Investigating the Unexplained

James over at Hell in a Handbasket tells what he found when he tried to hunt down a legendary monster in Ohio.

His results reminded me of one of my favorite examples of easily refuted conspiracy mongering. Dozens of people are supposed to have seen a shooter on the grassy knoll in Dallas on 22 November 1963. Their accounts usually include a description of a "puff of smoke" wafting away after the shot.

Except that since the 1890s, snipers have used rifles and cartridges that contain smokeless powder. There would have been no puff of smoke. (Go to any rifle range if you don't believe me. You will see almost nothing coming from the barrels after the shot. Certainly no smoke visible from 30 yards away). Garrison's "investigators" found it impossible to recreate that puff of smoke under any realistic conditions.

By the way, James posts frequently and always finds interesting stuff. So hie thee over and read daily. I do.