The 9/11 Surfer urban legend? It actually happened. Meet Pasquale Buzzelli.

by Jack Brummet, NYC Editor

Eleven years ago today, Pasquale Buzzelli survived the attacks of Sept. 11 when he rode a wave of debris as he fell 20 stories inside the tumbling World Trade Center North Tower.

I remember hearing this story in the days after 9/11.  Everyone talked about it for a while, and then the news reports quits calling it hearsay and started reporting it as fiction.  And then it fell out of the news; everyone assumed it was an urban legend, or a hoax.

There is a documentary out now, featuring Buzzelli, his family, first responders and others.  And apparently, it actually did happen.  He has come forward to tell his story in a Discovery channel special, “The 9/11 Surfer."

He and his wife, Louise, have written an e-book, “The True Story of the 9/11 Surfer: We All Fall Down.’’

“It was very  difficult telling the story then,’’ Buzzelli told Savannah Guthrie on The Today Show. “I couldn’t. I was going through post-traumatic stress and survivor guilt from that. It took a long time to heal from that. I forced myself to do that, to try to give something back. Eventually I came to accept what had happened to me. I was able to go on and mourn. I feel now that it’s an important story to share with others.’’

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Copyright (C) 2012 by All This Is That. All This Is That contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make these materials available to advance the understanding of political, economic, literary, artistic, and social issues. In some cases we satirize, parody, or lampoon materials from other sources. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for by section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit for research, educational, and entertainment purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', please read and follow our Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license and attribute the work to All This Is That, along with our URL (http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com). 

---o0o---

1 World Trade Center, a/k/a The Freedom Tower

By Jack Brummet, NYC/Metro Editor (reporting from NYC)

1 World Trade Center as it looks today - click to enlarge

What was once known as The Freedom Tower, and recently renamed 1 World Trade Center, is looking good.  I was not thrilled with the early sketches and concepts, but seeing it live, I think it is going to be impressive.  And thank God they changed the name.  The earlier name evoked the silly pathos of America's rampant jingoism in the face of the 9/11 attacks, reminding us of the "Freedom Fries" silliness.

The World Trade Center buildings were, to me, the real totems of New York City.  When I lived here, sure, I went to the top of the Chrysler Building once, and to the top of the Empire State Building a couple of times.  But whenever anyone I knew from the West Coast came to visit, I would haul them to the "observation deck" of the World Trade Center every time.  I even went to a couple of meetings there, for my work.  I loved those towers.  I remember going to the Avant Garde Fair there in the late 70's, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono had skywriting planes put their messages in the air, over the fair.  Those towers, clad in white, reminded me (when I saw it much later) of the Getty Museum's (in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles) gorgeous travertine stone.   Even more than the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers were my ultimate New York touchstone.

Me, in front of the original World Trade Center, 31 years ago

Up close and personal, the new building (which will rise to 1,776 feet high, with its mast) is going to be a great addition to downtown Manhattan.  Bring it on.

---o0o---