Texas Man Finds Previously Unseen Photo from Day of JFK Assassination Hidden at Thrift Shop
A Texas man found a historical photo from one of the darkest days in American history.
George Rebeles wasn’t expecting memorabilia of a president’s assassination when he purchased a copy of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “The Anthology” from Souls Harbor Thrift Store in Ferris, Texas, in November.
Rebeles was surprised to find a Polaroid photo in the CD case that had nothing to do with classic rock — instead featuring former President John F. Kennedy, according to WFAA-TV.
The photo depicts Kennedy riding through the streets of Dallas in a motorcade — minutes before he was fatally shot by Lee Harvey Oswald.
JFK looks in the direction of applauding crowds eager to greet him in the photo.
Thrift store shopper scored unpublished photo of JFK’s motorcade just before the assassination https://t.co/I3V7vpLXHu #Fortean pic.twitter.com/Su1vfooK1A
— Flying Welshman (@Bix_Barton_SW6) February 28, 2023
Rebeles discovered the photo a month after buying the classic rock record.
“It wasn’t until I turned it over that I noticed what it was.”
An inscription on the back of the photo reads “11-22-63,” the date in which the 35th president was assassinated.
“Of course realized immediately that this was an unpublished photograph. So I was excited,” the collector said of the find.
“It just struck me as odd to find it in a CD case.”
“I was shocked.”
Rebeles questioned “the timeline, and where it fits in to the president being assassinated.”
“And how this could have ended up in a small town thrift store, fascinates me.”
Farris Rookstool III, a former FBI agent and JFK historian, told WFAA that the image was taken shortly after the president’s arrival in Dallas.
The photo was taken as JFK departed Love Field, according to Rookstool.
The assassination remains one of the most hotly discussed topics in American history — with many members of the public doubting that Oswald acted alone.
Half of Americans stated a belief that the assassination involved multiple conspirators, rather than Oswald alone, responding to a December NBC News poll.
Rebeles hasn’t decided if he intends to sell the photo as a historical artifact or keep it in his own possession.
“Probably intrinsic value of course but, as far as monetary value, I would have no clue.”
He personally isn’t certain about the federal government’s ultimate findings that Oswald was a lone assassin, as expressed in the 1964 Warren Report.
“I’m not a huge conspiracy nut or anything like that, but sometimes things don’t quite add up.”
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