Snapshots: Today He’d Be Around 24 Years Old

Old Codger August 1, 2017, 9:32 AM

Gosh, witness to the world’s largest “controlled demolition”….Special.

∞

Casey Klahn August 2, 2017, 6:02 AM

My son was born August 31st, 2001, so I always know how long ago 9-11 was.

∞

Lynne Wolfe August 2, 2017, 6:17 AM

Surely the taker of this photo realized that something unbelievably horrific was going on, yet he posed this little boy for the photo. What kind of person would do this?

∞

ghostsniper August 2, 2017, 7:08 AM

@Lynne, Keep in mind that tarriss had the pedal to the floor and that jet was going maybe 500+ mph (something like 6 miles a second), so when that person knelt to take that pik the 1st jet was off in the distance and probably of no concern (jets are over NYC all day long) and by the time they focused, told the kid to say cheesecakearooni, and then clicked, the jet made it’s impromptu appearance.

Uncanny? Yes.
Planned retardation? Doubtful.

It might have been a *she* that took the pik.
Notice how the other strolling pedestrians seem unconcerned – how cruel of them. heh

∞

Schill MacGuffin August 2, 2017, 11:37 AM

@ghostsniper — I don’t think your scenario checks out. That pic looks to me like both planes had hit some time earlier (note how dark the tower in the background looks mid-way down). And if the first plane had hit while the shot was being set up, we’d likely see flame in the smoke cloud and debris still in the air. And I’m not sure the pedestrians look “unconcerned” to me. I have the impression their pace is fairly quick, and they do all seem to be northbound. Before the towers actually collapsed, a lot of the folks leaving the area were more quietly shocked or kind of grumpy, if anything, rather than panicked.

While the kid’s binoculars might just be standard tourist equipment, I think it possible that he and his parent(s) came from their nearby home specifically to see what all the fuss was about, and to get a few shots of a pretty spectacular event in their neighborhood.

Lynne might consider it callous or ghoulish to behave in such fashion, I think it’s important to consider the moment, and the shock and cognitive dissonance that surrounded it. I myself was working in Midtown that day (made my way home, Dunkirk-like, via a ferry to Hoboken), and remember the shock and distance I felt — how weird it was to be in the presence of an event of such magnitude, and not having had time to process its significance. If I’d been where they were, with a camera in hand, I would likely have snapped some pics too, and if I was the sort of parent prone to photo-document my kid’s every move, I might well have done so here as well.

∞

Capt Brown August 2, 2017, 11:54 AM

Geez, what is the world coming to when Ghostsniper is the sane one…

∞

ghostsniper August 2, 2017, 2:25 PM

Could be wrong but, wasn’t the first plane to hit the highest?
(the 2nd plane was lower on the building?)
Also, notice the hole on this side of the building, the entry point?, thus the exiting debris would be on the opposite side?
Hey, it’s been 16 years and my memory may not be as crisp.

I was trying to blow Capt Browns brain housing group by coming up with a kinder reason.

∞

Gordon August 3, 2017, 8:24 AM

I’m not familiar enough with the physical layout to be sure where the pic was taken, and which tower is the nearest. But the selfie phenomenon shows that people are weird, in that way. A bad car wreck will happen, and you will see folks doing selfies with the wreck in the background, steam rising, injured passengers still in the wrecked cars. This is not uncommon at all. It might have been uncommon in 2001, but it isn’t now.

∞

Dr. Mabuse August 3, 2017, 2:14 PM

I agree with ghostsniper, I don’t think those people on the bridge are yet aware of what’s happened behind them. Directly behind the little boy’s head is a person who’s stopped dead in his tracks and is staring at the disaster. Near the middle of the picture is one man who’s turning around to look. Maybe he sees the horror on the faces of people approaching looking up and behind him, and he’s turning to see what’s happening. The others are just minding their own business for a few seconds longer. At that distance, the normal thing would be to stop and stare. It’s not close enough for people to be fleeing in fear yet.

∞

Chris August 4, 2017, 6:35 PM

Man you guys clearly suck at photo interpretation. Based on the building to the left in the picture the little boy is about a block north of 230 W. St. He’s on the Hudson River Greenway. We’re looking South since the shadows are falling to the right in the picture. WTC1 (North tower) is the one in front and has clearly been hit from the North side. WTC2 has already been hit lower so it probably 10-15 minutes after the second plane hit at 9:03. The fireball has dissipated and smoke is coming from around the 78th floor (dark area) A picture taken from the southwest at about the same time can be seen at: http://911research.wtc7.net/talks/attack/docs1/amanz/wtc9.jpg

As to why the person took the picture, you have no idea what they saw or didn’t see that morning… maybe they just walked across the street after getting up and saw the buildings on fire. Judging those you know nothing about is a task best left for Liberals. The photographer took a picture of a child at a moment in historic time….

∞

TN Tuxedo September 11, 2018, 10:08 AM

Moments of shock and awe can make people do strange things.

∞

pbird September 11, 2018, 12:24 PM

Grandson same age as the kiddo in the photo and looked about the same.
I can imagine trying to distract the child by doing something normal…or maybe she just wasn’t paying attention to what was going on up in the air. Who knows.

∞

Moral Fracas September 13, 2018, 9:23 AM

You would have been surprised at how little noise it all made. people at that distance didn’t hear a thing. Only turned their backs to look when someone said, “hey, look at that?” Towers didn’t make a noise till they hit the street.

∞

Jeff Brokaw September 11, 2019, 12:39 PM

@Casey – our son too on 9/6/01. His due date was 9/11.

My wife spent many many nights after that trying to nurse our son at 2-3am while watching news coverage of searching for bodies, tears streaming down her face.

∞

Jeff Brokaw September 11, 2019, 1:12 PM

It’s hard for others to comprehend it but let me tell you, it’s quite an extraordinary emotional experience to have a baby and feel good about the world around you and the future ahead of your new child … and then a few days later, 19 despicable pieces of garbage murder a bunch of innocent people with airplane bombs because they hate everything about you, your religion, your history, and your civilization.

∞

Casey Klahn September 11, 2021, 10:01 AM

Greetings. That’s amazing and my son, now 20, has only ever known America at war in the Mideast.

We live in fly-over country, and I see no neighbors. It’s all wheat fields. The fly-overs are from the nearby airport and Fairchild Air Force Base. All of that stopped after 9-11. It was very eerie – just silence at night as I would take my son out to the front yard and feed him in the middle of the night. One night, around 3 AM, I held my baby in the front yard and the dead silence was interrupted by the sound a high flying jet going SW instead of West or SE, as is typical. 7 minutes later, same thing. 7 minutes later, same again. What repeated at 7 minute intervals was a flight of Air Force jets, in a combat formation over the USA, headed for Afghanistan. That was resolve; that was kinetic action and initiative.

I don’t regret one day of the hell we gave those goatfuxrs. Today, I have to listen to the news about Biden having droned the wrong man about a week ago in Afghanistan, and I have to recall 9-11 through the lens of a motherfucking repeat of Saigon/’75, but in Kabul. People jumping from the twin towers – fast forward to people falling out of landing gear wells.

OK to be angry now? Because I am.

∞

Vanderleun September 11, 2019, 3:42 PM

And now the planes and bombs and even the muslims are gone (for now) but what remains is a vast host of your fellow countrymen so crazed that “they hate everything about you, your religion, your history, and your civilization.”

∞