Do you remember where you were on 9/11?

[SolarRay]

My account is no doubt the account of numerous others. I was just a couple miles from WTC. I heard the first impact and immediately felt like something was wrong because of the quality and proximity of the resulting boom. However, we’ve had transformer explosions and the like so I just turned on the news expecting to see a matter like that on the breaking news. As soon as I heard something was going on down there, I raced up to the roof and saw the tower smoking, prominent as they used to be in the lower Manhattan skyline. Over the next several minutes, all the rooftops around me started filling up with people from their apartments below. That's not unusual on, say, the 4th of July when people come up to watch the fireworks, but I'd never seen it quite so busy up there. The second plane came in and struck. Everyone was shocked and terrified and frantically asking what was happening. It was just a cacophony of confused voices.

I remember seeing the towers collapse right in front of me. However, what really sticks out in my mind, more than anything else that day, is the ungodly sound of a multitude of voices wailing all at once. It wasn't like hearing a bunch of people screaming. It was deeply ominous, full of haunting inflections, each expressing a genuine degree of anguish. It was like we were all a bunch of macabre foley artists, generating a ghastly roar to provide a sound effect for the otherwise silently crumbling tower in the distance. -- I can still recall it perfectly in my head and it still unnerves me in precisely the same way.

Later, I looked down at the avenue nearby and saw a grim scene; a handful of people in suits powdered in white dust that must have just walked blocks and blocks like that to get as far away as possible, toward wherever their homes were. They must have been numerous more, drifting in all directions across the city. They looked like stunned ghosts. I was close enough that my neighborhood was shut down to traffic and I had to take proof that I lived there to get back if I wandered out, which I did. Eventually, I visited a series of blocks by one of the National Guard headquarters which had become a sort of Missing Persons Row. It was positively wallpapered in images of missing loved ones, hung with such hasty desperation that there were signs on top of signs, which inevitably peeled off and were left to become trampled. No space was left bare. Even mailboxes were covered in flapping pieces of paper with family photos and pleas for help. It was a frustrating, depressing scene, not just because of the sheer magnitude of it, but also because you couldn't help but leave there with such a blur of countless faces that one couldn't possibly provide any one of them with the dignity or attention that their families wished for. Wanting to do something, I remember strolling into a makeshift site for providing aid and immediately volunteered but was sent away as they were already at capacity. Thus, I went home and sat helplessly in front of the television along with everyone else.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I remember seeing the towers collapse right in front of me. However, what really sticks out in my mind, more than anything else that day, is the ungodly sound of a multitude of voices wailing all at once. It wasn't like hearing a bunch of people screaming. It was deeply ominous, full of haunting inflections, each expressing a genuine degree of anguish. It was like we were all a bunch of macabre foley artists, generating a ghastly roar to provide a sound effect for the otherwise silently crumbling tower in the distance. -- I can still recall it perfectly in my head and it still unnerves me in precisely the same way.

Fuck. That is the best/worst description of the gates of hell opening up that I have ever read. Cudos. Such horror.

 

[SimonDoom]

My account is no doubt the account of numerous others. I was just a couple miles from WTC. I heard the first impact and immediately felt like something was wrong because of the quality and proximity of the resulting boom. However, we’ve had transformer explosions and the like so I just turned on the news expecting to see a matter like that on the breaking news. As soon as I heard something was going on down there, I raced up to the roof and saw the tower smoking, prominent as they used to be in the lower Manhattan skyline. Over the next several minutes, all the rooftops around me started filling up with people from their apartments below. That's not unusual on, say, the 4th of July when people come up to watch the fireworks, but I'd never seen it quite so busy up there. The second plane came in and struck. Everyone was shocked and terrified and frantically asking what was happening. It was just a cacophony of confused voices.

I remember seeing the towers collapse right in front of me. However, what really sticks out in my mind, more than anything else that day, is the ungodly sound of a multitude of voices wailing all at once. It wasn't like hearing a bunch of people screaming. It was deeply ominous, full of haunting inflections, each expressing a genuine degree of anguish. It was like we were all a bunch of macabre foley artists, generating a ghastly roar to provide a sound effect for the otherwise silently crumbling tower in the distance. -- I can still recall it perfectly in my head and it still unnerves me in precisely the same way.

Later, I looked down at the avenue nearby and saw a grim scene; a handful of people in suits powdered in white dust that must have just walked blocks and blocks like that to get as far away as possible, toward wherever their homes were. They must have been numerous more, drifting in all directions across the city. They looked like stunned ghosts. I was close enough that my neighborhood was shut down to traffic and I had to take proof that I lived there to get back if I wandered out, which I did. Eventually, I visited a series of blocks by one of the National Guard headquarters which had become a sort of Missing Persons Row. It was positively wallpapered in images of missing loved ones, hung with such hasty desperation that there were signs on top of signs, which inevitably peeled off and were left to become trampled. No space was left bare. Even mailboxes were covered in flapping pieces of paper with family photos and pleas for help. It was a frustrating, depressing scene, not just because of the sheer magnitude of it, but also because you couldn't help but leave there with such a blur of countless faces that one couldn't possibly provide any one of them with the dignity or attention that their families wished for. Wanting to do something, I remember strolling into a makeshift site for providing aid and immediately volunteered but was sent away as they were already at capacity. Thus, I went home and sat helplessly in front of the television along with everyone else.

This is one of the most powerful recollections of it I've ever read.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

On this topic, have you ever referenced September 11 in any of your works, either in hindsight or foreshadowing? I've done it quite a few times.

Sort of. Here: https://www.literotica.com/s/catharsis-6

It's weird. I wrote a piece of BDSM porn about it, but I can't bring myself to just post here about it.
But, as I hope we've established, in general, I'm weird.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Solar Ray-
Echoing what Simon and EB wrote, that's a truly powerful description. And, no, it's unlike almost every one else's here.

I remember that feeling of helplessness, the deep instinctive desire to do something, anything. And the gnawing frustration of that impulse being thwarted, or overwhelmed.
I appreciate you being willing to share.
Belle

 

[SolarRay]

Thanks SD/EB/BC -- definitely a feeling of helplessness was prominent, I think for everyone regardless of where you were. But since then, so many instances of connectedness and compassion.

 

[BadAmy]

I was lying on my sofa in my apartment, recovering from.back surgery and watching the today show. They went to a clip of the first tower burning and i thought how horrible that a plane accidentally hit...
Then on a live feed...i saw the second plane hit, and was instantly terrified. It was at that moment, I knew it was deliberate. And i was never so scared in my life, right then.

 

[Gelista]

I'm Australian, it happened at night here. I was 19 and went to a mates house to watch a movie and have a couple drinks with some other friends. The first plane hit when I was driving back home. Walked in the door and my old man was all "shit, come here, you have to see this". And then stayed up all night watching the aftermath

 

[vanmyers86]

A belated thank you to everyone who shared a memory here. I truly appreciate and value your stories and insights about that terrible day.

Van

 

[KeithD]

It was a good thread. Thanks for initiating it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Here's a slightly different take on the event, which involves the nature of firefighting and emergency services.

At that time I had moved back to New York, but my ex-wife and kids were still in a suburban New Jersey town called West Orange - I was often back there for visits. During my time in New Jersey I was aware of how important the concept of "mutual aid" was. For larger fires and emergencies, smaller communities depend (all over the United States, in fact) on neighboring towns to send in fire companies and ambulance services for assistance.

While living in several New Jersey places in the 1980s and 1990s, I noted the units from various towns that would readily assist whenever needed. Sometimes there would be four or five municipalities represented. One volunteer firefighter I met in Hawthorne mentioned that the many of his calls were to the neighboring larger city of Paterson.

The New York Fire Department is so large that it rarely needs to call for assistance. Of course, with 9/11 there was a influx of first responders from all over the country. About a week after the event I happened to be on Canal Street in Manhattan, and parked there was a vehicle from the West Orange department. The sight of that, that one little detail, gave me a feeling that's hard to describe. Hopeful, perhaps.

[It works the other way too. The NYFD sent people and equipment to New Orleans after Katrina.

https://www.dianakelly.com/portfolio/beyond-nyc-limits-the-fdnys-response-to-hurricane-katrina/]

 

[MetaBob]

I will never forget

Redacted.

 

[Hypoxia]

My sister (or maybe it was my mother) called. My cousin was aboard the first plane.

Aw shit. I grieve with you.

My partner and I were running COBOL compiles from home on our dialup terminals. My mother called to say my sister was okay. Why shouldn't she be? Well, her transit cop office was in WTC-1 -- but she was on subway patrol then and so survived. Too many of our sister-in-laws' corporate coworkers there didn't. "TURN ON THE TV!" Mom yelled. I wish I hadn't.

 

[vanmyers86]

My cousin was aboard the first plane.

I heard it, and I reacted. I bawled. I'd never done that before. I had a couple hours of reasonably productive work before that, but after that ... no way. I asked to have the rest of the day off, and I got it.

I'm just about crying now, fwiw.

MetaBob, I am so very sorry for your loss. Grief has its own timetable, doesn't it? Thank you for sharing your story.

Hypoxia, at that time, my parents lived near DC. I remember the panic I felt between the time I called and the moment my mother picked up. They had turned off the morning news before it all started and so had no idea. The news tumbled out of me, and I still recall my mother shouting, "Turn on the TV!" at my father and him fussing at her before both lapsed into silence. I wonder how many people yelled that exact sentence that day? Tens of thousands?

 

[JKendallDane]

My cousin was aboard the first plane.

I heard it, and I reacted. I bawled. I'd never done that before. I had a couple hours of reasonably productive work before that, but after that ... no way. I asked to have the rest of the day off, and I got it.

I'm just about crying now, fwiw.

FWIW, MetaBob, I think a lot of us just shared a tear with you too after reading your post. Intense, moving, and a stark reminder of how the impact of the 3,000 that died that day so quickly multiplied exponentially into their families and friends, and eventually the entire population as a whole.

The news tumbled out of me, and I still recall my mother shouting, "Turn on the TV!" at my father and him fussing at her before both lapsed into silence. I wonder how many people yelled that exact sentence that day? Tens of thousands?

I didn't include that point of view in my original post. My partner had worked closing shift at the place he bartended at and was still asleep when everything began. He was 20 years younger than me and never "into" watching the news, so I didn't even consider waking him up over the first plane hitting the towers. When I watched the second plane hit live and after a few moments of just staring at the images on the TV screen in stunned silence, I ran back to our bedroom and shook him awake. I can still hear my own words: "You need to come out to the family room and watch TV. The United States is under attack. As in: they are flying planes into skyscrapers in NYC."

That only got "What the fuck are you talking about?" as a response. "The country is under attack! Come on!" was all I gave him back as I almost literally pulled him from the bed.

By this time the news was a cluster of constantly changing scenes bouncing from the endless-loop replays of the first images of Tower One burning and Tower Two being struck, to news anchors and reporters talking over each other describing whatever "live on the ground" video and long-distance skyline views were being rapid-fire fed to them and the nation at any particular second.

When the news broke of the strike on the Pentagon followed so quickly with the South Tower collapsing, along with reports of multiple hijacked and unaccounted for airliners, my partner finally offered "Wow. This is like history in the making."

I only answered ominously with "I just hope this isn't us watching the beginning of the end of history."

.

 

[Hypoxia]

I'll go meta. Who remembers globally significant events? What really shook us?

My first major shock was of JFK. I was in junior high school typing class when the PA announced the shooting. A little later, in science class, came the death notice, and school dismissal. That affect me more than later assassinations (RFK, King, Malcolm), more than anything till 9/11.

I remember Dr King's murder -- cities (including my San Francisco) burned with riots. I don't recall such reactions to... well, US war crimes are too political for this forum. Okay, forget I brought this up.

 

[JKendallDane]

I'll go meta. Who remembers globally significant events? What really shook us?

My first major shock was of JFK. I was in junior high school typing class when the PA announced the shooting. A little later, in science class, came the death notice, and school dismissal. That affect me more than later assassinations (RFK, King, Malcolm), more than anything till 9/11.

I remember Dr King's murder -- cities (including my San Francisco) burned with riots. I don't recall such reactions to... well, US war crimes are too political for this forum. Okay, forget I brought this up.

Nah, it's a good segue for the thread, Hypoxia.

My first recollection was JFK also. Even though I was only in second grade, it was something I understood was going to change the country and possibly the world.

The Apollo 1 fire in 1967 was almost a complete game changer for the USA and Russia with the space programs.

RFK and MLK just months apart in '68 definitely make the list too.

We lived close enough to Kent State for May 4, 1970 to have been permanently burned into my memory as the landmark turning point for the opposition at home towards the Vietnam War.

After that, other than the Challenger explosion in 1986, nothing else really jumps out at me until 9-11.

.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I'll go meta. Who remembers globally significant events? What really shook us?

My first major shock was of JFK. I was in junior high school typing class when the PA announced the shooting. A little later, in science class, came the death notice, and school dismissal. That affect me more than later assassinations (RFK, King, Malcolm), more than anything till 9/11.

I remember Dr King's murder -- cities (including my San Francisco) burned with riots. I don't recall such reactions to... well, US war crimes are too political for this forum. Okay, forget I brought this up.

I honestly don't remember where I was or what was going on 9/11. I had kids in 98, 99 and 2000 so I'm assuming I was sleeping or watching some inane children's show.
I sort of remember later that night trying to find a gas station to get gas and they were either out of gas or there were cars in line to get gas for blocks.

I do remember vividly though of the day the WM3 got released. I was glued to my computer, no tv stations were airing any coverage which is complete shit.
I did a few fundraisers to bring awareness to their case and to raise money for their defense fund so hopefully, maybe, I helped in some tiny way.

 

[NoJo]

Was working for a NYC bank in IT - stayed in the office for 72 hours from the moment of the first hit, some colleagues died, one of them a close one. Very traumatic moment for a lot of us, and emblazoned in a permanent after-image in my mind's eye.

 

[Hypoxia]

After that, other than the Challenger explosion in 1986, nothing else really jumps out at me until 9-11.

"Oh shit, this changes stuff!" events, yikes. Assassinations with repercussions. Mass attacks, (un)natural disasters, and atrocities, with media coverage. (*) The Challenger, yes, but Chernobyl moreso -- and Three Mile Island (thanks, CHINA SYNDROME!), Fukushima, Bhopal, Rwanda -- more shit than I want to recall, but they're burnt into memory.
_____

(*) Worse attacks, atrocities, disasters, occur without much notice worldwide. Cataloging those is just too depressing.

 

[Bramblethorn]

"Oh shit, this changes stuff!" events, yikes. Assassinations with repercussions. Mass attacks, (un)natural disasters, and atrocities, with media coverage. (*) The Challenger, yes, but Chernobyl moreso -- and Three Mile Island (thanks, CHINA SYNDROME!), Fukushima, Bhopal, Rwanda -- more shit than I want to recall, but they're burnt into memory.
_____

(*) Worse attacks, atrocities, disasters, occur without much notice worldwide. Cataloging those is just too depressing.

For me: Challenger, Port Arthur, Yitzhak Rabin. Rainbow Warrior. Christchurch. Pulse. Bali. Probably some others, but I'm not indexed the right way to retrieve them easily.

Those are things that made a deep impression on me, not all globally important.

 

[KeithD]

Have to say my first time was the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956. My dad was military intel in Germany. He disappeared for a week and we had to pack up, prepared to evacuate toward France at a moment's notice. My mother was told that all of the private cars would be pulled, dependents would be assigned randomly to cars to meet up in France, and the cars would be driven by soldiers. My mother said in no uncertain terms she was keeping her car and keeping her family together and jolly well knew several routes to use to get to France. They said the soldiers knew how to take care of the cars and get them out of Germany no matter where the Russians would be invading from (the thought was the Russians weren't stopping in Hungary). My mother gave them a tour of the innards of the car matching up with replacement parts we already had and changed a tire. She identified herself as the colonel's wife and repeated she was keeping her car. (She didn't note that at that time she was the spy of the family and worked for someone else who wanted her mobile). She kept the car, packed with all our evacuation stuff. And the Russians stopped in Hungary. It seemed a big deal at the time.

The next time was both parents disappearing during the abortive Cuba Bay of Pigs operation in 1961. That got our attention at the time too. Some stranger showing up at the house and saying they'd take care of us for a while. No problem.

 

[Tzara]

I am always curious about people's Sept. 11, 2001, stories.

I was getting dressed to fly to Nashville for a customer conference for one of my client companies. I had just come out of the shower when my wife, who was watching the morning news, told me a plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers. We were both thinking that was some kind of awful accident when the second plane hit.

It immediately became obvious i wasn't going anywhere that day. I called my business partner and told him to forget our trip.

I spent the day glued to the internet coverage, reloading the page obsessively, as if somehow something better would come out of it.

I remember my next door neighbor staining his deck in the dark that day, lit only by the limited lighting he had in place over the deck area. I've always thought of that as his trying to make things normal when they were not in any way normal.

I remember the skies being empty for several days.

When I read that a Seattle building might have been an original target really freaked me out.

An awful, awful time.

 

[vanmyers86]

Global crises

Good follow-up question!

As an American, it's sometimes difficult to gauge what affects or engages the entire world. We tend to assume, often times, that if it matters to us, it must matter to everyone. That said, I think the Challenger explosion qualifies. I remember hearing about it after my morning classes, and being absolutely shocked with everyone else in the dining hall. Bhopal eas horrifying, and of course, Chernobyl was too. Although I was alive for other historic events, those are the earliest I have clear memories of.

On a side note, one American news event I didn't expect to go global was the OJ Simpson trial. Like everyone else in the US, I endured the months of the coverage, and I, for one, couldn't wait for it to end. The verdict came the day before I left the country on a 6-month journey overseas, and I was so relieved to think I was escaping it at last. I couldn't believe how many Europeans, Australians and Africans wanted to talk all about it once they learned where I was from. The internet was still in its infancy, but CNN was certainly everywhere. I was astonished at the depth and breadth of people's knowledge.

 

[legerdemer]

On 9/11...

Morning of 9/11/2001: in SoCal, early morning, rushing around getting ready to drive my roommate to the airport. The parents kept calling but we didn’t answer until after we started driving. They told not to bother going, no one was likely to fly anywhere—go back and turn on the news.

We watched, riveted, shocked, crying, disbelieving. I had family in NYC but not close to the towers, and lots of friends. Later we heard from some who watched the towers collapse... We spent the day watching and listening to the news, pretty much in shock.

Other events similar to 9/11 in impact: My first one was hearing about Three Mile Island, the accident at the nuclear power plant. My boyfriend at the time lived fairly close in PA, but luckily no one was really hurt. (Then came Chernobyl.)

Hurricane Katrina was probably the next most shocking after 9/11–watching the effect on New Orleans and the folks living there, how one’s life and family could be swept away, lost...tragic. And Dubbya—his laughable response...

Now the hurricanes just keep coming, furiouser and furiouser.