September 11, 2001: Personal Stories 10-Years Later

This thread will serve as an update to previous threads we've done in the past that, momentarily eschews conspiracy speculation to allow our members to discuss where they were, what they were doing, and what they felt on that singularly important and utterly tragic day -- September 11, 2001. Please feel free to post your personal stories, but keep this thread free of speculation. On Sunday, we'll feature it on the site's home page.


And now... my story.


I wasn't even into my first full year in my new job as head of the interactive/online department at a mid-sized ad agency on Madison Avenue. My family had just recently moved to the city in July, affording my two sons the chance to finish their school year back in Buffalo. Thanks to the wonders of the NYC School System, they still weren't assigned a school and were studying in our apartment that morning.

On 9/11/2001 I walked to work, as it was a beautiful late summer day in Manhattan. The early morning walks were often great as the morning rhythm began in the city. Just like every other morning, I got my coffee and bagel at the corner coffee cart, and started in on the morning emails. People started wandering in as 8:30 approached, and the early-birds were beginning their day.

A co-worked asked, "What was that noise?" I didn't hear anything. "A roar, like a jet." I shrugged, and started reading the morning news on CNN.com, MSNBC.com, and a few techie sites. Then someone ran into the office (we were on the third of our three floors, an "open" floor plan), "A high-rise is on fire downtown," he yelled. We looked out my corner window, looking south down Madison Ave., and sure enough, there was smoke high-up. I called home, my oldest son turned on CNN, and saw the WTC north tower with smoke pouring out a hole.

We all clamored down to the second floor lobby where there was a bank of TVs, and turned them on as the receptionist hadn't arrived yet. When you see something like that, your first reaction is disbelief -- how in hell did someone crash a plane into the iconic skyscrapers of lower Manhattan?

Then, a blood-chilling scream of agony I'll never forget. A young woman who works in accounting saw the TVs, and for the first time discovered what was happening -- her father worked on one of those floors of the North Tower, a window seat, facing north.

That's what haunts me as a result of that day, and the days that followed. The palpable air of loss and sorrow that hung over the city, every bit as distinct as the smoke and acrid odor of the smoldering ruins. In a city of millions, everyone either had a missing loved-one, or was close to someone who did. Those buildings were that huge and important.

The feeling lasted for weeks, as legendarily hardened New Yorkers stumbled about their day with confused expressionss, doing something never done by New Yorkers -- looking each other in the eye, as we all gave silent acknowledgement of shared pain.

Of everything that happened, and a lot happened, that's what I most remember, and will never forget.



Oh... our young accountant? Her father escaped with minor injury. He was chatting with co-worked on the south side of the building, and stepped into the mens room seconds before the impact. He immediately ran out and down the stairs with several others.

Originally posted here: www.abovetopsecret.com...
I was 14 years old on September 11th, 2001. I walked into my Biology class and an acquaintance of mine told me " we are going to war". At this point I had not heard the news. So naturally I was rather confused as to why he would say such a thing.

My teacher walked in with tears in her eyes, and she broke the news to those of us who did not know. A plane had crashed into one of the world trade center buildings. She turned on the TV and we watched. I did not know what to think as I saw the replay of the plane crashing into the building.

At this point I, like many others, thought it was just a horrible accident. All I could think of was the poor people who had died in that plane. Little did I know, it was just the start of what is arguably one of the worst days in American history.

I will never forget watching the news crew talking, when all of a sudden, a second plane comes out of nowhere and just crashes into the other building. It was then, that I, along with everyone else, realized this was far more than just a horrible accident.

Many in the classroom were crying. I was more or less in shock. I had grown up thinking all the typical patriotic tripe that most others had heard. " This is America the greatest and most loved country in the world. We have the best army in the world and no one could ever hit us on our own soil. We are unstoppable"....

This second plane hitting, marked the beginning of an "awakening" for me. Now, I hate to use that word, as it is often used as an insult, telling others to wake up and stop being sheeple, but it fits. I was slowly realizing, that things were not quite as I had been raised to believe.For the first time I realized, that we are vulnerable. We are not perfect. We can be hurt.

We spent the rest of the day, watching the news in each classroom, wondering... just what to do next.... Hearing the news of a plane crashing into the Pentagon, and even into a field in Pennsylvania.After school, I was picked up by my dad. This was the very first time I was to hear of Osama Bin Laden. We talked about it on the way home and listened to the news on the radio.

I remember him speculating that Osama Bin Laden, was the one responsible. I cannot recall his reasons for thinking it was him, but it seems, he was right. I got home to find every TV in the house showing the news, each on a different news station.

All I could do was sit and watch. I recall watching as the death toll rose and rose. Still ultimately unsure of what to think of everything that had unfolded before me.I guess you could say, I was in shock. Shock that this could even happen. Shock that so many had died. Shock... that our country was bleeding.

I never hear much about this, but I remember when the no fly order was placed across the nation. The only aircraft allowed in the air, were military and government aircraft. Now, living just a few miles away from a private airport, things seemed especially quiet.

The lack of aircraft noise, just made the events, that much spookier... It was as if the US had had the wind knocked out of it, so it could not make a noise.... I will never forget that eerie quiet. Never.

The evening after the flight ban was placed,my heart raced in fear as I heard a helicopter coming towards our house. It was then that I realized how scared I was. How hurt I was. I rushed outside to see what it was, half way convinced I was about to witness another tragedy. What I found though, was a government helicopter flying by though.

It was then that I finally cried. "they're all dead" I said. "They were murdered...but why?"

Yes I was still rather naive, and was only learning to realize, that the US was not always as loved by others as much as we loved our own country....

As time went by though, I started opening up to the realities of the world... Harsh realities, that the world is an ugly place, and even my own country is not so pristine as I had thought.

Yet, I, like most of the country at the time, wanted to go in there and get those bad guys, who would dare hurt our country. Now, we did go in eventually, but I found myself growing increasingly frustrated and confused... Why are we pursuing Suddam, if Osama was the one responsible?

I stood by and watched as we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, and slowly, along with the rest of the nation, grew wary, after it seemed we either could not or would not find Bin Laden.

Look at me, getting into the politics. It is hard to talk about all this with out getting into opinions and all that, so bear with me when I stray.

The events of that day have stuck with me. They have forever been burned into my head and heart. Ever year around this time I hear people saying " Never forget"... How could I thought? The wounds are so deep. It hurts today, just like it did when it happened. The wounds are deep enough, that I am unsure I will ever truly heal.

Continued below...

Continued from above...

I started this post, with the idea of just sharing my story... A sort of "where was I" type of thing... But I just don't think I can continue in that direction. This thread is a mess, I apologize, my thoughts on the whole subject are so many though, it is hard to get them organized. Just know I am speaking from my heart.

Look, so many were hurt. So many died and so many lives were changed for ever. It hurts to watch the footage of 9/11. I get teary eyed every time and I am sure I always will. To see those people jumping out of the buildings, because their only chance of survival is to jump 90 stories and hope for a miracle...

Can you imagine how scary it must have been? 10 years. A decade... and it still hurts. It still hurts.

I long for peace, yet I see the world falling apart more and more... We see hatred and war, and fighting. Racism, bigotry and anger. Hell, we are even dealing with a pastor who is hell bent on burning Quran's here, despite massive world wide protest...

I am unsure of how to end this thread really, so I guess I will just end with a plea. One that I am sure you have heard many times.... I love you all. I am asking you all, across the world, to take my hand in peace and love. For the sake of the world. Please, take my hand.

Walk with me in peace. Everyone. Just try it? We have tried war and anger... that does not work. Why not try peace and love? What is it going to do, kill you?

Regardless of who you think did it, or what story you believe or buy into. One fact remains. And that is that around 3,00 innocent people died. Needlessly. Let us all put aside our fighting... For just a while... Join hands in peace, world wide, and just for a moment. Try peace.

I dedicate this thread to those who died on 9/11 as well as their family, friends, and everyone else who has been hurt from the events of that day. May the world overcome and join together in peace.

Peace and love...

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


On September 7, 2001 I was all done with my USN training, bootcamp & A school. I flew home to NY to take care of a court date & see my family & friends before I headed out to my first tour of duty. On the morning of September 11 I was passed out at my cousins house, sleeping in his recliner in the living room. He was at work & watched the first plane crash into the WTC on the news, & thats when he called me, waking me up. We were chatting away talking about how this looks more like a movie than real life, & that's when we watched the second plane crash in the second tower. We knew then, as did the rest of the world, that this was no accident but an act of pure evil.

I flew out that Friday. I took a puddle jumper to VA and flew over NYC, getting a birds eye view of the ground zero, which was covered in a thick cloud of ash. I remember everyone on the plane was crying. I also remember not being to thrilled about flying overseas. Bad times.

A friend of mine called me on the phone and told me to turn on the TV. I remember one of the first images I saw was what looked like a two engine propeller driven commuter type aircraft fly past one of the towers and then slam into the next one. Interestingly some of the people in the other tower witnessed this and said later that they thought it was a small commuter type aircraft that hit the adjoining building.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I'm an Australian, so I wasn't in New York at the time. I was, however, awake. I'd got into the habit of being nocturnal as a teenager, due to an intense phobia of sleeping at night, because of an abduction by the Greys...although that is a different story.

I remember going into the living room. It was about 2 AM. It was an unusually hot night; September is the first month of Spring for us. From memory, in America the day was a Tuesday. My family had only just started getting FoxTel earlier that year, so we had access to Fox News, whereas otherwise we only would have had the national stuff.

My father was sitting there watching the news. He couldn't sleep because of the heat. We watched some other stuff, and then we suddenly just saw, on both Fox and CNN, this footage of the planes going into the towers, and everyone running around on the ground.

Fox were having an absolute field day; given their usual warmongering, they were loving it, and playing it up as much as they could. There were huge title cards with "America Under Attack!" and "War on Terror!" on the screen all the time.

My father kept saying how the American government was going to take the gloves off after this; but truthfully, even in the first few moments, I never believed that Osama bin Laden or Al Qaeda were behind the attacks, and I still don't to this day. My initial reason for not thinking it was them, was not only intuition...but also awareness of the supposed contradiction that the American government couldn't stop it from happening, but yet even in the very moments that it was happening, Fox were already saying that they immediately knew who was responsible.

9/11 was an inside job. The American government was responsible for it, even if only indirectly. Eventually, the truth will be known; and when it is, may Kali have mercy on Uncle Sam.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


My mom woke me up (west coast here) and said, "Wake Up..! The world is going to hell..!".


Turned on the T.V. and saw a replay of what would soon become a precursor to some frustrating travel moments and the beginning of an awakening to the world around me...


Eventually went to my classes at the local JC and remember the vibe as anything but patriotic - more like "why did that happen..?" Some figured it out, others still ask the same question...


Crazy sh!t that day...

I was on my way to work and turned on my radio, and the announcer said "if you haven't heard yet, a real tragedy is unfolding in New York City today". Then he related the crash and collapse. I was shocked. Getting to work it's all people could talk about, everybody was in shock and scared. I went for lunch that day to a place where I could watch the news on a TV, seeing the pictures for the first time. What a sight. Like many I wondered how & why ?
The Pentagon attack confirmed that America's greatest mainland attack had just happened. And you just knew heads would roll, Bush wasn't going to let this stand. I took at face value everything I saw and read that day, I had no reason to think otherwise.

My girlfriend woke me up and told me a plane just hit the White House. I was half asleep and said, "Who cares?"
Then I woke up 2 minutes later after processing it and got to the TV.

Like the Southpark episode I spent 3+ weeks in front of the TV every chance I got waiting for updates, nothing was making much sense to me.

I got burnt out on hearing about 9/11 and moved on with my life.

In 2005 I tried downloading that WTC movie and ended up downloading Loose Change by mistake. I was pissed too because that download took forever.
I ended up watching it that night, then I felt the shock!
I had to watch it about 20 more times just to absorb it all through my thick headed programed Fluoridated brain.

No one I knew cared anymore or wanted to watch it.... still to this day, most of them won't watch it.

2008 I lost my mind David Icke style, now I'm awake and aware of most of the scams perpetrated on us all.

Now I visit lovely sites like ATS for my latest alternative news and information with an occasional debate or two. And no one still has been arrested, Osama was never indicted, we have a new physics concerning steel and fires, and the Twighlite Zone just gets better by the day.

I was checking my email, when i seen a picture on the face of yahoo of the burning first tower, i thought it was an advertisement for a new movie, i hadn't actually read it yet, then when i went to get a cup of coffee, i turned on the TV and watched the second plane hit the towers, and i remember getting a giant head rush and was thinking WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON. I was glued to the TV from that moment and as the details came pouring in, i was thinking what must i do in order to protect my family, my mind started racing. after that every TV ,RADIO,NEWS PAPER, flooded my every being with this event until i was numb and eventually i just turned it off and tried restarting my life...the only real spook i got was the anthrax scare. i went out and bought $1000 dollars worth of the newest hazmat, decontamination,and current M-40 NBC masks, plus some CIPRO. I tell you at first i was so pissed at the Muslims, but then i came to realize that the entire thing was propaganda to launch an invasion on US ALL and that the muslims were just a playing card from the deck, and i had no further reason to want them nuked

i was sleeping my dad came knockin on my door and said son go fill your car up groggy i saw why? whats going on? he said sone idiot flew a plane into a building.

so i got up out of bed turned on the tele and watch the news for the first time well forever in my life wasnt poltical very much didnt much care about things much beyond going to work and chasin girls.

i sat there glued to the televsion flipping threw cnn, fox and msnbc watch it all play out instant replay and instant analysis for the next 12 hours then i spent the follow days for the last 10 years opening my eyes to the world around me.

it was a life changing event for me but no on the scale or serious nature to those in new york i felt angry and mad as hell and i wanted revenge nay i wanted pay back,.

even with the "death of bin laden" i feel no closure as i think many other people who were effected more deeply than me i dont think they will ever close the book on the 9-11 chapter nor should they.

this 9-11 seems hollow to me and i cant put my finger on it could be its taken a decade to rebuild that building and the politization of the upcoming event.

i havent forgotten them those who perished or the suffering their families have endured and will continue to,

I had arrived at Fort Benning, GA to begin Basic on Tuesday Sept, 4 2001. I was still in Reception getting all my soldier stuff issued (BDUs and whatnot) when these two soldiers walked in and addressed us. We were not allowed to watch TV, call anyone, radio, ect. No outside world contact. So these two privates told us that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. Crazy, but nothing to get war stirred about. Then a few minutes later they came back and informed us that another plane had crashed into the other building and the pentagon and we were at Threatcon Delta. A lot of guys started freaking out. Others came to the conclusion that is was a physiological tactic they used on the newbies to get us riled up for basic. I remember a muslim man who bunked next to me sitting on his bed with a very sad look on his face saying, "They are going to blame this on us for sure." I could see how upset he was. It was sad. I personally was with the guys who thought it was a mind game. Then the next morning I snuck out early around four a.m. and bought a newspaper from a USA Today stand in front of the reception offices. It had a picture of the buildings. I remember thinking how it looked like a scene out of Independence Day. I took the paper back to my barracks and all of us started looking at it. Everyone knew for sure at that point that it was not a drill. It was real. Then it started sinking in what that meant to us. I started basic a couple days later. I remember when we got to throw grenades the Sargent told us that normally we got to throw two but since we were at war we were conserving. We only got one and our other would be waiting for us over in Afghanistan. =) That's my story.

I was dead drunk in Vladivostok, barely able to keep my head up off the table, in the evening, when an associate called me and told me to turn on the TV because something was happening in NYC. So I put it on and tried to clear my foggy mind. Its a strange thing to watch history unfold while four sheets to the wind, my friends. The muting of frontal lobe electrical activity by the body's metabolism of cheap rotgut post-soviet vodka tends to distort one's perspective, needless to say. I sat there with Katya and she kept telling me to turn it off, it was depressing, nothing was happening, only a smouldering hole in the side of the building, life would go on. Shrug. Have more vodka and put another log on the wood stove, darling. I just kept staring at that big smoking hole wondering how many dead people there were. I wondered what was going on down in the street below. I ransacked my blurry mind for people I knew in NYC, called a few. No answers, everyone had something else to do.

Drinking more seemed to be a reasonable response at the time. It was the evening, there was nothing to do. After the first building came down I got another call from another associate who was hysterical about stocks and started babbling about how this was going to change everything, blah blah blah. I snarled at him to stop being an idiot; Americans who were not directly effected will have forgotten this by the Super Bowl, I slurred. It would be pushed under the carpet, forgotten.

Don't drink and prognosticate, kids.

I do remember the second building coming down; I think I must have passed out soon after. A decade later and the hangover still thuds.

I was in an online MMORPG and when the emergency news came on TV, I said to all who could hear, "Turn on your TV!" Talking OOC (out of character) is a major no-no ... but; this one warranted breaking the rules for once.

I left the MMORPG and went to this special place online where hundreds were gathered online in one talking area and spent the next 16 to 24 hours talking (counseling) with a 12 or 13 year old whose parents both work in the WTC and had not come home.

My GF woke me with tears in her eyes, handed me a cup of coffee and said "come see this"
I knew immediately the world had changed. I couldn't stand to watch the scene played over and over and over.
I walked outside to a spectacularly beautiful day in the high desert Rockies, went into my studio sat in a metal folding chair for awhile and cried. Got in my Pick up and drove to 7/11 and bought a 6pack of beer and a bottle of tequila and started drinking again after being sober for 5 years.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I was living with my parents at the time and was woken up at around 5am (aus time) by my mother to show me what was happening. The main thing I rememer was watching the people jumping from the buildings and being very shocked by the image, it was just horrible, I had previously witnessed a suicide myself so it really resonated with me. It also crossed my mind that they shouldn't be showing people this, imagine the families of the people jumping.

We watched for hours as it developed and checked in with family in Washington, who were fine.
When I eventually left the house the streets seemed very quiet, almost ghostly. There was a really somber vibe everywhere and there seemed to be a lot of confusion coming from people. I am pretty sure that the papers were already reporting that it was islamic terrorists that hijacked the planes at this point, I cannot properly remember my reaction to this though, though it didn't seem all that real to me, I just couldn't understand why it was happening.

For months afterward people would break out in fearful states of paranoia about anthrax and terror attacks on the local mall and all the rest. I personally didn't really take the terror warnings in my own country very seriously although it seemed all too real for Americans. I have friends who were convinced we were all going to die, seriously. Looking back it all seems so surreal now, I can't believe I bought into all that fear.

I was sitting in Home Room at my high school flirting with some hot lil number,
when the TV came on...
(All our TV's could be operated via the Library)
The Librarian heard the news and flipped everyone's TV on...

At that time no one knew anything... only that a plane had hit the first tower...
I imagined it was some sort of accident
Found out in a hurry that it wasnt an accident when the 2nd plane slammed into the other tower

I remember seeing the people jump and thinking how horrible that was...

I had only been there a month earlier to the WTC, I thought how lucky I was to have not been there then.

I remember feeling remorse for those who were.

I remember the news telling people to shut off their cell phones
"There may be bombs everywhere! Cell phones will detonate them!"

I remember the gas stations around here limiting Gas purchases to 5 dollars per car.

I remember the mass confusion and people being scared.
America was not prepared for such an event.
How can you really be prepared? Things like that don't happen here, right?

I think that day was a great awakening...

That day forward I became obsessed with the news, watching world events...
I grew up watching the first Gulf war on TV, instead of cartoon GI JOE's it was real Army men
So I already had a knack for it...

9/11 (and John Titor) is what lead me to this site back in the day,
I trying to understand and make sense of the world

Regardless of who did it, or why they did it...

It was a horrible day... a sad day...I shall not forget it.
I feel for those who suffered and lost on that day.
My heart goes out to each and every one of those people and families who lives forever changed.


-Evol Eric

I was at a local church with my one year old old son, when the pastor came in the room with great purpose and told me and the three ladies with me that a plane flew into one of the Twin Towers. I hurried to finish what I was doing and headed home to watch the news to see what happened.

By the time I had returned home, the second plane had hit. I began to realize that this was not an accident. Having grown up at the end of the Cold War, I envisioned all my worst nightmares coming true. I truly believed that I was witnessing what would amount to major scale war on our own soil. I held my son tightly and watched events unfold wondering how I could ever protect my children. I had been injured in an accident and could still not walk well. I wanted my daughter home from school right then and my husband to get home.

It's kind of interesting how tv and movies from my childhood affected my frame of mind that day. I was terrified that bombs would be next and all I wanted was to hold my family. If there was even a possibility that we would die, I wanted to hold my children in their innocence with them only knowing that I was holding them close, loving them, not understanding that evil exists in this world.

I don't recall ever being more scared than I was that day or being more proud to be American that I was when the stories of heroism came out. I have a much better grip of how things work in this world now thanks to ATS and the internet. I don't fear things the same way now since I woke up to reality.

I was working as a Beta tester/Tech Support for a Computer game company back East just outside Baltimore. I had shown up that morning hung over [As usual for the period] and we were testing a soon to be released multi-player version of a then popular game. That was going "Gold" that week. We were online and then lost contact with our office in New York who were playing as the opposing team. Their players all dropped at the same time.

Then a few minutes later one of our Supervisors came upstairs and told us that a "Small" plane had flown into one of the twin towers. I initially thought it was a copy cat of another incident that happened down in Florida just a few weeks prior where a teenage boy had committed suicide by flying his fathers single engine plane into a building. The next thing we know all the over head lights came on [We usually worked in the dark the only light normally being provided by the monitors] Then we heard over the telephone speakers for all of us to come down to the main center.

The management rolled out a wide screen TV from one of the executive offices and we [Around 200 or so Techs] watched the News reports. I had a feeling then that we would be going to war. I kept thinking to myself that it was what the CIA called blowback from sticking our nose into other countries business.





We watched the news for a while, I called my wife who said she was heading home. We watched as reports came in about a possible Car bombing in DC then the Pentagon was hit and that a plane had crashed in a field in PA etc etc etc. Nobody knew at the time just how many planes were going to crash. Management sent us home shortly there after.

I went home and comforted my two young scared children and my then [Very emotional] Wife. We sat and watched the news. Sad Sad day. I knew things were going to change but never realized that my son who was just a kid at the time would be involved a few short years later. He was deployed to Iraq and made it safely home after serving there for 18 months and is now attending college.

I had just been laid off my job of 4 years as a network admin at a large well known super market chain so was asleep that day as I did not have to get up. Well my wife woke me up and said you better come and look at the TV. We watched in disbelief as the second plane hit the towers and then a few hours later we were still glued to the TV when the buildings collapsed. And I remember commenting to my wife that those buildings were wired for sound and the collapses were deliberate and not an accident or result of the planes hitting them. The rest is history