Apr
07
In the past month the movie managed to gain more than 10,000 views as compared to the 10,000 in the 3 months before that since its release in early December 2015.
The pace has been a steady 3/400 views per day. Absolutely amazing and I wish thank everyone, even the deniers, for watching it. I will start working on the next segment in May and gradually release the film in 20/25 minute slots.
Apr
05
Yesterday I met up with Ian Griggs, author of No Case To Answer.
He has been researching this case for decades and he has visited Dallas many many times (he has lost count). A former police officer himself he has dug into the Dallas Police Department more than anyone else. In the DPD section I show a brief summary of how the DPD was organised. This is all thanks to him and his tenacious efforts in compiling this.
Obviously we discussed mostly Dallas Police related matters, and we went down his memory lane while he showed me around in his house of which one room was a mini museum with his collection, of which I post a few shots down below. I hope to do a proper interview in the near future.
Ian has interviewed quite a few people such as Beverly Oliver, James Tague, Jim Leavelle, Warren Caster to name a few, but his specialty lies with the DPD, of which he is writing another book which hopefully will be published later this year.
Some of our discussions:
- After his article on Postal Inspector Harry Dean Holmes called The Four Faces Of Harry Dean Holmes, he was contacted by family members of Holmes and they were less than pleased with his assessment. Well they better not look at my page then ;)
- He has been acquainted with Marina Oswald-Porter on a talk panel and she even bought him a massive plaque of JFK. He said she asked him if he wanted some thing from an antique shop to which he replied your country is not old enough to have an antiques shop (which is a joke in case you missed it, although it has some truth to it). She went into the shop and bought it for him for about $ 25.00. Some researchers’burned’ Marina Porter, not much later and now she will not talk to anyone, which is a real shame as I and a few other scholars would love to talk to her.
JFK Plaque gifted by Marina Oswald-Porter to Ian Griggs. Pic: Barto.
- He has tried to contact Harry Olson’s former missus Kay Coleman a few years back, but was warned not to pursue this any further. Kay Coleman remarried and lives in Ca.
Kay Coleman on the right with Jack Ruby.
- Will Fritz bred horses.
- The so called recording room right opposite Will Fritz’s Homicide and Robbery Division office, was not wired for sound.
Dallas Police Department Floor plan. Courtesy of No Case To Answer by Ian Griggs
- Ian Griggs had a decommissioned Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. I had no measuring tape so could not say how long it was, but the rifle was broken apart, so I just held the wooden part of it and I can tell you now that there is no way that rifle could be inside the paper bag since this piece is way too long. I could not cup this underneath my shoulder and inside the palm of my hand.
Holding a Mannlicher-Carcano, which is way too long for cupping it. Pic: Barto
Colony Club flyer signed by Beverly Oliver. Pic: Barto
Dallas Police Buckle. Pic. Barto
Jim Leavelle and R.C. Graves autographed photograph of Ruby shooting Oswald.
- Ian also had a nice collection of newspapers from that period, I produce two here with some interesting bits related to ‘our’ case, I hope to be able to reproduce more in the future.
Kingsport Times Nov 22nd 1963. Pic: Barto
Kingsport News Nov 23rd 1963. Pic Barto
- Last but not least a time sheet of some major Dallas Police Department Officers from Nov 1963.
Dallas Police Department Time Sheet Nov 1963
I hope to see Ian again at the Dealey Plaza UK Canterbury conference on April 23rd/24th where I will present a Prayer Man talk and also will be doing a Q&A with Malcolm Blunt.
I have also been notified that my chat with Rob Clark of the Lone Gunman Podcast has become the highest listened to show so far, not bad indeed! Thank you Robbo!!!
Mar
04
The movie has gone past the 10.000 mark. I have to say that I am really chuffed by the numbers and the recent two weeks has seen a dramatic increase of almost 300 views per day.
Thanks to everyone who viewed Prayer Man The Movie Version 1!!!
Add on March 8th 2016: In the last two weeks the film amassed another 4,000 hits! Compared to 7,300 in 11,5 weeks before.
What will happen with V2?
What I can tell you is that the format will be the same but this time they will be presented as individual movies, so there will be 5 or 6 clips of about 25 mins each. There will be a lot more new graphics and content and I hope to start in a few months time. It will be a different movie.
Feb
18
I have had the pleasure to talk with Rob Clark for the Lone Gunman Podcast.
So far it has been the top listened to show of all 104 eps in the first 24 hours.
It was good fun and in a few months there will be some sort of follow-up with all the progress.
Feb
04
I got a mention on Goodreads, alongside the review of Stan Dane’s book.
“In 2015 Dealey Plaza U.K. held a presentation by a researcher named Bart Kamp which studied the image known as ‘Prayer Man’. Mr. Kamp hopes to publish his findings in 2016. His video is available on You Tube. In the meantime I found out about this 2015 publication from Stan Dane.”
I am chuffed :)
Review on GoodReads
Jan
26
Peggy Joyce Bibbler – Hawkins
Peggy Joyce Hawkins (maiden name Bibbler) met her husband at the TSBD along with her child, she stood roughly 50 feet away from the Texas School Book Depository when the shots rang out and she hid behind the retaining wall. After realising no more shots were being fired and returning to the TSBD she saw a policeman stand there, and heard some remarks about the railroad yard through the police radio.
Truly and Baker, leg sticking out behind tall fella. Click pic. to enlarge.
The Darnell film only shows Baker’s run, it does not show him going up the steps, it has been automatically assumed he dashed up the stairs before Roy Truly could catch up with him. The story of them going up the stairs together has always been met with disbelief. You can see Truly in the Darnell film slowly turning and making his way towards the front steps, but at a slow speed compared to Baker. Then again the steps were pretty filled up with employees, some had left but others were returning and the whole east side of the steps was filled with mostly women looking out and discussing what had happened and Joe Molina stood at the very top. Buell Wesley Frazier stood dead centre.
But Peggy Joyce Hawkins. statement puts some doubt into this. This you can see at the bottom of page 1 of her FBI statement. She walked back to the TSBD and saw a motorcycle police officer in front of the building. Now unless some other motorcycle police officer went there it could be assumed that Marrion L. Baker stood longer outside than has been assumed.
The radio transmission she speaks of is Jesse Curry’s who said this while the cars were passing the triple underpass.
At 12:30 Have my office move all available men out of my office into the railroad yard to try to determine what happened in there and hold everything secure until Homicide and other investigators should get there.
She also made her way back into the building, and this is confirmed by the so called roll call sheet. This roll call sheet itself isn’t much from an evidentiary p.o.v., as Geraldine Reid is mentioned twice, Charles Douglas Givens is missing and Lee Oswald is right at the top (which points more to his name being taken down from the word go than him being the missing person!).
What doesn’t help is the second page of her FBI statement that she doesn’t remember who she encountered while making her way back. And let’s face it, this is a black hole overall with most statements from that day.
But then there is Robert Mac Neil, a journalist, who was part of the motorcade and who went into the TSBD to make a phone call. This call being logged at 12:36 and him stating that he did not see any police inside the building while making the call, and this has a ring of truth to it, since his head office reported the time, but also looking at the radio transmissions and the prders of going to the TSBD and investigate further.
At 12:34 I just talked to a guy up here who was standing close to it and the best he could tell it came from the Texas School Book Depository Building here with that Hertz Renting sign on top.
At 12:36 Witness says shots came from fifth floor, Texas Book Depository Store and Houston and Elm. I have him with me now and we are sealing off the building.
At 12:37 Get some men up here to cover this school depository building. It’s believed the shot came from, as you see it on Elm Street, it would be upper right hand corner, second window from the end.
Robert Mac Neil FBI Statement
I am now pretty convinced Baker and Truly stood outside, this witness testimony in conjunction with Chris Davidson’s gif which shows Baker veering further to the right than the actual steps.
Add on Jan 30th
This might be Peggy Bibbler Hawkins standing and holding her child. If this is her then she had an excellent vantage point to hear the motorcycle belonging to Marrion Baker and look towards the front entrance of the Texas School Book Depository.
Click picture to enlarge.
Jan
22
I try to get the best possible quality media and graphics for the movie I have done and also for the next version I want to release this year. For this I had a little list of gaps that needed to be filled in. One of the pieces I wanted to get was the article from the New York Herald Tribune from Nov 22nd. In research circles this article contains a quote by Ochus V. Campbell which has been used by Sean Murphy i/e, but I never managed to see the article itself. If I am not mistaken it was Sylvia Meagher who used it in her book Accessories After The Fact as a first, but no one actually bothered to dig it out.
At ROKC we had a little discussion and I pointed out I wanted to have this piece for my film and after I found the actual physical copy of it on eBay and noted that the postage was 150% of the actual sale price Stan Dane who wrote Prayer Man: Out of the Shadows and Into the Light, graciously offered to buy it for me. Once he got it in his mail box he made a high res scan and sent it to me.
Sadly there isn’t a way to ascertain who actually wrote the piece, but what matters is that I have the physical piece that shows the quote by Ochus Campbell. He was Roy Truly’s boss. He is to this day quite an elusive character and very little is known about him, nor have I many pictures of Ochus Virgil Campbell. If you read this and you do, please contact me, as all we have so far is him standing next to Roy Truly in the Wiegman film on the far right of the frame below.
Ochus V Campbell, click pic to enlarge.
Stan Dane posted a piece about this on his Prayer Man FB page. Next thing I know Vince Palamara picked up upon this as well, I feel left out dammit ;)
So here is the scan of this particular piece from the New York Herald Tribune. What is so special about this?
Well for starters it is a direct quote, the actual article was written on Nov. 22nd and published on the day after. And this is important information that confirms that Oswald was on the 1st floor in the TSBD close after the shooting of JFK. What is also interesting is that Ochus Campbell, as time progressed, tried to distance himself more and more from Lee Oswald; that he barely knew him and so on. The documents regarding this can be viewed at the Ochus Campbell page.
Ochus Virgil Campbell in the NYHT Nov 22 1963
Jan
13
Robert Hughes
On Nov 26th 1963 Robert Hughes hands over his film which he shot while the motorcade was turning from Houston on to Elm St. on Nov 22nd 1963.
The FBI initially investigates and reckons there is a person visible in the window where the so called sniper’s nest is located. But they change their mind once the film is being studied in Washington.
Although the FBI had the Hughes film in its possession 4 days (Nov 26th 1963) after the Big Event, the WC decided not to use it. This is an important FACT! Actually the WC barely used anything from that day while they were aware of most photographs and film footage they choose not to admit it into evidence.
In a memo dated Nov 26th it says it appears that there may be someone in the 6th floor window.
This is repeated in a memo on Nov 28th by A. Rosen to Alan Belmont
Alan Belmont writes on Nov 28th, the same day he received the memo from Rosen without any further evidence besides jumping on the band wagon that he can see one person in the window.
A memo by Robert Barrett makes the same claim, let’s also add that this particular finding comes from Dallas first and foremost. The FBI lab in Wa. has not had their hands on the Hughes film yet and investigate this particular claim. And this shift from Dallas to Washington is where things seem to change!!!
The FBI makes 10 copies of the film according to the memo on Dec 9th (check out all the signatures!) and guess what? They reported they could NOT SEE ANY HUMAN FORM in that window.
But it is getting better! In a memo (which includes Belmont as one of the recipients btw!) from Dec 10th by W.D. Griffth it is repeated that no human form is visible.
Not only does the FBI investigate this in WA. and comes to the conclusion I just mentioned.. They want a second opinion and the FBI sends it to the Navy Photographic Interpretation Centre and they conclude the same.
Richard E. Sprague adds on that there is no rifle showing either. From a timing perspective this makes it rather difficult to conclude that 3 shots have been fired from that very same window.
Memo Nov 26th 1963
FBI Memo Rosen to Belmont Nov 28th 1963
Memo by Robert Barrert Nov 30th 1963
Memo Dec 9th FBI-10 copies of Hughes film made
Memo Dec 9th 1963-1
Memo Dec 9th 1963-2
FBI Report stating they can not see any human form in Hughes-1
FBI Report stating they can not see any human form in Hughes-2
WD Griffth Memo Dec 10 1963
Sprague, Richard E., Monographs
