Current Events > Where were you and what were you doing when 9/11 happened?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I remember waking up and my cousin living with us at da time said something terrible had happened, but i didn't take notice until i went to school and my teacher started crying saying it would cause WWIII, i think dats when i realized oh shit, maybe i should take dis more seriously

Also, listen to howard sterns show of dat day, its really fascinating

https://youtu.be/W_KM9pwu-V4?si=vAvM1sFUQyow-yNs

https://youtu.be/VJ_E7Vce8vU?si=zJy7NRMvzoDBug5M

Sitting in a high school junior level CISCO networking class and one of my classmates just announced it was happening cuz they were in the back of the class watching whatever passed for a streaming service at the time instead of paying attention.

I was in fourth grade, and in class when it happened. They turned on the in-class TV to show us the news broadcast.

Was watching live news with my cousin. Was shocked and couldnt believe what I was seeing
add: praying for the day, RIP to the deceased

SpawnShadow posted...

I was in fourth grade, and in class when it happened. They turned on the in-class TV to show us the news broadcast.

this except I was in 5th grade

First period, coincidentally US History. We were watching a movie, and the vice principal knocked on the door to tell us what happened. The teacher just kept waving at him because I guess he thought he was just saying hello, and he just walked away afterwards because he kept waving.

Then I got to Home Ec, sat down in my chair, and looked up at the TV and went "what the fuck?"

At work. My boss phoned me to tell me the WTC had been "blown up". It was a busy day, so I waited until I got home and turned on the TV to watch the reports.

Writing a song for Allan Jackson.

Real talk, Trigonometry class, first tower had already been hit, was watching the news while the second plane hit. Pretty crazy seeing it live. I remember thinking "that news helicopter is too close to that building" (we had small TVs) then it just exploded.

Algebra class, 10th grade.

I was in college. I was walking near the Student Center and I noticed everyone gathered around the big-screen TV. Went in there and saw the news.

I was home after school already, european timezone.

I was 11 years old and in my room, maybe doing homework, maybe playing games.

I went into the living room to my parents, probably to get some glass of water or something, and there were my parents staring at the TV, with the live footage or the tower burning on.

I'm convinced that my father was at home at this time, but that would be pretty unusual so maybe my memory is wrong about that.

Everyone was just staring at the burning tower, and the moderator was trying to find words. And then the second plane hit the other tower.

The moderator was trying to cope with it, and was denying reality as good as she could. I will never forget how she said something like "Maybe the second plane tried to help" and I only said to my parents "What? That was intentional!"

Karovorak posted...

The moderator was trying to cope with it, and was denying reality as good as she could. I will never forget how she said something like "Maybe the second plane tried to help"

Jesus. I'd hate to imagine her behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle.

I was in 9th grade but was up before school to get some video game time in and had checked the VNboards where everyone was like this just happened

So I went to school already wise to the news. My homeroom class (algebra) we mostly watched the TV and the news reports, but the rest of the day proceeded with less distraction.

10th grade, playing flag football did not find out until we got back inside.

art class senior year of high school

Was probably in bed since it happened around 9pm for me (japan timezone)

I had just woken up, went to use the bathroom, went back to my room in the apartment I shared and turned on the TV to see the South Tower get hit by the plane. I was living in Gaithersburg, Maryland, about 1 mile from NIST, which has 2 nuclear reactors used for experiments, so I was scared they might be a target. That close to Washington, I also remember going out to the balcony and watching two fighter jets fly at high speed overhead at low level.

I was on my way to work, listening to local sports talk radio when the 1st plane hit. They way they were reporting it I assumed it was just one of those small 4-passenger Cessna planes.

In the reception area at work there were 3 TVs, 2 had the news on and the 3rd just cycled through advertisements for the magazine company I worked for at the time. It felt like every single employee was in that reception area when I walked in, watching it all unfold.

The 2nd plane hit basically as I was walking in to the room, and it was just a room full of sheer horror.

They let us all leave work about an hour later and as I was driving down the LI Expressway heading back east, it was so surreal, because there was literally ZERO cars on the road heading east, as they closed it for everyone other then emergency response cars/firetrucks. A road that is usually loaded with cars was just EMPTY, save for about a half dozen police or fire vehicles passing by every few minutes.

Mind you, I worked about 20 minutes from the Midtown tunnel that led into Manhattan, and my Dad worked right by the Towers, maybe 10 blocks away, so the whole day was just one giant panic until he was able to get home. I was still living at home, so the day was spent just watching the plane hit and the towers collapsing over and over and over on TV.

I was in a taxi on my way back home from high school, the driver told me and the other 2 people I was with.

When I got back home I turned it to the news and saw the first plane hit the tower

9th grade, changing from gym class for next period.

Less than a week into my freshman year of college. Was asleep when the first plane hit. Woke up to hearing people outside my dorm yelling at others to turn their tvs on. I turned mine on and shortly after saw the second plane hit.

I was at school like normal and they didnt tell us dick! I had no clue we got attacked and spent a full day at school. Didnt know anything until I got home at 3pm >_> They addressed the attack the following day but I was kinda mad they went radio silent on us that whole day

Driving to Detroit to find some supplies for a fence and listening to Howard Stern, oddly enough. I never listen(ed) to him, but he was the only one talking about it for a while.

Then I went to an appointment with a temp agency because I was unemployed, and on the way there I heard about a potential threat to Detroit. (Turned out to be unfounded.)

Then I had a doctors appointment which they had tried to cancel but I didnt know because I didnt have a cell phone.

Finally I went home and tried to call my husband, who spent the day working as if nothing was amiss. He did predict we would be in Iraq within the year, though.

11th grade history when they announced that just the classes in the social studies department should turn on their TVs. I thought it was just a single engine Cessna that went off course and hit the building.

Then all the other classes were told to turn on the TV so I saw the second plane hit and towers collapse. Living in SE Michigan I had the fun bonus of the day ending with the local news reporting on all the idiot assholes driving through Dearborn making threats toward people since it has a huge Arab American community.

I was in school, teachers turned on the tv and we watched. My teacher was crying.

Sleeping in study hall

Had day off so I slept in. Woke up to phone ringing. Answered to hear my cousin shouting are you watching this?. I said something like no man, I just got up.. He just said turn your tv on and hung up.

Tuned in just in time to see second plane hit.

I was in high school, study hall. Our school had a system of tvs in each class that apparently could play local news. We watched it untold through several classes. Most teachers didn't go through their lessons and just let it play.

Just getting to school (high school, Freshmen year) Before first period (art class). People were going around saying that someone bombed the Pentagon.

Later on, news spread. In Reading class, we had a classmate who was pulled out for some reason. We just listened to the radio and had free reading time.

In Health class (i think), our teacher went on a rant about how America was so strong and so great. No political lean, i think he was legit trying to make us feel safe.

On the way home, my friends and i joked about how stupid someone might be to attack the US.

At home, I was part of a fandom for an old obscure Tv show. We were posting about if the actors and actresses were safe. Someone got upset and said we should be worried about everyone, not just our silly hobbies (which was true).

When my mom got home, I asked her, naively, if we should bomb the terrorists. She said no, because there were children there. This was actually formative for me, and really became a defining moment of empathy for people i would never meet.

My mom was irritable all day. She was kind of a doomsday person, and freaked out the family.

I dont remember the rest of the day. I think I read books in my room, maybe played Pokemon Pinball to take my mind off.

I do remember later that week, mom was lying around a lot, likely stressed, so i went to visit my friend. It was hazy and the sky was yellow. I dont remember what we talked about, but the mood was kind of tense, but i remember feeling a sense of escape too.

Funny enough, that stupid internet video of Come mr talbian, turn over bin laden made us laugh so hard. It is so stupid and juvenile today, but in 2001 before youtube and most decent Flash stuff, it meant a lot.

Im glad i can still remember this stuff clearly.

Playing Legend of Dragoon at my home.

I was a baby

Karovorak posted...

The moderator was trying to cope with it, and was denying reality as good as she could. I will never forget how she said something like "Maybe the second plane tried to help" and I only said to my parents "What? That was intentional!"

Damn, I know a lot was going on at the time but that is a weird cope to say on air >_>

8th grade English. We were all sitting around chatting and suddenly our teacher is looking at her computer screen with both hands over her mouth, then ran out of the room. All that was announced on the loudspeaker (for my short time there) was for us to get our things together because a lot of our parents were probably gonna be picking us up soon, and my dad was there like 2 minutes later (I live on Staten Island btw).

We watched everything on TV through the rest of the morning and early afternoon, then I walked to a nearby park to get a view of the city but the dust was still almost completely obscuring it. I think I visited my friend after that and we probably played some games.

That evening I finally beat the Tyrant on the plane in RE Code: Veronica, which I had been stuck on for over a week because I left myself with no resources, so I'll always have that weird 9/11 & Code: Veronica association.

I'm actually from New York and at the time, I was in a catholic school in Manhattan. They had all of the kids upstairs in the library as we watched what was going on on the TV. I think I could even see smoke in the distance from where we were out of the window.

My mom actually worked in one of the buildings near the Twin Towers, but her coworker helped her get to safety. She even recently told me that during that day, for whatever reason, she decided to NOT wear her heels and that helped her run away from the towers

Sleeping in my dorm at college. Buddy woke me up pounding on the door yelling about how we're going to war. Once I figured out what happened I tried to call my Pops to see how my uncle was cause I couldn't remember if he still worked at the Trade Center (he didn't).

Upstate NY, Sleeping.
The whole thin was over by the time I found out.

Then, that night, I went up to the Mountains.
One because I wanted to, but also, I wanted to see what a day with no planes was like.

I only heard one, and it was certainly military.
Probably a Transport out of Fort Drum.

One of the Hijacked planes seems to have gone off course right above a mountain that I've hiked many times. They used The Hudson as a navigation tool for sure.

I feel bad for anyone who can't remember a pre-9/11 world.
It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't as fucked up as it is now.
Also a good chunk of civilians being dumbass now....didn't even talk about politics the day before.
They most likey were talking football, and were unaware of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

((Also side note: The Weather was as perfect as it gets that day.))

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

I'm actually from New York and at the time, I was in a catholic school in Manhattan. They had all of the kids upstairs in the library as we watched what was going on on the TV. I think I could even see smoke in the distance from where we were out of the window.

My mom actually worked in one of the buildings near the Twin Towers, but her coworker helped her get to safety. She even recently told me that during that day, for whatever reason, she decided to NOT wear her heels and that helped her run away from the towers

A mother's instinct.

I was in 4th grade, and lived in Manhattan at the time. We were evacuated from our school. I had no idea what was going on. My mom knew some of the people who died in the trade center.

7th grade English, our teacher was told but the principal (who was a real scumbum in life) told them not to tell us. No TVs on, no announcement, nothing...

Didn't find out till I got home and it was the first thing my grandpa said "Hey _______, look at what happened"...

I remember most of all channels either had a graphic up or was on news coverage, I still have the next days paper in my old archives...

SiO4 posted...

One of the Hijacked planes seems to have gone off course right above a mountain that I've hiked many times. They used The Hudson as a navigation tool for sure.

It's a pretty heavily trafficked route. Our family had a house near the river and they'd go by all the time. I even experienced it firsthand flying into Albany a few times.

I had a radio alarm that woke me up back then. I woke up to the sentence, "this is the first attack on America since..."

I thought we were literally at war until I was able to run to my tv and see what was happening. I think the first tower collapse happened about five minutes later. Just shock.

I'm not sure if my memory added this after the fact but I do distinctly remember having Final Fantasy VIII paused on my TV overnight, and when I went to shut the game off I saw some news story about an explosion, would have been the first plane hitting. But at that age I never cared what was on the news.

It wasn't until I got to school did I understand what was happening. It was such a weird day. I remember a bunch of us being in the library watching the news as the second plane hit. Watching the people jumping from the towers. It was heartbreaking and devastating beyond words.

It was such a somber day. At recess everyone standing in the field, quiet, distraught, not really talking. Just standing in the field.

The rest of the school day we didn't do any school work. It was just sitting in class with teachers talking to us, trying to ease us the best they could. As a very nervous and anxious kid it was the first time I saw adults be as scared and confused as I was.

theAteam posted...

It's a pretty heavily trafficked route. Our family had a house near the river and they'd go by all the time. I even experienced it firsthand flying into Albany a few times.

Yeah, but I think the reroute was effectively above Hadley Mountain.
I live pretty near the Saratoga County Airport, in town, but close enough, so I've always been intrigued by Flightlines and planes in general. At this point, I can kinda tell if they are leaving Logan or if it's something else.

((Total said note: There is company that offers rides out of NYC to Saranca Lake for a reasonable price))
It doesn't do me any good, but it would be cool if I was in The City. I know the plane because of the flight line and that it's a dual prop.

theAteam posted...

It's a pretty heavily trafficked route. Our family had a house near the river and they'd go by all the time. I even experienced it firsthand flying into Albany a few times.

Oh damn I did a little bit more of a deep dive.

It seems Flight 11 was actually hijacked somewhere between Worcester and Springfield Mass.
No transcontinental flight would take that course on such a beautiful day. It's always a straight line, at least around here.

God, needless to say, that must have been terrifying for the passengers...
That's kind of a while to worry about what's happening.
Back then though, it was assumed Hyjacks involved hostages and negotiations, not a death warrant.

https://imgur.com/MNnyQgW

SiO4 posted...

https://imgur.com/MNnyQgW

Damn that sucker went right over us

was in vegas for the year when the attacks happened. saw what happened to the towers during 1st period and just watched cnn the whole time.

ended up moving back to my hometown a few weeks later because of lay-off's.

Non existent

I was in 8th grade history class, ironically enough. Watched the second tower fall and was concerned for my dad's life.

He was safe and went into work late that day, but it caused him some demons that affected my life for a long, long time after that.