All the context you could want about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is available at The Sixth Floor Museum, an even-handed, meticulously curated space housed in the former Texas School Book Depository in downtown Dallas. Since opening in 1989, the museum has become one of the most visited historic sites in Texas—part pilgrimage, part crash course in American political tragedy. But outside its polished walls, the streets still whisper, and if you listen closely on the grassy knoll, you’ll hear voices that aren’t part of the official tour. They belong to the unofficial historians of Dealey Plaza: the hobos, conspiracy storytellers, and freelance guides, who are known to offer sometimes-accurate, sometimes-feverish accounts of what really happened on that day in November 1963—and will fiercely defend their turf, even if it comes to trading punches over a prime spot or a generous tourist.
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