Marcel Dehaeseleer

Marcel Dehaeseleer

Marcel Dehaeseleer was born in Belgium in June 1965. A graduate in CAD/CAM programming, he joined the Belgian "Gendarmerie Nationale", the state countryside Police Force in 1996. Following the reform of the Police Force in the Kingdom in 2000, he has now become a Federal Police Officer with the rank of "Inspecteur" within a specialized Unit called the D.A.R., based in Brussels.

He is probably the leading researcher on the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Belgium. His main fields of research are the Zapruder Film and the analysis of the various pictures taken in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.

In recent years Marcel Dehaeseleer has worked with Jack White, John Costella, David Healy and Rick Janowitz, by experimenting with a fundamental photographical principle called Camera Obscura. The experiment was conducted on the 20th November 2003, on Dealey Plaza by Rick Janowitz, Jack White and Scott Myers.

Primary Sources

(1) Marcel Dehaeseleer, Independent Researcher on JFK Assassination (May, 2004)

For a long time Marcel believed that the Zapruder film was original and free from any alteration. A few dying articles which refer to that firm belief can still be found on the World Wide Web (in some newsgroups). Lately, a whole chapter of author Caroline Lebeau's new book goes over some allegations regarding this issue of authenticity to which he hardly believes any longer. Marcel likes to introduce himself as an Independent Researcher, for he never stops swinging between both sides; on the one hand, those who follow the conclusions reached by the Warren Commission, and on the other hand the proponents of a large-scale conspiracy involving the highest realms of the US government.

His opinion is the following:there is some truth on both sides, which makes it hard to take sides. To decide definitively upon one or the other would be to show deliberately a lack of objectivity and by the same token would mean to deprive oneself of some of the pieces of news, true or false, fresh pieces of news popping up every day...

In the end, the 1090 (one thousand and ninety) days (i.e. three years) of cyber-conversations and contributions with researchers and renowned historians such as Jack White, Gary Mack, John Costella, Jim Fetzer, Clint Bradford, Rick Janowitz, Scott Myers, David Healy, Bill Miller, Ian Griggs, Paul-Eric Blanrue, John Simkin, etc. have reinforced a strange feeling inside him which was confirmed by a meaningful sentence published by François Carlier concerning the JFK-Assassination Researchers: "Most of them are not even on speaking terms". As a matter of fact, every researcher seems to look after their own interests and does not care much for other people's findings, not to mention the fact that for a minority of them Kennedy represents a "golden dead" and consequently any new development that could ruin their theory would thereby dry up a source of high income.

Among others Marcel Dehaeseleer deplores the restricted vision which is generally shared by the majority of French-speaking Europeans. Oliver Stone's movie JFK is the main reference for most of them. That film, which incidentally is excellent, is not exhaustive and lays out the facts superficially. Let's give credit to Stone for having tried to change things and succeeding in doing it. In the end, Stone managed his affairs with great courage. Running the risk of being totally discredited, he still faced up to things and gave the public a cult movie which is at the root of some Independent Researchers' vocations.

For several months Marcel Dehaeseleer has adopted an openly innovative thought process and carried out various experiments focused on the photographic equipment which is at the root of the films and photographs taken in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Among others, he had a variety of movie and still cameras - identical to those used by Tina Towner, Abraham Zapruder, Mary Moorman, and others - brought back from the US.

"The Great Moorman Experiment", or "Camera Obscura Experiment", is one of the experiments which he initiated, and for which he drafted a protocol enabling other people to carry it out from a distance (without his presence on the spot being necessary).

The experiment that was carried out last November, at the fortieth anniversary of JFK's death, was greeted favorably by both the conspiracy theorists and the lone nutters (for reasons of their own). Historian John Simkin did not hesitate to call the "Camera Obscura" experiment a totally original and resolutely innovative experimentation.

Marcel Dehaeseleer continues to regularly post his results on various American newsgroups. And that contributes to his being perceived as a freelance researcher with quite an atypical profile; simply because he is European and has his own approach to the JFK assassination that is altogether different. For that reason, it is impossible to remain indifferent to Marcel Dehaeseleer. When asked what his main quality is, he replies: "I am stubborn and firmly believe in my findings. Nonetheless, when I realize that I was mistaken on some points, I never hesitate to acknowledge it publicly".

His main convictions are the following:if the JFK assassination is indeed the result of a conspiracy, or a covert operation,... then there is little chance that we'll know really, sooner or later, who the instigators and principal actors were. It's a feature of such an operation that it does not leave any trace or, on the contrary, that it does leave numerous wrong tracks in order to mislead investigators into different directions, which will end up in deadlocks each time.

If the Zapruder film exists just as we know it, whether it be authentic or a complete fabrication, he is probably one of the major pieces meant to mislead generations of Researchers, be they Official Investigators or Independent Researchers.