A friend of mine recently came into contact with a couple of construction workers who worked on the World Trade Center in New York City. They told him the story of a construction worker who was working on a high floor of one of the towers when it was just a shell of girders. Apparantly, he slipped and fell off, but the wind between the two towers was so forceful that it blew him back into the building about 10 stories below. According to the sources, this man suffered two broken legs but was otherwise ok. It’s a great story, but is it true?
Sounds an awful lot like an Urban Legend.
I did few searches on http://www.snopes.com, but didn’t come up with anything. When I have more time I’ll try some more searches.
I think it was some guy named Clark Kent. I heard some people say that he pulls stunts like that sometimes. He used to be a track star or something like that. Knowing what I’ve heard about him, I doubt that he broke his legs.
I think that this is a UL, spurred by an old old joke. The joke goes as follows: A man’s sitting at a bar at the top of the World Trade Center (is there really a bar there? don’t ask me) and starts talking to the fellow next to him. He says “you know, the winds up here are so strong that if you jump off the building, they’ll blow you RIGHT BACK.” The guy figures he’s full of it, that he’s being taken for a rube, for a gullible tourist. The first man insists, “No, I’m being serious … if you open the window and jump, the wind will blow you right back!!” Still dubious, the guy figures he’ll call him on it and says “okay, you go first!” So the man at the bar smiles, stands up … goes to the window and jumps out. Sure enough, he comes right back in!
The tourist is completely amazed, and says “wow, I’ve got to try that!!” So he goes to the window, jumps … and falls to his death. The first man sits back down and winks at the bartender, who tells him “Superman, you sure are a mean drunk!”
Okay, not that funny, but the point is, if it’s the basis for a lame joke such as this, it’s not really all that likely to be a true story, but rather an urban legend.
I don’t see why this couldn’t happen. UL it may be but it’s certainly possible. The story doesn’t say he was blown back up but rather blown ‘in’ to the building. Since he probably slipped off I would guess he was no more than a foot or so from the building. A gust of wind could easily shove him back towards the building.
That said he would have to count himself as one of the luckiest people alive (and that amount of luck, while not unheard of, is rare enough to throw doubt on the story).
If he wasn’t religious before he should be now (assuming it happened in the first place).
In fact, there is a bar on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center (1 or 2? I don’t remember). It’s part of the old Windows on the World complex and apparently now is called The Greatest Bar In The World or something similarly immodest.
I’m not sure if this takes it out of the urban legend catagory or not.
I was talking with a neighbor of mine the other day who does construction work who told me he knew a guy (yep, sounds like a legend) who was working on the top floor of a construction project and lifted a 4 by 8 foot sheet of plywood over his head. Along came a gust of wind, and lifted him and the plywood right off the building.
Fortunately for the guy, the wind blew him back into the building a few stories below, and from what I gathered the guy suffered no injuries, other than having to change his pants.
Next time I see my neighbor I’ll have to ask if he knows any of the details on that event, like when, where, who.
Yeah, like you can hang onto a 4x8 sheet of plywood like that without letting go. Sorry, I don’t believe it.
Would YOU let go? If it was me my hands would have to physically separate from my arm to get detached from that board. Hell, once I landed you’d probably need a crowbar to pry my fingers loose!
I currently live in NYC and for about a year I commuted back & forth from a job in Manhattan to an apartment in New Jersey via the Path Train from WTC (the World Trade Center) to Grove St., in Jersey. Many times on warm summer days I would take a stroll around the plaza of the WTC and happened to see the two famous towers often. While I never saw anyone actually fall from the building, I do happen to know that there are NO window ledges. Looking up from the ground (if I remember right) it looks like a sheer drop from roof to the plaza.
Furthermore, having gone to the roof of the WTC, I get the distinct impression that those winds are strong enough that if a man fell off the roof (and that would be real hard to do with the big fences they have to prevent that very occurrence), he wouldn’t so much as fall onto some ledge (if there was a ledge) as go SPLAT right against the side of the building.
FAT ANGEL:
The OP suggests that the Trade Center was under construction. There were no windows to bounce off of…just girders there so I suppose there was plenty of room to get back ‘into’ the building.
I’ll check tonight at home, because I know this is in one of my books (Uncle John’s Reader, I believe). My guess is this is the original story that has been modified by the urban legand process.
The story which was verified in the book is about someone jumping off the Empire State Building observation deck, attempting suicide. The wind blew them back into the building where they landed on a ledge 2 or 3 stories below.
If I recall, they were knocked out, and woke up on the ledge, decided maybe they didn’t want to end it all, and banged on a window to be let in. The book goes on to report a second similar case.
I’ll try to find the reference at home. I know it quoted the newspaper story, the name of the jumper, and the name of the person who let them in, so it seemed like a verified case.
Sounds plausible. It seems like these days everyone wants to label everything an urban legend, but this doesn’t strike me as one. Granted, it may or may not be true, but if it were an UL, it’s an awfully lame one.
I could see falling 10 stories, being blown back in, and breaking their legs. It amazes me that high-rise construction workers don’t fall by the dozens every day 
Ask your buddy for more details.
It’s on page 25 of the 10th Anniversary Bathroom Reader. I had remembered more details, but here’s what’s there.
John (or Tom) Helms, a 26-year down-and-out artist decided to commit suicide just before Christmas 1977. He climbed over the safety rail on the 86th story observation deck of the Empire State Building and let go. He woke up 30 minutes later on the 85th story ledge, knocked on the window, and an engineer at the NBC-TV transmitter room let him in.
Two years later, Elvita Adams (presumably no relation) did the same thing on Dec 2. She fell about 20 feet, broke her hip, and was rescued when a guard heard her calls.
Is this the basis for the OP? No idea, but I think it shows the winds up there would make it possible.
There’s also this, from the Empire State Building’s website:
I’m with sailor on this one, if you have ever been in the situation where you’re carrying something heavy and unwieldy (eg scaffolding poles, it wasn’t fun), it’s impossible not to let go of said item when you lose your balance. I’m sure that instinctively, anybody would let go of the object they’re holding and try to grab for something solid and, hopefully, immovable. Except jeff_42.