story805.xml
Title
story805.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-06-19
911DA Story: Story
I was actually online at about 8:50 a.m., in a women's chat room. People were talking about a plane having crashed into the WTC. The radio was on in the background (The Tom Joyner show). Everyone was talking as if it had been a small, recreational plane that had had an accident.
Then people online started talking about a 757. I thought they were crazy and I went to another women's chat room. But the same dialogue was happening there. I turned on the television and saw what was going on. But the screen went to snow after a few minutes b/c I did not have cable. My reception was coming from the antenna on top of the WTC. That's when I got scared. I went back online and asked if anyone knew of an all-news AM station in NYC. I grew up here and have lived here most of my life. But I was so scared at that point that I couldn't even remember 1010 WINS or something else that I had heard all my life.
A few minutes later I ran outside and talked to my neighbor on the street.
He's an older man and he's so sweet to me. He hugs me and gives me a kiss on the cheek every day. He confirmed that everything I had heard on TV and the radio was true. Somehow his confirmation made it all real. My other neighbors pulled up in front of the house next door just as I was returning home. They had been downtown and had made it out by car just in time. He had just offered to drive her to work that day--out of the blue. The second plane hit a minute or two after she got out of the car. She just jumped back in and they made it over the bridge and back home to Harlem.
I watched it all on TV with them as the towers fell. I'll never forget those moments as long as I live. I couldn't stop thinking "What about the people? All those people..." i was in shock. I didn't even know until days later that two people I knew had not made it out of Tower 1. I still think about the people and their families often.
I lost my parents when I was younger. So my heart aches for them. I hope they find peace. It's possible, but it takes a long, long time.
Then people online started talking about a 757. I thought they were crazy and I went to another women's chat room. But the same dialogue was happening there. I turned on the television and saw what was going on. But the screen went to snow after a few minutes b/c I did not have cable. My reception was coming from the antenna on top of the WTC. That's when I got scared. I went back online and asked if anyone knew of an all-news AM station in NYC. I grew up here and have lived here most of my life. But I was so scared at that point that I couldn't even remember 1010 WINS or something else that I had heard all my life.
A few minutes later I ran outside and talked to my neighbor on the street.
He's an older man and he's so sweet to me. He hugs me and gives me a kiss on the cheek every day. He confirmed that everything I had heard on TV and the radio was true. Somehow his confirmation made it all real. My other neighbors pulled up in front of the house next door just as I was returning home. They had been downtown and had made it out by car just in time. He had just offered to drive her to work that day--out of the blue. The second plane hit a minute or two after she got out of the car. She just jumped back in and they made it over the bridge and back home to Harlem.
I watched it all on TV with them as the towers fell. I'll never forget those moments as long as I live. I couldn't stop thinking "What about the people? All those people..." i was in shock. I didn't even know until days later that two people I knew had not made it out of Tower 1. I still think about the people and their families often.
I lost my parents when I was younger. So my heart aches for them. I hope they find peace. It's possible, but it takes a long, long time.
Collection
Citation
“story805.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 15, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/14686.