The long johns were listed in an auction catalog although at that time they were only going for Ł3,000 CALIFORNIA, USA, THE MYSTERY of why these $1M long johns owned by President John F Kennedy include possible traces of his DNA via bloodstains has been revealed by the current Ebay sellers. Images of the current sale show the fully authenticated but well-worn long johns with the most notable feature being sinister stains of BLOOD on the legs near the ankle. There are also small holes in the fabric, due to them being well-worn past their prime, and ends of the sleeves and legs are chewed up from excessive use by the deceased President. In the description of these historic long johns, there is mentioned that a 12" x 12" square was cut out of the first (inside) layer (it's made with two layers of wool fabric for extra warmth - hence "Duofold"). The cut-out fabric was used in the construction of the famous GADCO limited edition collectible doll, John-John. In a recent photo session, bloodstains were observed on one of the legs that hadn't been noticed previously in newspaper articles from previous sales or the auction houses that handled these. It took a photographer pointing these out for the investigation to begin. “This is one of two pairs of identical Duo-Fold Long John 100% woolen underwear belonging to President John F. Kennedy and sold to well-known memorabilia dealer and collector, Richard Wilson,  at the Guernsey's 1998 Kennedy auction, Lot # 254,” states the listing. “This is the other pair, the pair with the most wear, showing that he preferred and wore these much more frequently than the other pair. “This was listed in Wilson's "Norma's Jeans" mail order catalog and purchased by us in a private sale in 2002. “A copy of his original Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is included with the sale. “Because of the unusual nature of the item, "intimate and personal underwear" of one of our most beloved presidents, it made great great news over the years.” The New York Post, in a 1998 article about the forthcoming Kennedy auction, photographed Richard Wilson himself holding up a pair of underwear, attracting a lot of readers. (A copy of this article is included with the sale.) The underwear was described as "a Pair of His Personal Wool Long John Underwear."   The pair which was  sold by Heritage Auctions a few years later had the "Duofold" label and a second label with the "John F. Kennedy" ID sewn into the collar. This pair had no real signs of wear on them, suggesting that they were a "spare" to ours and probably not worn much at all. “It was only recently that, during a new photo session that the photographer noticed that the long johns were "dirty, with some blood stains," and suggested we should have then professionally cleaned at a dry cleaners! Not on your life,” states the seller. “When we bought these over two decades ago, we had made a few pictures of the underwear and then had them stored in a secure vault for nearly twenty years. No one told us about the stains, nor did we notice them. Not until now. “To get a better understanding of what we had discovered, we delved into forensics trying to figure out possible circumstances that would produce this injury. Here's what we learned: “The locus of the injury was on the lower shin area, just above the ankle. This was where the bleeding began. “Further down, we can see a definite although weaker stain, spread out around the upper ankle are. Because the stain here is diluted and covered a wider area, it can be assumed that the blood had dribbled down the leg from the point of injury. “The area of the secondary stain, being much wider and much diluted compared to the primary, suggests that some attempt had been made to "clean" the area, the fluid used as a cleaning agent (e.g., water, vinegar, etc.) has spread the stain. “The location of the secondary stain, below the primary injury, indicated that the President was probably standing up, or in an upright or semi-upright position, while he was bleeding. “Because the primary wound is more pronounced and with more definite boundaries compared with the secondary, it is felt that the President, perhaps in a passionate mode, was not aware of the primary injury, that he might have been preoccupied, and only later discovered the secondary blood, which he tried to remove. This is one theory.” Kennedy's long john's had amazing and well-documented histories long before being auctioned for the first time in 1998, having had many newspaper articles written about them over the years, starting in the 1970's. This particular pair, bought specifically to be used with the famous dolls of The Great American Doll Company (GADCO),  has accumulated a great deal of additional provenance because of what we did with them. One of the first news pieces dealing with the underwear appeared in the June 12, 1979 edition of The National Enquirer.