4 years ago...where were you?

[© tweed]

Where were you when you first heard the news about what had happened on 9/11/01?

I was in school.  At about 10:30, the principal came on the PA and said "Two commercial arilines have hit the World Trade Center."  Being 10 years old and stupid, I didn't know what a commercial airline was and didn't know the WTC were the Twin Towers.  But we put the pieces together over the course of the day as we looked on the internet, had students getting picked up to go home in droves, overheard teacher conversations, etc.

Where were you?

[dazzleman]

I had just gotten to work.  We were having a staff meeting, and a guy walked in late and said that something had happened at the World Trade Center.

I went on the internet to try to find a news site, but they were all down because of heavy traffic.

Wild rumours flew around, especially after we heard about the Pentagon.  The one I heard was that the national mall was ablaze, and that the Supreme Court building was blown up.

Everybody pretty much left work, but there was really nowhere to go.  Public transportation wasn't working, so everybody was walking.  Up in midtown, things seemed so calm that the huge throngs of people walking, a highly unusual sight, was the only real sign that something was wrong to the casual observer.

Later in the afternoon, some transportation resumed, and I was able to get a train out of the city.  When I got to Connecticut, there were state troopers on the platforms at every train station, as well as local residents with welcoming signs.

[Platypus]

In bed, asleep

[Akno21]

I was sitting in science class when the secretary said over the PA system that airplanes had struck the the WTC and Pentagon. She also said we'd be going home 30 minutes early, so some people cheered. (I did not cheer) I didn't really grasp the situation then, I thought it was just another plane crash that happens a few times a year and gets on the news.

I didn't realize that it was actually an attack until I went to get a tissue in Math later that morning and made sure to pass by the teachers computer, to which cnn.com was on, and saw the big headline AMERICA UNDER ATTACK.

To be honest, when my friends were discussing who did it during lunch, I said it was probably Iraq.

The only other thing I remember was that Gym sucked because kids kept getting called for dismissal every 3 minutes, so we couldn't play anything.

I went home with a family friend when school ended, watched the news, then went home, and watched the news.

[dazzleman]

In bed, asleep

Good answer.  But wasn't it a little late to be asleep in Iowa, where you lived at the time?

[Keystone Phil]

I was in my English class (8th grade). My teacher was called out into the hallway by my school's Vice Principal (who happens to be a friend of Flyers' mom. Such a small world). My teacher came back into the room and I am about 95% sure that he only mentioned to us that the Pentagon was hit. I remember my heart just stopping for a few seconds. The class finished and we went to recess.

One of my friends came in and asked me if I heard about the World Trade Center. I told him that the Pentagon, not the WTC, was hit. He then informed me that both were hit.

It was in my next class (History) that I saw the first images on TV.

We dismissed later in the morning and I remember the mob scene of parents that crowded the halls down by the main office, trying to pick up kids from school. As I went home, I remember the crossing guard, who was always on our case about running across the street, actually yelling at us to room straight home.

[Giant Saguaro]

I had wakened up and was about to get up out of bed and was about to go through the morning routine and then go over some notes in preparation for a lecture I was going to give later on.

I seldom watch TV other than news and sports, especially in the morning. I just like it quiet. And I usually don't watch news in the morning as they're often repeating the stories they did during the night.

Well, 2001: A Space Odyssey was in the DVD player and as I find that sort of thing conducive to waking up to in the morning, I flicked it on. A few minutes and as Intelligent Design would have it, I turned on the news and holy smokes, what in the world is going on now?

[7,052,770]

I was in English class and we we watching on TV.  Only 1 tower had been struck.  Then the teacher made us turn off the TV and do oral book reports.
Rumors (mostly false) spread around school all day, but I never got to a TV to find out exactly what happened until 4 PM that afternoon.

[Max Power]

I was in school, and nobody knew what happened. Our school had a gag rule on it, so all the teachers seemed frightened, and every two minutes a kid would leave, until I was only one of three kids left in my classroom. My mom picked me up every day (I didn't ride the bus then), and when I got in the car, she said the Pentagon and NYC were bombed by terrorists. When we got home, the rest of my family was watching TV, and I thought it was some Arnold Schwarzennegar movie.

[Blerpiez]

I was in English class when the principal came on the loudspeaker and said that there had been attacks on buildings in New York and Washington, and nobody was to use the internet or tell students more in detail.  Most of the teachers told us all anyways.  Afterwards, I went home and watched TV for a while (still no internet, for reasons I don't understand).

[Hitchabrut]

I was in class, and the teachers neglected to inform us of anything until 12:00, when we were brought to the gymnasium and the principal heralded us with the news was an attack on the world trade center. She said that if our parents worked in New York, we'd be allowed to contact them. I assumed that from the limited description given, that this was similar to the 1993 attack and that I had nothing to worry about. However, about half of the school was taken home by parents, and we heard rumors that the towers fell. I assumed, imaginatively, that they fell sidewards and killed hundreds of thousands, until I retuned home after dismissal. Shockingly, I was told by my mother that my father was working in midtown Manhattan that day, although I was thrilled that he was not harmed. He was stuck in a labyrinth of traffic until he came home in the early morning hours.

[Sarnstrom]

In was in Math class, when one of the guidance counselors walked into the room to report the news. My teacher at the time (who I hated) refused to turn on the television, because she insisted it would disrupt class. However in all the other classes I had that day all we did was watch CNN.

[YRABNNRM]

I was in the bathroom when this kid in the class above me told me about it so I went back to my Home&Careers class and told everyone and the teacher denied it. The teachers actually tried to keep it a secret but word soon spread around the school, especially when tons of people started getting called down to the main office to get picked up...

[MHS2002]

I was a senior in high school at Minot, ND. In my International Relations class, we were taking a test on the Middle East when my teacher turned on CNN where we saw a picture of the first tower burning. From then on, we were glued to the TV for the rest of the day.

[Defarge]

School. At the end of 2nd period the principal announced "please stay in your classes, the assistant principal and I will be talking to each class."

She then came and told us the news.  Sitting next to me was a Japanese girl.  When the principal announced that the world trade center was hit, the girl mumbled uneasily "my dad works in there."

We later found out her father died.  So did my sister's soccer coach.  So did so many others...

[DanielX]

I was just starting 9th grade in Paint Branch... the first tower was hit when I was in 2nd-period PE; I heard the news during Pascal class in 5th period; the principal made an announcement about airplanes hitting the World Trade Center. During 6th period US History (the last period, as we were let out of school early), the class watched TV - seeing the Pentagon, and at least one WTC tower collapsing (I wasn't sure if both had collapsed or just one), I was wondering "good god, what next?"

My mother told me she could see the smoke from the Pentagon from the windows in her office building (and she's in Rockville, a good half hour from the Pentagon!).

[Nation]

My junior year in high school, sitting in a Pre-Calc class. I was chatting with my teacher when we got the news, and it was also at this point I realized I was the last person who didn't own a cell phone --- about 3/4 of my classmates started pulling theirs out and talking on them.

Two of the people in my school lost their fathers who worked in the Pentagon. A shame.

[Jake]

I was in Home Ec wokring on some project when a teacher from down the hall told my teacher to turn the TV on. I watched the second tower get hit and then the towers collapsed. I was stunned, but I remember telling one of my friends about some Osama guy my dad and I had talked about. Course, Saddam was mentioned also. We went to our classes and the teachers tried to keep it quiet, but one of the kids in my class got a call that his dad was alright (he was a pilot for American) and my math teacher told those who didn't know what happened. I went home and watched stuff on TV and my uncle (an air-traffic controller at National) got to our house and said that if he hadn't been at a meeting in PA, he would've been the guy tracking the Pentagon as it hit. We went out to dinner that night and after that I don't remember anything except watching CNN one night when they were talking to people who lost families. Terrible, terrible day.

[Citizen James]

I was asleep, in the converted garage of my parent's home.  I had lost my job several months previous, lost my home the week before, and was about to lose my mind.

My mom woke me up to let me know.  My parents watched compulsively, but I just couldn't take that much suffering and did what I could to get away from it - which was tough because it was on all channels and all over the net.  (and the garage wasn't that comfortable a place to escape to).

[KillerPollo]

I was at school in my Drafting class when the planes explosed on fires.

[MaC]

In school, the buildings and pentagon got hit during 3rd and 4th hour (Choir and Astronomy).  First thing shortly after, I thought "oh crap, the politicians will use this as an excuse to pull all sorts of liberty infringments".  I wasn't wrong...

[J. J.]

Here is excerpt of my account, written within a fortnight of the attack.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It was not the most traumatic experience of my life, interestingly.

[Ben.]

English Class.

[Schmitz in 1972]

It was only 6 days into 6th grade when I was sitting in math class. The teacher was called out into the hall by an administrator. The administrator informed her what had happened but forbade her from telling the students. When she re-entered the room she might have told us that "something bad" has happened but I can't remember for sure. Through a combination of secrecy and luck the news was somehow never leaked to me during the school day. When I got off the school bus however, my mother told me everything.

Terrorists hijacked 4 planes, she told me. The first two crashed into the WTC buildings, the 3rd into the pentagon, and the 4th in Southwestern Pennsylvania. When I asked how bad the damage was, I was horrified to hear that both WTC buildings had collapsed.

What a depressing day.

[Protect Trans Hoosiers]

I was at the corner of Randall and Monroe in Madison, driving to my campus IT job, in search of a parking space.  I had just turned on Mike & Mike on ESPN radio, and they said there would be no "Just Shut Up Tuesday" in light of what was happening.  And I thought "oh, someone in the sporting world probably died or something."  And then they said that a second plane had just crashed into the WTC...

...and I quickly got to work and found that all news websites were completely fuxored.  The network ops room next door had a TV, which I kept sneaking over to look at.  Also Sky News seemed to be up.  And there was Slashdot.  I didn't know of Fark.com at the time, otherwise I would have used that.

There were so many rumors flying around that it was hard to get any solid fact.  When I heard about the Pentagon being hit, I said "no f'ing way.  That's not possible."

Also, the next few days skies were complete clear over Madison, and it was spooky seeing the sky complete free of jet trails.  Usually there's quite a lot of Chicago-to-MSP traffic that flies over Madison, but not that week.