If you had picked up a copy of the New York Times on November 22, 1963, you would have
seen the historic headline, “KENNEDY IS KILLED BY SNIPER AS HE RIDES IN CAR IN DALLAS.”
The article explains that the 46-year old president of the United States John Fitzgerald
Kennedy died from an injury to the brain.
If you look at the timeline of events that day you’ll find he made his last public
speech at 9.25 am.
He grabbed some breakfast after that, and then at 11.20 am he boarded Air Force One
and headed to Dallas.
Somewhat sadly ironic, he landed at a place called Love Field, where he was greeted by
admiring fans.
Surrounded by bodyguards, JFK smiles and shakes hands with people waiting behind the fences.
In approximately 45 minutes his life will be over.
This event in some ways changed the course of U.S. history.
As most of you know a man called Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder.
Three minutes after the assassination he left the Texas School Book Depository building.
Around 30 minutes after the president was shot, doctors at Parkland Hospital announced
that indeed, the beloved president to many was no more.
At 1.22 pm police found a rifle hidden in the building where Oswald exited earlier.
He was arrested soon after, but by that time he’d already shot and killed a police officer
on the street.
He’d hidden in a movie theater after that but was picked up by cops for the police officer
slaying.
Some hours later he was charged with killing the president.
Oswald himself wouldn’t live much longer, being shot and killed by night club owner
Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters two days later.
This is the bare bones account of what happened that day and soon after, and we are not going
to attempt to investigate what might have happened.
Something called the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone and fired three shots.
The FBI and the Secret Service agreed.
Nonetheless, many Americans didn’t agree and still don’t.
There are numerous theories as to what happened that day; where the bullets came from; who
did the firing, and who if anyone sanctioned the hit.
This isn’t a show about the multiple theories, but a show about a missing body part – namely
the president’s brain.
If you look at the death certificate you can find that JFK died from a shot to the skull,
but he was also shot in the back.
Part of the report written by JFK’s personal physician reads that what happened was a “shattering
in type causing a fragmentation of the skull and evulsion of three particles of the skull
at time of the impact, with resulting maceration of the right hemisphere of the brain.”
In the crudest terms he literally had part of his head blown off.
You can see a diagram drawn by the House Committee of what damage the bullet to the head did,
and after seeing that you will surely agree that it would have taken a miracle to survive
such an injury.
That said, even though the impact was devastating, his brain didn’t just explode.
The skull was indeed fragmented, but it remained held by the flaps of skin.
This isn’t a story about pieces of tissue or bone going missing in the street that day
or on the way to the hospital.
What we are saying is that President Kennedy’s brain is literally missing; the full item.
What we want to know is where is it?
You see, JFK’s brain was removed during the autopsy and stored in the National Archives.
Three years after that autopsy it was gone.
The president’s brain had mysteriously sprouted some legs and taken off.
That, or someone had taken it.
The fact that this brain had disappeared of course has sparked numerous conspiracy theories.
Word on Conspiracy Street was that someone had sequestered the dead man’s thinking
organ because had they have not it would have been revealed that he was not shot in the
back of the head but actually in the front, which would have somewhat challenged the Oswald
did it alone theory.
By the way, it’s not a conspiracy theory that the brain vanished.
It’s absolutely true.
If you were around in 1978 you might have seen a paper written by the congressional
House Select Committee on Assassinations and in it you’d have read that JFK’s brain
was officially missing.
Ok, so what really happened?
It’s the million dollar question.
Some doctors at the hospital who were around for the autopsy would testify that they witnessed
First Lady Jackie Kennedy holding the brain at one point, but not taking off with it.
Others would say the organ was put inside a stainless steel box and then handed to the
Secret Service.
It was supposedly stored at the White House and then JFK’s brother, Senator Robert F.
Kennedy, ordered that it be held in the National Archives.
Is that true?
Well, in 2016 the National Archives under the Freedom of Information Act released 3,063
documents that had been fully withheld since the assassination.
The problem is, none of those files tell us where the brain is, and some sources tell
us that the National Archives inventory didn’t have JFK’s brain on it.
Anyway, if it was there, it’s not there now, that’s for sure.
How an assassinated president’s brain can just go missing seems totally absurd, especially
when it’s a piece of a puzzle that has conjured up so many conspiracy theories.
Let’s face it, the fact it is missing is enough to pique the interest of the least
skeptical person.
You don’t have to believe the moon is made of cheese or that a spherical Earth is a joke,
to be very curious about where that brain went and why it vanished into thin air.
There is a theory though that the missing organ might have been down to the brother.
There was a book published in 2014 called “End of Days: The Assassination of John
F. Kennedy” and the author James Swanson said the brain might have been removed by
the Robert Kennedy “perhaps to conceal evidence of the true extent of President Kennedy's
illnesses, or perhaps to conceal evidence of the number of medications that President
Kennedy was taking.”
He’s saying it could have been a face-saving operation by the sibling, to protect his brother’s
name.
It wouldn’t be the first time a brain of a famous person went missing.
Albert Einstein, one of the biggest Brainiacs ever to walk the Earth, had his organ taken
by the pathologist who performed the autopsy even though the family didn’t know about
it.
He kept it for years, but now it’s partly at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.
Body parts of other geniuses and renowned people have gone missing in time and turned
up again, such as Mozart’s skull and Galileo's fingers, while the writer and revolutionary
Thomas Paine was exhumed in the USA and then taken back to his native England only to go
missing.
Still, this seems more like ancient history and the JFK assassination is still busy toying
with conspiracy theorist’s minds.
In an interview with the Boston Magazine in 2013 that author we just mentioned, James
Swanson, said he had meticulously researched the JFK assassination.
He said, “There is no doubt whatsoever that President Kennedy was buried without his brain.
The government records and reports prove that that is so.”
He added that he hates to say it, but it’s just totally bizarre.
The reason he doesn’t like saying it is because there are so many myths and conspiracy
theories about the assassination already, but the missing brain is real make no mistake
about it.
He said documents show it was at the National Archives, but it wasn’t alone.
His exact words were that it was placed with “dozens of medical glass slides from the
autopsy, tissues samples, blood samples, and bone fragments.
Then, it was discovered, of all days, on Halloween of 1966, that not only the brain, but the
entire locker and autopsy materials had vanished.
And those materials have never been seen since.”
As you know, he thinks the brother took it, and he certainly doesn’t think it was taken
because there was evidence pointing towards Oswald not doing the killing.
He thinks what happened is the official version of events.
In his words, this is why Robert Kennedy took the brain: “To preserve his brother’s
legacy, and image, and legend.
John F. Kennedy was very sick through much of his life.
He was in great pain, he was taking multiple medications.
That was never known to the American people.”
Still, a clean-up operation by the brother to ensure the American people’s bubble didn’t
get burst regarding their legendary leader might be a hard pill to swallow for a lot
of people.
Do you have a theory?
We are sorry we couldn’t give you answer because this is still an enduring bona-fide
mystery.
Tell us where you think the brain is in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video The JFK Assassination - What Really Happened?
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.