Where were you or what were you doing when it happened on sept 11?

I was at work..a few minutes after the first plane hit, we received a bomb threat over the phone..I had to evacuate the building. I remember people were already so dazed about the first plane hitting, that I had a hard time getting them to leave. They were walking around in a fog.

We all were outside when the rest happened..waiting for the bomb squad or whatever to clear the workplace. Most of the rest of the day we watched in disbelief as they showed video of the planes over and over as well as more news came to light about the attacks..

The bomb threat was a false alarm...never caught the guy..

Blend57

a reply to: Macenroe82

I was working in a CD store when my boss came out and told me. I was so mad and upset. I never for one moment believed the official narrative, but it didn't matter because the reality was that people died, I have cried about it so many times even though I didn't actually know any of the victims. It left it's mark on me, it left it's mark on us all. It still makes me so sad.

I was at the Stevens Institute for Technology punch listing an addition/remodel sitting in my car listening to Howard Stern directly across the river. When BaBaBoey told Howard to look out the window all I had to do was turn my head to see the smoke.

I witnessed the second plane hit the building and immediately left to meet my husband at the time, at my parents house in Watching. Driving down Rt. 22 seeing hordes of police, fire trucks, ambulances, etc racing the other way.

Not a day I want to remember, not a day I will ever forget.

Add: On April 7th, 2014 I did a thread here called, 'My Pre 911 Trip'. I was there 2 days before it happened in Winter Garden across the street. It was a beautiful place to see at that time and had visited the TTers dozens of occasions before the incident. I haven't been back since.

it was a crazy few days after that.
i had to work the next day...wednesday but all we did for the rest of the week was watch the news.
nobody got any work done.
everyone was freaking out.
gas stations were price gouging. stores were out of ice and bottles water.

nobody could really make sense of anything that was going on. none of the news stations were on the same page.
reports of this and that one one channel and that or this on another.

i was working at a car dealership and i remember all the auto makers we had a tag for dropped their interest rates to 0% for 60 months.
already enticing people to go out and buy #.

then it was stay home. terror level orange. terror level red. threats to this and that.
a month after it was 'dont let the terrorists win. go to the ballgame. go to the mall'

it was wild.
stay home stay home stay home. then buy # buy # buy #

if you finance a new big screen on your best buy card the terrorist dont win.

I was awoken by a phone call. I was ordered into work ASAP with the requirements to bring extra clothes and prepare to spend some time there .

I was working at home, outside in the yard on some client work. My parents phoned to tell me. I didn't go to the television. Instead, I brought a candle outside, sat back down under the gorgeous blue sky that quickly became silent as the planes all were landing - and prayed for the people, for the world. (I am not religious, but I prayed for those who were in pain, scared, alone, and those grieving or soon to grieve.)

I also knew in my heart that it was not as it was being fed to us. I wasn't surprised, as nothing surprises me anymore. After the hanging chads, I knew life as we knew it was never going to be the same.

In the aftermath, I remember noting that every person's photo shown on those walls as people looked for their missing loved ones was beautiful. Every person was radiantly beautiful. That will stick with me forever.

I was on my way back home from a friends house when I happened to turn my car radio on, and there was a live news broadcast on talking about how two planes had crashed into the WTC. I was thinking prop planes, not jet airliners. They were just then relunctantly reffering to it as a terrorist attack. I was having flashbacks of the OKC Bombing. Just as I was pulling into my drive way, the Pentagon was hit. The radio news was actually broadcasting live from the Penragon when it hit. You could hear it in the background. Didn't seem real. Like a movie. I'm still waiting for this movie to end.

a reply to: TinySickTears

The media was really pushing for everything getting back to normal. I didn't think things SHOULD go back to the way they were. I was hoping it would usher in a new age where people got back to being real with each other. But not even a terror attack can do that.

I was at school. I guess I benefited from a certain detachment, being far away and safe in England. Some of the girls were crying and I had no idea why. I had no concept of how that event would shape the world. It wasn't til the London 7/7 bombings it really hit home.

originally posted by: 0 x 0
I was listing to NPR (US) and heard about it just after the first plane hit - They were not even announcing a plane hit yet - I had the day off and was building a Nitto Pz Kfw IV Tank (a model) - I was just applying the road wheels...

I was listening to the same NPR broadcast on my way from Biloxi to New Orleans. I remember them saying a small plane or perhaps a commuter jet had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings.

At the time they we not sure which tower.
Needles to say I'm surprised i didn't get into an accident because my attention was on the radio.
Now that I think about it, traffic on I-10 East was very light for that time in the morning.

I was in bed asleep and my roommate woke me up frantic and said we had been attacked. I immediately said was it China? My roommate said the Saudis. I was like what?! Then I said where did the nuke hit? He replied it was airplanes hitting the world trade center. Then I showered and went to school and it was all over the campus TVs at Texas State. I was pretty shocked. Not sure why I said the thing about China, I just figured they were the only people capable of going to war with us at that time. But I had been having dreams of an attack for a while and our country being invaded but I think it was post traumatic stress because I had just finished my military duty with the Army. Subconscious stuff.

I was in 4th grade, I remember my teacher crying that morning..she was from NY

I was sitting at home in NC, talking to a childhood buddy of mine, who happens to be a NYC transit cop. We were talking about star wars stuff, he gets quiet for a few minutes, comes back and says turn on the TV and logs off. Both planes have already both buildings, and reports about the other crashes were coming in.
I remember watching both towers falling and being speechless.

I was sleeping peacefully until a neighbor who knew we slept late called and said, "I think you'll want to get on the net. We've been attacked." (He knew we didn't have TV.) We did pull up the news sites and sat there in shock for an hour or so marveling at the wide array of threats that seemed to be coming in. But because I'm not one who can sit staring at a screen I grabbed my portable radio and because it was a magnificent late summer day, I went outside with my radio. I began hacking weeds, each weed represented whoever has done this horrible thing in my mind. By the time night had begun to fall I had several huge piles of weeds. Then I went indoors and watched the first speech I ever saw George II give.
I distinctly remember hearing the report when building 7 went down that afternoon. I was so totally confused that I went inside to check on the net, thinking that I had misheard. I'm still baffled.
The previous day we had returned from a glorious two week vacation in Jamaica. That day brought us right out of the "Don't worry, be happy" vibe we'd been enjoying.

a reply to: Macenroe82

As it happened I was watching the News.

I was at work in London , just being emailed by people watching, there were so many rumours flying about with stories of planes heading to London. Rumours London offices were being evacuated. Seems like a lifetime ago. I remember being on the tube the day after and the headlines on all the papers people were reading, it was a huge event, that you knew was about to change everything.

I remember breaking down when seeing the fences with all the missing people posters.
The families lives that were stopped in time as they waited to hear if their loved ones had been recovered.

Last night I seen an interview with a fire fighter that was working ground zero. He said that for 2 weeks he treated it as a rescue mission, when most of his colleagues knew it was a recovery mission.
As macabre as it sounds, they would cheer when they would come across a body part or piece of ID. Because it was enough for the DNA analyst to give closure to the families.

I was on my way to work and listening to Howard Stern as everything broke. I wonder how many people got the news that way.

At the time I worked in the Defense Industry so their was a much different feel and response then say my friends that worked retail.

I was a sophomore in college in the dorm room getting ready for class. It was a normal routine to turn in the TV before class and watch Sports Center. I turned to Sports Center and they cut in and were showing the World Trade centers and said a plane hit one of the towers, so then I turned to CNN. They were showing a helicopter view of the first tower that had been struck and there was a huge hole in the building and a fire raging... I thought to myself, small plane, no way a small plane caused that much damage. Why was a plane flying that low over the city anyway? Then they said it was a large passenger plane and more speculation...

I was brushing my teeth when I saw live the 2nd plane ram into the 2nd tower at which point the toothpaste fell out of my mouth onto the floor as I watched in horror and disbelief as it went through the building and burst into flames... Then I knew, as did everyone else, this was a deliberate attack. I had to get ready to go for class, but I was still numb by what I saw and I remember walking to class a lot of people were oblivious as to what happened.

When I arrived to class I told people that we're under attack and two planes rammed the WTC, and they looked at me in bewilderment and said no way! I said better believe it, I saw it with my own two eyes I think we're at war. Then other people who saw came in and verified my story, so the professor turned on the TV in the class but it didn't work... About 30 minutes into class word was spread that classes were cancelled and everyone was urged to try to contact their loved ones, but of course cell phone circuits were jammed. As class was dismissed word had spread and people were talking about it in the halls of the building with wild reports from a car bomb at the state department, to more bombings in Chicago, and the attack on the Pentagon at which this point I'm thinking we're at all out war but still not knowing with who.

I walked to the student union and everyone was jammed into the multiple TV lounges with looks of horror and disbelief. Some crying at the scenes of people leaping to their deaths to escape the heat. More reports of awry planes still in the airspace that are not responding to air traffic controllers requests to land, and reports of missile cruisers being deployed to New York city and then the news of the plane going down in Pennsylvania.

I walked back to my dorm and me and my roommates talked about the events that transpired and what this meant. One of them had a father that worked in the Pentagon and was able to get in contact with him and said he's OK which was good news. I was able to call my parents briefly and we spoke about the events and most everyone at the time assumed the worse.


I had several friends in the National Guard and they were sure as all get out we were about to go to war. I had the same feeling. I thought that World War 3 had just begun; who knows maybe it did.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Yeah, I remember the days after. My husband and I were looking forward to the football game on the weekend just to lighten the mood and have something, anything to break the oppression. Then they cancelled the game, and we were mad. I know why they cancelled the game of course, but it didn't change the irrational response.

That Saturday, we wound up at a Best Buy just looking for something to do to take our minds off ... everything. The store had a Creedence Clearwater Revival greatest hits CD playing over the sound system, and I kid you not, people (us included) were just dancing in the aisles. We weren't alone with needing that release.

We bought that CD, and the gal at the register told us that they'd sold a lot of them.