Why Were Photos of Martin Luther King's Assassination Aftermath Withheld?

Now that the incredible photo database Life.com is officially open for viewing as of this writing (and if you signed up for an email alert for its opening, you already got one), we're likely going to be given access to photos never before seen through the eye of the brilliant photographers who worked at Life Magazine for decades. While Life.com is more or less Life Magazine revamped in cyber form with current photos of our world, we're already having a chance to see photo collections that, for various reasons, didn't get published in the mag. It's hard to imagine anything more compelling than seeing the immediate aftermath of Martin Luther King's assassination at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN and the surrounding area. In fact, they're so monumental--it's hard to fathom why they would be withheld at the time.

If you've gone to look at the collection of photos taken by Life photographer Henry Groskinsky, some might automatically equate the withholding of the photos with a few shots showing an employee at the Lorraine Motel sweeping up the blood of MLK on the balcony where he was slain. Even more harrowing is another photo showing the brother of the motel's owner placing some of the blood into a jar to keep as a ghastly part of world-changing history.

But is that the real reason why Life Magazine kept these photos out of their magazine? That doesn't add up when Life was known for its photos that hit you between the eyes with violence and other harrowing moments of history around the world. Even during its heyday of WWII, the photography done by Life's team of war photojournalists was sometimes very disturbing, including exclusive photos of prisoners of war and the death camps. These were photos that proved what was truly going on overseas during the war. And if you've seen the photography from all subsequent years of Life, plenty of shocking photography was showcased.

Perhaps it can be argued that they never showed the cleanup of blood after a prominent American leader was just killed. Those were only two photos in a large series that show the entire surrounding area mere hours after MLK was killed. There were plenty of other pictures that could have been printed to create a profound picture of how MLK's inner circle was in a state of shock. It was that shock that seems to have been the reason why Henry Groskinsky managed to get into the room at the Lorraine Motel where MLK was staying, photograph his entourage meeting in the room, plus managing to wander anywhere he chose without anyone intervening. One of those places was in the building across the way where even Groskinsky seems sure the assassin had been with his rifle.

When you get access like that, you're bound to get things on film that those perhaps intent on covering up evidence don't want published in a magazine. Despite the connective conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of the Kennedys and King not growing diffusely until later, there was no doubt some who realized there was more to it than just a lone assassin who wasn't right in the head. Because Life had access here to something incredibly profound, is it possible that the editorial staff were spooked at what they had and feared what it could lead to?
____

I don't exactly love trying to instigate conspiracies unless there's a compelling set of evidence that points in that direction. Even Life, though, says they don't know the reasons why the photographs weren't published when it would have made that week's issue sell millions had the photos been in there. Perhaps the key to that is in Groskinsky's photographs of the broken-down apartment across from the motel where the assassin possibly was. In one key photograph, you can see a window propped open in that abandoned apartment house. Too bad Groskinksy didn't go in there when evidence to the real assassin could have been highly visible. Instead, Groskinksy went into the abandoned apartment next to the one with the open window where it seems possible the real assassin could have also been.

The reason for that is because the eerie photographs taken by Groskinksy in there are a mere 100 feet away from the balcony where King stood. Of course, the curious aspect to the abandoned apartment from across the way is that general theories for years have accused assassin James Earl Ray shooting from a location outside instead of from the building. Updated theories, though, say the shooter could have been in the building while Ray was on the ground, set up like a patsy.

Not there's any proof one way or the other when it's impossible to solve now, right along with the mysterious Ray being gone now. It's possible, however, that Groskinksy got a little too close to the areas where the real gunman was--and someone knew about it. Placing all those controversial theories of powerful American and international mercenary forces into context, could it be that someone from places higher up called Life Magazine with an order not to publish those photographs? Otherwise, it was completely out of the character of Life not to publish photographs that gave an unprecedented view of haunting history in the making.

After 41 years, most of the people who worked at Life then are either long passed away or long retired--as well as those theoretically involved in our nation's most profound assassinations. Now that these photographs are printed, what small detail could they reveal that changes any particular longstanding theory? Other than seeing the fascinating contents in MLK's open briefcase and the morose shots of the blood being cleaned off the balcony, the open window in that derelict building across the way is going to raise some questions that can't be answered. Had Life been told not to publish them through a threat or just adamant suggestion, those who didn't want them published obviously didn't know exactly what Groskinksy had on film as a piece of damning evidence.

Today, we can put the series of photos in context as a quasi flipside universe from where we are now--or at least we can assume. Should those in states of power not have wanted MLK to become any more powerful than he already had, those people ultimately failed when a U.S. President broke through the barriers ironically in the same year these photos were published. Now the photos can serve as an official end to some nefarious forces in the upper reaches of our governing bodies that may have once existed to control the flow of America's destiny and keep a status quo.

We'll hope that Life.com reveals other unpublished photographs in their archives that give us similar significant context on the monumental flow of time through 20^th century America...

See the 13 unpublished pictures of MLK's assassination aftermath here:

http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/24651