Althouse: "The Amazing, Untrue Story Of A Sept. 11 Survivor."

April 15, 2012

"The Amazing, Untrue Story Of A Sept. 11 Survivor."

Tania Head... who had "some crazy need to be a star, and that's what she wanted to be, and she became that."

17 comments:

The Drill SGT said...: Major acidents aways have folks who want to join in the event afterward. Both for the fame and/or the money.

I'd like to know explicitly if she took some of the 911 Trust fund cash.

911 had so many real hero's, it makes one sad to consider her. I would like to obliterate her from the record.

300+ Firemen going up the stairs.

Rick Rescorla singing songs in the stairwell as he got his people out, then going up again to check one last time.

even the jumpers...

Her, I'm disgusted.; 4/15/12, 1:23 PM
Toad Trend said...: Proof that people will do all manner of things to get attention. What is odd is that she apparently did not take any money, and there are accounts of people that say she was helpful to them.

Sad and unusual.; 4/15/12, 1:40 PM
chickelit said...: Reminds me of stories that began circulating in the days following the Titanic disaster. The news media was hungry for stories and paid people for them. The captain of the Carpathia had to forbid transmission of wireless messages to the press from survivors and passengers who had heard stories.; 4/15/12, 1:49 PM
Wince said...: "Her real name wasn't Tania Head at all... She was actually not even in the United States on Sept. 11."

"Wilhelm? ...My name is Tania."; 4/15/12, 2:02 PM
A. Shmendrik said...: With medical privacy laws what they are - the one thing you can always claim is some sort of medical problem/treatment. It can never be disproven. You see all sorts of pathetic folks inventing stories about their children suffering from some rare form of cancer, only to find out later it was a hoax to garner contributions. "Journalists" swallow it hook, line and sinker. Repeat, ad inifintum.; 4/15/12, 2:09 PM
edutcher said...: A woman named Head.

Loving. Giving...

Who couldn't believe that?; 4/15/12, 2:15 PM
rhhardin said...: It's a soap opera narrative, more than an attention thing.

Women want to be part of one of their stock narratives.

Otherwise the best they can do it tune in and dream.; 4/15/12, 2:35 PM
Michael K said...: Rick Rescorla , like most of the heroes that day, died. His story is a tremendous inspiration. He predicted this event after the first, 1993 bombing, and ran frequent excesses for the employees. On the day of the attack, the occupants of the second tower were told by the POrt Authority to stay at their desks. Rescorla ignored that and directed everyone out of the building with a bullhorn.

He got them all out, then went back to look for a disabled woman who was already out.; 4/15/12, 2:39 PM
Michael K said...: exercises Damn spellcheckers !; 4/15/12, 2:40 PM
The Drill SGT said...: Michael K said...
Rick Rescorla...and ran frequent excesses for the employees.

Actually, I think excesses was the term that the managers and staff of Morgan Stanley likely thought about Rick's frequent drills until the day.

The Port Authority ordered that everybody "shelter in place". Rick's reply was apparently,

"Sod them, the tower is coming down, I have got to get our people out. "

To put his feat in context, he was a 62 man, dying from terminal bone cancer, running up and down the 22 floors of Morgan Stanley's offices (at floor 50 of the Tower).

Down 50+ floors, Of his 2700 charges, only 6 including Rick and his assistants were lost that day.

Next time somebody says "shelter in place" remember kenny Rogers:

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,

Know when to walk away, know when to run.

Rick was a Stud; 4/15/12, 3:04 PM
David said...: Sorry, Ms. Head. What you did was despicable. Stay in hiding. Do not tell your story. I do not want to hear it.; 4/15/12, 3:09 PM
gadfly said...: Wow ... Althouse presents two AMAZING stories in a row. Both are suspicious but one is true and one is not - according to the authors.

May I suggest that, as with the old SciFi mags of yesteryear, we need adjectives that are synonymous but different - names like Amazing, Astounding, Weird, and Startling.

Speaking of science fiction, I remind everyone that Baen Books carries many old SF classics that can be downloaded for free, conveniently available in several book reader software formats.; 4/15/12, 3:36 PM
traditionalguy said...: Stolen valor is so easy these days.

A total fabrication must be what people wanted to hear.

No wonder false News Media story lines and Faked up Scientific hoaxes are all we get anymore.

The day the internet is censored is the day that truth challenges to the flood of hoaxes dies.

I still blame Truman Capote for inventing the genre and showing off how easy it is to pretend that good fictions are reports of reality.; 4/15/12, 5:06 PM
Peter said...: I'm reminded of the bus-crash sting operation in New Jersey a few years back. The bus company and the police were tired of people filing obviously fake injury claims every time a bus was involved in a minor crash. Sometimes the number of people claiming injury would be far in excess of the bus's maximum capacity.

So one day, in a crowded urban area (downtown Newark IINM), a stunt driver dressed in a bus driver's uniform deliberately drove an empty bus into the rear of parked empty bus, hard enough to make a loud noise but not enough to cause significant damage. He then exited the bus leaving the door open. As hidden police cameras filled the scene, something like 50 people rushed aboard the bus and began groaning in pain.; 4/15/12, 6:11 PM
Lucien said...: I keep waiting to hear the stories of those who were supposed to be in the towers that morning, but weren't for unpredictable reasons, and then just disappeared, to start new lives, after they were presumed dead.

At least that should make the premise for a good thriller or two.; 4/15/12, 7:27 PM
Peter said...: I keep waiting to hear the stories of those who were supposed to be in the towers that morning, but weren't for unpredictable reasons, and then just disappeared, to start new lives, after they were presumed dead.

Sneha Ann Philip. She was a physician who lived in Manhattan, and had been having some marital problems and other personal issues. Credit card records and surveillance film showed that she had been at a store a few blocks from the WTC on the afternoon of September 10. She never came home that night. I was working in Manhattan at the time and remember seeing her "missing person" posters for months afterward.

After a long legal struggle Philip's husband was able to have her declared legally dead. His theory was that Philip had returned to the WTC area on the morning of September 11, and given her medical training she rushed into one of the towers to see if she could help victims. No one really knows for sure, however.; 4/15/12, 8:27 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/15/12, 8:30 PM