What it was like to jump from the World Trade Center on 09-11-01

VARIOUS ^ | 10-01-01 | Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

What it was like to jump from
the World Trade Center
(on 09-11-01)

View from the Open Promenade

View from the Observatory

Inside the Observatory.

On the top. Imagine trying to be rescued by "chopper.

Its windy up top.

This is a view from the top.

A view looking at the tower next door.

A view towards the river.

On the top.

View UP UP UP.

Photo, from World Trade Center observation deck, looking north to midtown Manhattan.

Photo, from World Trade Center observation deck, looking east to the Brooklyn Bridge and beyond

[vannrox]

Wow. As I kind of expected, People are polarized on this issue. About 1/2 of the comments (so far) are very much against posting the images, and about 50% are very thankful for posting them.


The WTC incident has really affected the entire country. But there are those of us (like my self) WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE IN A SKY SCRAPER.


I have never been in a Sky Scraper, and if I have, I probably have never been higher than 10 floors. So this was a real eye opener for me. It has helped me understand somewhat the terror the people felt. Gosh, just looking at some of the pictures terrified me.


I don't want to elaborate, but I am really shaken up by this entire incident. I, in my own way, am trying to reconcile this event. I just want to help others who like me, are having a hard time adjusting.

[Taliesan]

but I would rather die fighting to get out than to jump.

They probably jumped literally out of the flames.

[big bad easter bunny]

Video

[LeeMcCoy]

I agree, a very sad thank-you for posting these. Today as the liberal media attempts to weaken our resolve, we MUST remember the horror that so many faced on that terrible day!

NEVER FORGET!!!

[lds23]

Thanks for posting these. I sometimes think, although I try not to, of the horror these people went through. The A wall of flames behind you, colleagues burnt or maimed or killed, and your only other option a hopefully quicker death as you are trapped against the outside windows. And I can't imagine the actual impact and result.....

And the media wants to show us closeups of the poor tent people in the desert? Please.

I do not mean any disrespect to those who lost loved ones, or to those who went through this horror. But I do think of them, and sorrow.

And never forget. I will never ever forget.

[Fred25]

Univision, the Spanish-language cable channel, showed video of about 6 or 7 people falling. Those scenes were censored from American TV. I think they should have been shown to us Americans because they were horrible scenes and I think they would cause more of the liberals to support the war.

[Republic of Texas]

Morbid or not, WE CAN NEVER FORGET! The photos that get to me the most, are those of people jumping from the towers. Forcing people to choose between jumping to their death and burning to death, I can't begin to imagine the horror of that situation.

WE NEED TO BE BRUTAL, WE NEED TO BE SURE, WE CAN NEVER FORGET...WHY...WE ARE FIGHTING.

[mafree]

I've been at the top of the WTC before and you can bet the thought of falling from there is scary. It's hard enough to be up there and look down at the ground and I'm not normally afraid of heights. I can't begin to imagine what those poor souls trapped up there on 9/11 must have been feeling. At least I was able to get on an elevator and leave when I was ready to go.

[ThirdMate]

Let us never forget that on 9-11-01, Barbarians sacked our cities.

[conservativejunkie]

sick!!

[MHGinTN]

I don't know if this will help, but if you were feeling certain that you would die that day, by fire, smoke inhalation, crushed, or falling to your death, the least painful way to go would be the pain-free impact at the bottom of the long fall. The human nervous system speed limit is such that you would not experience the impact for the annihilation would be so massive and so sudden there would be no time for nerve feedback with the brain. ...

That massive annihilation is what I feel should be rained down upon the terrorists' benefactors, their supporters, the talibunnies and any that harbor or promote the use of terror against civilians in their demonic effort to please their evil allah. 'Evil allah,' you might ask? Yes, for what diety would call the slaughter of the innocent with malice a forethought as a good thing? Do our bombs occasionally kill innocent civilians? Yes, but the main difference is our intent, as we try to reduce the death to innocent persons to the lowest possible; we are seeking to kill the military power that holds a demonic lock over the innocent civilians and exports this evil that attacks the innocent purposely, instead of making war on a military, and thus to free the nation to live without the evil now over them. You want to argue with that notion of the difference? Take it up with God; I'm satisfied that their allah is not He, not The God of Grace. [My 'you' is used as a non-specific pronoun here.]

[Diogenesis]

[cricket]

Know many different feelings here; avoided this post initially, because I thought it was of the people on 9/11/; then realized otherwise.

Find pictures not morbid; just breathtaking, hauntingly beautiful. . .

. . .and there are many who have never 'been there' and this will certainly give them a perspective they did not have.

[GWfan]

I think this is a good post. We as a nation, have become so PC that we don't want to look at any pain or suffering that might directly affect us. We need to see these pictures so that we won't forget. We need to know that if we don't fight this war, that more of this is waiting for us.

We need to quit glossing over the truth. You did nothing perverse or in bad taste. You showed no mangled flesh or impaled bodies. Yet even if you did, it would still be the truth. This is important. We need a constant reminder of what we are fighting against. We are so used to the filter of our media that maybe some don't want the truth.

[Black Agnes]

There are many many many pictures here. In fact, the pictures loaded on pages 1-29 of this url are only representative of some of the pictures. Once you've clicked on a picture, click on 'next' to go to the next picture. Most of the pictures are not on the 1-29 top pages...

Lots of WTC fotos, some from foreign media, some from local people.

There is a whole sequence in here from someone who shot digital camera pictures from their laptop as they were being evacuated from the building. Lots of debris in the courtyard is visible from the shots from the lobby. What is heartbreaking are the pictures in the stairwell as people are going down being evacuated and firemen on their way up. Tragic, just tragic

[Steve_Seattle]

"They calculated that their inevitable death might be less painful . . ."

I'm not sure how much calculating was going on. I think in many cases it was a sheer animal avoidance of pain right now , not a calculated decision on how to die. Even something is ordinary as a speck in the eye can cause unbearable pain, so if you are burning up or choking on fumes, you jump, you don't even think about it.

[spectre]

A couple of hours into this trajedy...I went over to the WTC webcam. A view from the top of the WTC. I printed out a picture of what two young men gazing out into the New York sky-line. Only their backs were visible. It seemed to be the last picture transmitted from the WTC.

I am wondering if anyone else saw this picture and if the owners of the web-site saved it?

No need to ask what became of these two.

sw

[Republic]

Thank you for caring enough to remind us of the absolute horror of that choice so many made on that infamous day. It is astounding and heartbreaking. And your post adds that raw reality of what it looked like-the sheer terror that causes someone, just begining a normal day in their lives. to jump to his or her death, preferring the fall to burning alive. An awesome reminder that this was a reality for people not so different from you and I. God Bless you vannrox, I know I will never forget.

[jwfiv]

Check it out, Serb.

[chit*chat]

Thank you for posting. I often think of those people and what circumstances would have compelled them to take such action.

I was also surpised to see how spectacular the view was and can now understand why it was such a tourist attraction. Though I usually avoid cities, crowds and tall buildings, I can understand why my husband tried so often to take me to NY (I have never been), and why he was so impressed with the city.

It must have been a wonderful place to spend a day, touring, shopping and dining.

We watced the special on the contruction of the WTC. It was facinating. But it reminded me of the Titanic. Just as the Titanic had too few lifeboats, the narrow stairwells seem to me not to have been large enough to handle a mass evacuation of the building. I thought that was poor planning and hope in the future that issue is addressed.