# 9/11- did any of the people hanging out the windows of the WTC survive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661 "2016-09-11T15:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snopes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@snopes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snopes)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/1 "2016-09-11T15:59:56Z")
I know none of them who _fell_ or jumped survived. And I also know that no one from above the impact site on the North Tower (and possibly the South tower) survived. But in footage you can see that some of the people hanging out the windows of both towers were several floors below the impact site. Possibly within reach of the firefighters who were battling the blaze and rescuing people before the towers collapsed. So my question is, did any those people we see hanging from the windows end up being rescued by firefighters or escaping in some other way? Or did they all die from either the fire, falling out of the building, or the eventual collapse? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/2 "2016-09-11T16:18:25Z")
related - I saw a documentary about one of the guys who jumped or fell and they never figured out who he was. (unknown as of the time the doc was made) That seems strange since you would assume he would have been identified as missing by friends or relatives. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/3 "2016-09-11T17:24:17Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > related - I saw a documentary about one of the guys who jumped or fell and they never figured out who he was. (unknown as of the time the doc was made) That seems strange since you would assume he would have been identified as missing by friends or relatives. There were something like 10,000 (20,000?) people in the towers that morning. It figures that some of them would have little or no connection to any of the workers or businesses there, may have just been tourists or curious visitors or even edging into some kinds of criminals. If you didn’t know someone had traveled to NYC to try and steal some papers from a financial firm (to be wild), his disappearance from somewhere in PA wouldn’t necessarily be connected to unknowns in the WTC fatalities. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/4 "2016-09-11T18:01:57Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > related - I saw a documentary about one of the guys who jumped or fell and they never figured out who he was. (unknown as of the time the doc was made) That seems strange since you would assume he would have been identified as missing by friends or relatives. [The Falling Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falling_Man). A couple of names have been suggested for the man’s ID, but nothing confirmed. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/5 "2016-09-11T19:11:48Z")
He’s probably the same guy we saw in all those pix of a tourist up on the observation deck smiling into the camera while behind him a jet was rapidly approaching from below. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/6 "2016-09-11T21:37:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > He’s probably the same guy we saw in all those pix of a tourist up on the observation deck smiling into the camera while behind him a jet was rapidly approaching from below. Yeah, the guy who broke into a closed area and liked to wear winter clothing on warm days. I hear he lives in Europe now. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/7 "2016-09-11T21:50:06Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > related - I saw a documentary about one of the guys who jumped or fell and they never figured out who he was. (unknown as of the time the doc was made) That seems strange since you would assume he would have been identified as missing by friends or relatives. Is it that strange? Even if everyone was identified in the wreckage, and they weren’t, that still does nothing to say who that particular person in the blurry picture was. Even if you know the names of every single person who jumped or fell from the windows, it still would not be surprising to be unsure about who that particular person was. Don’t you have some old pictures of an event where nobody can agree on who a particular person in the photo is? Even though you know everyone who was present, nobody is quite sure who the person is. Maybe Tom, might be Bill, not sure. Pants look kind of blue, I remember John was wearing pants like that, but the hair doesn’t look right… ---
**Author:** ![snopes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@snopes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snopes)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/8 "2016-09-12T00:11:53Z")
Some of the people hanging out of the windows were clearly trying to climb down the side of the building to a lower level to escape the fire. I wonder if any of them actually succeeded, or if they all fell and died. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/9 "2016-09-12T00:41:12Z")
I guess falling man was not identified since he was one of the people who they could not identify even via DNA methods. They may have found his DNA but if nobody submitted DNA to match against then there is no ID ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/10 "2016-09-12T00:43:59Z")
There was a story floating around right after 9/11 that someone on a window ledge “surfed” his way down as the tower collapsed. Snopes (the web-site, not **snopes** the poster) investigated and said it was just an urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/11 "2016-09-12T01:28:17Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I guess falling man was not identified since he was one of the people who they could not identify even via DNA methods. They may have found his DNA but if nobody submitted DNA to match against then there is no ID I was unaware that the body was ever identified. The image is timeless for many reasons, but one is that his last and most permanent existence now is … falling. From “nowhere” (since we don’t know who he was, pace the documentary) to “nowhere”–a hellish limbo of still frames of surreal time. ETA: I was the first managing editor of a major electronics engineering portal, and I put that image on the landing page on 9/12/2001. I was severely reprimanded, and it was cited in my subsequent dismissal. ETA2: Fuck 'em. I did the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/12 "2016-09-12T04:46:36Z")
I worked on the WTC recovery as a Field Engineer. There were no “survivors” beyond the initial incident. There may have been some whom we inadvertently killed by necessity of moving heavy equipment over rubble. The “surfer” thing is unmitigated BS. The hope was that some folks in the basement levels might be surviving in voids with air and, hopefully water (lots of shops under there - a Dr. Pepper or whatever can keep you alive for a while). Alas, this wasn’t to be. We found no survivors, and even the remains were rather hit-or-miss in terms of identification (DNA can only do so much when it’s been exposed to over 2000 degrees (Fahrenheit). I hate these anniversaries. But, at the expense of sounding macabre, I wouldn’t give up the experience of spending months on “the pile” or in “the hole” for anything. So much learning for my formerly young self. Perspective and an understanding of sh\*t that actually matters. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/13 "2016-09-12T21:15:50Z")
Esquire published [this](http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a48031/the-falling-man-tom-junod/) recently, on the identity of the Falling Man. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/14 "2016-09-12T21:34:53Z")
> [@snopes](#): > > Some of the people hanging out of the windows were clearly trying to climb down the side of the building to a lower level to escape the fire. I wonder if any of them actually succeeded, or if they all fell and died. One story I saw several times came from people who were watching the carnage through binoculars or a telescope, and they saw a man climb down several stories, presumably in the window-washer track, towards an obviously open window, and a floor or two short of his destination, he slipped. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/15 "2016-09-13T00:07:56Z")
The most interesting story, to me, was the fellow who ducked under his desk as the wingtip came in his window. I assume because the plane was tilted, the majority of the effect was felt several stories higher. basically, the stairwells were two layers thick of drywall (gyproc, sheetrock, whatever) rather than concrete. This was sufficient for fireproofing allegedly. However, the impact dislocated a lot of the walling anywhere near the impact levels, and a lot of doors stuck shut with the twisting. So basically, there was no safe way down for the people above the impact. AFAIK, nobody above the impacts made it out, since the stairwells were destroyed, exposed, and inside the inferno. As for people surfing out - IIRC a very few people were found in the remains of a stairwell about 3 floors up, the only persons found after the fall. Presumably, anyone who made it to the ground before the falls was ushered out the safest door ASAP. Anyone who didn’t get the hint when the first tower fell probably got the hell out then. Anyone who didn’t, I assume was not in a position to get out. the miracle was actually how few people died, when you consider that 50,000 people worked there, but only 3,000 died and hundreds were first responders. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/16 "2016-09-13T00:33:22Z")
As I remember, the (relatively) low death count was, in part, attributed to the fact that it was a primary election day and the first day of school, so a number of people were late to work that day. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/17 "2016-09-13T01:03:38Z")
md2000, interesting post – thanks. In fact, there was a handful of folks – three, maybe? – who were above the impact but escaped. They happened to find the one bit of stairwell that was briefly passable, in one of the buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/18 "2016-09-13T01:20:51Z")
Stanley Praimnanth was the fellow who dove under the desk as the wing came in. Same wiki article says that 18 from the impact area or above survived. > **[Stanley Praimnath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Praimnath)** > > Stanley Praimnath (born October 27, 1956) is a survivor of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He worked as an executive for Fuji Bank on the 81st floor of the South Tower (WTC 2), the second tower struck that day. He was one of only 18 survivors from within or above the impact zone of United Airlines Flight 175. > When American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower, Praimnath started to evacuate from his 81st floor office in the South Tower, but he returned when the s... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/19 "2016-09-13T02:49:14Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Stanley Praimnanth was the fellow who dove under the desk as the wing came in. > > Same wiki article says that 18 from the impact area or above survived. > > [Stanley Praimnath - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Praimnath) More would have if they had gone downstairs, and not upstairs towards the roof, where they assumed they would be rescued by helicopters. Some of those 18 said they had tried to talk those people into going downstairs, and with a couple of exceptions who changed their minds, all the upstairs-going people died. There is no way to know if anyone in the other tower tried this; my guess is that they would have been overcome by smoke before they made it to the roof anyway. I knew the real purpose of the 1993 bombing several years before it was released to the press (an acquaintance who worked for the elevator company told me) and I had always suspected that the terrorists intended to do more than turn them into quarter-mile-high smokestacks. On that horrible day, and for a few days afterwards, I speculated that the death toll would definitely be in the 5 figures, and possibly 6. :eek: By the time all is said and done, it probably will be, with all the cancers and others diseases resulting from inhaling all that dust. I watched the updated “9/11” movie last night, and I remember all the crowds of terrified people on the mezzanine, headed out of the towers. First responders were directing people that way; just going out the door was too dangerous, with falling debris (and jumpers ☹ ) and the mezzanine opened onto a skywalk which led them to an exit on the other side of a building a block or two away. I also remember the full elevator that descended to the lobby, and a couple dozen uninjured but very puzzled people who walked out, and were told what had happened and where to go. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661/20 "2016-09-13T03:33:38Z")
There are a number of harrowing stories. One elevator opened into the lobby and a woman came out with serious burns - I assume the fire and burning fuel had gone down the elevator shaft. Another group was stuck in an elevator that stalled. they pried the door open, used the metal from a window-washing tool to cut through the thick layers of drywall that also lined the elevator shafts (they were express, no door that floor?) and ended up in the men’s room and made their way down the stairs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-did-any-of-the-people-hanging-out-the-windows-of-the-wtc-survive/765661.md?page=2)