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Rare Unseen Footage of John F. Kennedy Assassination Up for Auction

BACK AND TO THE LEFT

An auction house is selling 40 seconds worth of footage of the assassination taken by a bystander with a home movie camera.

John F. Kennedy's limousine driving to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
RR Auctions

New unseen footage of the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy—which reportedly shows the terrifying moments just after the shooting as his limousine rushes to Parkland Memorial Hospital—is to be sold at auction later this month

RR Auctions will sell the footage, which amounts to a total of 40 seconds, on Sept. 28. The rare footage is currently listed at $12,100, according to the auction house.

The footage was captured on 8mm color film by Dale Carpenter Sr., a truck driver who used a home movie camera, according to the auction house. Much of the footage shows the presidential motorcade travel down Lemmon Avenue towards Dealey Plaza.

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However, Carpenter unfortunately missed the presidential limousine transporting the president and first lady Jackie Kennedy, and quickly relocated to another spot towards the end of the parade route on the North Stemmons Freeway, part of Interstate 35. At this position on the side of the freeway, Carpenter was able to capture footage of Kennedy’s limousine rushing to Parkland Memorial Hospital at 80 miles per hour.

The footage captures Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, who leaped onto the back of the limousine after the president was shot, still clinging to the car as it sped down the freeway. Hill later published his own memoir of the assassination in 2013, Five Days in November, and an upcoming documentary about him will reportedly contain clips of the footage.

Just after John F. Kennedy was shot, Jacqueline Kennedy stands up in the presidential car to lift up the body of her husband. In the foreground, a Secret Service agent jumps onto the back fender of the car.

Just after John F. Kennedy was shot, Jacqueline Kennedy stands up in the presidential car to lift up the body of her husband. In the foreground, a Secret Service agent jumps onto the back fender of the car.

Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

After 10 seconds of footage from I-35, the home movie reel abruptly cuts to footage of a toddler playing with a toy dump truck.

The most iconic footage of the assassination might be the Zapruder film—which was also recorded on a silent, 8mm home movie camera by Abraham Zapruder, and shows the moment a bullet strikes Kennedy as the limousine drives through Dealey Plaza.

Carpenter died in 1991, and the footage is being sold by his grandson, James Gates, the Associated Press reported. Gates, who found the film in a milk crate, told wire service he was at first underwhelmed by the footage on Lemmon Ave., but found the later footage of the rush to the hospital “shocking.”

Flowers line the street in Dealey Plaza, at the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Flowers line the street in Dealey Plaza, at the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Corbis via Getty Images

The auction house has released some clips and still images of the footage, but has not released the full segment along I-35. Prospective buyers can schedule an appointment with the auction house to view the footage ahead of time, according to the film’s listing.

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