Where were you when you first found out about 9/11?

hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
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I dropped my kids off at pre-school and turned on the car radio to NPR. I couldn't really figure out what was going on, I thought a Cessna flew into the WTC or something. I got to work 5 minutes later and everyone was packed into the conference room watching TV and the instant the second plane hit everyone knew exactly what was going down.
 

Ifallalot

Duke status
Dec 17, 2008
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I was sleeping at my girlfriend's house in college. She comes back form class at 9:20ish and says "WAKE UP WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!" I think it means tanks are rolling down the streets of Chico and then I see the TV the rest of the day is just really weird because we're 3000 miles away and isolated from it all
 

kidfury

Duke status
Oct 14, 2017
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My mother in law called to tell us that a plane had flown into the WTC. A few seconds after I turned on the TV I saw another plane fly into the buildings. It was surreal and disorienting.
 

Random Guy

Duke status
Jan 16, 2002
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Got off a subway in Long Island city queens
Saw everyone looking towards lower manhattan
Turned to see what they were looking at
Saw smoke coming from tower 1
Saw burst of flames from tower 2 when the plane crashed into it
 
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hal9000

Duke status
Jan 30, 2016
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Urbana, Illinois
I was surfing and could see the smoke from where I am, probably 40 miles as the crow flies. And I think that was the exact moment that America began staring at screens 24-7.
 

mundus

Duke status
Feb 26, 2018
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Had the TV on as I was putting on tie for work after a surf, saw the second plane hit live,
 
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GromsDad

Duke status
Jan 21, 2014
54,152
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West of the Atlantic. East of the ICW.
We'd had an incredible swell. I surfed from first light until as late as I could get away with before work. I was racing south on the Garden State Parkway to my 9:00 appointment when I heard a confusing story on 100.7 WZXL about a small plane hitting the first tower. Arrived at my appointment and they had a little wall mounted TV and was watching that when the second plane hit. After my appointment I stopped at a friend's surf shop and it was there that we watched the towers fall. Didn't go back to work.....went home.
 

CutnSnip

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2018
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Probably dropping in on you, California
woke up just in time to turn on the tv and see the second plane hit. spent the next couple hours talking and checking up on fam/friends in NY. spent the rest of the day in disbelief with my best friend - his bday is 9/11. his bday has been weird ever since.

gonna go meet up with him in a few and drink until 9/12
 

enframed

Tom Curren status
Apr 11, 2006
11,644
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Del Boca Vista, Phase III
I had just arrived at work at UC Santa Barbara when my boss runs into my office hysterical. Watched a little on the computer. I arrived at work at 8am Pacific, so I think it had all happened already. Became nauseated. Went home (we were sent home), hugged my wife and son, called my mom. Don't remember what happened the rest of the day but I know I spent it with them. Surreal.
 

TheEl

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 31, 2010
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Was on my way to class with a roommate and his girlfriend. Her mom called and told us what happened. Classes were canceled. We went a bought a keg and just watched the idiot box with friends and neighbors all day.
 

sirfun

Duke status
Apr 26, 2008
17,546
6,882
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U.S.A.
Had the TV on as I was putting on tie for work after a surf, saw the second plane hit live,
I heard at a tale of a couple of guys skipping work to surf only to see their workplace fall to the ground !!

As for me I was doing maintenance on pumps in a contaminated well field and a cop drove by and told me !! )
 

Duffy LaCoronilla

Duke status
Apr 27, 2016
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Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Indian reservation. We were camping there. Found out from an Indian who spoke with a weird mumbling sort of Native American pidgin and communicated it to us mostly by drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick.

When he said “and then the buildings came down” while erasing with his hands the buildings he had drawn, my wife and i were in disbelief.

We really thought the dude was making it all up (these Havasupai people had been telling us some tall tales all week).

He then told us “they hit the pentagon too.”

What. The. Fuckk.

This was 3 days after it all happened. We hiked from the campground to the rez office and read the story on CNNs website. They had dial up so we didn’t see any video.

Anyway, long story cut waaaayyyy short, we didn’t sit down to a tv until 5 days after it all went down. Watched a recap on a hotel room tv in Needles, CA. In a way we were lucky to be so unaware. The Event had some time to be processed by the populace before we really knew the scale of it.

As an aside, my mom flew from Boston on the same flight that flew into one of the towers except she flew the day before. Same departure time, same flight number. I wasn’t sure about her flight date and for a few moments I thought she was probably gone. Called her and she answered the phone crying.
 

Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,687
20,894
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The Bar
Staying with friends in Australia, just flipped on the TV before going to pub and watched the 2nd plane fly into the towers. Surreal. Numbly sat down and watched; did not go to pub.
 
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manbearpig

Duke status
May 11, 2009
29,772
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in the bathroom
In class. They made an announcement over intercom. We were young and didn’t know what to make of it. Then a teacher came into the room and talked to one girl who burst into tears. Which put things into perspective quick. I don’t recall any actual classes being held after but we didn’t get sent home until normal break time. Kids wouldn’t get dropped off unless their parents were home, which mine were not. So was sent back to school to wait in the cafeteria until my mother got me. Walked in the house and saw the footage of the towers getting hit on the TV while my father who was home very early watched. You could see the towers from my bedroom window in the attic, it was almost perfectly framed but the tree line did obscure things for a little while. Pretty surreal and I watched the smoke for hours from my window.

One friends father should have been on an upper floor didn’t go into work that morning because the waves were good.
 
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plasticbertrand

Duke status
Jan 12, 2009
21,218
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I was about to get on my way to Vail to film MTB world champs. The neighbor came out as I was loading the truck and told me to turn on the TV.
I did it just in time to see the second plane hit the tower.

I was glued to the AM radio the whole way, and everywhere I stopped people were frozen, looking at TV screens.

None of the Euro press made it to Vail because their flights got turned around and I was asked to shoot photos for a magazine. I just got some new photo gear because all my stuff was stolen in Whistler, couple of months before. Brian Lopes won the dual slalom in a star spangled jersey. All my film came back from the lab underexposed and never got published. I still got to write the story.