Prayer Man is the unidentified person standing at the western wall of the Depository doorway just seconds after the last shot that killed President John F. Kennedy (Figure 1). Prayer Man bears unusual similarity to the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The question of whether Lee Harvey Oswald could be Prayer Man begs a thorough answer. If Lee Oswald stood in the doorway just thirty seconds after the last shot, the official version of the assassination of President Kennedy would fall like a house of cards.
Figure 1: Prayer Man in the Darnell film. Prayer Man stands close to the western wall of the Depository doorway.
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Prayer Man’s behaviour, also manifested in his body language, appears to be very unique and different from the behaviour of the rest of the Doorway occupants. All people standing in the doorway but Prayer Man have striven to optimise their views of the assassination scene and directed their heads and gazes toward the area of Triple Underpass and Grassy Knoll. Such behaviour is understandable because the President’s limousine has just vanished behind Triple Underpass, and many people were running up the Grassy Knoll. Clearly, Triple Underpass and Grassy Knoll were the visual targets attracting the full attention of the people standing in the Depository doorway. Prayer Man behaved differently. The Darnell picture shows Prayer Man having his gaze orientated toward the east and front of the doorway. If this direction of Prayer Man’s gaze is extended, it would intersect with East Elm Street or the north corner of Houston Street.
Facial expressions, hand posture, and overall body posture encode people’s emotions and intentions. Therefore, it should be possible to apply body language analysis to Prayer Man’s posture to be able to infer on Prayer Man’s state of mind. The interpretation of Prayer Man’s body language in this article is based on books: “The Definitive Book of Body Language” [1] and “Body Language. A Guide for Professionals” [2].
Figure 2 shows the reconstructed Prayer Man’s posture based on 3D modeling and fitting Prayer Man’s figure into the Darnell’s still. The remarkable features in Prayer Man’s figure are the following: 1) Prayer Man had his arm crossed, albeit incompletely, in front of the centre of his chest. 2) Prayer Man’s hands are closed or possibly even clenched into fists. 3) Prayer Man’s head is tilted slightly toward his right. 4) Prayer Man’s left leg is bent in the knee joint and the left foot is slightly forward and orientated toward the east and south. 5) Prayer Man’s right foot bears the weight of his body and it is orientated toward the east and front of the doorway. Figure 3 shows Prayer Man from a south-east vantage point. This view shows the slight tilt of Prayer Man’s head and the direction of his gaze.
Figure 2: A 3D model of Prayer Man based on the reconstruction of the Darnell still.
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Figure 3: A view of Prayer Man from a south-east vantage point showing orientation of his gaze and his slightly tilted head.
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According to the body language theory, crossed arms indicate a defensive attitude [1-2]. Crossed arms pose a barrier between the person and something the person does not like. It is a subconscious attempt to block out what is perceived as a threat or undesirable circumstances. Even if Prayer Man’s arms were not crossed completely, it is still a defensive arms posture revealing a person’s defensive attitude and perception of threat. As Prayer Man’s arms were not crossed completely, there is a possibility that this man has not decided yet how much of a threat the situation was. Closed fists are interpreted as a sign of defensiveness, and cleched fists in combination with crossed arms reveal hostility [1]. The Darnell still does not allow to decide whether Prayer Man’s hands were closed or clenched into fists.
A tilted head exposes a part of a person’s neck and/or throat and therefore, this head posture is considered to be a manifestation of a person’s vulnerability. A mild head tilt also reveals a person’s thoughtfulness [1].
In people showing a foot-forward posture, the orientation of the feet, especially of the lead foot, reveals the intention of their future movements, or “where the mind wants to go” [1]. The foot-forward posture is interpreted as the initial phase of walking. For instance, if a person’s feet point toward the nearest exit, it is likely that the person’s intention is to leave the room. Prayer Man’s feet are orientated toward the east and south, in the general direction of the corner of Elm and Houston Street.
Taken together, the body language of Prayer Man seen in the Darnell still suggests that this person perceived the situation as a threat, was thoughtful and felt vulnerable. His gaze and feet posture suggests an intention to leave the scene, possibly in direction of Elm and/or Houston street.
Is Prayer Man’s state of mind, manifested in his body language, compatible with what is known about Lee Harvey Oswald’s behaviour after the shooting? Lee Oswald left the scene within a few minutes after the last shot. Such an early departure appears to be completely out of Lee Oswald’s picture. Lee Oswald was a political man, he liked to discuss the politics including the politics of John F. Kennedy, and he admired John Kennedy. The only explanation for Lee Oswald not staying in the Depository Building and not trying to learn as much as possible about the tragic event that has involved John Kennedy was that he felt vulnerable, under pressure, and threatened by the circumstances, similar to what Prayer Man’s body language suggests. Prayer Man did not have to scan the area of Triple Underpass or Grassy Knoll because he had understood what happened from prior information he was likely privy to. Prayer Man just needed to connect the dots, he did not need to observe the scene. Prayer Man as depicted in the Darnell film was pondering his next steps and those next steps apparently included leaving the assassination scene.
Lee Oswald’s last sighting was by Buell Wesley Frazier. Frazier allegedly saw Lee Oswald walking on the north side of Houston Street and disappearing on East Elm Street [3]. This last spot of sighting would match both the general direction of Prayer Man’s gaze in the Darnell film (Figures 2 and 3) and the orientation of his feet seen in the 3D model of Prayer Man (Figure 2). Thus, the post-assassination actions of Lee Oswald matched Prayer Man’s intentions revealed by analysis of his body language.
It should be noted that Lee Oswald used to stand with his left foot placed forward often considering the number of photographs showing him in this posture. Figure 4 is a collage of pictures demonstrating Lee Oswald’s left-foot-forward posture from his childhood up to 1963. Thus, if Lee Oswald was Prayer Man, the specific foot-forward posture displayed by Prayer Man may have also resulted from Lee Oswald’s habit of placing his left foot forward and bending his left leg in the knee joint slightly. However, Lee Oswald’s foot-forward stance would not explain the orientation of his feet that just happened to point to the general area of East Elm and Houston Street.
Figure 4: Examples of Lee Harvey Oswald in left-foot-forward posture. a) Little Lee on a fishing trip. b) Lee Oswald on a hunting trip. c) Lee Oswald with on retreat with his Civil Patrol unit. d) Lee Oswald with his daughter June in New Orleans, summer 1963. e) Lee Oswald in Minsk. f) Lee Oswald in the backyard photograph.
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To conclude, Prayer Man’s body language points to a person who felt threatened, showed a defensive attitude, was thoughtful and vulnerable, showed no interest in clarifying the situation by visual inspection of the assassination scene, and directed both his gaze and feet to an area where Lee Oswald was last seen after he had left the Depository Building. Signs of perceived threat and defensiveness in Prayer Man’s body language and other signs would be compatible with Lee Oswald’s early departure from the Texas School Book Depository after the shooting and even with the general route of his departure.
References
[1] Pease, A., Pease, B. The Definitive Book of Body Language. Pease International, Buderim, Australia, 2004.
[2] Ludwig, H. Body Language. A Guide for Professionals. Sage, Los Angeles, 2012.
[3] “Living History with Buell Wesley Frazier”, an interview recorded by the Sixth Floor Museum and posted on August 27, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAh1pGZiLxE