History isn't a closed book. We like to think it is, especially with something as picked over as November 22, 1963. But every few years, a dusty box in a garage or a declassified folder at the National Archives reminds us that we don't know everything. Honestly, it's kinda wild.
Recently, the internet went into a bit of a tailspin over a new JFK assassination video that surfaced, showing the moments immediately following the shots in Dealey Plaza. This isn't some blurry CGI recreation or a "leaked" deepfake. It’s real 8mm home movie footage, and it captures a perspective of the motorcade that we simply haven't seen in this kind of detail before.
The footage that changed the timeline
The film was taken by a man named Dale Carpenter. For decades, it sat in a family collection, essentially a private heirloom that nobody realized held historical weight. It doesn't show the literal moment of the headshot—so if you're looking for a "second shooter on the grassy knoll" smoking gun, you might be disappointed.
But what it does show is the raw, visceral panic of the Secret Service in the seconds after the trigger was pulled.
You see the Lincoln Continental screaming toward Parkland Memorial Hospital. It’s moving fast. Way faster than it looks in the Zapruder film. Agent Clint Hill is sprawled across the back of the car, shielding Jackie Kennedy. The sheer speed of the vehicle in Carpenter’s footage puts the desperation of that "race to save a life" into a completely different light.
Why this matters now
You've probably seen the Zapruder film a thousand times. It’s the gold standard. But Zapruder was standing in one spot. The Carpenter footage, along with other snippets that have trickled out in the last couple of years, helps "triangulate" the scene.
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Stephen Fagin, the curator at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, has noted that every new piece of visual evidence helps historians verify the speed of the motorcade and the exact positioning of the backup vehicles. It’s basically like adding a new piece to a 10,000-piece puzzle where half the pieces are missing and the other half are chewed up.
Early in 2025, a massive wave of declassifications hit the National Archives. We're talking tens of thousands of pages. While most of that was paperwork—CIA memos about Lee Harvey Oswald's trip to Mexico City or FBI surveillance logs—it sparked a renewed interest in private citizens checking their attics.
People are realizing that their grandfather’s "vacation films" from Dallas might actually be crime scene evidence.
The "New" Video vs. The Old Theories
There's a lot of misinformation floating around TikTok and YouTube right now. You’ve probably seen clips claiming a "newly discovered" video proves a shooter was in the sewer or behind the fence.
Let's be real: most of those "new" videos are just digitally enhanced versions of the Orville Nix film or the Marie Muchmore footage.
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The actual new JFK assassination video (the Carpenter film) actually reinforces the official timeline rather than blowing it up. It shows the motorcade on Stemmons Freeway. It confirms that the Secret Service reacted exactly how they claimed they did, even if they were too late to change the outcome.
It’s less about a conspiracy and more about the human element. The wind whipping Jackie’s pink suit. The terrifying lean of the car as it takes a corner at high speed. It makes the event feel like it happened yesterday, not sixty-plus years ago.
What the 2025/2026 releases actually told us
If you’re hunting for the "truth," the video is only half the story. The document dumps under recent executive orders have pulled back the curtain on how much the government actually knew about Oswald before the shooting.
- The Mexico City Connection: We now have a much clearer picture of Oswald’s visit to the Soviet and Cuban embassies just weeks before the assassination.
- The CIA Intercepts: Memos show the CIA was intercepting Oswald’s mail. They knew he was a "defector" with a grudge.
- The "Poor Shot" Theory: Some internal documents from the 90s, only recently made public, suggest the FBI had internal debates about whether Oswald was actually a good enough marksman to pull off the shots.
Basically, the "conspiracy" isn't necessarily that someone else fired a gun. The real scandal appearing in the new records is how badly the intelligence agencies dropped the ball. They had this guy on their radar. They watched him. And then they just... let it happen.
How to spot a fake
Because of AI and high-end editing software, you have to be careful. If you see a video where the camera is "perfectly steady" or the colors look like a modern Netflix documentary, it’s probably a restoration or a fake.
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Real 1963 film is grainy. It’s shaky. It has "light leaks" (those orange flares at the edges). The Dale Carpenter footage has all those hallmarks. It’s authentic precisely because it’s imperfect.
What you should do next
If you're fascinated by the latest developments, don't just watch 30-second clips on social media.
Go to the National Archives website and look at the JFK Assassination Records - 2025 Documents Release. It’s a rabbit hole, but it’s the source material. You can also check out the digital archives of the Sixth Floor Museum. They’ve been doing incredible work lately, digitizing local Dallas news broadcasts from that day that haven't been seen in decades.
Stop looking for a "smoking gun" and start looking at the "missing frames" of history. The Carpenter video is a reminder that there's still stuff out there. Check your basement. Seriously. If your family was in Dallas in '63, you might be sitting on the next big discovery.
The story of JFK isn't over. It’s just getting more high-definition.