Texas: Part 5, 6th Floor Museum, Dallas TX

The day after our eventful night at the Rangers game we went to the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas. The 6th Floor Museum is about the assassination of President Kennedy. It is called the 6th Floor Museum because supposedly Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK from the 6th floor window of the School Book Depository. The museum is actually located in the old School Book Depository and located on the 6th floor (you get to see the window that he was at when he shot JFK).
We got lucky and they had audio tours for free so we got to be guided through the museum by headphones. The narrator of the tour was actually a reporter who witnessed what happened and ran into Oswald when running into the depository to call his boss at his headquarters. The tour began with some history about JFK and his campaign, winning the presidency, and the first two years of his presidency. Then it went through that fateful day. Investigators received actual video footage from a woman who was filming the motorcade, they broke it down into photo stills for each second. They had diagrams of where everyone was when the shots came. They also had about a dozen other cameras and film from other spectators all around the streets and grassy knoll. It was gut wrenching watching it happening and listening to people who witnessed it. You were then able to look out the 6th floor window where Oswald was set up with his rifle when he shot the president. You could see the route that was taken by the motorcade, the grassy knoll, and they have markers on the street exactly where JFK was shot.
The tour proceeds into the next few hours after the shooting, the president being pronounced dead, Lydon Johnson being sworn in, the chase and capture of Lee Harvey Oswald, and the investigation. Oswald never actually confessed to the assassination and while he was being transferred someone shot and killed him. The tour goes further into the investigation, which at the time killing the president was not a federal crime so the investigation was lead by the local Dallas police department. (crazy to think that shooting and killing the president of the USA was not a federal crime, but robbing a bank was...) It then goes into other theories about what happened that day... that there was 4 shots not 3, that Oswald could not have acted alone, the perfect bullet, etc. Lots of different theories, lots of conspiracy theories.
The entire museum was done very well, very informative and interactive. It took most of the day to get through it and then we went out to the grassy knoll, which is a beautiful place along the famous street. We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum but I got a lot of good photos in and around the grassy knoll, it was a really beautiful day that day. The day made us very reflective and melancholy.