In the world of JFK assassination research, few groups are disparaged more than the dastardly “Alterationists,” which is a subset of the already despicable people who are called “Conspiracy Theorists.” In her book 26 Seconds, Alexandra Zapruder dedicates quite a few pages to rebuff this frustrating lot. The term is reserved for those deemed beyond the pale of reasonable inquiry—conspiracy theorists who believe the Zapruder film, the most iconic and scrutinized visual record of President Kennedy’s assassination, was altered after the fact to conceal the truth.
Mainstream discussions are permitted to speculate about the idea of whether Lee Harvey Oswald was aided by a second shooter on the grassy knoll, but to suggest that the film itself was physically manipulated—that someone altered the frames—is often treated as a bridge too far. Alterationism, we are told, is the red line: cross it, and you’re no longer a serious researcher, but a fanatic.
But here’s the problem: we are all alterationists.
Or at least we should be—if we’re paying attention.
Anyone who examines frames 154, 157, 207, and 212 with even a cursory eye can see that they’ve been physically damaged, spliced, and reassembled. A thick black line runs through the damaged and repaired frames 154, 157, 207, and 212. Frames 155-156 and 208-211 were entirely lost and only available because partial copies were taken. In Frame 212, A tree trunk appears disjointed, its base hovering several feet away from its crown.
These are not theoretical alterations—they are visible, documented, and in some cases, even admitted by Time, Inc., the media corporation that bought the film the day after the assassination. But even those rare admissions came years later and were disturbingly vague: a technician mishandled the film; frames were lost during duplication. And that’s where the trail ends. No one was ever named. No documentation has been released. No transparent preservation or forensic report has been made available to the public.
And while the damage to Frames 207–212 is at least part of the public record, the earlier sequence—154 through 157—has been met with near-total silence. No explanation has ever been offered for what appears to be a splice at Frame 154, nor for the complete disappearance of two frames right before the assassination sequence begins in earnest. These aren’t speculative concerns; they’re historical facts.
So when someone says, “I’m not an alterationist,” what they’re really saying is that they’re unfamiliar with the physical condition of the film itself. Because once you’ve seen the cuts, the black stripes, the disjointed images, and the missing frames, you cannot unsee them. You cannot pretend the film is untouched. And you certainly cannot claim it has reached us in its original, pristine form.
In truth, the only people who are not alterationists are those who haven’t looked.
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