# Washington Monument Earthquake Video

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-monument-earthquake-video/597809>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 27, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-monument-earthquake-video/597809 "2011-09-27T21:28:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-monument-earthquake-video/597809/1 "2011-09-27T21:28:12Z")

</div>

The National Parks Service has released and posted on its sight the video that was taken in the obsevation deck at the top of the Washington Monument when the earthquake struck two weeks ago. You can see the tourists walking around, looking out the windows, and generally having a good time. Then the monument starts shaking badly and the tourists run in panic towards the stairs going down. It must have been a terrifying experience. (Remember these tourists are 555 feet above the ground). Among the tourists running down the stairs is a man in a wide-brimmed white hat. About fifteen seconds after the last person has gone down the stairs, this man comes back up the stairs and moves off camera to the right. That is the last we see of him. Any theories as to what that was all about?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-monument-earthquake-video/597809/2 "2011-09-27T22:05:49Z")

</div>

It took me a while to find the videos, they are buried within the site.

[Link to videos.](http://www.nps.gov/wamo/washington-monument-earthquake-update.htm)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-monument-earthquake-video/597809/3 "2011-09-27T23:43:04Z")

</div>

> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#):
>
> About fifteen seconds after the last person has gone down the stairs, this man comes back up the stairs and moves off camera to the right. That is the last we see of him. Any theories as to what that was all about?

One of the other videos shows him moving around and then going down another stairway. I timed it and the shaking went on for over 3 minutes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-monument-earthquake-video/597809/4 "2011-09-29T21:27:58Z")

</div>

I found this:

> [@National Park Service](#):
>
> The Ranger following Protocols went down the stairway to open the Emergency door for visitors, then is seen coming back through after conducting a sweep to assure all were safe.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-monument-earthquake-video/597809/5 "2011-09-29T21:34:15Z")

</div>

> [@SCSimmons](#):
>
> I found this:

Missed the edit window … I see who you’re talking about now.

Maybe he wanted to take one last picture. 🙂