Eyewitness photographs:
An Eyewitness Account
Most people know I'm fine at this point, but I thought people might be interested in my version of the day's events.
First some background, I live in Manhattan and take the N/R train to World Trade and change to the PATH train to Jersey. My current client at work, is Morgan Stanley who occupies part of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center.
I'm on my way to work to try to be there by 9am. As usual, I'm running a few minutes late for our status meeting. I hop on the N/R and reach World Trade at about 8:50, as we get off the train and go through the hall from the subway tunnel and enter the lobby of the World Trade Center we see no people and a lot of smoke. At the time I thought there was a bomb in the basement like in 1993. (Once I learn about what actually happened, I'm amazed that that much smoke filled the ground floor of a 110 story building from *anything* that could happen at 90+ stories. But I guess it came down the elevator banks.
Anyway...
There were a few people still around who said that they were evacuating people. At this point I hadn't yet turned into an idiot (more on that later), so I sensibly thought that evacuating would be a good idea. I proceed up the nearest escalator and exit the WTC on the northeast corner (Church St. and Vessey St. if that helps anyone).
As I exit, there is paper flying everywhere and debris lying around including a fair amount that is smoking. There are hundreds of people milling around staring up. I look up and see what now everyone has seen on TV: a huge gaping hole on the north side of Tower 1. At this point, I learn that it is a plane that hit the tower.
This is where I start getting stupid.
I downshift into thinking that is was an accident. A totally bizarre and horrible accident, but an accident, not a bomb. Not a terrorist attack.
I start taking a bunch of photos with my always-present digital camera. See, what did I tell you about being stupid? At this point, police are on the scene in force and forcing people to evacuate the area. I can picture their faces and sincerely hope they are ok, considering the number of police officers and firefighters missing.
Anyway, I circle the building on the north side towards the Hudson River. I figure I would hop on the ferry and cross the river. This would, in theory, get me away from the area, provide me a view, and allow me to see if everyone from work was ok.
I'm looking around and studying the people watching. I would say that 95% are completely calm. A few are grieving heavily and a few are running, but the rest were very calm. Walking. No shoving and no panic.
It is at this point I start to notice bodies falling. I had heard a bunch of people around me saying that they were seeing them, but either not wanting to believe it, or hoping that it was just debris, I ignored it. However, I saw two bodies fall out of building. They must have jumped from above the impact, because they were appearing out of the smoke. Absolutely awful.
I'm still staring at this unprecedented spectacle in front of me when the second explosion happens. Because I'm the north side of the building, I couldn't see the plane approach or hit, but I certainly heard it. As I stared at this explosion and watched the flames and debris start to fly out, the thought that ran through my head was this: "Damn, those dumb-ass, special-effect-laded, blockbuster, pieces of crap, Hollywood blockbuster movies are pretty damn accurate." Though I'm paraphrasing myself to be sure. At this point, people are starting to run north. I do the same. I guess, I was getting smarter.
(A moment for orientation, I'm on the corner of West Broadway and Barklay, one block north of the WTC).
As I'm running as fast as I can, which if anyone knows me, isn't very fast at all, a huge, and I mean huge, piece of debris lands in front of me. 25 feet in front of me. Oh, did I mention that this thing is the size of a garbage truck?
Now, if you've followed my story so far, you realize that this thing flew *over* my head to land in front of me. This all happened as I reached West Broadway and Park. The debris landed on the far corner, and I was just reached the near corner. This immense, deafening crash happens and I see twisted metal and glass. I take a hard left to put some (hopefully) solid buildings between me and the tower.
I feel relatively safe at this point, so I take stock and again notice how calm people are in general. Though to be fair, that 95% figure dropped to about 80%.
I make my way over to the ferry (keeping to my original plan, even though the event had moved from what I thought was an accident to an obvious terrorist attack). I reach the ferry, which is on the edge of the World Financial Center (adjacent to the WTC). There are a LOT of people here, this being the only transportation option. Yet again, I was struck by how orderly it was. I reach the floating platform and wait for the next boat. There were a ton of ferries out there lining up to take people off. The first boat was almost full and going the wrong way, so I said hell with it, and bought a ticket just in case. When the next boat pulls up, I get on, and believe it or not, they were taking tickets! I have no idea whether they were requiring them or not, and I felt no desire to test it.
The boat pulls away and I am able to see the entire scene. Absolutely amazing.
I reach the Jersey shore and they start evacuating. I have to go through it again. I notice that our office building is cordoned off, so I give up, and resolve to get back home. Partly motivated by the fear being stranded out here.
I run into a colleague, we trade our stories, and I hear that the other PATH train to 33rd street was open. I say goodbye and start heading for the nearest entrance. Well, other than Exchange Place, of course.
I get on the train, and it heads to Hoboken. People get on at Hoboken, and someone says that a tower fell. I attribute this to sheer rumour. Or madness. At the time, I couldn't fathom that one of those towers could possibly fall. No way. Those things are huge and integral to New York. They define the skyline. They symbolize New York. I had joked in the past that they symbolize the arrogance of New York. Imagine in the late 60s when they're conceiving of building them. "We're going to build the tallest building in the world. Fuck it. We're going to build two of them."
The train at this point is just waiting at the platform. The conductor says that the engineer doesn't want to go to Manhattan. At this point I couldn't blame him, but I wanted to go. Badly.
Finally we start moving. It takes forever. Finally, I get off at 9th street. I'm walking up the stairs and I notice a couple of people running down. I assume that they're trying to catch the train, but not at all. At the head of the stairs I hear some one say "There's smoke!".
With a heavy heart, I reach the top and see people running. I look back to the south of the Manhattan and the towers are gone. Gone. In their place is smoke. I couldn't believe it. I still can't.
I start the long walk back home (eight avenues, ugh). I frantically try to call friends and family on the phone, but no luck. And every payphone had a line three deep waiting to use it. I pick up the pace. There weren't many people around, and those that were were listening to radios to get the scoop. I see people ripping open boxes containing radios or video cameras that they had just purchased.
I make my way home and once I reach home and sit down and watch 15 hours of CNN.
All in all, an absolutely amazing day. I can't believe how calm I was. I always wondered how I'd respond to a situation like that, I guess I now know. I still can't imagine what it must have been like to have been in the towers, walking down all those flights of stairs. Or worse yet, been on the place or where the plane hit or above.
Though in retrospect my judgement was a little suspect, I turned out to be pretty damn lucky.
Here are some of the photos I shot. None of them are particularly impressive if you've seen the TV coverage, which, unless you live in a cave you have. But, in case you're interested....
I hope everyone is ok, and I will see you on Thursday.
Where were you?
11 September 2001
Mary Magnolias Photographs
Magnolia Mary's photographs of the Pentagon taken on 16th September 2001.
The photo below was taken on the 11th September
I had worked until midnight on Monday night September 10th 2001. I was tired and not in any big hurry to get up the next morning Tuesday 11th September. I logged on to my computer while I was waiting for the kettle to boil for tea. I read my email. My sister had written that she was having problems getting on to Castlebar.ie. I decided to check it out. It was on the main BB that I learned of the horrific crashes into the World Trade buildings. I honestly thought it was a joke. I quickly turned on the TV and found myself in the middle of a horrible nightmare. A plane had also hit the Pentagon, which is about 10 minutes away from where I currently live. Around 10:12 or 10:17 I heard and felt an explosion. I felt a moment of panic wondering if anything else had been struck nearby. I also heard what I thought were fighter jets flying overhead. Panic really began to set in. I went outside. There are so many trees around where I live I could not see the sky. People were beginning to drift outside speculating on what was happening. I walked to a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 395, which goes over the Potomac River into Washington. People were standing silently on the bridge facing toward Washington. We could see smoke billowing in the distance. We all agreed that it was the Pentagon. Below the bridge the police had closed off the ramp to I 395. No traffic inbound to Washington. I took a few pictures, difficult to do as the bridge is screened over. My brother in Castlebar had phoned and left a message when I was out. I tried numerous times to phone him and other family members to no avail, circuits were busy, the system overloaded. I eventually spoke to two of my sisters in Co Clare and Dorset, England. I emailed M1 at Castlebar.ie and asked him if he would phone my brother in Castlebar and let him know that I was alright. Both he and two other contributors to the BB Dynamo and Mike phoned for me. In the meantime we were trying to establish contact with my son who had recently started a job in Washington near the White House. We eventually heard from him. His building had been evacuated and everyone was told to go home. He was safe in Georgetown. Words fail me when I try to explain how I felt as these events unfolded. Horror, terror, anger, grief are some that come to mind. My family, friends, coworkers are heartbroken as I am. There is a quiet anger but also a feeling of a need to help. The ensuing days have been a blur of watching TV, going to work, trying to move on. I attended Mass on Friday at 12:20 in St Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria. The small church established in 1795 was packed for the somber service. My work week ended leaving the parking garage of my work on Friday night. The security guard was playing his music loud as usual on his boombox. Its always reassuring to have him there leaving the building late at night. He seems to like everything from the Beatles to Elvis. Last night he was playing "Proud to be an American" as I left the building for home.
Stranded in Gander
The following are emails received from Deirdre McGarrigle, from Castlebar, who was heading back to college in Manhattan on 11th September when her flight was diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, following the attack on the World Trade Centre. We also have an account from Peter Jordan in Florida on his reactions to the attacks.12 Sep 09:16
I'm in Canada. David's waiting in line for the phone right now to try to phone to let you know where we are but I just thought I'd try this to let you know in case you get this first. We sat on the ground for about 15 hours or more and then they took us off the plane and we are in a school now. I can't spend long on this because there are other people waiting. About 10,000 people were directed to the airport we landed in (Gander, Newfoundland). If you called Continental you might know this already.
Will ring when I can
12 September 14:26
Everyone else will have to forgive me for not writing
to them all this time because I don't remember all the
email addresses. Can't get on to hotmail.
We were the first plane to arrive in Gander yesterday.
But we sat in the plane for 15 hours on the run way
before we were able to get off. They let all planes
that weren't American airlines off first because of
the security scare and they wanted to search all of
our bags. We took just our carry on stuff off.
Unfortunately all of the food was in the other bags
except for the crisps and we were low on water so we
thought it would be better not to eat it even though
we starving during the 15 hours. Eventually after
clearing customs we were bused in school buses to a
school in a local town. There are about 800 people
here in the school. At the airport they gave us some
food to take on the bus with us. Here we have a mat in
the gym and we all took the blankets and pillows from
the plane with us. We've heard that between 30 and 50
planes landed in this small airport. Ours was the
smallest a 757 with about 200 people on it! The local
people are here organising the whole thing and
constantly cooking in the school kitchen. So we are
warm and fed and have tv etc. It sounds like all
bridges to Manhattan are shut so even if the borders
open today and we get flown back to Newark we have no
place to go for the moment so hopefully we'll just be
kept here for another while! Anyway, there are still
other people waiting for computers so I'd better go.
13 September 2001 01:02
Hi again
Well, we are still in Canada so there's no
need to worry. By the
time we get back I'm sure the bridges will be open. It
sounds like there might be a chance of getting out of
here tomorrow I hope. In the meantime the people here
are being great and we are being really well looked
after. The town has 1000 people in it and I reckon
everyone of them has been cooking food at home and
bringing it here to the school or bringing blankets
and pillows and soap etc to make us more comfortable.
It's amazing how wonderful they have been. A band even
came and set up outside to entertain the masses!! We
got an email from Phil - he was in Manhattan and the
time of the attack and got stuck there but he just got
home so it sounds like we will actually be able to get
from New Jersey to Manhattan in the end. All David's
other friends in Manhattan are ok too. Phil had spoken
to all of them. It's
all very surreal from our vantage point here in
Lakewood Academy, Glenwood, Newfoundland, Canada!
I'll email again tomorrow if I can and let you know
what's happening and where I am.
13 September 2001 23:33
Looks like we are going to be out of here in an hour or so. The first buses are expected here shortly for a Northwestern airlines flight and then we are next. They are saying that our flight will leave at 3.30 am tonight. It's 8pm now. So hopefully we'll be back in New York tomorrow morning. Phil said that he would come collect us. It sounds like we will be able to get into Manhattan by the more northern bridges. Someone just came in and said that they found a bomb in LaGaurdia and that all the airports are closed again. Hopefully it's just a scare. I don't know where the info came from. I'll email or ring as soon as I can.
14 September 2001 02:44
Well looks like we will be leaving Newfoundland soon. We are expecting the buses to collect us in order to take us to the airport at 11.30 pm. It's 11 now. It sounds like we will be taking off at 6am but hopefully it'll be sooner. The latest thing is that they are not going to tell us where we are flying to. We won't know the destination until after we take off. I still think that they're going to fly us to Newark but who knows. I hear the three NY airports are still closed. It's hard to tell what's real and what's not. I think that they arrested three or four suspicious people in JFK. The thing about the bomb seems just to have been a rumour. So all I know for sure is that I'll be leaving here in about a half an hour, I'll be flying somewhere at some stage in the next seven or eight hours. I'll let you know when I get there.
A perspective from the US...
12 September 2001 00:52:28:
In my almost 4 years here in the US I have never experienced a day like it even with a hurricane bearing down on Florida. To say the entire country is in shock is an understatement. Disbelief or lack of registration of what has actually happened and the momentous, vast tragedy of it is probably the closest I could come to describing what it's like.
I scanned across the radio dial a couple of times all day and the TV - I have never seen one story take up every bit of air time simultaneously. Shopping malls are closed, cinemas are closed, theme parks are closed. Partly out of security measures and fear but partly out of the fact that people don't feel like enjoying themselves this evening and feel guilty about laughing or being too cheerful in public and partly out of respect for the dead who must be expected to run into the tens of thousands.
Florida is under a state of emergency. Urgent Red Cross blood appeals are being issued nationwide. Unfortunately they won't accept mine because of BSE since I've lived in the UK but up to now I've always been afraid to give blood but would have done so this evening if I could.
The International land lines out of the country as well as into it all day have been chaotic with up to ten minutes effort per call required.
I was due to leave here next week via Toronto in Canada - I don't know what implications this will have for that although one of America's great but also quite chilling traits has been its ability to return to normality in the face of tragedy and adversity - It is amazing to look up into the sky today or tonight and see not a single vapor trail or airplane light.
God bless and help those who've been personally involved in this - I've already talked to people today who have known and dealt with people in the World Trade Center and are now feared quite likely dead. Undoubtedly amongst the ruins of Manhattan lie many Irish along with all the other nationalities. It is a sad sad day for the whole world. The only hope is that out of it might emerge something new and good....