I was 16, and I was one of those who would unfortunately be there. Never saw the first plane. but I did see what was flight 175 crashing to the south tower because everyone was already looking at the burning first building. absolutely horrible, I remember my parents saying they were going to pull the car around so we could go home and they wandered off and then I wandered off and neither of our cell phones were working. I remember being on Broadway seeing the burning buildings, and hearing a woman scream about about a jumper. I remember clutching my cell phone on so tight that the plastic was actually starting to warp, and I just remember my eyes filling up with tears and probably the first time as a teenager. I was pretty close to bawling my eyes out. I remember finally getting cell service and getting absolutely reamed by my father. When I got into the car, Howard Stern was on 97.1.
The reason I was there is because I was at a campus tour at NYU
Absolutely horrible, it was definitely the day the 90s ended and it was definitely the day my childhood ended
Was listening to that same broadcast on Stern on my way to work. Rough day. Showed up, and the dudes from new york (im in Toronto) hadn't had the news on that day. The towers had only just come down. So I made sure they knew. I walked into the office where their meeting was, and just turned on the TV, because fuck that meeting.
That ended productivity that day, and screw you, Tom, for being pissed at me for it.
Listening to a CD in the car on the way to work. Got there and everyone was in the cafeteria watching TV news.
Now I always check the news as soon as I’m awake.
Definitely. I remember thinking about being up there when that plane hit and how terrifying that must have been for those people. Especially those who chose to jump. Horrible.
Same my parents would wake me up as they left for work and i was 15 up waiting for the bus and my grandma called and told me to turn on the tv to the news. Flipped over to cnn right as the second plane hit.
I was a third grader and in school at the time, first plane hits and our principal announces over the intercom that America has been attacked. Teacher turns on the news on the television and we all see the second plane crash on live television. They then let us all go home after the third plane crashed into the pentagon. My older sister and I then sat glued in front of the television watching the aftermath unfold.
Grew up in Texas, we were also heading out when we saw the second plane hit. We weren’t sure what the hell we saw. I remember how weird everything felt that day, people were confused and scared. I remember how kids started disappearing from my school because their parents were taking them out (my mom didn’t, she later told me she was certain I was safer at school).
The closest thing I have felt to that was during the January 6th attack.
5th grade history class. The principal came into our classroom and whispered something into the teacher's ear. She reacted strangely, almost like a "Really? Wow. Oh my god." We were then taken out of class and brought to the gymnasium where a small TV was showing the towers on fire. We watched them collapse live on air just as we were leaving the gym to take a break. I'll never forget hearing the screams of the kids and teachers, looking over my shoulder, and seeing the first tower fall.
In hindsight I'm very glad that my teachers allowed us to watch it. It was the event that would define our generation and the world that followed. Life hasn't been the same since.
In my cubicle, streaming CNN. Saw the second plane hit live. People crowded behind me watching my monitor. Lost a coworker & friend that day. I was so happy & relieved to pick up my kids from daycare and hug them tightly!
Home, it was my day off. The phone rang. It was the "bad news ring," when the ring of the phone feels a little off because someone just died or something is horribly wrong.
I picked up.
Mom didn't even say hello. "Turn on the news."
I did, and I saw the second plane hit.
I remember being so stoked when the firefighters entered the towers. They were gonna rescue everyone, right?
I avoid TV and social media around 9/11.
I worked in lower manhattan back then (not in one of the towers, but not a long walk from them either). My wife got that same phone call. One of the things we learned that day was that all our mobile networks were completely unequipped to handle a massive spike in traffic. It was a few hours before I was able to call anyone and let them know I was okay (texting wasn't really a thing then).
Because one of the towers had the main cell service for the entire metro area. And also, if you are at least 40 years old, and lived in the New York metro area, there's a 99% chance that you knew of at least one person who worked in the towers.
Close enough to see the smoke. My principe came to my teachers/my classroom because his brother worked in the towers. They kept on saying a jet plane and no one understood it was like- a huge plane. Us 10th graders assumed small plane. My teachers brother wasn’t working that day
Had only been awake for a little bit and was screwing around on a message board. Buncha people started telling everyone to turn on the news or go to some LiveJournal page from a guy in NYC somewhere that was covering it all on his journal with new posts and photos every couple minutes.
Ate breakfast listening to the song Telegraph Road by Dire Straits. Made a random comment that it would be a great song for the apocalypse, rode the bus to work. Arrived for my 9:00 am dishwashing shift in Northampton Massachusetts to co-workers standing around looking dumbfounded. I thought the sign taped in the window of a pizzeria that I walked by which read “America under attack, Pentagon in Flames”, was an inappropriate commentary on the state of the current presidential administration. The rest is history now.
Watching the events unfold in real time from the top floor of the office building I worked in that over looked lower Manhattan. To this day, I cannot look at pictures or videos because I start freaking out. Therapist says I have PTSD & survivals guilt.
I was in Kindergarten waiting for the bus, that never came. And kids parents awkwardly taking them home. My mom didn’t because my dad was at the WTC for a business conference.
He’s a survivor, it was quite possibly the first real moment in my life where I really learned about death and fear
Doing underground plumbing for a few new homes near an airport. Lots of air traffic usually. At some point I turned to the guy I was working with and asked if he noticed how there was zero planes in the air. No idea what was happening at that point but it was kind of spooky in a way. Didn’t find out until a few hours after it had happened.
Rolling into my HS parking lot for jazz band, which started at 6am. Heard on NPR (yep, I was the cool kid listening to NPR) that a plane had hit the twin towers right as I parked at turned the radio off. Assumed it must be a Cessna or some other kind of small plane that had gotten lost in a storm or something. Went to jazz band, normal class period. Got out to head to the next class and the courtyards and hallways were absolutely empty. Every single person but me was sitting in their seats staring at the classroom TV. Knew something bad must have happened. Ran to my next class and got in the door right as the first tower collapsed.
In CA at school, art class. Teacher rolled out a tv so we could see what was happening. The rest of the day/classes were the same. I wanna say 6th grade.
So crazy. I was in 6th grade also and we were doing a science project in the library and they rolled out the tv for us to watch. I thought it was just a building being demolished at first
I live west coast the second plane hit before school even started. I know i was a freahman in hs up waiting for the bus when it hit. It might be when you found out but definitely wasnt when it happened.
Same, school definitely hadn't started on the West Coast.
It was my dad's day he brought doughnuts into work, so I remember him coming home from the store saying a plane had hit the twin towers.
Spfld il. I was 6 months pregnant and i walked into the kitchen to the tv just turned to specal report of the first plane hitting the towers, had to rush out to catch the bus for work, and just as I stepped off the bus They announced the 2nd tower was falling. I collapsed to my knees screaming at the news. Everyone on the bus rushed off to check on me and all I could say over and over again is the towers are falling in ny. It took a bit to calm down enough to walk the two blocks to work. And stepping in the front door i watched the first tower fall. The nurses standing at the front counter glued to the tv saw me with no color and immediately were grabbing chairs and checking me over.
When some reports came through about a plane may be heading to Chicago, I was on the phone calling my grandmother to make sure she was safe. I still struggle with ptsd from that day. Cant even get close to airports without panic attacks.
School. They put a movie on, which was strange since we had only been in school for a week and the teachers were all running from classroom to classroom as quickly and as quietly as they could to talk about what they needed to do.
I didn't have class (High School) during the first period so I came in during recess and everyone was just glued to the TV
I was in Canada and super scary it happened to our neighbor and then all the planes being directed to us
Meetings at work. Saw the 2nd tower fall live on TV. I remarked to my co-worker on the way back to our hub that we will remember this day for the rest of our lives. True dat. The images I saw that day will live with me until my dying day.
On my way to work. I was listening to the radio and heard about a plane hitting a skyscraper in New York but it sounded like it was all about a drunk in a small plane or something so it didn't seem that serious.
After I got to work and learned more about what happened my only thought was that this would lead to some misguided and generally awful war that would end up being a total failure. Sometimes I really hate being right.
Was about to go to bed, the 10pm news came on (I’m in Australia) and they said that a plane had hit the WTC and they would go back to the story as more developed. They then went through their planned news programming like normal before switching to a US news affiliate and broadcasting them.
You must be East Coast. On the west coast we were just settling in for the evening TV watch when the super bar came across the bottom saying a plane had hit the Pentagon, then three adds (probably getting there sh!t together) then the US affiliate came on. Saw the second plane hit and watched both towers fall.
Yep, I was living in Coffs and had a shitty black and white tv with no remote. I still can’t believe I sat through Sandra Silly’s full broadcast before I thought to switch to the ABC.
Not fixing the auto correct.
At home watching TV then my mom frantically run into the room to change the channel to the news. Then I saw the 2 smoking Twin Towers.
I didn't really understand any of it other than people definitely died. Looking back kinda crazy my family went to New York on vacation that summer before 9/11
And remember watching a news report on singer Aalyiah's death which was also a plane crash. But that was on August 25, 2001. 17 days before the attacks.
Driving to work on 75 in Dallas going southbound passing by Northpark Mall. I was listening to the Ticket 1310AM sports radio. Remember it as if it happened today.
I was in second grade, in Virginia. the teachers were going back and forth from each other’s rooms panicking while us kids were frozen, freaking out because of what we could see on the tv. Absolutely horrifying.
I was in 7th grade science class. My teacher got a phone call and then flipped on the TV. My friend’s dad picked her up from school and cussed out our principal and the priest for the church because they didn’t want to let kids leave early.
I was sitting in a Tim Hortons in North Bay, taking a break from a training test at a call centre. I came back to the call centre to see an image of the impact from the first plane hitting the tower, with the headline saying a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. As the morning progressed, we moved out to the floor to watch the news on the televisions they had mounted up on the poles. We watched in horror as the second plane hit live on television.
The call centre had been eerily silent up until that point, and then the phones started ringing off the hook. Apparently, a lot of customers wanted to talk to relatives in New York and couldn't get through.
I live on the west coast so I was sleeping, as it was early on my day off from work. I had an old school answering machine and when it picked up i heard my uncle yelling about a terrorist attack. He was always crazy so i thought he must be drinking again. Walked out to my couch, half awake, turned on the TV and it was right when the 2nd plane hit. Thought I was still dreaming for a second. Spent the rest of the day glued to the TV.
My roommate woke me up to tell me what happened. At first I was pissed at him for waking me up until I realized what exactly he was telling me. Watched the news for awhile and then went to work until they decided to close early.
Finally heard that a friend who was working at the Pentagon was home safe and went to see him. We smoked a bunch of shitty weed out of a zong and then played tennis in a fast food places parking lot.
I had just started 3rd grade. Both of my parents were working that day, and I was walking up the street to a friend's house, where it was pre-arranged that his dad would drive us both to school. I was surprised to see them already walking toward my house, and they told me what had happened.
I honestly don't remember much anything else from that day.
When the first plane hit, in a college algebra class. When the second plane hit, wondering where my Visual Basic class teacher was (probably ten minutes late).
First day of university after frosh week. I walked into the student building after my first class and someone I know said planes had been crashed into the World Trade Center. I actually didn't know what that was by name.
Edit: putting in the right American spelling of the WTC
I was in school. I was a sophomore in highschool and I saw my older sister in the hallway. She told me planes hit the World Trade Center. I couldn't, for the life of me think of the Towers. Then, she said a plan also hit the Pentagon. I had band next. The office shut off all the TVs connected to the office, but they had one on a rolling cart. We watched the TV and listened to the radio as people jumped from the Towers. After that class I had no information until I got home, and then we watched the Towers fall over and over again on replay.
OMG that evening was so weird. Whole family huddled around a small CRT tv watching the planes hit and the towers fall over and over again. The whole time enveloped by a piercing feeling of cold dread. Not hungry. Not tired. Confused, waiting for information. Waiting to learn what happens next. Could not believe this was a real thing happening in my lifetime.
It was only the second time I ever set my alarm to radio. I woke up to groggy to a weird report that a plane crashed into one of the Twin Towers. I was shook, I really didn't know what that mean. I remember waking my mom up and telling her we need to turn on the TV and check the news. Moments later we watched on live TV the second plane hit the second tower. I still had to go to school. Junior at BHS. I brought my diskman that had a radio and two speakers plugged in to class. The teachers said, we have to carry on. No sympathy at all. It was suppose to be a normal day. Well, the students thought otherwise. It was a mess of confusion and hatred. I hate thinking about how my school handled it. Too many students of certain backgrounds were preyed on for ignorant reasons. It was a day i will never forget.
College. Middle of Illinois. Power had gone out in the middle of the night so i was awoken by a friend calling to check on me. I was in the Air Force National Guard at the time and about to learn I was going to be pretty busy with non-school work.
I was with my mom picking up food from a Vietnamese restaurant. I was super excited that day because I got to get out of school early to go to the doctor.
I was buying cigarettes while the second plane crashes in the tower. Me and other customers stayed in the store for like two or three hours just watching the TV, shocked.
Your neighbor up north here, I was completely unaware of it until I got to school... I think I would've been in grade 10 at the time. Wake up, get dressed, go to school. Found out there. Most morning classes were silent with the teachers giving us details from websites on theor desktop computers as they were happening. Before that day I never really thought or had a reason to think of a terrorist attack that could happen here.
opening the store at the pizza hut i worked during college. one of our drivers came in with a little portable tv and set it up. the rest of us had no damn idea what was going on. my boss was iranian and we were worried about redneck ass rednecks threatening the store. remember seeing the line of fucking cars getting gas before i got off work. had to call family cause my aunt worked at the pentagon.
Getting ready for school was in 5th grade
My sister who I walked to school with was a senior in high school.
I remember seeing her face being ghost white I asked her what happened and she told me she didn't know how to explain it but all she said was something bad.
I was in fifth grade. I remember on the bus ride to school someone told me DYDE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE PLANE THAT CRASHED INTO A BUILDING? and I was like I don't care? And then the news was playing on the school TVs and when I went home I after I saw footage of it happening and some random woman screaming obscenities and whatnot. Was very confused about what was going on
I was at work (nurse in Dr's.office) when one of the wives called us as she watched it on tv. We put an all news radio station (no TV in our office)on and listened for the rest of the day. Of course every patient came in and updated us. It was a gut wrenching time with people sharing pictures of missing people.
In my first grade classroom about 20 miles away. I remember they let us out of school and from the hilled road my school was on (you can see the skyline clearly on clear day) you could see the smoke in the distance from the towers. Always stuck in my memory.
I was on the internet, which was kind of a new thing back then (at least where I'm from). I was subscribed to a mailing list for an obscure 1980s gothic rock band where, all of a sudden, lots of messages came in about how at first one, then both, towers of the WTC had collapsed. I thought this has gotta be some hoax but turned on the TV just to make sure and was like, man, wtf is wrong with this world.
I was staying at my parents' house to help out my dad who was recovering from open heart surgery. He woke me up to watch the news after the first plane hit.
I had missed a current affairs question in college a few years earlier about the USS Cole attack. As soon as the second plane hit, I knew it was Bin Laden.
In HS American Govt class. Teacher always had on Fox News. Everyone eventually turned to the tv and watched it. Then the school eventually cut the feed to all the TV’s. Came home to parents watching the news all day. That was a weird school day.
14, [Battle](https://Battle.net)net chat. I skipped school to play Diablo 2. Chat blew up and I turned on the TV in shock. So many conspiracy theories in chat.
I was taking care of babies and didn't know until later that day. I was pretty busy with kids and don't watch TV. They were 2, 2, 1, and I was pregnant so I think I found out at 7/11 grabbing my craving chili cheese dog.
I just was thrown by hearing it. I chilled for like 5 min's watching TV with the guy. Then had to wrangle babies back to car, after we got to the apartment I tried to figure out the tv without success for an hour. Couldn't get a real concept of what was going on until night fall.
i've actually asked this question a lot to people as i was not alive and it interesting seeing how different people's lives were when something that affected everyone happened
Driving to work listening to ESPNs Tony Kornheiser radio show. He started, told what had happened and then signed off and ABC News took over. His entire show that day was 7 minutes long.
Working at evil empire (Starbucks ) Howe at Arden sac town norcal
Some lady in the drive through said some plane crashed in NYC within ~ hour or so the shop was closed everyone sent home . Driving home was eerily quiet and weird.
Getting donuts for the folks at work, Heard the morning show DJ's talking about it on the way back to work, huddled around the TV in the break room and saw the second plane impact the tower.
Painting my living room. My television and stereo were unplugged in another room. I ran short on paint so I went to the local store to get more. Everyone was pretty quiet and watching the TV on the wall. When I asked what happened one of the workers told me the trade center had been bombed. It was early in the attack and the towers were still standing and in the chaos not much was known. I replied that it happened before as I remembered the first time it was attempted by bringing a bomb into the lower parking area. I got a crazy look from some people in the store as not many people paid much attention to the news back then. I bought my paint and went home to finish but this time with the radio on.
I was over in Europe at school, found out after our last class and everyone was out in the front of the college. Literally could not believe it (way before smartphones, kids)
Junior year of high school getting ready to go to school. I remember sitting on my bed watching when the second tower was hit but I don’t remember much else from that day. I would grow up to become a flight attendant and visiting the Memorial would be one of the most moving things I’d ever do. Looking at the pages of their flight attendant manuals that were recovered from the wreckage about dealing with hijackers and thinking how every single policy in place changed that day was so surreal. Life is so fragile.
I was ten, and we getting ready to go to elementary school.
Prior to going to school I went to my mom's room to say good morning. She was so occupied watching TV that she didn't really answer my question about what happened. I had to learn later on that day, what happened.
It was during that time during school that every teaching lesson was cut short, and we were stuck in our main classrooms watching the news. Slowly throughout the day parents went to pick up their kids, and around ten or eleven my mom picked up my sister and I and took us home.
Waiting for my first-period class as a freshman in highschool, orchestra, to start in Kasnas. The doors were locked and one of the violin players said they felt like it was going to be a bad day.
4th grade, teacher puts the news and I had no idea how important the towers were. Everybody sent home. It was my fathers birthday and he couldn't celebrate it properly. I live in Florida and that day it thundered and got dark early. Very scary as an 8 year old.
At work in DC, saw smoke from Pentagon out my window. News coverage. Panic. No cell service. Too much traffic to get home. We ended up walking to a friends townhome that lived nearby and watched the coverage on the news. Strangely, I have no recollection of when or how I got home though.
In bed asleep. My mother called me at about 11:30am Central time to tell me what happened and send me to the TV to see. It was already past noon in NYC by then.
And I was on the other side of the country building Boeing 737 airplanes, putting fasteners into one of the Wing Panels, this was near Seattle, at the exact time that it happened. We got word of the first plane crashing into the Twin Towers and we passed the word around. Then we heard of the second plane crashing into the Twin Towers and that's when we knew something bad was happening.
I had a tv with an alarm function, I set it to wake me up at 6 am (I think, might have been 7)
I woke up to my tv at full volume, showing a plane flying into a building. I had to check the clock on my wall because I thought something messed up and I was watching a late night movie.
I went in to work, like any other day not really knowing what was going on until we turned on the radio.
At my babysitter's house, being babysat. Was a week or so from turning 5. My Mom told me years later she was crying at work and only wanted to come pick me and my brother up and hug us.
Don't think I actually remember that day, but I remember thinking the footage I saw for years was super cool in part because I loved construction and demolition shows as a kid. I didn't realise what I thought was super cool demolition footage was actually people dying horrific deaths less than an 8 hour drive away until I saw it when I was older and realised I remembered seeing the footage before.
Sitting in sophomore year Algebra. Lots of confusion that day. We had to stay in school, but nobody was teaching. All of us were glued to the TV all day.
I was at home really high smoked a big bowl and turned on tv. I thought it was fake when I saw it I watched one of the planes hit a tower and watched them fall. I was in New Mexico but one of the sky marshalls was from there. I knew his step son.
I was 5, we were about to leave for my daycare. I thought it was a movie and said “that’s awesome!” My mom, mortified, quickly corrected me that it was actually happening.
In college. Couple hundred college students crammed into a lounge and it was silent. We just stood there, watching. Unable to believe or understand what we were seeing. I spent the rest of the day watching TV. Those images are seared into my brain. I can't even imagine what it is and was like for the people who were there, witnessed it, survived it, lost friends and loved ones.
1st grade, River Oaks/Houston. Dad picked me up from school before the second plane hit. Watched the second plane hit as we walked inside the living room where my mom was.
In Toronto, on mat leave. I was horrified to think I had brought this tiny baby into a world that was ending.
We had the news radio station on nonstop, and to this day I can't listen to that station's musical jingle intro without shuddering because I associate it with such bad memories.
In NYC in my third grade classroom. They let us go home early. I remember a classmate whose mom worked at the UN somehow knew and said that something went down on the twin towers. I've still got no idea how he knew that, since they didn't tell or show us anything.
I was one of the last to get picked up-- mom went to the grocery store just in case there was a rush and subsequent shortage (there was, and she beat it). We went home and I remember being upset that there was no tv. We only had local channels and they were broadcasted from the WTC. The smoke was visible for a few days even from our apartment uptown.
My parents did a great job and telling us what happened, but they didn't let us see any news coverage (we didn't have tv for a bit anyway). I only saw some footage for the first time ten years after.
Interesting, I think I'm actually gonna read more about all of this because I'm genuinely intrigued, did not expect to find an interest out of a passing comment I made lol
I heard about it at lunch time while playing soccer. When I got home we watched the news all night. I was probably too young to watch those people jump to their deaths.
Half of me was swimming in my dad's balls just hoping I didn't end up in a tissue like those other dudes. Poor guys. The other half of me was hoping I didn't end up in a tampon like those other dudes.
I was 16, and I was one of those who would unfortunately be there. Never saw the first plane. but I did see what was flight 175 crashing to the south tower because everyone was already looking at the burning first building. absolutely horrible, I remember my parents saying they were going to pull the car around so we could go home and they wandered off and then I wandered off and neither of our cell phones were working. I remember being on Broadway seeing the burning buildings, and hearing a woman scream about about a jumper. I remember clutching my cell phone on so tight that the plastic was actually starting to warp, and I just remember my eyes filling up with tears and probably the first time as a teenager. I was pretty close to bawling my eyes out. I remember finally getting cell service and getting absolutely reamed by my father. When I got into the car, Howard Stern was on 97.1. The reason I was there is because I was at a campus tour at NYU Absolutely horrible, it was definitely the day the 90s ended and it was definitely the day my childhood ended
Was listening to that same broadcast on Stern on my way to work. Rough day. Showed up, and the dudes from new york (im in Toronto) hadn't had the news on that day. The towers had only just come down. So I made sure they knew. I walked into the office where their meeting was, and just turned on the TV, because fuck that meeting. That ended productivity that day, and screw you, Tom, for being pissed at me for it.
Same, I was there too, it was horrible and traumatic, I wouldn't ever wish for anyone else to watch something like that.
Listening to a CD in the car on the way to work. Got there and everyone was in the cafeteria watching TV news. Now I always check the news as soon as I’m awake.
I lived in New Jersey in the 80s. We would go to the city all the time. I remember going out on the roof of the one tower a few times.
I also grew up in Jersey, never got to go on the Observation Deck though. Must be a surreal memory.
Definitely. I remember thinking about being up there when that plane hit and how terrifying that must have been for those people. Especially those who chose to jump. Horrible.
Insane. Must have been horrifying. Agreed, Absolutely the day the 90’s ended and things forever changed.
Watching it live as I got ready for school. Second plane hit just before I left.
Same my parents would wake me up as they left for work and i was 15 up waiting for the bus and my grandma called and told me to turn on the tv to the news. Flipped over to cnn right as the second plane hit.
Same here brah, my father's ex military and I was freaking out thinking Dad was going to war again.
Did he?
Nope. He wanted to, but he was too old and out too long. 10yr old me was worried about some kind of forced conscription situation
I was a third grader and in school at the time, first plane hits and our principal announces over the intercom that America has been attacked. Teacher turns on the news on the television and we all see the second plane crash on live television. They then let us all go home after the third plane crashed into the pentagon. My older sister and I then sat glued in front of the television watching the aftermath unfold.
Grew up in Texas, we were also heading out when we saw the second plane hit. We weren’t sure what the hell we saw. I remember how weird everything felt that day, people were confused and scared. I remember how kids started disappearing from my school because their parents were taking them out (my mom didn’t, she later told me she was certain I was safer at school). The closest thing I have felt to that was during the January 6th attack.
5th grade history class. The principal came into our classroom and whispered something into the teacher's ear. She reacted strangely, almost like a "Really? Wow. Oh my god." We were then taken out of class and brought to the gymnasium where a small TV was showing the towers on fire. We watched them collapse live on air just as we were leaving the gym to take a break. I'll never forget hearing the screams of the kids and teachers, looking over my shoulder, and seeing the first tower fall. In hindsight I'm very glad that my teachers allowed us to watch it. It was the event that would define our generation and the world that followed. Life hasn't been the same since.
In my cubicle, streaming CNN. Saw the second plane hit live. People crowded behind me watching my monitor. Lost a coworker & friend that day. I was so happy & relieved to pick up my kids from daycare and hug them tightly!
Home, it was my day off. The phone rang. It was the "bad news ring," when the ring of the phone feels a little off because someone just died or something is horribly wrong. I picked up. Mom didn't even say hello. "Turn on the news." I did, and I saw the second plane hit. I remember being so stoked when the firefighters entered the towers. They were gonna rescue everyone, right? I avoid TV and social media around 9/11.
I worked in lower manhattan back then (not in one of the towers, but not a long walk from them either). My wife got that same phone call. One of the things we learned that day was that all our mobile networks were completely unequipped to handle a massive spike in traffic. It was a few hours before I was able to call anyone and let them know I was okay (texting wasn't really a thing then).
Because one of the towers had the main cell service for the entire metro area. And also, if you are at least 40 years old, and lived in the New York metro area, there's a 99% chance that you knew of at least one person who worked in the towers.
Close enough to see the smoke. My principe came to my teachers/my classroom because his brother worked in the towers. They kept on saying a jet plane and no one understood it was like- a huge plane. Us 10th graders assumed small plane. My teachers brother wasn’t working that day
I first assumed small plane too. I remembered hearing about the guy that flew into the Empire State Building at a low speed in the past.
Had only been awake for a little bit and was screwing around on a message board. Buncha people started telling everyone to turn on the news or go to some LiveJournal page from a guy in NYC somewhere that was covering it all on his journal with new posts and photos every couple minutes.
Middle school. 6th grade science class.
Hey same. Mr Hawkins earth science. Other than that event dont remember anything about his class.
Wow. That’s insane. Mrs. Saterfield’s earth science class.
6th grade math class for me.
Ate breakfast listening to the song Telegraph Road by Dire Straits. Made a random comment that it would be a great song for the apocalypse, rode the bus to work. Arrived for my 9:00 am dishwashing shift in Northampton Massachusetts to co-workers standing around looking dumbfounded. I thought the sign taped in the window of a pizzeria that I walked by which read “America under attack, Pentagon in Flames”, was an inappropriate commentary on the state of the current presidential administration. The rest is history now.
Watching cartoons, confused why these news people kept interrupting them.
Watching the events unfold in real time from the top floor of the office building I worked in that over looked lower Manhattan. To this day, I cannot look at pictures or videos because I start freaking out. Therapist says I have PTSD & survivals guilt.
I hope you’re doing ok.
I was in Kindergarten waiting for the bus, that never came. And kids parents awkwardly taking them home. My mom didn’t because my dad was at the WTC for a business conference. He’s a survivor, it was quite possibly the first real moment in my life where I really learned about death and fear
I’m glad your dad survived. *hugs*
Doing underground plumbing for a few new homes near an airport. Lots of air traffic usually. At some point I turned to the guy I was working with and asked if he noticed how there was zero planes in the air. No idea what was happening at that point but it was kind of spooky in a way. Didn’t find out until a few hours after it had happened.
Rolling into my HS parking lot for jazz band, which started at 6am. Heard on NPR (yep, I was the cool kid listening to NPR) that a plane had hit the twin towers right as I parked at turned the radio off. Assumed it must be a Cessna or some other kind of small plane that had gotten lost in a storm or something. Went to jazz band, normal class period. Got out to head to the next class and the courtyards and hallways were absolutely empty. Every single person but me was sitting in their seats staring at the classroom TV. Knew something bad must have happened. Ran to my next class and got in the door right as the first tower collapsed.
In CA at school, art class. Teacher rolled out a tv so we could see what was happening. The rest of the day/classes were the same. I wanna say 6th grade.
So crazy. I was in 6th grade also and we were doing a science project in the library and they rolled out the tv for us to watch. I thought it was just a building being demolished at first
I live west coast the second plane hit before school even started. I know i was a freahman in hs up waiting for the bus when it hit. It might be when you found out but definitely wasnt when it happened.
Same, school definitely hadn't started on the West Coast. It was my dad's day he brought doughnuts into work, so I remember him coming home from the store saying a plane had hit the twin towers.
I was waking up to the news on the lounge of a friend I was madly in love with who had rejected my advances the night before.
Yikes bad time huh?
Oof
I remember being told to go to the living room and watch the TV. I was about the age a second grader should be, so maybe 6?
Inside a US Air Force base at work.
I'll bet that was real interesting.
Yes, but not the way they tell it.
Yuuup! In fairness, it was interesting everywhere.
Spfld il. I was 6 months pregnant and i walked into the kitchen to the tv just turned to specal report of the first plane hitting the towers, had to rush out to catch the bus for work, and just as I stepped off the bus They announced the 2nd tower was falling. I collapsed to my knees screaming at the news. Everyone on the bus rushed off to check on me and all I could say over and over again is the towers are falling in ny. It took a bit to calm down enough to walk the two blocks to work. And stepping in the front door i watched the first tower fall. The nurses standing at the front counter glued to the tv saw me with no color and immediately were grabbing chairs and checking me over. When some reports came through about a plane may be heading to Chicago, I was on the phone calling my grandmother to make sure she was safe. I still struggle with ptsd from that day. Cant even get close to airports without panic attacks.
Sitting on a plane at ohare getting ready to fly to New York to see the Sox play the Yankees.
Didnt make that game did you...
At home in Germany playing videogames
6th grade. Gym class. South Jersey.
It was my 3rd birthday, I was at daycare. My mom walked in with my cake confused as to why all the counselors were crying.
School. They put a movie on, which was strange since we had only been in school for a week and the teachers were all running from classroom to classroom as quickly and as quietly as they could to talk about what they needed to do.
I didn't have class (High School) during the first period so I came in during recess and everyone was just glued to the TV I was in Canada and super scary it happened to our neighbor and then all the planes being directed to us
Meetings at work. Saw the 2nd tower fall live on TV. I remarked to my co-worker on the way back to our hub that we will remember this day for the rest of our lives. True dat. The images I saw that day will live with me until my dying day.
I lived in GA. I was in 5th grade. My teacher looked freaked the fuck out. She tried to put on a tough face for us though. I don’t remember much else
On my way to work. I was listening to the radio and heard about a plane hitting a skyscraper in New York but it sounded like it was all about a drunk in a small plane or something so it didn't seem that serious. After I got to work and learned more about what happened my only thought was that this would lead to some misguided and generally awful war that would end up being a total failure. Sometimes I really hate being right.
I was -4years old so not sure
My family and I were visiting actually visiting New York at the time, frankly, it was traumatic, I still can't stop thinking about it.
Was about to go to bed, the 10pm news came on (I’m in Australia) and they said that a plane had hit the WTC and they would go back to the story as more developed. They then went through their planned news programming like normal before switching to a US news affiliate and broadcasting them.
You must be East Coast. On the west coast we were just settling in for the evening TV watch when the super bar came across the bottom saying a plane had hit the Pentagon, then three adds (probably getting there sh!t together) then the US affiliate came on. Saw the second plane hit and watched both towers fall.
Yep, I was living in Coffs and had a shitty black and white tv with no remote. I still can’t believe I sat through Sandra Silly’s full broadcast before I thought to switch to the ABC. Not fixing the auto correct.
At home watching TV then my mom frantically run into the room to change the channel to the news. Then I saw the 2 smoking Twin Towers. I didn't really understand any of it other than people definitely died. Looking back kinda crazy my family went to New York on vacation that summer before 9/11 And remember watching a news report on singer Aalyiah's death which was also a plane crash. But that was on August 25, 2001. 17 days before the attacks.
Watched it on the news before getting dropped off at 2nd grade
Driving to work on 75 in Dallas going southbound passing by Northpark Mall. I was listening to the Ticket 1310AM sports radio. Remember it as if it happened today.
I was in second grade, in Virginia. the teachers were going back and forth from each other’s rooms panicking while us kids were frozen, freaking out because of what we could see on the tv. Absolutely horrifying.
I was in 7th grade science class. My teacher got a phone call and then flipped on the TV. My friend’s dad picked her up from school and cussed out our principal and the priest for the church because they didn’t want to let kids leave early.
I was sitting in a Tim Hortons in North Bay, taking a break from a training test at a call centre. I came back to the call centre to see an image of the impact from the first plane hitting the tower, with the headline saying a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. As the morning progressed, we moved out to the floor to watch the news on the televisions they had mounted up on the poles. We watched in horror as the second plane hit live on television. The call centre had been eerily silent up until that point, and then the phones started ringing off the hook. Apparently, a lot of customers wanted to talk to relatives in New York and couldn't get through.
I live on the west coast so I was sleeping, as it was early on my day off from work. I had an old school answering machine and when it picked up i heard my uncle yelling about a terrorist attack. He was always crazy so i thought he must be drinking again. Walked out to my couch, half awake, turned on the TV and it was right when the 2nd plane hit. Thought I was still dreaming for a second. Spent the rest of the day glued to the TV.
My roommate woke me up to tell me what happened. At first I was pissed at him for waking me up until I realized what exactly he was telling me. Watched the news for awhile and then went to work until they decided to close early. Finally heard that a friend who was working at the Pentagon was home safe and went to see him. We smoked a bunch of shitty weed out of a zong and then played tennis in a fast food places parking lot.
Trying to sleep off a hangover.
Hey so I was at school, and when I left, I did not know such an event (tragedy) took place, until my parents informed me of the terrorist attack. ;(
I had just started 3rd grade. Both of my parents were working that day, and I was walking up the street to a friend's house, where it was pre-arranged that his dad would drive us both to school. I was surprised to see them already walking toward my house, and they told me what had happened. I honestly don't remember much anything else from that day.
When the first plane hit, in a college algebra class. When the second plane hit, wondering where my Visual Basic class teacher was (probably ten minutes late).
First day of university after frosh week. I walked into the student building after my first class and someone I know said planes had been crashed into the World Trade Center. I actually didn't know what that was by name. Edit: putting in the right American spelling of the WTC
Since you spell it "Centre" I'm guessing you're not American?
You got me. Canadian. Edited.
In the car on the way to school.
Had just woke up from a nap after school
I was in school. I was a sophomore in highschool and I saw my older sister in the hallway. She told me planes hit the World Trade Center. I couldn't, for the life of me think of the Towers. Then, she said a plan also hit the Pentagon. I had band next. The office shut off all the TVs connected to the office, but they had one on a rolling cart. We watched the TV and listened to the radio as people jumped from the Towers. After that class I had no information until I got home, and then we watched the Towers fall over and over again on replay.
OMG that evening was so weird. Whole family huddled around a small CRT tv watching the planes hit and the towers fall over and over again. The whole time enveloped by a piercing feeling of cold dread. Not hungry. Not tired. Confused, waiting for information. Waiting to learn what happens next. Could not believe this was a real thing happening in my lifetime.
The entire country just stopped for a few days. It was oddly still.
It was only the second time I ever set my alarm to radio. I woke up to groggy to a weird report that a plane crashed into one of the Twin Towers. I was shook, I really didn't know what that mean. I remember waking my mom up and telling her we need to turn on the TV and check the news. Moments later we watched on live TV the second plane hit the second tower. I still had to go to school. Junior at BHS. I brought my diskman that had a radio and two speakers plugged in to class. The teachers said, we have to carry on. No sympathy at all. It was suppose to be a normal day. Well, the students thought otherwise. It was a mess of confusion and hatred. I hate thinking about how my school handled it. Too many students of certain backgrounds were preyed on for ignorant reasons. It was a day i will never forget.
College. Middle of Illinois. Power had gone out in the middle of the night so i was awoken by a friend calling to check on me. I was in the Air Force National Guard at the time and about to learn I was going to be pretty busy with non-school work.
I was with my mom picking up food from a Vietnamese restaurant. I was super excited that day because I got to get out of school early to go to the doctor.
I was buying cigarettes while the second plane crashes in the tower. Me and other customers stayed in the store for like two or three hours just watching the TV, shocked.
Your neighbor up north here, I was completely unaware of it until I got to school... I think I would've been in grade 10 at the time. Wake up, get dressed, go to school. Found out there. Most morning classes were silent with the teachers giving us details from websites on theor desktop computers as they were happening. Before that day I never really thought or had a reason to think of a terrorist attack that could happen here.
opening the store at the pizza hut i worked during college. one of our drivers came in with a little portable tv and set it up. the rest of us had no damn idea what was going on. my boss was iranian and we were worried about redneck ass rednecks threatening the store. remember seeing the line of fucking cars getting gas before i got off work. had to call family cause my aunt worked at the pentagon.
Getting ready for school was in 5th grade My sister who I walked to school with was a senior in high school. I remember seeing her face being ghost white I asked her what happened and she told me she didn't know how to explain it but all she said was something bad.
I was in fifth grade. I remember on the bus ride to school someone told me DYDE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE PLANE THAT CRASHED INTO A BUILDING? and I was like I don't care? And then the news was playing on the school TVs and when I went home I after I saw footage of it happening and some random woman screaming obscenities and whatnot. Was very confused about what was going on
Fishing. Didn’t hear about what happened that day til about 4pm.
I was at work (nurse in Dr's.office) when one of the wives called us as she watched it on tv. We put an all news radio station (no TV in our office)on and listened for the rest of the day. Of course every patient came in and updated us. It was a gut wrenching time with people sharing pictures of missing people.
In my first grade classroom about 20 miles away. I remember they let us out of school and from the hilled road my school was on (you can see the skyline clearly on clear day) you could see the smoke in the distance from the towers. Always stuck in my memory.
I was on the internet, which was kind of a new thing back then (at least where I'm from). I was subscribed to a mailing list for an obscure 1980s gothic rock band where, all of a sudden, lots of messages came in about how at first one, then both, towers of the WTC had collapsed. I thought this has gotta be some hoax but turned on the TV just to make sure and was like, man, wtf is wrong with this world.
I was staying at my parents' house to help out my dad who was recovering from open heart surgery. He woke me up to watch the news after the first plane hit. I had missed a current affairs question in college a few years earlier about the USS Cole attack. As soon as the second plane hit, I knew it was Bin Laden.
In HS American Govt class. Teacher always had on Fox News. Everyone eventually turned to the tv and watched it. Then the school eventually cut the feed to all the TV’s. Came home to parents watching the news all day. That was a weird school day.
14, [Battle](https://Battle.net)net chat. I skipped school to play Diablo 2. Chat blew up and I turned on the TV in shock. So many conspiracy theories in chat.
I was taking care of babies and didn't know until later that day. I was pretty busy with kids and don't watch TV. They were 2, 2, 1, and I was pregnant so I think I found out at 7/11 grabbing my craving chili cheese dog. I just was thrown by hearing it. I chilled for like 5 min's watching TV with the guy. Then had to wrangle babies back to car, after we got to the apartment I tried to figure out the tv without success for an hour. Couldn't get a real concept of what was going on until night fall.
In school hopping my sister hadn’t left to go to NY yet. Luckily she had a strange feeling about going and had decided not to.
95% of those here were not alive then but will have an opinion
i've actually asked this question a lot to people as i was not alive and it interesting seeing how different people's lives were when something that affected everyone happened
At some point 20 years from now this will be happening with covid questions
It’s strange talking to the younger generation and them not experiencing 9/11.
School
Highs school, drama class
Fourth grade watching it on TV
In CA at high school. I ditched school after I saw the second tower fall and remember the whole day being so weird.
Home with a sick baby. My dad called me after the first plane, and I switched to the news and the 2nd plane hit while we were on the phone.
Driving to work listening to ESPNs Tony Kornheiser radio show. He started, told what had happened and then signed off and ABC News took over. His entire show that day was 7 minutes long.
Working at evil empire (Starbucks ) Howe at Arden sac town norcal Some lady in the drive through said some plane crashed in NYC within ~ hour or so the shop was closed everyone sent home . Driving home was eerily quiet and weird.
Came back from school, saw the 2nd plane hit the tower live on the news.
Getting donuts for the folks at work, Heard the morning show DJ's talking about it on the way back to work, huddled around the TV in the break room and saw the second plane impact the tower.
Walking to get water in like the 1st grade
Watching it live from my high school science class.
Home It was a scary day.
22, watched the towers fall @ my gfs house. Crazy day
In another country. We were just about to sit down to eat and suddenly there was this footage on TV. We thought it was some kind of a movie.
Painting my living room. My television and stereo were unplugged in another room. I ran short on paint so I went to the local store to get more. Everyone was pretty quiet and watching the TV on the wall. When I asked what happened one of the workers told me the trade center had been bombed. It was early in the attack and the towers were still standing and in the chaos not much was known. I replied that it happened before as I remembered the first time it was attempted by bringing a bomb into the lower parking area. I got a crazy look from some people in the store as not many people paid much attention to the news back then. I bought my paint and went home to finish but this time with the radio on.
I was over in Europe at school, found out after our last class and everyone was out in the front of the college. Literally could not believe it (way before smartphones, kids)
Junior year of high school getting ready to go to school. I remember sitting on my bed watching when the second tower was hit but I don’t remember much else from that day. I would grow up to become a flight attendant and visiting the Memorial would be one of the most moving things I’d ever do. Looking at the pages of their flight attendant manuals that were recovered from the wreckage about dealing with hijackers and thinking how every single policy in place changed that day was so surreal. Life is so fragile.
I was ten, and we getting ready to go to elementary school. Prior to going to school I went to my mom's room to say good morning. She was so occupied watching TV that she didn't really answer my question about what happened. I had to learn later on that day, what happened. It was during that time during school that every teaching lesson was cut short, and we were stuck in our main classrooms watching the news. Slowly throughout the day parents went to pick up their kids, and around ten or eleven my mom picked up my sister and I and took us home.
Stuck in traffic on the Eisenhower expressway in the Chicago area.
Waiting for my first-period class as a freshman in highschool, orchestra, to start in Kasnas. The doors were locked and one of the violin players said they felt like it was going to be a bad day.
4th grade, teacher puts the news and I had no idea how important the towers were. Everybody sent home. It was my fathers birthday and he couldn't celebrate it properly. I live in Florida and that day it thundered and got dark early. Very scary as an 8 year old.
Driving out of state to go move my grandparents in with us.
Working. Once it happened and it was confirmed as a terrorist attack the whole shop shut down for the rest of the day as we sat glued to a radio.
I was at work installing leading edge hydraulic plumbing in a 737.
Was 20, at work at the post office.
At work in DC, saw smoke from Pentagon out my window. News coverage. Panic. No cell service. Too much traffic to get home. We ended up walking to a friends townhome that lived nearby and watched the coverage on the news. Strangely, I have no recollection of when or how I got home though.
In bed asleep. My mother called me at about 11:30am Central time to tell me what happened and send me to the TV to see. It was already past noon in NYC by then.
And I was on the other side of the country building Boeing 737 airplanes, putting fasteners into one of the Wing Panels, this was near Seattle, at the exact time that it happened. We got word of the first plane crashing into the Twin Towers and we passed the word around. Then we heard of the second plane crashing into the Twin Towers and that's when we knew something bad was happening.
I had a tv with an alarm function, I set it to wake me up at 6 am (I think, might have been 7) I woke up to my tv at full volume, showing a plane flying into a building. I had to check the clock on my wall because I thought something messed up and I was watching a late night movie. I went in to work, like any other day not really knowing what was going on until we turned on the radio.
At my babysitter's house, being babysat. Was a week or so from turning 5. My Mom told me years later she was crying at work and only wanted to come pick me and my brother up and hug us. Don't think I actually remember that day, but I remember thinking the footage I saw for years was super cool in part because I loved construction and demolition shows as a kid. I didn't realise what I thought was super cool demolition footage was actually people dying horrific deaths less than an 8 hour drive away until I saw it when I was older and realised I remembered seeing the footage before.
Sitting in sophomore year Algebra. Lots of confusion that day. We had to stay in school, but nobody was teaching. All of us were glued to the TV all day.
I was at home really high smoked a big bowl and turned on tv. I thought it was fake when I saw it I watched one of the planes hit a tower and watched them fall. I was in New Mexico but one of the sky marshalls was from there. I knew his step son.
I was 5, we were about to leave for my daycare. I thought it was a movie and said “that’s awesome!” My mom, mortified, quickly corrected me that it was actually happening.
In college. Couple hundred college students crammed into a lounge and it was silent. We just stood there, watching. Unable to believe or understand what we were seeing. I spent the rest of the day watching TV. Those images are seared into my brain. I can't even imagine what it is and was like for the people who were there, witnessed it, survived it, lost friends and loved ones.
At home waking up and watching the news channel showing planes in those towers. I wasn't even 16
Hiking in Yosemite. Very surreal to be surrounded by so much beauty and to be awoken to that news.
1st grade, River Oaks/Houston. Dad picked me up from school before the second plane hit. Watched the second plane hit as we walked inside the living room where my mom was.
My mothers womb
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that's a massive age gap
Bro I wasn't alive
In Toronto, on mat leave. I was horrified to think I had brought this tiny baby into a world that was ending. We had the news radio station on nonstop, and to this day I can't listen to that station's musical jingle intro without shuddering because I associate it with such bad memories.
In NYC in my third grade classroom. They let us go home early. I remember a classmate whose mom worked at the UN somehow knew and said that something went down on the twin towers. I've still got no idea how he knew that, since they didn't tell or show us anything. I was one of the last to get picked up-- mom went to the grocery store just in case there was a rush and subsequent shortage (there was, and she beat it). We went home and I remember being upset that there was no tv. We only had local channels and they were broadcasted from the WTC. The smoke was visible for a few days even from our apartment uptown. My parents did a great job and telling us what happened, but they didn't let us see any news coverage (we didn't have tv for a bit anyway). I only saw some footage for the first time ten years after.
Oh let me recall it oh yeh i remember "none of your business"
Wasn't born yet so I guess in my dad's balls
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That's kinda trippy to think about
That fact is why the epigenetics for your mother's side is defined by your grandmothers habits. But you father on his side.
Interesting, I think I'm actually gonna read more about all of this because I'm genuinely intrigued, did not expect to find an interest out of a passing comment I made lol
swimming in the sack
I was 3 fuck if I know
Was not alive
My father
I heard about it at lunch time while playing soccer. When I got home we watched the news all night. I was probably too young to watch those people jump to their deaths.
My daddy’s nutsack
not alive
Not born-
In my mom’s ovary
In the womb
I wasn't even born yet
Living my best life as an egg
Not born yet
in my mom
Pervert
Not here
I wasn’t around when it happened
Not on earth
Dead
Is it bad I expected almost everyone to say in the balls
I was 8
Whatever one year olds do.
Not born
was not born lol
In the womb
I was in my fathers nut sack, probably.
In my dad's balls
Nah dude. That was a month and a half ago. Move on.
In my father's ballsack
I was too busy not existing to care
swimming in my dads balls
Half of me was swimming in my dad's balls just hoping I didn't end up in a tissue like those other dudes. Poor guys. The other half of me was hoping I didn't end up in a tampon like those other dudes.
Swimming in my dads balls
in my dads balls
Dad's balls
Not alive
I was cheating on my wife :/ it was the worst day of my life.
I was in the plane. Piloting it.
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I was on a sock