Random People Who Narrowly Escaped Death on 9/11 (13 items)

• 

  (#8) Greer Epstein

  Greer Epstein said she rarely ever left her desk at work, but on the morning of September 11th, one of her coworkers at Morgan Stanley managed to talk her into taking a cigarette break at around 8:40am. As she stepped out to have her smoke, she saw people looking up at the sky. She watched as debris rained down from the towers, and wondered what exactly was happening. As she stood there watching, the second plane flew into the South Tower, where her office was.  

  "I never took a break before noon," Epstein said. "It was something that happened that day. And thank God for it. I was safely out of the building when the plane hit. A fireball went through my office. Had I been sitting there, who knows what would've been?"
• 

  (#5) Patti Austin

  • 08-10-1950

  Grammy winner Patti Austin was supposed to be on United Flight 93 that day. Her mother had a stroke in San Francisco, however, and the singer had to change her travel plans. Later, her manager reminded her of just how narrowly she had escaped certain death on Flight 93. That flight was taken over by passengers, but unfortunately, the plane still crashed.

  Austin recalled how her manager broke the news of her near miss. "Remember, you were supposed to go to the second day of the show, and you had get out first thing in the morning, and that was the only thing that left early enough in the morning to get you back into San Francisco in time to be with your mom,' and I completely lost it," says Austin. 
• 

  (#9) Daniel Belardinelli

  Artist Daniel Belardinelli was scheduled to fly from Newark to San Francisco on Flight 93. He had used a friend’s frequent flyer miles to book the trip, and planned to take his uncle on a fun vacation to Yosemite. A week before 9/11, Belardinelli decided to cancel his ticket, and let his uncle know that he would no longer be joining him on the flight. Unfortunately, his uncle was onboard when the plane was hijacked by terrorists.  

  Of his narrow brush with death on 9/11, Belardinelli said, "You gotta live your life. Disasters have happened in the past. I went on with my life." Watch his full account here.  
• 

  (#2) Seth MacFarlane

  • 10-26-1973

  Like Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane was supposed to board American Airlines Flight 11. MacFarlane had been out drinking the night before, and had a history of missing flights. His travel agent also listed the flight time as being ten minutes later than it actually was.  

  After failing to board the plane, he went to the passenger lounge to sleep it off. He awoke an hour later to the panicked sounds of other people at the airport who had just watched the plane hit the tower. After the second plane hit, the airline announced which flights had been involved in the attack. Macfarlane realized that the plane he was supposed to be on was the plane that crashed into the North Tower. 
• 

  (#12) Rob Herzog

  Rob Herzog was supposed to be in his office by 8:45am on 9/11, but a trip to the post office near his apartment caused a brief delay. He tried to board a crowded A express train, but it was too crowded. Herzog is claustrophobic, so he decided to get off and wait for a local C train.  

  Upon his arrival to the Twin Towers, the first plane struck. Herzog's office, Marsh & McLennan, was on the 96th floor. The company unfortunately lost 295 employees, many of whom were Herzog's close friends.  

  "I had tremendous survivor's guilt," he said. "All I could think of when I woke up was 'I should be dead,' especially when I went to 15 different memorial services.”

  Herzog began doing charity work and founded Zog Sports after his narrow escape from death, and now devotes his life to helping others. 
• 

  (#3) Sarah, Duchess of York

  • 10-15-1959

  The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, was filming an interview on Good Morning America on the morning of September 11th, 2001. She finished up the segment, and was on her way to her office on the 101st floor of the North Tower at 1 World Trade Center when she heard the news. 

  None of the employees at her charity, Chances for Children, were killed.  

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking