updated 8:44 AM EDT, Mar 25, 2020
Tuesday, 11 September 2001 06:50

BREAKING NEWS FROM MANHATTAN - 9/11/01

BREAKING NEWS FROM MANHATTAN
From UFOcity.com:

Although this news service has confined itself to UFO and paranormal-related news stories in the past, I wanted to get out at least one personal report about this morning's events before closing up our office in midtown Manhattan for the day. I am a New Yorker and love this city. It is my home. I watched the World Trade Center towers being built floor by floor, photographing the process over the months of construction. I watched in awe as aerial daredevil Philippe Petite walked back and forth between the towers on a high wire, delighting passersby and (appropriately) upsetting the NYPD. Several years later I watched as another happy madman climbed straight up the side of one of the buildings. I also watched as a man parachuted off the complex into the waiting arms of our police. I was here when the complex was attacked in the early 90's. But both of these magnificent structures are gone now, and a good part of lower Manhattan is presently covered by smoke and in chaos. Several inches of fine ash cover the streets downtown as though some huge urban volcano has erupted. The New York State National Guard has been activated by the governor. From the Hudson River on Manhattan's west side, military jets and helicopters can be seen patrolling the skies over nearby Newark International Airport.

 

We here in the city have no illusions about the carnage left in the wake of the Trade Center collapses. Informal estimates are that thousands may be dead or trapped under the rubble of what used to be the Trade Center. Mass transit has been suspended and all bridges and tunnels into and out of the island have been sealed. The mood on the streets here in midtown is one of controlled panic, anger and great sadness. Many people, total strangers, are forming into groups on the street and exchanging information and rumors. Phone service, both wire and cellular is poor at best; getting an outside line is something of a miracle at the moment. One thing seems certain however: when the smoke clears, the events of today will displace the Oklahoma City bombing as the worst terrorist attack in the history of this country, and quite possibly surpass the loss of life at Pearl Harbor. We are under attack here but not sure by whom.

All schools, city and state buildings on Manhattan are now closed, as are the schools. The Red Cross has just put out an urgent request for blood and requested that those of us who are able should make their way to the nearest hospital to do so. Roosevelt Hospital is just 2 blocks from our office and that is where I will be headed after I leave here. If you are able to give blood today, please do. New York City will survive this nightmare, but we will never be quite the same again. Please take a moment to remember those who have lost their lives today, and for a great city now in crisis, Over and out for now from midtown Manhattan.

Peter Robbins
Editor, UFOcity.com
New York City
Early afternoon, September 11, 2001