lawyers for Nix Jackson hope this lawsuit, and potentially a trial if no settlement occurs, will force the government to disclose new information about how they stored critical evidence related to the assassination.
“Ultimately, this proves our president was murdered,” Watnick stated, emphasizing the necessity of knowing the whereabouts of these records. They assert that several of Kennedy’s documents remain unaccounted for, including the original presidential supplemental autopsy report and photos taken during the autopsy.
The National Archives and Records Administration has not responded to requests for comments.
While the 1964 Warren Commission declared Oswald as the lone gunman in Kennedy’s murder from a Texas school book depository, many conspiracy theorists have consistently questioned that conclusion.
