For those who don’t know about this 9/11 mystery, let me explain (or read about it here, or here in more detail):

This man is called Earnest Armstead.

Armstead worked as an EMS worker at ground zero during the September 11 attacks, triaging. In the decades since, Armstead has claimed to have come across a severely mangled woman. As he went to place the black tag (the deceased tag) on what he assumed was a corpse, he alleges that he was startled to find that she was alive and begged him not to put the black tag on her, despite the fact that he knew she was going to die shortly after anyway due to the condition of her body. He claims that when he found her, she was only a head and a torso (in some accounts, he also claims that she was just head, Shoulders and a bit of lung), and he theorised that she was in such a mangled state due to falling from such a tall height (which would make sense, if that amount of damage had been done to her body, as that’s what falling from such a height would (or could) do to a human body).

However, there’s just one issue: it’s not physically possible to survive that much bodily damage. Had she really only been a head and a torso, she would either have not survived the impact, or she would’ve bled out rapidly before the triage team could arrive. Investigators of the case therefore find his claim dubious, suggesting that he may have misremembered what he was seeing, though the account seems too graphic to have been something misremembered. Moreover, the woman in question has never been identified, and despite combing through footage of all different angles and shots of the area on that day, nobody has ever seen the woman, or even Armstead interacting with anyone even remotely like the suggestion.

One alternative theory that has been proposed is that this woman was not mangled, but actually had been hit by a falling mangled body (perhaps from the plane) which may explain why Armstead mistook her for such, presumably in a panicked state, though it wouldn’t explain the other dubious aspects of the claim, like the fact that that nobody else saw such a thing, etc.

  • neidu4@piefed.socialEnglish
    6·
    3 days ago

    Agreeing with betterdeadthanreddit on this one: Memory is malleable. Especially so if there are conspiracy bucks or fame to be earned from media attention. Not saying that the latter is the case, but I wouldn’t outrule it.

    A few questions off the top of my head:

    • How did this woman immediately know the meaning of the black tag?
    • How did she communicate if she had only a lung attached to a head (as he allegedly claimed at some point). To actually breathe, an entire chest is needed, as the lung can’t inflate itself.
    • If both legs are severed, you bleed out in 2-3 minutes, unconscious in less than one. Not a question but there you have it.
    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      3 days ago

      Agreeing with betterdeadthanreddit on this ine: Memory is malleable

      Can confirm. I was in the hospital once, and I have an extremely vivid memory of seeing a man climbing up the outside wall of the hospital and entering through a window. The memory simultaneously has me laying in a dark room with the curtains closed, on a different side of the hospital.

      So, yeah, I know that didn’t happen. I also vividly remember it with absolute certainty.

    • Cyril Strobe@sh.itjust.worksOP
      2·
      3 days ago

      That’s why the story is so heavily scrutinised, it just doesn’t seem real. He was interviewed for a book and made similar dubious claims for other bodies he saw:

      There was a man having a seizure and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. He had struck the pavement so hard that there was virtually nothing else left of him

      I feel like he is just using colourful language to some extent.

    • Cyril Strobe@sh.itjust.worksOP
      1·
      3 days ago

      I must admit; when you read his words, they sound more and more unbelievable. He said in a book:

      There was a man having a seizure and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head. He had struck the pavement so hard that there was virtually nothing else left of him

      That seems contradictory to me, and now thanks to him I have the sadly comical image of a severed head having a seizure. How unrealistically campy

      • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
        4·
        3 days ago

        I have had vivid memories of things I know with absolute certainty didn’t happen. Hell I used to remember Obi-wan fighting Vader multiple times in Star Wars, and until I was probably fifteen I used to swear there was a theatrical release where that happened and they just went back and edited it or something. I’ve had déjà vu where I dreamed something that happened later, in a crystal clarity that my dreams never have. I couldn’t seem to remember what happens next, but as events unfolded, yep that’s right — that was my exact dream!

        The mind has an incredible facility to lie to itself. To forget big moments and create false memories. I barely trust my own mind at this point.

        • Cyril Strobe@sh.itjust.worksOP
          3·
          3 days ago

          Reading this reminds me (I think) of a memory of Avengers Infinity War I had: After seeing it in the cinema, I always remembered Star Lord saying something like ‘is it still the greatest band on earth’ and Iron Man saying ‘it never was’ (and no: I’m not misremembering the Footloose bit, as when I saw it in the cinema, I remembered both scenes distinctly). Yet, every time I’ve seen that movie since, Iron Man’s ‘it never was’ scene has never been seen (by me, at least).

      • remon@ani.social
        64·
        3 days ago

        It’s an even weirder thing to actually happen.

        Whether he made it up for attention or is misremembering due to shock is another question.