Newly-Unearthed Footage of JFK Assassination Aftermath Goes to Auction

Stills from the unseen 8mm film footage in the moments after JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963 that is being auctioned off by RR Auction.

Newly-emerged footage that shows the immediate aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination goes on auction this month.

The never-before-seen 8mm home film — the existence of which was previously unknown — shows President Kennedy’s motorcade speeding down a Dallas freeway toward a hospital after he was fatally wounded.

The footage, which is just over a minute long, will soon be sold through RR Auction. Online bidding is now underway, and the live auction is scheduled in Boston on September 28.

The video was filmed by Texas businessman Dale Carpenter Sr. just moments after Kennedy had been shot in 1963.

Carpenter Sr. had showed up on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas, Texas, hoping to film Kennedy as his motorcade passed.

The footage, which is in two parts, begins with Carpenter Sr. just missing the limousine carrying the president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy but capturing other vehicles in the motorcade as it traveled down Lemmon Avenue toward downtown.

The film then picks up after Kennedy has been shot as the motorcade roars down Interstate 35 and speeds toward Parkland Hospital. Meanwhile, Jackie Kennedy’s Secret Service agent Clint Hill shields both her and the president.

Kennedy himself can not be glimpsed in the footage. At this point, he had collapsed and was close to death.

According to The New York Times, RR Auction says that bidding will will begin at $5,000. The auction house estimates that the film has a value of more than $100,000.

Images of the JFK Assassination Continue to Be Discovered

Experts say the discovery of the footage isn’t necessarily surprising more than six decades after the assassination. New photographs have continued to emerge over the years.

“These images, these films and photographs, a lot of times they are still out there,” Stephen Fagin, curator at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza tells AP News.

“They are still being discovered or rediscovered in attics or garages.”

“I view these images and films like puzzle pieces coming together to form this tapestry of memory of November 22,” Fagin adds.

Last year, PetaPixel reported on the photo technician who made a secret copy of Abraham Zapruder’s film — the clearest video footage of President Kennedy’s assassination — and how he was “scared out of his wits.”

 
Image credits: All photos via RR Auction.