# 9/11 Jumpers - Did they jump or were they pushed out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692 "2004-05-23T21:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/1 "2004-05-23T21:17:47Z")
Did the 9/11 jumpers really jump out of the WTC Towers or were they pushed out as people rushed to the windows to get fresh air and avoid the heat and smoke? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/2 "2004-05-23T21:20:46Z")
Probably both. There were people who seemed to have intentionally jumped-- some held hands with other people as they leapt-- but it seems likely that some people could have been pushed accidentally out of the windows in the panic. ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/3 "2004-05-23T21:55:45Z")
Just for curiosity, could you tell me why you ask? I mean, it seems like a pretty morbid question to which you’re not going to get much of a definitive reply to other than the one that **Lissa** supplied. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/4 "2004-05-23T22:49:17Z")
Hey, I’m interested in morbid questions too. And there _could_ be definitive answers, from external viewers watching via telephoto lenses or maybe telescopes. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/5 "2004-05-24T02:53:16Z")
While it might be of academic interest, it strikes me as moot. Jumped, pushed, or stayed inside, they perished. ---
**Author:** ![4JawChuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/f9ae1b/32.png) [@4JawChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4JawChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/6 "2004-05-24T03:45:16Z")
Academic interest IS the point of this site. A typical question would be, ‘Was there anything good about Hitler?’ The tolerance this place has is incredible. CRINZ ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/7 "2004-05-24T03:49:04Z")
Hitler was, by some accounts, quite good with children. That hardly balances his account, but it is interesting to know. ---
**Author:** ![4JawChuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/f9ae1b/32.png) [@4JawChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4JawChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/8 "2004-05-24T03:58:45Z")
Ringo: Oh, yeah… Hitler is, in my opinion, one of the most horrible manifestations of humanity ever. The ability to talk about it rationally is why this site is so great. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/9 "2004-05-24T05:44:16Z")
The eyewitness accounts that I have seen all indicate that the jumpers voluntarily jumped (as “voluntarily” as those horrible conditions allowed), probably to avoid death by fire or smoke inhalation. Or to put in another way, no eyewitness account has said that it appeared anyone was accidentally pushed out in a rushed panic to the windows. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/10 "2004-05-24T11:19:39Z")
I’d guess some of both. Some folks were probably through from the building during the initial impact and shockwave (they may have also be ripped apart at the same time, accounting for some of the reports of “body parts” around the buildings) Eyewitness reports that in some places people _appeared_ to step out under their own power. Some folks from the restaurant level attempted to use tablecloths as parachutes - implying that not only had they jumped under their own power, but had a _plan_ to do so, it was not entirely spur-of-the-moment. And some people may well have been pushed out by folks behind them attempting to flee death-by-fire, although we have no direct evidence of that. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/11 "2004-05-24T12:04:51Z")
Answers to these questions can offer great insights into humanity–they aren’t necessarily for the titillation of the OP. We know that some jumpers did so of their own volition, but it’s probably likely that some asked to be pushed because they couldn’t do it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-jumpers-did-they-jump-or-were-they-pushed-out/246692/12 "2004-05-24T17:33:32Z")
I believe most of them jumped out of instinct. I don’t think that if your standing in flames or inhaling smoke you’d be thinking “If I jump out that window i’m going to fall to my death. I’m better off standing here burning alive.” When faced with fire the natural instint is to get away. Case in point would be that fire in the nightclub. Nobody had time to leave in an orderly fashion, they just thought “I need to get out NOW.”