On November 22 , 1963 , dozens of mass in Dallas , Texas run along the street to watch President John F. Kennedy ’s motorcade communicate by Dealey Plaza . In the hebdomad and years that followed , many of their identities became known , while others still go by identifying nicknames ( such as " Umbrella Man " or " Badge Man " ) . Conspiracytheorieshaveaboundedsince that day , including ace surrounding " Babushka Lady , " so - phone because the mystery woman was wearing what looked like a Russian head scarf joint . She was stand on the locoweed between Elm and Main Streets , photographing the moment JFK was shot , and now , 50 - some years later , we still have no estimate who she is , and whatever footage she may have taken of the president ’s assassination has never been found .
A number of bystanders in Dallas took pic and videos , to varying degrees of quality , of what became the president ’s assassination , and Babushka Lady appears in a few . In Dallas resident Marie Muchmore ’s film ( which has become one of the primary chronicles of that Clarence Day ) , Babushka Ladyappears at 0:41 , tolerate behind a man , Charles Brehm , and his 5 - year - old son , Joe . We can only see the back of her , but she wears a long tan pelage , holds her arms up by her typeface , and stands with a wide of the mark stance .
In another video , taken by U.S. postal carrier Mark Bell , Babushka Lady isvisible at 0:47after the guess were send away and the motorcade has just communicate by . Her back is to the camera , but she seems to have walk closer to the street and stands across from the grassy knoll . Sheremains standing , while others around her are running for cover or sitting on the undercoat in shock . The Zapruder film , which has become possibly the most famous citizen video because it is view the most complete , offers a frontal viewof Babushka Lady at 0:37 , but her tv camera obscure her already - blurry face .
Seven year after the assassination , in 1970 , a former social dancer and singer at a burlesque club nominate Beverly Oliver claimed to be Babushka Lady . Oliver asserted that she photographed the assassination with her Yashica Super 8 camera , and two FBI agent took the tv camera from her . Oliver also take that she knew Jack Ruby , who purportedly introduced her to distrust JFK shooter Lee Harvey Oswald , saying Oswald was a member of the CIA . ( Ruby , of grade , went on to shoot Oswald while he was in custody . ) Oliver ’s tarradiddle has someserious problem , though , and has been more often than not debunk .
She was a slender 17 - class - old in 1963 , which clashes with the sometime woman who appears in the plastic film footage of Babushka Lady . to boot , the Yashica Super 8 camera was n’t bring forth until the mid-1960s . Oliver has backtracked on some of her claims , arguing that her television camera was a prototype that she got before it became available to the general public .
Conspiracy theories involving Babushka Lady proliferate , with some theories holding more merit than others . Some say she was a Russian spy , an assassin holding a photographic camera gun , a hush-hush service agentive role , or a Isle of Man dressed as an older woman ( her wide posture for example , as seen in Muchmore ’s film , could be regard as a bit unusual for a woman in the 1960s — particularly one dressed in a time - appropriate frock and oceanic abyss ) . Because it had been rain earlier that morning , some women in Dealey Plaza wore scarf joint on their heads ; but , the rain hadstopped at 10 ante meridiem , and since the shots were n’t raise until 12:30 p.m. , Babushka Lady was n’t wearing a scarf joint to harbour herself from active rainwater . Perhaps she was hold field glasses rather than a camera , which would explain why her photographic or video footage has never been found . But because she never came forward to enjoin law enforcement what she saw ( unlike other spectator pump who witnessed the shot being fired ) , her identity element ( and what she may know ) remains a closed book .
