2024 04 21

Philosophical graffiti as seen in a Humboldt Park underpass. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

This is a strange video to share, but them’s the rules…

My friend Jack texted me a link to this 4 hour 13 minute youtube video that has well over 6 million views. Clear your afternoon, hit play, and take it in. I know, it sounds weird and grim but this thing is really powerfully edited, fascinating, dark, and unlocks all sorts of memories you probably had hiding away in the dusty cabinets of your brain. Or, for the youngs reading this, take a trip into American history and live the day all of us olds remember. Personally, I was scheduled to move into the big city on 9/11/01 to start college so I ended up moving the following day instead.

The video is a timeline playback covering the morning of 9/11 and made up of live tv broadcasts, synced up video footage, and perhaps most interestingly, radio communications between air traffic controllers and various pilots.

Did you know: the pilot of one of the hijacked planes (before it was taken over) made visual ID of another one of the hijacked planes as it was headed off-course towards NYC?

Did you know: one of the hijacked planes nearly collided with another flight, coming reportedly 300ft from a mid-air collision?

Why president Bush’s staff delivered the news to him in front of a classroom full of people and news cameras is baffling to me when put into this context. I guess his administration isn’t known for its competence.

Anyway, I haven’t yet finished the video so don’t spoil the ending for me (okay, terrible dark dad humor… time for me to wrap this up).

-Clayton