The Mystery Man Behind
Evidence of Revision

by Victor Thorn

 

Since its release in 2006, Evidence of Revision has become recognized as the definitive video account of the JFK assassination. Clocking in at over eight hours on five discs, this epic documentary covers not only the events in Dallas on November 22, 1963, but also the Robert Kennedy assassination, the Jonestown massacre, and the horrors of CIA covert MK-ULTRA mind-control programs. A subsequent production, Evidence of Revision 6, examines serious inconsistencies in the Martin Luther King murder.

Still, despite widespread acclaim, viewers in conspiracy circles and aficionados of this subject still have one question: who made Evidence of Revision? The boxed set case gives absolutely no clue as to the creator of the film, nor does any of the footage. The closing credits simply list “Etymon Productions,” while elsewhere the audience is informed, “History may be revised even as it is being written.”

This mystery compelled me to begin a search one day in June 2006 after a cardboard box arrived in my post office box. Inside was a generic DVD case with no label, markings, or documentation. I was about to discard the packaging when a tiny slip of paper fell out containing only an anonymous email address. A week or so later I watched Evidence of Revision, and after being overwhelmed by the material I decided to contact this enigmatic individual.

Anonymity
Shortly thereafter, we began corresponding, and the tale that unfolded was as compelling as the documentary. I soon discovered that the person behind Evidence of Revision was a fifty-something year old man living in San Diego and going by the pseudonym “Terrence Raymond.” However, due to his rapidly deteriorating physical and financial situation, he feared facing homelessness. With the few remaining dollars left in his possession, Raymond mailed Evidence of Revision to forty different people who ran conspiracy websites, hosted radio shows, or were scholars of the Kennedy assassination. Although he had yet to accept a dime for his efforts, he hoped somebody would notice his work. Little did Raymond know his documentary would become an underground classic, and soon history buffs and those who sought to debunk the enduring cover-up began passing it around like a virus.

To date, Raymond’s only interview took place on WING TV on July 13, 2006 (http://911underground.com/wingtv/). Yet, despite a relative lack of publicity, Evidence of Revision exploded on the Internet, and the mystery associated with the movie served only to broaden its cult appeal. When asked why he wanted to remain anonymous, Raymond would only answer cryptically, “No comment.” However, he did add with a chuckle that one on-line forum speculated on his belonging to some sort of radical political group operating out of the Caribbean.

Beyond Raymond’s hidden identity, the other pressing question asked by viewers is: where did he get all this amazing footage? In the mid-1970s, he served four years of elite military duty in the Naval Photographic Center in Washington, DC, where he was employed by the National Archives White House Presidential Motion Picture Crew. As such, Raymond worked for John F. Kennedy’s and Lyndon Johnson’s personal sound recordists.

Terrence Raymond began his work in the wake of 1974’s Watergate scandal. After President Richard Nixon’s resignation, and after Gerald Ford assumed office, he received secret clearance status and worked on classified film projects for the Pentagon, the White House, and possibly intelligence agencies. Upon being transferred to a reconnaissance squadron in the Florida Keys, Raymond was assigned temporary duty as a petty officer to a supply facility which, according to him, was most likely operated by the CIA.

Being in such close proximity to Agency spooks, political scandals, and media manipulators, Raymond witnessed first-hand a world that increasingly resembled George Orwell’s 1984, complete with doublethink, perpetual war, “Newspeak” propaganda, behavior modification, genetic control, and the alteration of history.

Robert Kennedy & MK-ULTRA
The technique of using ‘manufactured consent’ to sway public opinion struck a chord with Raymond. Being old enough to recall JFK’s assassination, he clearly remembers listening to the radio late one evening in June of 1968 and learning that Robert F. Kennedy had been murdered at the Ambassador Hotel. During this broadcast, it was reported that certain people laughed, celebrated, and admitted responsibility for the killing. But then, just as quickly, these news items vanished from the media landscape, never to be heard again. And just like Lee Harvey Oswald, Robert Kennedy’s convicted assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, became an infamous lone-nut gunman.

This particular event had a profound impact on the teen because, as a child growing up in Whittier, California, Raymond’s mother attended Bible study classes with Richard Nixon’s sister in the Nixon household. There, the participants spoke in tongues, and eventually lapsed into trances. She also described how the Nixon family kept a “Wailing Wall” inside their home where they cried, prayed, and flailed. As a result of these bizarre episodes, Raymond’s mother suffered a nervous breakdown, and was placed in a Pasadena hospital (the name and location of which she cannot remember) where the repeated use of electroshock treatments and Sodium Pentothal completely erased her memory. These procedures occurred in the mid-1950s at a time when MK-ULTRA experiments were being performed on private citizens without their consent. A decade later, it’s likely that Sirhan Sirhan underwent his MK-ULTRA conversion at the same facility. To date, Raymond isn’t sure if his mother was definitively targeted, or simply a random subject for these demented doctors.

However, one certainty remains. After learning that his mother’s nervous breakdown was attributable to her bizarre religious experiences at the Nixon household, Raymond’s dislike for Nixon and his policies grew into utter disgust. He even remembers campaigning against Nixon in his grade school classroom during the 1960 election. A decade later, Raymond would be working across the Potomac from the White House as Nixon resigned under the cloud of the Watergate scandal.

Underground Sources
Prior to his military service, Raymond had already sensed something was awry in the world. While still in high school, he spent countless hours in the library researching JFK’s assassination, focusing especially on books like Mark Lane’s Rush to Judgment (1966), and Jim Garrison’s A Heritage of Stone (1970). With his interest piqued by what lurked in the shadows, he began an investigative odyssey that would span the remainder of his life.

Capitalizing on his experience at the Naval Photographic Center, Raymond embarked upon an obsessive quest to accumulate rare and hard-to-find video footage. To compile a library containing over 3,000 hours of tape, Raymond collected material from swap meets, obscure mail order sources, video store rentals, TV newscasts, documentaries, special underground catalogs, and conspiracy bookstores. He soon discovered other like-minded collectors and realized that if you knew people, it was easier to get “under-the-counter” material that wasn’t available to the public.

Thirty years later and suffering poor health, Raymond came to a realization. If he didn’t put Evidence of Revision together, there existed a high likelihood that this extremely rare material would disappear down a Memory Hole for the rest of eternity. “After all,” he asked me one day during a phone conversation, “how much of the information in this documentary has ever been seen by the American public?” A good deal of the news footage he collected had not been officially released by CBS, NBC, or ABC. Other clips had only been televised once (oftentimes on local stations), and then seemingly disappeared forever. Raymond recalls one occasion when a CBS employee made it known that he could steal 66 hours of extremely rare footage from network archives. However, there was a catch. The man wanted $2,000 per hour to cover the risk involved in misappropriating these tapes. Regrettably, the canisters still remain concealed from public view.

There were other challenges confronting Raymond when beginning this project. He possessed over 200 hours of JFK footage alone, thus compelling him to undergo the laborious process of filtering through this mountain of data. Originally, he intended to make Evidence of Revision a 30-hour opus that explained much more than just the Kennedy assassination. But it soon became clear that such a grand undertaking was unrealistic. Instead, over the course of two years, he pared Evidence of Revision down to its current length of approximately eight hours.

Marked Man
Upon watching this documentary, one quickly surmises that the Kennedy assassination was, in essence, inevitable. For starters, JKF made a very daring and decisive threat to shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the wind. Following the Bay of Pigs fiasco, he fired CIA Director Allen Dulles for drafting Operation Northwoods, a clandestine project which eerily resembled the terrorist attacks which arose forty years later on September 11, 2001. For his role in the Bay of Pigs disaster, JFK also terminated General Charles Cabell, who subsequently never forgave him. A bit too coincidentally, Cabell’s brother Earl was the mayor of Dallas, and it was he who helped coordinate the President’s fateful trip to that city in November, 1963. Kennedy also enraged the U.S. military-industrial complex by stressing that the CIA would no longer be in charge of Vietnam and he would now be calling the shots.

Evidence of Revision references an amazing, little-known article written by New York Times columnist Arthur Krock which appeared on October 3, 1963. In it, Krock cites how JFK had declared war on the CIA, comparing their growth to a “malignancy.” He added that if there was ever a coup against the United States government, it would originate with the CIA.

Raymond saw Kennedy as a true “radical” who wanted to dramatically change the course of American politics. In his WING TV interview, Raymond asserts that Kennedy was being overtly threatened by the men who eventually killed him, including the CIA, the Italian Mafia, and core members of the machine that wanted to perpetuate Vietnam and the Cold War. Prior to visiting Dallas, plausible threats were also made against the president’s life in Chicago and Miami. As Raymond states, “Kennedy was actually trying to do what was right, but we’ve seen what happens to leaders throughout history who are idealists. Those who are ethical and moral are at a disadvantage because most others don’t play by these same rules.”

The Undesirability of Peace
Beginning with Dwight Eisenhower’s 1961 Farewell Address warning Americans of the military-industrial complex and a “permanent war economy,” JFK harbored serious reservations about the Cold War, Vietnam, and the continuing Cuban embargo. Whereas J. Edgar Hoover called the Soviet Union an “infectious disease,” Kennedy said that he was “anxious to live in harmony with the Russian people.” After all, he reasoned, no nation suffered more during World War II than Russia, with 20 million casualties.

In regard to Vietnam, Evidence of Revision shows how in October 1963—one month before his murder—President Kennedy signed National Security Memorandum 263; legislation that would effectively pull our country out of Vietnam and bring troops home by 1965. Tragically, four days after his assassination, Lyndon Johnson signed National Security Memorandum 273, which sent more troops to Vietnam, beginning a ten-year national catastrophe.

The film then goes on to illustrate how LBJ used a manufactured event—the supposed Gulf of Tonkin attack on American ships performing covert operations—to escalate our involvement in Vietnam even further. Although no torpedoes were fired at U.S. ships, like other false flag terrorist events, the incident was used as justification for intensifying our involvement in the war.

Dangerous ‘Country Bumpkin’
Evidence of Revision vividly paints a portrait of Lyndon Johnson’s integral role in the Kennedy assassination. To truly understand this man, the viewer gets a behind-the-scenes peek at how much the vice president despised the Kennedy brothers. Mocked by Jack and Bobby as a buffoon and laughingstock, Johnson developed an inferiority complex that bubbled into seething hatred. To enact what he saw as justifiable punishment, Johnson first instructed the Dallas Police Chief to control matters before and after the November 22 shooting. He then contacted fellow crony and Texas Governor John Connolly to establish the parade route and security details. Johnson also had the power to work in unison with the CIA and J. Edgar Hoover in Dallas, all of whom had a vested interest in seeing the president dead. As a result, Kennedy’s limousine came to a virtual stop only moments before gunmen opened fire on him.

Afterward, Johnson made a hurried array of phone calls from Washington to Dallas, telling the district attorney not to look beyond Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin. LBJ also told chief surgeon Charles Crenshaw that government officials were to be allowed in the operating room after Oswald was shot to take his “deathbed confession.” LBJ even took charge of selecting Warren Commission members, including Allen Dulles and Bilderberg Group member Gerald Ford. Former Chief Justice Earl Warren later revealed that Johnson told him, “If the truth were told about the assassination, it would lead to World War III.”

One of the most poignant scenes in Evidence of Revision originates with Madeleine Brown, LBJ’s long-time mistress. According to Brown, Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon, and billionaire H.L. Hunt met at Clint Murchison’s house the night before Kennedy was killed. Murchison deplored the president, and was arguably the most powerful man in Texas at the time, meaning he probably wielded a great deal of influence over Johnson. The following morning, only hours prior to the shooting, the vice president bragged to his lover, “After today, the Kennedys will never embarrass me again.” Later, LBJ confessed to Brown that Texas oil men and the CIA had killed Kennedy.

Another crucial episode in Evidence of Revision involves Dan Reynolds, an attorney who had visited Capitol Hill on the day of Kennedy’s assassination to present evidence against LBJ regarding corruption, bribery, vote fraud, and possibly even murder. Charging that Johnson misused his various political offices, Reynolds brought records, receipts, invoices, and other documents to implicate the vice president. These charges were undoubtedly impeachable offenses, and the Kennedys would have most certainly dumped Johnson from the Democratic ticket in 1964. But once Kennedy was shot and LBJ took the oath of office, the entire matter was quickly shelved. As they said in ancient Rome, Cui bono—who benefits?

Defiant Patsy
Evidence of Revision presents compelling film footage taken directly from the 6^th floor of the Texas School Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald purportedly fired the fatal shots on November 22, 1963. There, shortly after the shooting, investigators found three spent shell cartridges on a window ledge sitting neatly in a row, one-inch apart from each other. The obvious question is: what are the chances that someone would frantically fire three shots, make a hasty getaway, and all three cartridges ejected from the gun would land upright in a line in the exact same place, equidistant apart? Maybe this ammunition came from the same arsenal that allowed the Warren Commission's Arlen Specter to form his preposterous “Magic Bullet” theory.

The documentary also presents news clips from dozens of newscasters saying that the weapon used to kill Kennedy was a 7.65 caliber German Mauser rifle that was found at the scene. Then, when the cartridges didn’t match this particular rifle, broadcasters quickly changed their story—without explanation—saying it was a 6.5 caliber Italian Mannlicher-Carcano mail order rifle. This Orwellian sleight-of-hand is priceless.

Evidence of Revision details direct evidence from government documents showing Lee Harvey Oswald’s intimate involvement in highly sensitive operations for the CIA and FBI, including his Agency payroll number. Another clip explains how CIA representative David Atlee Phillips met with Oswald two months before the assassination. The FBI also interrogated Oswald in Dallas only two weeks prior to Kennedy’s visit.

Even more mystifying are Oswald’s alleged actions following the Kennedy assassination. First, Don Hewitt, famed 60 Minutes producer, discusses how, after Kennedy was shot, Oswald left the Texas Schoolbook Depository and headed toward Jack Ruby’s apartment. Then, sheriff deputy Roger Craig testifies that he saw Oswald get into a grey Rambler after the driver whistled to him.

Evidence of Revision’s footage presents a frozen moment in time as Lee Harvey Oswald’s words are heard firsthand. Upon being arrested and fully aware that he was a patsy, Oswald declares matter-of-factly, “Everybody will know who I am now.” Next, sporting a black eye due to his treatment by the Dallas Police Department, Oswald addresses the cameras, intent on refuting the accusations made against him.

“I didn’t shoot anybody, and I have no legal representation,” he begins. After telling reporters that a “policeman hit me,” he continues to answer questions. “Nobody told me what I’m accused of … I’ve not been charged with killing the President … I emphatically deny these charges … I’m a patsy … I would like certain fundamental rights, like taking a shower.” One hour before a scheduled live press conference Oswald was shot dead on nationwide television. To silence the conspiracy’s fall guy, mobster and Meyer Lansky associate Jack Rubinstein (Ruby) is selected to fire the fatal shots.

Seeds of a Cover-up
Evidence of Revision further illustrates how interwoven the conspirators were, by confirming that a prior relationship existed between Oswald and Ruby. A number of Ruby’s amazing confessions are also included, where he proclaims, “The world will never know the true facts of what happened … It was a complete conspiracy … I’m the only person in the background who knows the whole truth of my circumstances.”

Furthermore, Ruby confides that LBJ was behind the Kennedy assassination, while a number of credible witnesses recall seeing Oswald at Ruby’s bar, the Carousel Club. Evidence of Revision also asserts that Ruby served as an informant for none other than Richard Nixon in 1947.

In charge of concealing these details from the American public was FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who had been compromised for decades because of certain practices that didn’t reflect his carefully-crafted public image. On the one hand, Hoover indulged his rampant gambling addiction at Clint Murchison’s race track, which brought him into contact with organized crime figures such as Meyer Lansky, Carlos Marcello, and Santos Trafficante. Hoover’s association with notorious underworld figures crippled law enforcement’s ability to battle the crime syndicate for generations because Hoover wouldn’t even admit the Mafia existed.

An even more damning factor revolved around Hoover’s homosexuality and some in flagrante delicto snapshots of him performing oral sex on his lover, fellow FBI-man Clyde Tolson. Mob boss Meyer Lansky obtained the embarrassing photos, as did CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton and Carlos Marcello. Needless to say, Lansky blackmailed Hoover with this devastating information, and bragged that he enjoyed “virtual immunity from the FBI.” The Mafia’s control of Hoover was so powerful that the FBI never even formed an organized crime division.

Hoover’s relationship with the vice president was so close that LBJ called him his “brother and personal friend.” This bond grew even stronger due to their mutual hatred of the Kennedy brothers. Evidence of Revision proposes that Hoover’s voluminous files detailing JFK’s adulterous affairs (with Marilyn Monroe, Judith Campbell Exner, and others) were used to blackmail him into selecting LBJ as a running mate in 1960. Hoover threatened to blow the scandal sky high if Jack and Bobby didn’t bow to his wishes. Following the Kennedy assassination, LBJ put the FBI Director in charge of the cover-up. Under this arrangement, all evidence from Dallas was turned over to Hoover, who subsequently attempted to bury anything of relevance.

Rounding out this sordid cast of characters was Richard Nixon, one of the first prominent war hawks following World War II. As Dwight Eisenhower’s vice presidential selection in 1952, Nixon promoted the “Domino Theory,” thus facilitating U.S. military invasions across the globe. Nixon was also one of the first to seek American intervention in Vietnam, at one point even considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

In the end, JFK defeated Nixon in the 1960 presidential election, while Kennedy’s murder allowed Lyndon Johnson to become commander-in-chief. When LBJ bowed out in 1968 due to an emotional breakdown, Bobby Kennedy became the odds on favorite to win the election, but his assassination at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles opened the door for Nixon to stroll into the Oval Office.

Terrence Raymond created Evidence of Revision in large part as a reaction to the Kennedy murders. But the facts of his mother’s tragic connection to the Nixon family and MK-ULTRA and his subsequent employment in Washington, D.C. during the Watergate scandal make Raymond’s documentary that much more compelling. After all, without those coincidences and serendipitous links, Evidence of Revision may never have come to be—and these invaluable pieces of the puzzle would be indefinitely lost. P

©2009 Victor Thorn. Terrence Raymond is still alive and living in virtual obscurity in northern California. He is very thankful for any efforts to let others know about this very important film. Listen to his full interview with Victor Thorn at http://911underground.com/wingtv.

Victor Thorn is the founder of Sisyphus Press and author of eleven books and ten chapbooks. He has produced four CD-ROMs and DVDs, including the five-disc collection, Evidence of Revision. He is the editor of four anthologies, including The New World Order Exposed, released in Japan, and 9-11 on Trial, released in France to coincide with the fifth anniversary of 9-11. He co-hosted The Victor Thorn Show on the Reality Radio Network from 2002-2003. In February 2004, he co-founded WING TV (World Independent News Group), a daily Internet television and radio talk show viewed in over 100 countries worldwide. The WING TV website can be found at: www.wingtv.net. The DVD Evidence of Revision is available at the WING TV bookstore: www.wingtv.net/bookstore.html, or at Sisyphus Press P.O. Box 10495, State College, PA 16805-0495.