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The Girl on the Stairs: The Search for a Missing Witness to the JFK Assassination
On November 22, 1963, a young Victoria Elizabeth Adams stood behind a fourth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas and watched as Pres. John F. Kennedy was murdered in the streets below. At that moment, her life changed forever. This book tells the story that the government covered up with fabricated evidence.
336 pages, Paperback
First published December 18, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 30, 2012
Amazing read. I will read anything Kennedy and while I always like them, they are all mostly the same. Not so here. Enlightening!!!
March 10, 2012
I was generating a few conflicting thoughts in my mind whilst reading this book. Here is another Kennedy conspiracy exposition story. Another college kid troubled by the slaying of a president, and the doubts raised by another presidents commission report. Nothing wrong with that as David Lifton and others have shown. What posed problems for me was the gestatory nature Barry Ernest has brought with his 'The Girl on the Stairs-My search for a missing witness to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.' Described on the book cover as having a background as an investigative journalist, Mr Ernest has taken 35 years to track down his subject and over forty years to bring this project to publication in 2010.
I'm an Englishman who remembers where he was etc the day JFK was shot. Almost fifty years on and the subject is still fascinating and perplexing. My book shelf on the subject continues to grow.
If the reader is a 'critic' or confirmed in LHO's guilt, there is no denying that the facts in this 'crime of the century' are seen through a glass darkly. It was sloppy and careless back in November 63 and that legacy remains, and without doubt the cause of the ever growing and steady supply of books on the 'big event' in Dallas five decades back.
Ernest's search for his missing witness, Victoria Adams, an office worker in the Texas School Book building on that fateful day meanders through the years. A journey that brings him into contact with paranoid researchers and paranoid witnesses. He links research with Harold Weisberg, Penn Jones, Vincent Salandria and even David Lifton. He interviews witnesses like Sam Holland and Roger Craig. Perhaps it's just my own automatic scepticism in weighing information both for and against, but by the time this book is published, most of these people are dead. Victoria Adams herself passed away in 2007. Also much of the detective work has been covered before. There is the odd piece of information that raised my eyebrows, such as the testimony from one Mrs Higgins who was positive the Tippit murder happened at precisely 1:06. No doubt she is now dead.
To sum up...Victoria Adams provided testimony to the Warren Commission, that she was on the only set of stairs in the T.S.B.D. bldg as soon as the gun shots had finished, proving that LHO could not have travelled from the 6th floor snipers nest to the 2nd floor lunch room, where he was seen by Truly and Baker. There are 370 pages, 586 notes and over forty years of research to expose the fabricated evidence and the agenda set against the lone nut assassin.
Members of the jury, have you reached your decision in this case?
I'm an Englishman who remembers where he was etc the day JFK was shot. Almost fifty years on and the subject is still fascinating and perplexing. My book shelf on the subject continues to grow.
If the reader is a 'critic' or confirmed in LHO's guilt, there is no denying that the facts in this 'crime of the century' are seen through a glass darkly. It was sloppy and careless back in November 63 and that legacy remains, and without doubt the cause of the ever growing and steady supply of books on the 'big event' in Dallas five decades back.
Ernest's search for his missing witness, Victoria Adams, an office worker in the Texas School Book building on that fateful day meanders through the years. A journey that brings him into contact with paranoid researchers and paranoid witnesses. He links research with Harold Weisberg, Penn Jones, Vincent Salandria and even David Lifton. He interviews witnesses like Sam Holland and Roger Craig. Perhaps it's just my own automatic scepticism in weighing information both for and against, but by the time this book is published, most of these people are dead. Victoria Adams herself passed away in 2007. Also much of the detective work has been covered before. There is the odd piece of information that raised my eyebrows, such as the testimony from one Mrs Higgins who was positive the Tippit murder happened at precisely 1:06. No doubt she is now dead.
To sum up...Victoria Adams provided testimony to the Warren Commission, that she was on the only set of stairs in the T.S.B.D. bldg as soon as the gun shots had finished, proving that LHO could not have travelled from the 6th floor snipers nest to the 2nd floor lunch room, where he was seen by Truly and Baker. There are 370 pages, 586 notes and over forty years of research to expose the fabricated evidence and the agenda set against the lone nut assassin.
Members of the jury, have you reached your decision in this case?
March 10, 2012
Finally had to give up around 349... 349 pages about some girl's 15 second jaunt down a small wooden staircase is more than I can take.... Some interesting stuff, but very repetitive, and little of it new. Author tries to buttress his credibility by claiming all the "serious researchers" knew him.
One thing that has to worry serious assassination buffs is why, even after 50years, there seems to be not ONE serious academic study... Or even course on the topic... No one at Yale, Columbia, even Berkely publishing on the topic -- only some dude at Hood College (a third-rate school here in Maryland). It is strange...
(That Hood book, on the Warren Commission is a pretty good book, btw....)
Nowadays, when literally ANYthing goes... Eco-feminist interpretations of the Platonic demiurge being published by Harvard Univ. Press.... ad nauseam..., not ONE serious academic-sponsored book on JFK.... I can't figure it....
One thing that has to worry serious assassination buffs is why, even after 50years, there seems to be not ONE serious academic study... Or even course on the topic... No one at Yale, Columbia, even Berkely publishing on the topic -- only some dude at Hood College (a third-rate school here in Maryland). It is strange...
(That Hood book, on the Warren Commission is a pretty good book, btw....)
Nowadays, when literally ANYthing goes... Eco-feminist interpretations of the Platonic demiurge being published by Harvard Univ. Press.... ad nauseam..., not ONE serious academic-sponsored book on JFK.... I can't figure it....
August 1, 2011
I have read and studied the JFK murder for years. I have read over 50 books and numerous internet articles. What impressed me about this book was the meticulous detailed search for an important eye witness to the "escape" of LHO down the stairs from the supposed snipers' nest to the 2nd floor of the Book Depository. Victoria Adams said in her statements to the bogus Warren Commission that she heard nor saw anyone during the time Oswald was alledged to have made his escape. Her testimony was altered and she was made to look like a liar or airhead by the alledged commission attorney, David Belin. In fact Victoria was truthful and had two eye witnesses who were with her during the rush out of the Book Depository right after the shots rang out. Of course Belin chose not to interview either of victoria's co-workers who could have substantiated her story. That would of course created problems for the Warren Commission.
Credit goes to Barry Ernest for the pain staking, decades old search for the truth about Victoria and for his unceasing efforts to find Victoria and hear the truth directly from her. As a result, Barry has written a straigh forward account of his story and search for the truth from the mid 60's onward with a determination to ferret out the facts. One of the most interesting tidbits in the boook is how he discovered the death certificate of JFK signed by Adniral Burkley hidden in the archives for decades. For once I did not have to go through all of the Cuban Exhile groups, thed CIA frauds and other miscreants to find that the forces of LBJ and his bogus Warren Commission were never interested in the truth, but only that Oswald was another lone nut loser who for no apparent reason killed JFK. I read this book in 4 or 5 hours and found it one of the best of the many books I have read on this subject. If you want to know how little effort the Commission made to collect the truth and the extent they went to to hide the real facts (not just Victoria's), this is a must read.
Stephen Courts
August 1, 2011
Columbus, Ohio
Credit goes to Barry Ernest for the pain staking, decades old search for the truth about Victoria and for his unceasing efforts to find Victoria and hear the truth directly from her. As a result, Barry has written a straigh forward account of his story and search for the truth from the mid 60's onward with a determination to ferret out the facts. One of the most interesting tidbits in the boook is how he discovered the death certificate of JFK signed by Adniral Burkley hidden in the archives for decades. For once I did not have to go through all of the Cuban Exhile groups, thed CIA frauds and other miscreants to find that the forces of LBJ and his bogus Warren Commission were never interested in the truth, but only that Oswald was another lone nut loser who for no apparent reason killed JFK. I read this book in 4 or 5 hours and found it one of the best of the many books I have read on this subject. If you want to know how little effort the Commission made to collect the truth and the extent they went to to hide the real facts (not just Victoria's), this is a must read.
Stephen Courts
August 1, 2011
Columbus, Ohio
February 18, 2014
This is a very well researched book (one chapter contained 80 footnotes!)over a span of 30+ years. It took me a little while to get into the book, but once I did, I couldn't stop! I was floored by what a sham the Warren Commission was and horrified by the botched autopsy of JFK. Barry Ernest dug for every single piece of research he could find and read and re-read the Warren Report and accompanying volumes countless times. He interviewed tons of people that the Warren Commission overlooked...in particular the one woman who would have been on the back staircase of the Texas Book Depository exactly when Oswald supposedly descended those same stairs. After years of searching for Vicki Adams, Ernest finally gets some answers. The book doesn't come to an obvious conclusion......rather it is left for the reader to determine the legitimacy of what Ernest has found. If you want to know the truth about the assassination of JFK.....read this book!
I had the opportunity to hear Barry Ernest speak and he was as interesting in person as he is on the page. He is a tenacious researcher and investigator. I highly recommend The Girl on the Stairs!
I had the opportunity to hear Barry Ernest speak and he was as interesting in person as he is on the page. He is a tenacious researcher and investigator. I highly recommend The Girl on the Stairs!
March 21, 2012
I read this because after I finished Stephen King's "11-22-63", I was back in a "Kennedy Assassination" mode. Years ago, I had read several books about JFK and this event; I had forgotten alot of the details that I had once been so familiar with. This book brought to my attention a story, I didn't recall hearing anything about, the story of Victoria Adams who had hurried down the Texas School Book Depository's back staircase from the fourth floor right after the shots rang out. The timing would have made her on the stairs at the same time that Oswald would have been coming down them to leave the building, seemingly. The book uses this witness to the events as a springboard, and gives a fairly detailed description of the many players in this very publicized and analyzed event, witnesses, as well as some of the main researchers, convinced of conspiracy. I was very intrigued by the descriptions of the hours and hours of searching the National Archives, the interviews the author conducted and the comparisons of testimony and investigations by both the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations. A good introduction & overview, if you want to be transported to Dealey Plaza and meet some of the cast of characters whose lives were touched in some way by the very sad events of that terrible day.
September 25, 2011
I'm surprised that "The Girl on the Stairs" is not far more popular than it is. While it' true that it is not as polished a work as I'd like, the conclusions one must draw from the facts presented by Ernest are either bone-jarring, or supportive of what you already knew. (Depending upon how much JFK research you've done.)
A key witness who could have singlehandedly discredited the Warren Report is as significant as it gets. But why didn't she? And why didn't any of the dozens of people in key positions take her testimony seriously?
People owe it to John F. Kennedy, and future presidents, to read this book. You'll be glad you did.
A key witness who could have singlehandedly discredited the Warren Report is as significant as it gets. But why didn't she? And why didn't any of the dozens of people in key positions take her testimony seriously?
People owe it to John F. Kennedy, and future presidents, to read this book. You'll be glad you did.
August 27, 2011
Very well-researched discussion of the JFK assassination. The author starts out being skeptical that there was a conspiracy to kill the president, but as he continues to interview---and this is over decades of time---he comes to the only conclusion he can: that Oswald was not the lone gunman that the Warren Commission portrayed him to be. The evidence just didn't support that theory.
Excellent book for people with an open-mind about the crime of the century.
Excellent book for people with an open-mind about the crime of the century.
March 12, 2025
Barry’s investigative and engaging style of writing kept me interested in a topic I wouldn’t have wanted to read on my own. His research is thorough and instead of forcing you to create an opinion on the assassination, Barry guides you to ask questions regarding the investigative process and evidence. Barry Ernest is a national treasure.
May 16, 2011
I loooooove a good conspiracy book. This book and the author's exhaustive research of the Warren Commission's documentation and transcripts, reminds me that the WC is just baloney.
April 1, 2021
An Important Book .
The author does a masterful job of describing his 35 yr journey to locate little known and overlooked witnesses from the TSBD. In the final analysis his witnesses corroborate Oswalds location during the shooting of JFK; and demonstrates some of the methods used by the Warren Commission in it’s choice of witnesses and the handling of their deposition information. He also firmly sums up his conclusions at the end of the book, which a lot of authors do not do. The author has done research for key researchers such as Harold Weinberg, David Lifton and Penn Jones; and along the way made contact with Robert Groden and other important figures in the case. A great read and an essential work. Also a very readable book. Kept my interest throughout the book.
The author does a masterful job of describing his 35 yr journey to locate little known and overlooked witnesses from the TSBD. In the final analysis his witnesses corroborate Oswalds location during the shooting of JFK; and demonstrates some of the methods used by the Warren Commission in it’s choice of witnesses and the handling of their deposition information. He also firmly sums up his conclusions at the end of the book, which a lot of authors do not do. The author has done research for key researchers such as Harold Weinberg, David Lifton and Penn Jones; and along the way made contact with Robert Groden and other important figures in the case. A great read and an essential work. Also a very readable book. Kept my interest throughout the book.
October 15, 2024
Having recently visited the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, aka the TSBD, and then seeing Oliver Stone's 2021 updated movie I discovered this book. I am a JFK conspiracy believer and so this was an interesting approach about a little talked about witness that was discounted by the Warren Comission and not heard from again. Author spent 30 years in search of her and investigating details.
I was in 2nd grade in 1963 so this is history I lived.
Easy to read for a non-fiction, it did not read like a text book so 5 stars from me!
I was in 2nd grade in 1963 so this is history I lived.
Easy to read for a non-fiction, it did not read like a text book so 5 stars from me!
June 2, 2018
Relato desapaixonado do assunto
O autor descreve principalmente sua experiência pessoal na busca de informações e faz um relato relativamente objetivo daquilo que encontrou. O texto atrai o leitor. Recomendo.
O autor descreve principalmente sua experiência pessoal na busca de informações e faz um relato relativamente objetivo daquilo que encontrou. O texto atrai o leitor. Recomendo.
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February 13, 2020An extremely thoroughly written book that lays out the true details of the JFK assassination. It gives you cause to doubt the findings of the Warren Commission and the orchestrated findings of the report. This book is a must read!!
June 14, 2023
Compelling account of witnesses to JFKs assassination
Loved the book and discovered more info that I never before knew. A real page turner as the reader progresses along with the researcher, who coincidentally was from my hometown.
Loved the book and discovered more info that I never before knew. A real page turner as the reader progresses along with the researcher, who coincidentally was from my hometown.
February 23, 2024
Informative
Probably one of the best books written regarding the assassination of John Kennedy. This is well written and full of information that is lacking in other research books on this subject. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who believes the Warren Commission Report.
Probably one of the best books written regarding the assassination of John Kennedy. This is well written and full of information that is lacking in other research books on this subject. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who believes the Warren Commission Report.
September 7, 2024
I read the ebook and was more interested in the coverup of the truth regarding the assassination. How have we let ourselves be led into the path like sheep flying off a cliff thinking it is nirvana. Worse now that we have the global internet to disseminate lies.
June 6, 2019
I’m convinced. What a great book, tirelessly researched, written so well. One of my Kennedy Assassination favourites.
June 19, 2025
Great read!
June 20, 2014
If you were anywhere in the world on November 22, 1963 you were undoubtedly aware of the assassination of President John Kennedy. There have been questions surrounding the event since that day. Was there a single assassin? Where did the shots come from? Were there any witnesses to support the theories that have been presented? Author Barry Ernest offers some answers to these questions in the riveting book “The Girl on the Stairs: The Search for a Missing Witness to the JFK Assassination”.
Ernest himself begins with his acceptance of the official verdict of the Warren Commission; a single shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, fired the 3 shots that killed Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository. Over a 35 year search for a “missing witness” and intensive research into the event his opinion changed.
Victoria Adams was an employee of the book depository and was on the fourth floor on that fateful day. In fact she was on the stairs where Oswald would have made his escape had he in fact been on the sixth floor. Treated poorly by the Warren Commission she faded into obscurity except for those who actively sought the truth.
Whatever you believe about the assassination of the 35th president of the United States this is an exhaustive search for the truth. His pursuit of Adams and other witnesses as well as his in depth research provides a riveting examination of the assassination and the events surrounding it.
Ernest himself begins with his acceptance of the official verdict of the Warren Commission; a single shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, fired the 3 shots that killed Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository. Over a 35 year search for a “missing witness” and intensive research into the event his opinion changed.
Victoria Adams was an employee of the book depository and was on the fourth floor on that fateful day. In fact she was on the stairs where Oswald would have made his escape had he in fact been on the sixth floor. Treated poorly by the Warren Commission she faded into obscurity except for those who actively sought the truth.
Whatever you believe about the assassination of the 35th president of the United States this is an exhaustive search for the truth. His pursuit of Adams and other witnesses as well as his in depth research provides a riveting examination of the assassination and the events surrounding it.
December 28, 2014
If you've always believed Lee Harvey Oswald was surely the "lone gunman" who shot JFK, this book will--at the very least--rock the foundation of your conviction there. And, if you're like me, and don't think LHO even pulled a trigger AT ALL...your conviction of that truth will be further cemented. This author's 35 years of painstaking research and search for Victoria Adams [the 'Girl on the Stairs'], who descended the only set of stairs in the Texas School Book Depository from the 4th floor to ground floor within one minute of the 3 shots 1st heard in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963, and heard no one else on the stairs, along with further details proving LHO was never even on the 6th floor during the shots, and how the Warren Commission disregarded her strong testimony and chose not to question her coworker, who was with her, and corroborated her testimony. They even published her testimony in a manner to make her look stupid...discrediting her. This is a MUST read for those still intrigued and angered by the conspiracy that was the veritable rape and murder of America that fateful day.
January 29, 2015
I've read piles of books on the assassination, but few if any were as gripping as this one. Barry Ernest reveals step by step how the testimonies of Victoria Adams and her three colleagues on the 4th floor, combined with testimonies of others in and around the TSBD, make it clear that Oswald was not on the 6th floor at the time of the shooting of JFK.
In addition, Ernest shows how the testimony of Victoria Adams was tampered with by the Warren Commission. Till reading this book I thought that, while the Warren Report was completely unreliable, the Q&A testimonies in the 26 volumes of source material, of witnesses were reliable. If one of these - the Adams testimony - was changed by the Commission (because what she said, if true, provided an alibi for Oswald) then all testimonies are unreliable.
In addition, Ernest shows how the testimony of Victoria Adams was tampered with by the Warren Commission. Till reading this book I thought that, while the Warren Report was completely unreliable, the Q&A testimonies in the 26 volumes of source material, of witnesses were reliable. If one of these - the Adams testimony - was changed by the Commission (because what she said, if true, provided an alibi for Oswald) then all testimonies are unreliable.
March 6, 2014
A very good book. There are a few points where the author goes off on tangents that, in my opinion, distract from the true intent of the book. He seems more concerned with back slapping his colleagues than should be necessary.
Also, in the quoted testimony at the end of the book, he should have been more clear with the discrepancies in what was stated and what was quoted from the Warren Commission's report, perhaps showing the unauthorized changes in a seperate adendum located after that. It was kind of confusing laid out the way it was there. Overall, I enjoyed this book.
Also, in the quoted testimony at the end of the book, he should have been more clear with the discrepancies in what was stated and what was quoted from the Warren Commission's report, perhaps showing the unauthorized changes in a seperate adendum located after that. It was kind of confusing laid out the way it was there. Overall, I enjoyed this book.
July 23, 2023
I really dawdled reading this book, but that is not the fault of the book! This was an excellent story - not only about the events that happened on that fatal day and the following “investigation” done by the Warren Commission, but also about the author’s personal journey to discover the truth. It’s amazing to me that given the evidence he has uncovered that anyone would still question whether there was a conspiracy. There clearly was and our government has been lying to us for decades. It’s really scary stuff.
November 11, 2024
So thankful for the Rob Reiner podcast Who Killed JFK. This book was mentioned in one of the episodes and it is fascinating. I am going to have to read others now.
The movie JFK was intriguing when it came out, and it was mentioned in this book no need to go back and rewatch it. There is no way Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and there is no way that there was not a conspiracy.
The post-assassination investigation was inept at best and more likely criminal. A rookie forensic examiner would perform better in a run of the mill case, let alone the assassination of a US President.
The movie JFK was intriguing when it came out, and it was mentioned in this book no need to go back and rewatch it. There is no way Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and there is no way that there was not a conspiracy.
The post-assassination investigation was inept at best and more likely criminal. A rookie forensic examiner would perform better in a run of the mill case, let alone the assassination of a US President.
September 15, 2013
This is a riveting account focusing on a key witness to the assassination of JFK. Thoughtfully researched down to the footnotes, the work will stand as a reference book for students of history as well as truth seekers.
The author's own life adventures add much to this view of the mistreatment of a U.S. president.
The author's own life adventures add much to this view of the mistreatment of a U.S. president.
January 7, 2014
Got me thinking so much...I'm utterly disturbed by the way the government handled the investigation of Kennedy's assassination. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't think Oswald did it. This book was a gift- my FIL worked with the author & MIL is actually mentioned in the acknowledgements! I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise but an really glad I did!
June 6, 2015
I absolutely loved this book. It convinced me that Lee Oswald was NOT the assassin of President Kennedy. I would highly recommend this book to ANYONE that still has faith in the contributions of the Warren Commission, FBI, CIA or Secret Service toward solving the murders of JFK, JD Tippit or Lee Oswald. Well written and illuminating! Five Stars!
July 13, 2011
An interesting decades-long search for an often ignored witness of the JFK Assassination. A book that goes beyond theories and follows through on years of research finally finding the "girl on the stairs" as an aging woman who finally tells her story.
October 28, 2013
For those who have researched the topic, this is an excellent addition to the bookshelf. Highly informative and a captivating read. The author has an obvious passion for the true facts in the case and chases down actual witnesses. Should be more popular, I think.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews