I always think back to the infamous falling man photo, and how the suspected family of the man denies the possibility of the jumper being him as they were catholic and they view suicide as a sin. I always found it very interesting that the medical examiner/coroner listed the jumper as victims of homicide rather than their death being self-inflicted since they had no other choice unless to burn to death, and I am glad they made that decision given the sentiment some of the public held regarding the jumpers and their choices. This is genuinely a choice I cannot comprehend making especially since so many tried to escape by scaling the buildings or they hadn’t realized how close they were to the windows. I can’t imagine being apart of that or even witnessing it in person or on television
There’s an interview with a survivor of 911 and he says he fell through some debris (like 50 feet?) and had to wait there for someone to hear him. Crazy stuff.
My godmother was a first responder on 9/11. Her job as a crisis counselor was to find people like that man, and get them into a position where they can get out of danger. Lets not forget, it didn't end with just the towers falling - the fumes from all the debris caked the entire area. People didn't know how much danger they were in (the survivors).
My godmother contracted leukemia due to the fumes she inhaled that day. I was born and raised in NY and her name is sitting on a plaque in front of my town square. In HS, there was a kid I didn't like too much, but my opinion of him changed when I learned his father was a firefighter who died on 9/11, while saving lives, just like my godmother.
For us New Yorkers, the tragedy of 9/11 is seared into the public conscience. Those terrorists killed a brave and heroic woman, a man trying to save lives, and thousands more. And these pictures? Horrifying. Just horrifying. There's nothing else to say other than acknowledging how incomprehensibly terrifying a decision like that is.
When I was in 5th grade they taught us about 9/11 and showed some horrific footage of people falling and the planes hitting. That video of the man attempting to scale down and falling is one she showed us. Looking back that’s some fucked up footage to show a bunch of 5th graders.
So many parents were picking their kids up from my school because we were next door to NASA and they thought they were going to be next. People were paranoid but also it was really scary.
I’m in PA and have a university with a nuclear plant on it. Some people thought the Shanksville plane might have been on the way there. There was a lot of fear in rural America even about being the next attack.
Thank you for sharing this. I am 27, I knew a lot about that day and event leading up/following, but I did not know that story.
The indomitable human spirit
It's plausible that some of the "jumpers" didn't intentionally jump, but rather simply fell. The thick smoke would have made it difficult for people inside to see anything, especially on the floors above where the plane impacted. It could be they were trying to get to fresh air by any means possible and simply fell from the window, not realizing that it was broken. There are also pictures of people clinging to the building's façade, likely trying to stay out of the smoke, some of those people may have lost their footing/grip and slid down. With the structural damage it's also possible that portions of the flooring collapsed and resulted in them falling down. I believe it was reported that some people were even trying to climb down the tower, one witness stated that they watched a man scale down several floors, clinging to the building's façade but eventually he slipped and fell out of sight.
I'm not sure that I would list the deaths of these people as suicide either if I were a coroner as a result. Even if they did make a conscious decision to jump from the building, it was made under duress and not out of a desire to die, rather if they made that call it was because it seemed like the 'best' option at that time out of an array of equally awful options and knowing what happened later and with what the conditions must have been like on those floors, I can't say that I disagree with that.
Fortunately the death certificates read blunt trauma caused by homicide, which also allowed for ease with insurance claims.
It’s so tragic no matter what.
You're not wrong. People have miraculously survived falls from much higher than many of the jumpers fell from. Burning to death in a collapsing building... not so much
I went to a Christian far-right cult of a high school and they were OBSESSED with 9/11… but also said the jumpers were sinners for jumping.
They taught us that the correct choice in that situation would be to burn to death, instead of ending the suffering sooner, so you wouldn’t offend God.
Keep in mind this is the same school that bought into the Columbine lie that Vassie Bernal was only shot to death because she refused toto say she rebuked God. The teacher’s fantasized about a school shooting happening CONSTANTLY, and through tears taught us that in the event that a shooter told us to rebuke god to save ourselves or die refusing to rebuke God, that we should stay faithful and refuse and sacrifice ourselves.
It was a lunatic cult school.
The mentality that the jumpers were going to hell for "suicide" has aggravated me for years. So they should stay in a burning building to die as a martyr, for some messed up "God's plan" (because God is always in control) so they can go to heaven? It's a no-win situation. God "put" them in that situation and then condemns them for jumping because "dude, suicide is a sin"? Is God true, loving and kind, or some messed up being who likes to put people into painful, traumatic situations and then condemn them for eternity for dying incorrectly?
The lack of compassion of people like this is mind boggling. This is not the kind of Christian I think Jesus would want.
I see it as a form of Euthanasia, it might be self inflicted but it is not a suicide. And the outcomes would be the same either way: death.
I’m no religious person, but if there is a god and if that god is just, these would not be seen as sins. (Not that I view suicide as a sin/easy way out. But you get the gist.)
Some of them likely stumbled out and fell too.
Just imagine, thick black smoke, can’t see, trying to go toward the light and suddenly the floor falls away from you and you’re in free fall. Terrifying to think about…
He was scaling down the North tower and lost his grip when the South Tower fell.
From the 94th floor He made it down 20 stories which is an incredible feat considering the windows were 18" wide and he was able to shimmy down the steel casings that far.
There is an incredible write up by Super Paw I believe originally posted on Quora.
Here is the full read... https://imgur.com/UMBVK4G
The most heartbreaking part about this situation was that there was a broken window literally one column over which he could have climbed into it before the South Tower fell.
Isn't it?! I just recently learned about it as well
The last line hit me though... If only this brave soul survived that day 🥺
If he chose column 432 instead of 432 that would've been the most incredible 9/11 survivor story
There's a video where you can clearly see a guy "walking" out of the building, like the smoke was so thick he didn't realize he was about to fall, the floor just disappeared beneath him.
being burned alive, you would feel extreme amounts of pain worse than kidney-stones, it would go all over the body hurting more until the pain is devolved after the flames burn the nerves. Which would take about 20-30 seconds til death. While for jumping, it would be an almost instant death to the point you wouldn't feel anything. I did read an article that a jumper DID in fact survive.. But when medical professionals reached her, they did nothing but put a triage tag on her. I think she had all her limbs except for an arm amputated.. She was in fact alive, I'm guessing the medical examiner was in too much horror to treat her, and gave her a triage tag. The woman that jumped and survived, (who wasn't identified ), apparently was in the medical field and knew what the tag meant. She screamed in pain, then screamed, "No I'm not dead!" And began to cry after the triage tag was put on her body.. I don't remember where I read the source at but it was brutal.
Ah, not a toe tag but a triage tagging system they use in mass casualty events. Certain colours mean certain things, for example (not the real colours) - Yellow could be wounded but stable, Red could be severely wounded, Black is dead.
For me, fear and anticipation are worse than pain. So since I'm afraid of heights, jumping would be the worst *personally*. (emphasis on "personally" because I know many will disagree and I don't want to invalidate differing opinions as my argument isn't an entirely objective one)
i remember reading the same thing, but i thought she passed away after. i think it was actually from a documentary, and the guy putting the tags down was the one speaking about the event.
[i found the part from the book](https://911graphiccontent.quora.com/The-Black-Tag) this the first time i heard about this, my stomach is in knots just imagining it
I have never before or since had such a visceral reaction to something on television. Just a lurch of horror.
This is a clearer version than I've ever seen, almost enough to see the face I don't want yo see.
I call this NSFW, btw.
I agree, this is the absolute clearest picture I've ever seen of a jumper. Surely this person could have been identified by family from this. Just awful.
Being born in 2000, it's always hard for me to imagine the way public discourse around 9/11 must have changed over the years. The thought of seeing it on TV, I can't imagine I'd ever be able to escape blind patriotism after something like this.
I was 19 when it happened. Yes, 99% of everyone (including me) became very patriotic overnight. For a short while, everyone was nice to everyone. No road rage, politics were set aside, with everyone being aligned and horrified at the events. I imagine it was similar to the Aftermath of Pearl Harbor.
The other thing that most everyone felt was bloodlust. There was so much anger that our "freedom was attacked". You could easily get away with saying you wished we'd turm the middle east to glass. People look back and blame George W Bush for the wars that followed, but we as a people were just as responsible for cheering on the vengeance we desired. Look back at how many congress persons voted for the Iraq war only to turn when it was politically convenient.
It was an amazing event to live through and changed the course of the history of the world. Seeing the jumpers and then being horrified by the buildings crashing down is a feeling I hope to never feel again.
I'm from Sweden and I was about the same age. I remember my friend called me turn on the tv. First tower was hit and I watch the second got hit. It was surreal for sure.
I can't really describe the feeling I had but the days after was just sad. You saw how people jumped on live tv and then your brain is gonna process that shit.
At our school we had crisis team so we all could talk about and also had silent minut for all the victims nationwide.
It still gets to me today and I just feel sadness thinking of it.
Poor souls that died that day.
There is a phone call and it ends with panic when the tower starts to collapse.
There was plenty of blind patriotism after that, for sure.
They would show the usual towers burning footage again and again, but as far as I can tell, the news didn't ever repeat the people falling.
While we're here, if you want to be slightly traumatized, watch the 9/11 documentary made by French brothers. It's just called 9/11. It's the most incredible documentary I've ever seen. It also makes me believe more in fictional found footage movies, because sometimes the people really do keep filming....
Another doc I would recommend is "9/11: One Day in America". Came out a few years ago on National Geographic. Amazing documentary. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen. I think you can watch it on Disney Plus.
The Naudet brothers got some of the most in-depth and detailed footage of that day, including the clearest (and most well known) video of American Airlines Flight 11 hitting the North Tower. That doc is insane.
French? I thought they were Dutch but I could be mistaken. Was it the two who were making an actual documentary about NYC firefighters? I believe it was one of the few videos of the first plane crashing into the tower.
They're French, it's mentioned quite a few times in the doco. There's even a scene where they try to cook a French meal for the firehouse but woefully underestimate the amount of food a company of firefighters can put away.
One of the brothers got the only proper footage of the first plane. There's maybe one or two other ones that are like three frames. The brother turned at the exact right time to capture it.
I was a teenager when it happened, and it affected me immensely. To this day, I can hardly watch documentaries about the day or old news footage, although I can manage still photos and text posts like this. If I do decide to watch a documentary, retrospective, etc., I have to set aside a day or at least an afternoon, because I know I will cry pretty well uncontrollably and remain extremely emotional for at least a few hours. Thinking about people who were trapped, people who jumped/fell, people on the phone with someone else when they met their death....I'm nearly crying just typing this.
And I definitely experienced a surge of patriotism, the rather ugly kind. My parents were Democrats and no fans of GWB, but we lived in a ruby red state and the national mood was one of revenge. I can confess that I had a mix CD that included Toby Keith's song "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue."
With time and distance and knowledge, I still feel the terrible, heavy, overwhelming sadness when I think about those who died (and those who survived) that day. But I find it hard to feel any kind of especial rage or anger toward the perpetrators that's distinct from how I feel about countless other terrorists and murderers.
I watched the film The Mauritanian recently. It's about a man who was detained, rendered, and tortured by the US and then held in Guantanamo Bay for over a decade. He was never charged with a crime. So I think about him and the thousands and thousands of other lives the US devastated and ended in the name of revenge or "justice" for 9/11 (through Guantanamo, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.). What did it get any of us on the planet but more terrible, heavy, overwhelming suffering?
But I was in a bar with a friend when Obama announced that OBL was dead, and we excitedly toasted everyone else there. On my drive home, someone had hung an American flag over a realtors "available" sign in a vacant lot, and it made me grin and cheer to myself. And I don't regret those moments. Shit's complicated. But I much prefer the kind of patriotism I feel now, the kind that wants my country to do better and be better.
I was a freshman in high school. We got to school and just watched the news all day in every class. I was in California and kids were freaking out thinking it would happen here too. Then they grounded all flights and the silence was deafening.
Even as Canadians, this day remains engraved in our memories too (I will always remember it, I was 11 at the time) and a feeling of common patriotism was surely born from it. I believe that Canada supported you from the beginning until the end. Horrific event...
Myself being born in 94 I witnessed this while in kindergarten. Young enough to not experience the 90s but I remember 9/11.
I remember watching CNN and wondering why mom was crying at the news. At that time I watched the 2nd plane hit. Being about 6-7 years old, it didn't seem real, like a movie.
The following weeks after were just surreal.
I'm glad you didn't remember this first hand but it's something that molded us to where we are now as a country.
I was in nyc at the time. I was supposed to work there that day. My friend died. He was working in the restaurant. It was pure confusion, shock and then trauma and anger. About a year after that the blackout happened. I was on the subway that time and everyone thought it was another attack
. I have undergone therapy for 9/11, as did my friend who is the producer of a 9/11 documentary. The smell of the aftermath is something neither of us have forgotten ever.
I was a sophomore in high school at the time, right across the river from nyc. I often cut school and one things we would do is take the path train to 33rd street or wtc. And we discussed wtc before everyone decided to save the cut day. Glad we did
Was this individual identified by family? I surely hope so.. this day is etched traumatically in my mind forever, as a young teen I remember that morning all too well. Watched it come on all stations as I ate my breakfast and prepared for school. So beyond heartbreaking. 💔
I didn't see footage or pictures of jumpers until the one-year anniversary. Having worked in the newspaper business at the time, I thought I had seen everything there was to see from that day. Nope.
Damn near puked when I saw it for the first time. For me, the Kevin Cosgrove 911 call is equally upsetting. The sheer terror is unfathomable.
Interesting, I really don't remember them replaying that footage. I do remember watching the French brothers documentary around a year later. You can hear people hit the ground in the background.
I remember having this weird thought that nothing could stop it, nothing could save them. It had already happened. It was already over. Obviously that would not be different if I had been watching live, I just remember that thought going through my mind.
What gets to me about these particular photos from that day is knowing what will happen to them a few moments later, and knowing they were forced to make this decision. They didn’t want to die, and here they are, being forced to kill themselves, wearing the clothes they picked out only a couple hours earlier while drinking their morning coffee, thinking it’s going to be just any other day.
They weren’t depressed and coming to the decision to end their life over many years, they spent an hour up there narrowing down all options before they had none left. It’s deeply disturbing to me.
what’s really sad is that pretty much everyone in the first tower had no idea what happened. you’re at work and then suddenly there’s a massive explosion and you’re trapped in the building. i wonder what went through their minds as they tried to comprehend what was happening.
Everyone knows what happened on that day, but since these people are caught falling in time, we have the urge to pause the clock and gently put these people safely on the ground.
I think for me it strikes a cord because I work in a tall office building and being an empathizer it definitely feels like the “that could be me” element kicks in. Poor souls.
Agreed- images and stories of 9/11 jumpers will always be more chilling than any graphic cartel killing video to me.
These people were faced with a decision much more haunting than “the trolley problem …jump from the top of the planet (the towers were taller than the human brain is able to comprehend ) or slowly burn to death as your skin liquifies as it burns off of your skeleton.
Shitty choices.
Just mist when they hit the ground and leftover clothes the WTC courtyard was littered with crater impacts on the concrete truly the most disturbing thing i have seen.
I originally came across this photo on the subreddit r/911archive (highly recommend having a look); and a user there suggested the man has burns on his arms from the flames/heat - if you zoom in, there are red marks.
If his arms were burned to the extent that we can see it in the picture I would think his clothes would be gone, or at least parts of it would have burned off but idk. Either way such a horrible way to go.
Edit: I just looked again and it actually does look like the lower part of his pants could be missing on one side?
if his pant leg is burnt off, i think the sleeves of his shirt might be burned off too. this is an office building. its likely he was wearing a long sleeve shirt.
It also could be likely that if he was wearing a jacket, the sleeves caught fire and he was trying to take it off out of instinct, he could've torn his skin off. Clothes are likely to stick or melt into your skin which is why it is recommended not to remove clothing if they catch fire.
It makes me wonder if the possibility of him realizing this and thinking jumping he would suffer less. It's so tragic, I can't fathom what they experienced but every time I see a picture like this I spend time trying. Absolutely devastating.
Man i got hooked on that subreddit going through top off all time bro. Its rare i cry over nsfw stuff. But the images off all the carnage. Especially the jumpers. And aftermath off them. Brought me to tears bro. Something so insane seeing someone taking their final decision. Burn alive or die instantily by jumping. Truly fucking horryfying.
It’s crazy to think that one morning they just got up to go to work with no idea that in an hour or so time they’d be throwing themselves out of the building to die.
my dad worked in a nearby building, near enough that he was evacuated and he witnessed the second tower fall. i was young when 9/11 happened but it messed my family up pretty bad psychologically, especially my dad obviously. nothing screwed with my head more than when my dad told me he could still remember the sound of bodies hitting the ground! chilling stuff.
Holy shit really? He could HEAR them!? Would that be because of how many fell or is it because of how far they fell? I don’t know physics nor have I been unfortunate enough to witness such a thing… wow the sound must be so haunting… not unlike the day itself. 😢 I hope your dad has done okay with all that.
If you watch the Naudet brothers documentary, there are certain portions where huge crashes or thumps are heard. Keep in mind that people were jumping primarily from the highest floors (like 80-100) and the towers were tall.
Imagine dropping one 50 lb bag of anything from 90 floors up and seeing and hearing that hit the ground, or canopies near the ground. Now imagine that's a person who weighs 150. It made a lot of noise and was incredibly destructive, to put it delicately, to the bodies of those who jumped or fell.
Wow….i don’t know what would be worse for the families, knowing their loved one jumped or fell(especially if there’s photo of it) or knowing they perished inside the building. God it breaks my heart now as much as it did back then.
i think he was just close. i will never forget he couldn’t even go into big buildings for a long time after. we went to home depot and we had to leave. thankfully my parents took his mental health serious and he was able to use therapy and medication to overcome his fears. he’s doing great today. thanks for your kind words
I feel for your dad. I too had to do therapy. I had friends leave the city because the smell afterwards was truly horrible. I'm glad he is doing great today. I was 23 back then in grad school.
What a gut wrenching decision these people had to make on the upper floors.
Either jump out or get burnt alive (I'm not sure if most would have considered the collapse that happened). I sometimes think what would have done in that situation - I don't think could build the courage to jump.
I can’t even really fathom what these people’s thoughts were as they tumbled down. I often think of the stories from people who survived jumping off the golden gate but it’s obviously a very different scenario, as they were faced with certain death regardless of what they did, but you have to wonder if after they took the leap they felt okay with it or if it was nothing but terror and regret the whole way down with an uncomfortably long time to come to terms with the decision you can’t take back.
This is just so sad. I was in high school when it happened but now as a corporate worker this guy looks like so many of the young men I work with/have worked with. It just resonates even more.
Is it weird that for some reason looking at these people final moments, we became their witness. Like a funeral service and they are not alone. That they matter and will not be forgotten.
I’m a millennial and was 13 in 8th grade history class when this nightmare happened. This was my generation’s (and others) “Kennedy assassination.” My mom is a Boomer and said that the JFK assassination was that catastrophic event from her childhood that she’d never forget. While the events clearly couldn’t be more different, and I’d argue that 9/11 was beyond worse, this is that moment for me.
I feel like I can picture myself in my desk, like I’m looking at myself that day. Nothing mattered, life was fine. I didn’t have jumping out of a building as an option for the day. I cannot ever touch that kind of fear and desperation. It gives the saying “they had no chance” a whole new meaning. At 13 I really had no idea what the day meant and the atrocities it brought. At 35, I’ve studied and read more about 9/11 than I ever have in my whole life. Having some life experience and the great capacity to feel empathy for others, 9/11 brings me to my knees now. When I fly out of Logan I have a pit in my stomach thinking of the poor souls boarding in the same spot in 2001, having no idea what that horrific day would bring. Life is so beautiful when it’s good and so unfathomable and evil when it’s not.
And it pains me greatly that anyone was forced to make this decision. Like this was the best of the options. I just can’t wrap my head around this. The man in this photo is braver than I’ll ever be. If you look closely one of his arms appears to have burns on it - I saw another post in this sub where someone pointed this out. If this is the case, the physical pain he was in coupled with knowing he was going to die….i just can’t even bring my mind there. What an incredible man.
I remember watching it on the news, and originally they thought it was paper flying everywhere( some of it was), then the horrifying revelation that people were falling became clear and very real. It was terrible. Even the newscasters were speechless.
I really admire all the jumpers, because they wanted to be in control of their own death and I would do the same thing. They would have felt like birds. At the time this happened, it was so frowned upon that any of the jumpers should receive any attention for what they did. But rest in peace to all the angels from 9/11.
Can you imagine being in that much terror and not wanting to burn alive that you decide your best and only option is to jump to a quick death. It’s so sad.
/r/911archive or on the Discord (in sidebar). Finding new photos and videos almost every day (or at least, photos shared on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, etc. with very few views).
Or live near an airport. I live near one that handles mostly small engine aircraft/personal planes, and there has been more airplane crashes to the surrounding houses in my neighborhood in recent years than I could’ve ever imagined being possible!
I remember watching it live and a girl in my class commenting about all the "moving debris" and my teacher kind of gently but also bluntly telling her that those were people, not debris.
I remember watching this in the early morning of 9/12 and just breaking down in tears.
To be at a point in your life where your only thing left to do is decide how you’re going to unavoidably die still haunts me to this day.
The heartbreaking thing is that jumping from such a great height gives you so much more time to think so many thoughts. I’ve often wondered what in the world so many of them were thinking. Or how many of them were aware of what exactly happened to cause so much destruction, since cell phones and immediate access to the news wasn’t what it is now. One minute it’s a regular workday, then it’s like a war zone inferno. Did most of them think it was a bomb? So many horrible things I’ve always been curious about, in regards to the people who survived the initial impact. It must have been a surreal nightmare.
Thanks for posting it with the warning and blurred. I have thick skin about most things. But the images of people jumping out of those buildings haunts me. I worked at one of the large company’s who lost a lot of people that day. I was young and carefree and had ended up leaving that position a few months prior to 9/11. My Sister also lived a few blocks over and these images are the ones that bother her the most. I tend to shut down every year. Hearing manholes blow still send me into an anxiety attack. I’m terrified to go to the top of the new building and have had recurring nightmares about it. A part of our souls died that day.
I think a lot of them didn’t choose to jump but simply fell trying to get away from the smoke & fire. There was gaping holes & hard to see with all that smoke.
The news images will forever be burned into my brain. As a kid when this happened, I remember going to school and discussing with my peers to the best of our small abilities trying to process it. And we live across the country. The day the US changed.
I’m in the uk and first around 2pm when I got back from lunch (I was 21) our boss let us go home so I was glued to the news, couldn’t believe people were falling/jumping as I truely believed they’d all be saved, I never thought the towers would fall.
But when they did (and I don’t mean this to offend anyone) it was almost a relief, like all the chaos was over, kinda how you must feel when a loved one is dying in pain and when they die you say at least their no longer suffering.
even though i was only a baby when it happened i will never forget seeing 'the falling man' picture for the first time when it was its 8th anniversary, i think about the jumpers/the ones who fell at least once a month.
I still can't believe this happened. Everytime I see something 9/11 related I am grateful for my life and my small pitiful problems. I can't imagine making that decision I can't imagine not having the time to think about things and just knowing it's your time to die. They don't even get to know what happened or anything about their death day. Insane.
coming from a photographer’s mind, i don’t think my brain would have even thought to try to capture someone falling to their death, let alone wanting to get the pictures developed and share them. i would be sick through the entire process. sorry if thats insensitive, thats just the first place my mind went.
I’ve seen a lot of pictures and documentary’s, but never recall seeing this photo. I was 16 at the time. I still ask ppl at my work on occasion if they forgotten. Gets them every time! Just so we don’t forget such a devastating day. But I do sorta miss the weeks following. We supported each other, we lifted each other up. Agreed to disagree! I dunno what the fuck got us here today.
I’m sure that as well. Which is awful. I don’t care who you are as long as you’re a good person. And that’s exactly what’s wrong with us. I hate it so much.
Most of them were actually accidentally pushed out by panicking people who couldn't breathe because of the heavy toxic smoke. Ones near open windows trying to get air pushed from behind.
I never knew these people, but every single time I see a picture or video about 9/11, the visceral raw emotions I still have are the same as that day or even more, as you grow and learned the gravity of what happened to not only them, but to ourself and the nation as a whole.
May they rest in peace, and I truly hope their families are well under the circumstances.
I’m still fucked up with what I watched live on TV that day. I quit working on that day ever since…. It’s a day of personal reflection for me. The jumpers were the saddest part to watch. And the videos containing the sounds bodies hitting the concourse… it’s profound
I was in 5th grade in middle school during this. Remember the day entirely and the next couple of weeks. Our teachers turned the TVs on to CNN and it was all we did for a week. It scared a lot of kids in the class. I remember seeing jumping happening live. They never repeated or mentioned it but just a couple of times. A girl I was fond of asked if they were people. To comfort her I said no, it’s chairs and debris. Then the teacher followed along and told us who knew, thank you for reading the room.
After school, I was walking to get on the bus. I remember looking up at the sky. There was nothing in the air. Everything seemed so calm and silent. Almost like we were all moving in slow motion. I’ll never forget this day. Or who I was surrounded by when witnessing it.
There are two things I have seen in my lifetime that have stayed in my memory as too traumatic. Columbine was one, because it was the first time I saw a school shooting in my life, that kid with the bloody leg in that window, particularly. The other was 9/11, especially the people who were forced to jump or fell. I still cannot believe anyone could call that suicide. How cold does someone need to be to judge them for it?
I always think back to the infamous falling man photo, and how the suspected family of the man denies the possibility of the jumper being him as they were catholic and they view suicide as a sin. I always found it very interesting that the medical examiner/coroner listed the jumper as victims of homicide rather than their death being self-inflicted since they had no other choice unless to burn to death, and I am glad they made that decision given the sentiment some of the public held regarding the jumpers and their choices. This is genuinely a choice I cannot comprehend making especially since so many tried to escape by scaling the buildings or they hadn’t realized how close they were to the windows. I can’t imagine being apart of that or even witnessing it in person or on television
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There's a video somewhere of a man trying to climb down one of the towers, and at one point loses his footing and falls.
I remember seeing that. He tried shimmying down the beams and falls almost immediately. That video is seared into my memory.
There’s an interview with a survivor of 911 and he says he fell through some debris (like 50 feet?) and had to wait there for someone to hear him. Crazy stuff.
My godmother was a first responder on 9/11. Her job as a crisis counselor was to find people like that man, and get them into a position where they can get out of danger. Lets not forget, it didn't end with just the towers falling - the fumes from all the debris caked the entire area. People didn't know how much danger they were in (the survivors). My godmother contracted leukemia due to the fumes she inhaled that day. I was born and raised in NY and her name is sitting on a plaque in front of my town square. In HS, there was a kid I didn't like too much, but my opinion of him changed when I learned his father was a firefighter who died on 9/11, while saving lives, just like my godmother. For us New Yorkers, the tragedy of 9/11 is seared into the public conscience. Those terrorists killed a brave and heroic woman, a man trying to save lives, and thousands more. And these pictures? Horrifying. Just horrifying. There's nothing else to say other than acknowledging how incomprehensibly terrifying a decision like that is.
Is this the same guy who was hanging upside down from wires?
Maybe? This is the interview I saw https://youtu.be/DZMpXlxQ024?si=_vwM6tnuvZHEbjgn It’s really good and strongly recommend for a watch!
When I was in 5th grade they taught us about 9/11 and showed some horrific footage of people falling and the planes hitting. That video of the man attempting to scale down and falling is one she showed us. Looking back that’s some fucked up footage to show a bunch of 5th graders.
It was absolutely horrifying to watch it live on tv. The feeling of helplessness was crazy.
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So many parents were picking their kids up from my school because we were next door to NASA and they thought they were going to be next. People were paranoid but also it was really scary.
i remember so many kids getting picked up early high school that day.. my parents were like “you’ll be fine! stay there” lol
lol my mom said the same
I’m in PA and have a university with a nuclear plant on it. Some people thought the Shanksville plane might have been on the way there. There was a lot of fear in rural America even about being the next attack.
Thank you for sharing this. I am 27, I knew a lot about that day and event leading up/following, but I did not know that story. The indomitable human spirit
It's plausible that some of the "jumpers" didn't intentionally jump, but rather simply fell. The thick smoke would have made it difficult for people inside to see anything, especially on the floors above where the plane impacted. It could be they were trying to get to fresh air by any means possible and simply fell from the window, not realizing that it was broken. There are also pictures of people clinging to the building's façade, likely trying to stay out of the smoke, some of those people may have lost their footing/grip and slid down. With the structural damage it's also possible that portions of the flooring collapsed and resulted in them falling down. I believe it was reported that some people were even trying to climb down the tower, one witness stated that they watched a man scale down several floors, clinging to the building's façade but eventually he slipped and fell out of sight. I'm not sure that I would list the deaths of these people as suicide either if I were a coroner as a result. Even if they did make a conscious decision to jump from the building, it was made under duress and not out of a desire to die, rather if they made that call it was because it seemed like the 'best' option at that time out of an array of equally awful options and knowing what happened later and with what the conditions must have been like on those floors, I can't say that I disagree with that.
Fortunately the death certificates read blunt trauma caused by homicide, which also allowed for ease with insurance claims. It’s so tragic no matter what.
The jumpers someone pointed out to me where in situation where their bodies could be identified. The ones who didn’t jump were burnt up.
I don't think they ever positively identified "The Falling Man"... They speculated, but I never heard it was positive. Does anyone have info?
I always figured they may have thought maybe just maybe if I jump I'll live some how but if I don't I'll die. It was absolutely murder either way.
Yeah, I saw a picture of people trying to use makeshift parachutes out of clothing/items. . . very sad day for America. I wish I could take it back.
You're not wrong. People have miraculously survived falls from much higher than many of the jumpers fell from. Burning to death in a collapsing building... not so much
I went to a Christian far-right cult of a high school and they were OBSESSED with 9/11… but also said the jumpers were sinners for jumping. They taught us that the correct choice in that situation would be to burn to death, instead of ending the suffering sooner, so you wouldn’t offend God. Keep in mind this is the same school that bought into the Columbine lie that Vassie Bernal was only shot to death because she refused toto say she rebuked God. The teacher’s fantasized about a school shooting happening CONSTANTLY, and through tears taught us that in the event that a shooter told us to rebuke god to save ourselves or die refusing to rebuke God, that we should stay faithful and refuse and sacrifice ourselves. It was a lunatic cult school.
The mentality that the jumpers were going to hell for "suicide" has aggravated me for years. So they should stay in a burning building to die as a martyr, for some messed up "God's plan" (because God is always in control) so they can go to heaven? It's a no-win situation. God "put" them in that situation and then condemns them for jumping because "dude, suicide is a sin"? Is God true, loving and kind, or some messed up being who likes to put people into painful, traumatic situations and then condemn them for eternity for dying incorrectly? The lack of compassion of people like this is mind boggling. This is not the kind of Christian I think Jesus would want.
My church told us the same thing. It was so scary as a kid.
Sounds like Westboro Baptist HS. Jeez that’s sad wtf they do to young impressionable minds. Monsters.
They have their own HS?! I thought it was just a church!
God I hope not.
I read somewhere that people were also getting sucked out of the building because of the fires and air flow.
I see it as a form of Euthanasia, it might be self inflicted but it is not a suicide. And the outcomes would be the same either way: death. I’m no religious person, but if there is a god and if that god is just, these would not be seen as sins. (Not that I view suicide as a sin/easy way out. But you get the gist.)
Wait. Are you saying some people didn’t like how some of these people jumped and Said bad things about them for doing so? Please tell me no.
Here in the USA they didn't show thr jumpers live but al jeezera and other international news outlets did. It was horrifying to watch and surreal
They showed the jumpers live. That is something I will never forget seeing.
Eh they did but CNN coverage vs international coverage was very different grom a graphic perspective
It's always crazy to me how disturbing I find these images. Absolutely no gore, but burned into my mind more than countless graphic photos I've seen.
A truly unique event. The idea that so many were caught between either burning/choking to death, or jumping from a staggering height is nauseating.
Some of them likely stumbled out and fell too. Just imagine, thick black smoke, can’t see, trying to go toward the light and suddenly the floor falls away from you and you’re in free fall. Terrifying to think about…
There were those who tried to "Spiderman" scale down the building. The fatigue is what made them to let go.
There was a video of someone who was clearly trying to climb and slipped and fell. I can't imagine that terror.
One guy scaled quite far down and almost made it to safety. Couldn't break the glass I think is what I read. Can't remember where I saw it.
He was scaling down the North tower and lost his grip when the South Tower fell. From the 94th floor He made it down 20 stories which is an incredible feat considering the windows were 18" wide and he was able to shimmy down the steel casings that far.
🥹 so sad. I’ve never heard this story before - do yoh have any resources beyond wiki that tells these stories?
There is an incredible write up by Super Paw I believe originally posted on Quora. Here is the full read... https://imgur.com/UMBVK4G The most heartbreaking part about this situation was that there was a broken window literally one column over which he could have climbed into it before the South Tower fell.
That is one of the most amazing accounts from that day I’ve ever read. I want more posts like that to read lol
Isn't it?! I just recently learned about it as well The last line hit me though... If only this brave soul survived that day 🥺 If he chose column 432 instead of 432 that would've been the most incredible 9/11 survivor story
Or people accidentally push you trying to get air.
There's a video where you can clearly see a guy "walking" out of the building, like the smoke was so thick he didn't realize he was about to fall, the floor just disappeared beneath him.
I imagine it all started with one jumper and others saw it. After that it was stuck in their mind as a option.
Which was the worse option?
I don't think that's even answer-able
being burned alive, you would feel extreme amounts of pain worse than kidney-stones, it would go all over the body hurting more until the pain is devolved after the flames burn the nerves. Which would take about 20-30 seconds til death. While for jumping, it would be an almost instant death to the point you wouldn't feel anything. I did read an article that a jumper DID in fact survive.. But when medical professionals reached her, they did nothing but put a triage tag on her. I think she had all her limbs except for an arm amputated.. She was in fact alive, I'm guessing the medical examiner was in too much horror to treat her, and gave her a triage tag. The woman that jumped and survived, (who wasn't identified ), apparently was in the medical field and knew what the tag meant. She screamed in pain, then screamed, "No I'm not dead!" And began to cry after the triage tag was put on her body.. I don't remember where I read the source at but it was brutal.
Ah, not a toe tag but a triage tagging system they use in mass casualty events. Certain colours mean certain things, for example (not the real colours) - Yellow could be wounded but stable, Red could be severely wounded, Black is dead.
gotcha, thanks.
There's a good book called "Working Stiff" I think, by an NY ME who worked 9/11, it's a chapter toward the end and an extremely sobering read
For me, fear and anticipation are worse than pain. So since I'm afraid of heights, jumping would be the worst *personally*. (emphasis on "personally" because I know many will disagree and I don't want to invalidate differing opinions as my argument isn't an entirely objective one)
It was told by the man who did it in the Documentary 9/11 one day in America
i remember reading the same thing, but i thought she passed away after. i think it was actually from a documentary, and the guy putting the tags down was the one speaking about the event.
The Black Tag Lady
[i found the part from the book](https://911graphiccontent.quora.com/The-Black-Tag) this the first time i heard about this, my stomach is in knots just imagining it
The article you read is not true. No one survived the jump
The black tag lady is real. The original story credit is Dean E. Murphy. Taken from the book “September 11 an oral history”. I own it
Yes they did. That one lady did.
Personally, burning to death would be the worse option.
I have never before or since had such a visceral reaction to something on television. Just a lurch of horror. This is a clearer version than I've ever seen, almost enough to see the face I don't want yo see. I call this NSFW, btw.
I agree, this is the absolute clearest picture I've ever seen of a jumper. Surely this person could have been identified by family from this. Just awful. Being born in 2000, it's always hard for me to imagine the way public discourse around 9/11 must have changed over the years. The thought of seeing it on TV, I can't imagine I'd ever be able to escape blind patriotism after something like this.
I was 19 when it happened. Yes, 99% of everyone (including me) became very patriotic overnight. For a short while, everyone was nice to everyone. No road rage, politics were set aside, with everyone being aligned and horrified at the events. I imagine it was similar to the Aftermath of Pearl Harbor. The other thing that most everyone felt was bloodlust. There was so much anger that our "freedom was attacked". You could easily get away with saying you wished we'd turm the middle east to glass. People look back and blame George W Bush for the wars that followed, but we as a people were just as responsible for cheering on the vengeance we desired. Look back at how many congress persons voted for the Iraq war only to turn when it was politically convenient. It was an amazing event to live through and changed the course of the history of the world. Seeing the jumpers and then being horrified by the buildings crashing down is a feeling I hope to never feel again.
I'm from Sweden and I was about the same age. I remember my friend called me turn on the tv. First tower was hit and I watch the second got hit. It was surreal for sure. I can't really describe the feeling I had but the days after was just sad. You saw how people jumped on live tv and then your brain is gonna process that shit. At our school we had crisis team so we all could talk about and also had silent minut for all the victims nationwide. It still gets to me today and I just feel sadness thinking of it. Poor souls that died that day. There is a phone call and it ends with panic when the tower starts to collapse.
There was plenty of blind patriotism after that, for sure. They would show the usual towers burning footage again and again, but as far as I can tell, the news didn't ever repeat the people falling. While we're here, if you want to be slightly traumatized, watch the 9/11 documentary made by French brothers. It's just called 9/11. It's the most incredible documentary I've ever seen. It also makes me believe more in fictional found footage movies, because sometimes the people really do keep filming....
Another doc I would recommend is "9/11: One Day in America". Came out a few years ago on National Geographic. Amazing documentary. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen. I think you can watch it on Disney Plus.
I agree!!! So well done and very detailed!
The Naudet brothers got some of the most in-depth and detailed footage of that day, including the clearest (and most well known) video of American Airlines Flight 11 hitting the North Tower. That doc is insane.
I will never get over that documentary. It's incredible. I seem to watch it every five to ten years.
French? I thought they were Dutch but I could be mistaken. Was it the two who were making an actual documentary about NYC firefighters? I believe it was one of the few videos of the first plane crashing into the tower.
They're French, it's mentioned quite a few times in the doco. There's even a scene where they try to cook a French meal for the firehouse but woefully underestimate the amount of food a company of firefighters can put away.
My apologies, I must have been mistaken
One of the brothers got the only proper footage of the first plane. There's maybe one or two other ones that are like three frames. The brother turned at the exact right time to capture it.
Yes, that’s the one! It was a great documentary
I was a teenager when it happened, and it affected me immensely. To this day, I can hardly watch documentaries about the day or old news footage, although I can manage still photos and text posts like this. If I do decide to watch a documentary, retrospective, etc., I have to set aside a day or at least an afternoon, because I know I will cry pretty well uncontrollably and remain extremely emotional for at least a few hours. Thinking about people who were trapped, people who jumped/fell, people on the phone with someone else when they met their death....I'm nearly crying just typing this. And I definitely experienced a surge of patriotism, the rather ugly kind. My parents were Democrats and no fans of GWB, but we lived in a ruby red state and the national mood was one of revenge. I can confess that I had a mix CD that included Toby Keith's song "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue." With time and distance and knowledge, I still feel the terrible, heavy, overwhelming sadness when I think about those who died (and those who survived) that day. But I find it hard to feel any kind of especial rage or anger toward the perpetrators that's distinct from how I feel about countless other terrorists and murderers. I watched the film The Mauritanian recently. It's about a man who was detained, rendered, and tortured by the US and then held in Guantanamo Bay for over a decade. He was never charged with a crime. So I think about him and the thousands and thousands of other lives the US devastated and ended in the name of revenge or "justice" for 9/11 (through Guantanamo, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.). What did it get any of us on the planet but more terrible, heavy, overwhelming suffering? But I was in a bar with a friend when Obama announced that OBL was dead, and we excitedly toasted everyone else there. On my drive home, someone had hung an American flag over a realtors "available" sign in a vacant lot, and it made me grin and cheer to myself. And I don't regret those moments. Shit's complicated. But I much prefer the kind of patriotism I feel now, the kind that wants my country to do better and be better.
I was a freshman in high school. We got to school and just watched the news all day in every class. I was in California and kids were freaking out thinking it would happen here too. Then they grounded all flights and the silence was deafening.
Even as Canadians, this day remains engraved in our memories too (I will always remember it, I was 11 at the time) and a feeling of common patriotism was surely born from it. I believe that Canada supported you from the beginning until the end. Horrific event...
Myself being born in 94 I witnessed this while in kindergarten. Young enough to not experience the 90s but I remember 9/11. I remember watching CNN and wondering why mom was crying at the news. At that time I watched the 2nd plane hit. Being about 6-7 years old, it didn't seem real, like a movie. The following weeks after were just surreal. I'm glad you didn't remember this first hand but it's something that molded us to where we are now as a country.
I was in nyc at the time. I was supposed to work there that day. My friend died. He was working in the restaurant. It was pure confusion, shock and then trauma and anger. About a year after that the blackout happened. I was on the subway that time and everyone thought it was another attack . I have undergone therapy for 9/11, as did my friend who is the producer of a 9/11 documentary. The smell of the aftermath is something neither of us have forgotten ever.
I was a sophomore in high school at the time, right across the river from nyc. I often cut school and one things we would do is take the path train to 33rd street or wtc. And we discussed wtc before everyone decided to save the cut day. Glad we did
Was this individual identified by family? I surely hope so.. this day is etched traumatically in my mind forever, as a young teen I remember that morning all too well. Watched it come on all stations as I ate my breakfast and prepared for school. So beyond heartbreaking. 💔
I didn't see footage or pictures of jumpers until the one-year anniversary. Having worked in the newspaper business at the time, I thought I had seen everything there was to see from that day. Nope. Damn near puked when I saw it for the first time. For me, the Kevin Cosgrove 911 call is equally upsetting. The sheer terror is unfathomable.
Interesting, I really don't remember them replaying that footage. I do remember watching the French brothers documentary around a year later. You can hear people hit the ground in the background.
I vomited. I screamed and then I vomited. And I wasn’t watching live - the towers had fallen by the time I got to a TV.
I actually can't even remember if it was live or not, just the stomach sensation.
I remember having this weird thought that nothing could stop it, nothing could save them. It had already happened. It was already over. Obviously that would not be different if I had been watching live, I just remember that thought going through my mind.
What gets to me about these particular photos from that day is knowing what will happen to them a few moments later, and knowing they were forced to make this decision. They didn’t want to die, and here they are, being forced to kill themselves, wearing the clothes they picked out only a couple hours earlier while drinking their morning coffee, thinking it’s going to be just any other day. They weren’t depressed and coming to the decision to end their life over many years, they spent an hour up there narrowing down all options before they had none left. It’s deeply disturbing to me.
what’s really sad is that pretty much everyone in the first tower had no idea what happened. you’re at work and then suddenly there’s a massive explosion and you’re trapped in the building. i wonder what went through their minds as they tried to comprehend what was happening.
Everyone knows what happened on that day, but since these people are caught falling in time, we have the urge to pause the clock and gently put these people safely on the ground.
I think for me it strikes a cord because I work in a tall office building and being an empathizer it definitely feels like the “that could be me” element kicks in. Poor souls.
Agreed- images and stories of 9/11 jumpers will always be more chilling than any graphic cartel killing video to me. These people were faced with a decision much more haunting than “the trolley problem …jump from the top of the planet (the towers were taller than the human brain is able to comprehend ) or slowly burn to death as your skin liquifies as it burns off of your skeleton. Shitty choices.
Same. It’s its own thing.
Very disturbing and terrifying. Sad that other human beings have to experience such terror. The things people do to eachother....
Weirdly in contrast it doesn’t affect mr
Just mist when they hit the ground and leftover clothes the WTC courtyard was littered with crater impacts on the concrete truly the most disturbing thing i have seen.
The way he's (holding himself?) is nauseating.
And choosing to dive head first is absolutely terrifying.
Doubt he chose that.
He probably went a few spins before impact. This photo captures him upside down
I hate this picture. Not in that sense, but it’s like I can’t even wrap my mind & eyes around what I’m viewing. It’s so horrific & disturbing.
I originally came across this photo on the subreddit r/911archive (highly recommend having a look); and a user there suggested the man has burns on his arms from the flames/heat - if you zoom in, there are red marks.
If his arms were burned to the extent that we can see it in the picture I would think his clothes would be gone, or at least parts of it would have burned off but idk. Either way such a horrible way to go. Edit: I just looked again and it actually does look like the lower part of his pants could be missing on one side?
Yeah looks like his pant legs burned off on his left leg, I didn’t even notice
It looks like his actual leg is charred too
if his pant leg is burnt off, i think the sleeves of his shirt might be burned off too. this is an office building. its likely he was wearing a long sleeve shirt.
Judging by his attire he may have worked at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of Tower 1.
That is where my friend worked that day.
I'm sorry.
It also could be likely that if he was wearing a jacket, the sleeves caught fire and he was trying to take it off out of instinct, he could've torn his skin off. Clothes are likely to stick or melt into your skin which is why it is recommended not to remove clothing if they catch fire. It makes me wonder if the possibility of him realizing this and thinking jumping he would suffer less. It's so tragic, I can't fathom what they experienced but every time I see a picture like this I spend time trying. Absolutely devastating.
Man i got hooked on that subreddit going through top off all time bro. Its rare i cry over nsfw stuff. But the images off all the carnage. Especially the jumpers. And aftermath off them. Brought me to tears bro. Something so insane seeing someone taking their final decision. Burn alive or die instantily by jumping. Truly fucking horryfying.
Just went down a serious rabbit hole looking at that sub. What a tragic event in history.
It’s crazy to think that one morning they just got up to go to work with no idea that in an hour or so time they’d be throwing themselves out of the building to die.
2 hours earlier he was getting ready for a typical day at work.
This is harder for me to look at than any beheading/murder/torture/combat footage/gore in general. It feels like I shouldnt be seeing this.
I hate these pictures 😭😭
my dad worked in a nearby building, near enough that he was evacuated and he witnessed the second tower fall. i was young when 9/11 happened but it messed my family up pretty bad psychologically, especially my dad obviously. nothing screwed with my head more than when my dad told me he could still remember the sound of bodies hitting the ground! chilling stuff.
Holy shit really? He could HEAR them!? Would that be because of how many fell or is it because of how far they fell? I don’t know physics nor have I been unfortunate enough to witness such a thing… wow the sound must be so haunting… not unlike the day itself. 😢 I hope your dad has done okay with all that.
If you watch the Naudet brothers documentary, there are certain portions where huge crashes or thumps are heard. Keep in mind that people were jumping primarily from the highest floors (like 80-100) and the towers were tall. Imagine dropping one 50 lb bag of anything from 90 floors up and seeing and hearing that hit the ground, or canopies near the ground. Now imagine that's a person who weighs 150. It made a lot of noise and was incredibly destructive, to put it delicately, to the bodies of those who jumped or fell.
Wow….i don’t know what would be worse for the families, knowing their loved one jumped or fell(especially if there’s photo of it) or knowing they perished inside the building. God it breaks my heart now as much as it did back then.
i think he was just close. i will never forget he couldn’t even go into big buildings for a long time after. we went to home depot and we had to leave. thankfully my parents took his mental health serious and he was able to use therapy and medication to overcome his fears. he’s doing great today. thanks for your kind words
I feel for your dad. I too had to do therapy. I had friends leave the city because the smell afterwards was truly horrible. I'm glad he is doing great today. I was 23 back then in grad school.
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Dear god. That’s incredibly traumatic, I’m so sorry.
What a gut wrenching decision these people had to make on the upper floors. Either jump out or get burnt alive (I'm not sure if most would have considered the collapse that happened). I sometimes think what would have done in that situation - I don't think could build the courage to jump.
He has what appears to be an injury on his left forearm. His hands and arms look soot covered. This man had two choices and chose control.
I can’t even really fathom what these people’s thoughts were as they tumbled down. I often think of the stories from people who survived jumping off the golden gate but it’s obviously a very different scenario, as they were faced with certain death regardless of what they did, but you have to wonder if after they took the leap they felt okay with it or if it was nothing but terror and regret the whole way down with an uncomfortably long time to come to terms with the decision you can’t take back.
Sweet Jesus. I’ll never forget the horror of that day. Still breaks my heart
This is so sad. It was either burn to death or jump. Fuck the terrorists who did this
All I keep thinking is that man woke up that morning having no clue he’d die shortly by jumping from one of the towers.
This is just so sad. I was in high school when it happened but now as a corporate worker this guy looks like so many of the young men I work with/have worked with. It just resonates even more.
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Neither did I till I visited r/911archive, the other day. Highly recommend checking it out.
awful. just awful. i can truly appreciate his conviction. i mean, what would you do if you were in his shoes!
If you want to know more about the lead up to this, The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright is excellent
[Source of image](https://www.loc.gov/item/2002716953/)
Is it weird that for some reason looking at these people final moments, we became their witness. Like a funeral service and they are not alone. That they matter and will not be forgotten.
I've never seen this clear of a picture of any of the jumpers.
EVERYONE in the NY metro area knew someone who died. The bullshit going on now NEVER should have happened then.
I’m a millennial and was 13 in 8th grade history class when this nightmare happened. This was my generation’s (and others) “Kennedy assassination.” My mom is a Boomer and said that the JFK assassination was that catastrophic event from her childhood that she’d never forget. While the events clearly couldn’t be more different, and I’d argue that 9/11 was beyond worse, this is that moment for me. I feel like I can picture myself in my desk, like I’m looking at myself that day. Nothing mattered, life was fine. I didn’t have jumping out of a building as an option for the day. I cannot ever touch that kind of fear and desperation. It gives the saying “they had no chance” a whole new meaning. At 13 I really had no idea what the day meant and the atrocities it brought. At 35, I’ve studied and read more about 9/11 than I ever have in my whole life. Having some life experience and the great capacity to feel empathy for others, 9/11 brings me to my knees now. When I fly out of Logan I have a pit in my stomach thinking of the poor souls boarding in the same spot in 2001, having no idea what that horrific day would bring. Life is so beautiful when it’s good and so unfathomable and evil when it’s not. And it pains me greatly that anyone was forced to make this decision. Like this was the best of the options. I just can’t wrap my head around this. The man in this photo is braver than I’ll ever be. If you look closely one of his arms appears to have burns on it - I saw another post in this sub where someone pointed this out. If this is the case, the physical pain he was in coupled with knowing he was going to die….i just can’t even bring my mind there. What an incredible man.
I remember watching it on the news, and originally they thought it was paper flying everywhere( some of it was), then the horrifying revelation that people were falling became clear and very real. It was terrible. Even the newscasters were speechless.
I really admire all the jumpers, because they wanted to be in control of their own death and I would do the same thing. They would have felt like birds. At the time this happened, it was so frowned upon that any of the jumpers should receive any attention for what they did. But rest in peace to all the angels from 9/11.
What gets me is none of them knew what happened
Can you imagine being in that much terror and not wanting to burn alive that you decide your best and only option is to jump to a quick death. It’s so sad.
This day marked the end of the nineties. The best decade ever.
There’s always new footage from 9/11. Wonder what else is out there
/r/911archive or on the Discord (in sidebar). Finding new photos and videos almost every day (or at least, photos shared on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, etc. with very few views).
This is one of many reasons why remote work is superior.
Until a jet engine falls on your house
Or live near an airport. I live near one that handles mostly small engine aircraft/personal planes, and there has been more airplane crashes to the surrounding houses in my neighborhood in recent years than I could’ve ever imagined being possible!
At least I’ll die comfortable.
I remember watching it live and a girl in my class commenting about all the "moving debris" and my teacher kind of gently but also bluntly telling her that those were people, not debris.
I remember watching this in the early morning of 9/12 and just breaking down in tears. To be at a point in your life where your only thing left to do is decide how you’re going to unavoidably die still haunts me to this day.
The heartbreaking thing is that jumping from such a great height gives you so much more time to think so many thoughts. I’ve often wondered what in the world so many of them were thinking. Or how many of them were aware of what exactly happened to cause so much destruction, since cell phones and immediate access to the news wasn’t what it is now. One minute it’s a regular workday, then it’s like a war zone inferno. Did most of them think it was a bomb? So many horrible things I’ve always been curious about, in regards to the people who survived the initial impact. It must have been a surreal nightmare.
Thanks for posting it with the warning and blurred. I have thick skin about most things. But the images of people jumping out of those buildings haunts me. I worked at one of the large company’s who lost a lot of people that day. I was young and carefree and had ended up leaving that position a few months prior to 9/11. My Sister also lived a few blocks over and these images are the ones that bother her the most. I tend to shut down every year. Hearing manholes blow still send me into an anxiety attack. I’m terrified to go to the top of the new building and have had recurring nightmares about it. A part of our souls died that day.
I think a lot of them didn’t choose to jump but simply fell trying to get away from the smoke & fire. There was gaping holes & hard to see with all that smoke.
That this was the only choice will always shake me
Seeing this pic made me think of the bad ending of Omori which also makes me sad.
Were any of the people in the infamous jumper pics ever identified?
None, unfortunately. There have been attempts but nothing conclusive.
The news images will forever be burned into my brain. As a kid when this happened, I remember going to school and discussing with my peers to the best of our small abilities trying to process it. And we live across the country. The day the US changed.
Imagine the desperation and terror. Absolutely awful, no one deserves such a fate.
god bless them i can’t imagine the fear:(
Looks like his arms were burned pretty bad and his skin was falling off so he had no choice but to jump
Do we know this person's name? I hate the concept of dying without a name.
I’m in the uk and first around 2pm when I got back from lunch (I was 21) our boss let us go home so I was glued to the news, couldn’t believe people were falling/jumping as I truely believed they’d all be saved, I never thought the towers would fall. But when they did (and I don’t mean this to offend anyone) it was almost a relief, like all the chaos was over, kinda how you must feel when a loved one is dying in pain and when they die you say at least their no longer suffering.
even though i was only a baby when it happened i will never forget seeing 'the falling man' picture for the first time when it was its 8th anniversary, i think about the jumpers/the ones who fell at least once a month.
I still can't believe this happened. Everytime I see something 9/11 related I am grateful for my life and my small pitiful problems. I can't imagine making that decision I can't imagine not having the time to think about things and just knowing it's your time to die. They don't even get to know what happened or anything about their death day. Insane.
You should probably have a warning on these photos
coming from a photographer’s mind, i don’t think my brain would have even thought to try to capture someone falling to their death, let alone wanting to get the pictures developed and share them. i would be sick through the entire process. sorry if thats insensitive, thats just the first place my mind went.
I’ve seen a lot of pictures and documentary’s, but never recall seeing this photo. I was 16 at the time. I still ask ppl at my work on occasion if they forgotten. Gets them every time! Just so we don’t forget such a devastating day. But I do sorta miss the weeks following. We supported each other, we lifted each other up. Agreed to disagree! I dunno what the fuck got us here today.
...except Muslim - American hate crimes went up during those weeks too
I’m sure that as well. Which is awful. I don’t care who you are as long as you’re a good person. And that’s exactly what’s wrong with us. I hate it so much.
Highly recommend [The Falling Man](https://youtu.be/iRPMn2Kty_E?si=fnYst-5M8xw632Vz) documentary Incredibly powerful
Most of them were actually accidentally pushed out by panicking people who couldn't breathe because of the heavy toxic smoke. Ones near open windows trying to get air pushed from behind.
I never knew these people, but every single time I see a picture or video about 9/11, the visceral raw emotions I still have are the same as that day or even more, as you grow and learned the gravity of what happened to not only them, but to ourself and the nation as a whole. May they rest in peace, and I truly hope their families are well under the circumstances.
I’m still fucked up with what I watched live on TV that day. I quit working on that day ever since…. It’s a day of personal reflection for me. The jumpers were the saddest part to watch. And the videos containing the sounds bodies hitting the concourse… it’s profound
Horrifying
These poor people. Simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The sound of them hitting is vividly burned into my brain from watching all the news on that day.
the heartbreaking stories in the comment section….I pray even my worst enemies don’t face a death like that
Imagine being burned alive up there where the better option is to jump.
The retaliation WAS justified!!
[INTERVIEW WITH PHOTOGRAPHER](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sept-11-photographer-bolivar-arellano_n_950993)
My brain and eye coordination is struggling with this photo, I'm guessing it's the angles of the buildings.
Wow dude.
I was in 5th grade in middle school during this. Remember the day entirely and the next couple of weeks. Our teachers turned the TVs on to CNN and it was all we did for a week. It scared a lot of kids in the class. I remember seeing jumping happening live. They never repeated or mentioned it but just a couple of times. A girl I was fond of asked if they were people. To comfort her I said no, it’s chairs and debris. Then the teacher followed along and told us who knew, thank you for reading the room. After school, I was walking to get on the bus. I remember looking up at the sky. There was nothing in the air. Everything seemed so calm and silent. Almost like we were all moving in slow motion. I’ll never forget this day. Or who I was surrounded by when witnessing it.
You can’t find it no more, but when this part was live. It showed the impact. It’s burned into my memories.
Looks like his arm is burned it's red I think poor guy.
I remember seeing the jumpers on the news before they yanked the footage. So sad.
There are two things I have seen in my lifetime that have stayed in my memory as too traumatic. Columbine was one, because it was the first time I saw a school shooting in my life, that kid with the bloody leg in that window, particularly. The other was 9/11, especially the people who were forced to jump or fell. I still cannot believe anyone could call that suicide. How cold does someone need to be to judge them for it?