The mere mention of 9/11 can paralyze one’s thoughts for several minutes and evoke a whirlwind of emotions. Almost everyone has a personal account to share when venturing down that harrowing path of memory.
But what about the people who woke up past noon that day and got bombarded with the traumatic news out of nowhere?
A netizen recently asked, “People who slept past noon on 9/11. What was waking up like?”. Below are the top responses.
I Was In Disbelief The Rest Of The Day
“I worked the graveyard shift the night before. Woke up at noon (Miami), jumped in the shower and went back to work. When I got to work, it was closed. I was furious no one had notified me that our afternoon meeting was canceled.
Keep in mind I still had no idea about what had happened in NYC that morning. Went back home to email my boss to complain about the canceled meeting without notifying me. Got home, opened my laptop to a popular news site and there was a picture of people running away from the towers…looked like something you would see on a National Enquirer magazine cover.
I then went over and turned on the TV just in time to see an instant replay of one of the planes hitting the towers…by that time it was 1:30 p.m. I sat in front of the TV the rest of the day in disbelief.”
She Was Astounded To Say The Least
“My wife works nights, and sleeps days. Woke up at about 2 PM to phone messages from all the kids (adults) and from me – multiple messages from me. I was at work. The first thing she did upon awakening was call me, before turning on the TV.
I just told her – ‘Turn on the TV and then call me back’. She was astounded, to say the least, then spent the rest of the afternoon calling the kids.”
Woke Up By A Huge Bang
“I was sick with a cold and high on NyQuil. I was woken up by a huge bang that I assumed was related to the street paving going on outside. Only much later, after I had gotten out of bed and was semi-coherent, did I realize it was the plane hitting the Pentagon less than a mile from where I lived.”
Wife Told Me To Talk About It Later
“My wife worked from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM every day.
So, she was asleep when it happened. I went and woke her up to tell her.
She said, (in a sleepy, tired, groggy voice) ‘Okay, tell me about it later when I get up’.”
I’d Mistaken Everything For Cyber Hacking
“I worked a weird shift. 5 pm till 4 am. My wife worked normal hours so usually I would stay up and play video games till she got up at 6 and then make her breakfast and talk or we would never see each other.
So, she went to work and I went to bed. I woke up to her shaking me awake saying ‘Babe, get up, we’ve been attacked.’ I was half out of it and said groggily ‘[her company’s name] has been attacked?’ I was thinking maybe hackers or something.
She said ‘No! We’ve been attacked. The Twin Towers are on the ground.’I was immediately awake.”
Bought Groceries As If Everything Was Normal
“I got up right around noon and promptly showered and went to run to the store. I was driving to the grocery store. My first inkling anything was wrong was I kept passing gas stations with cars all lined up back to the road.
I was just like huh, wondering what that’s about. Got my groceries and went back home and there was a message on my answering machine saying ‘Dude, did you hear? We’re at war!’.”
Attended My College Class That Day
“It wasn’t quite noon, but both towers had fallen by the time I woke up. I was in college, but all of my classes were later in the day, so I usually stayed up late. I was sleeping and the phone rang, but I ignored it and went back to bed.
After about the third time ringing I decided it might be important so I got up and answered it was my sister who was freaking out saying the US was under attack and that the World Trade Center was gone.
I immediately turned on the news and watched right up until it was time to go to class. We still had classes that day because the school leadership said something like ‘We aren’t going to bow down to terrorists’ or something like that.
We got to class, but the teacher ended up taking us down to an area with TVs to watch the news anyway.”
Felt Both Mortified And Embarrassed
“This is always such a weird story for me. I was 18 and in college but living at home. I didn’t have class that day and at that time most nights, I would be up until like 5 AM and sleep till 2 PM.
My mom came running into my room screaming and crying that the World Trade Center was attacked. Because this had happened previously and my Mom can be pretty dramatic at times, I had no idea the gravity of the situation. I rolled over and went back to sleep.
I woke up at 2 PM to see my family watching the crashes on a loop and crying. I felt equal parts mortified and embarrassed.”
Got Into Deployable Status. Again!
“I was woken up by my (ex) wife shortly before the second plane hit (I worked nights). Followed shortly after by my phone ringing from my command telling me to pack my sea bag and get into deployable status. I had just got home from deployment a month prior.”
It Was A Surreal Experience
“I was asleep in my room, and I woke up to my mom banging on my door crying and I VERY clearly remember her saying ‘We’re going to war.’ I stumbled out to the living room to see my family standing/sitting/kneeling with their eyes glued to the TV.
It was a surreal experience because we all somehow knew what it meant even though we really had no idea what the hell was going on.”
I Thought We Were In The Middle Of A Nuclear Attack
“I slept until 10 a.m. in Texas. I turned on the TV just after the 2nd tower fell. I saw the huge wave of dust spreading through the city and for a few minutes I thought NYC had been hit with a nuclear bomb.”
Woke Up To My Dad Calling Me Freaking Out
“I had worked the entire night prior and went to sleep around 6:30 a.m. Woke up to my dad calling me freaking out saying we were being invaded. Was surreal watching it all after the fact. Sat on the couch watching the news the whole day after that.”
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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.