Remember the guy who was in the WTC and saw the plane coming at him?

[DoYouEverWonder]

George Sleigh was on the 91st floor of WTC1, the first tower hit.


Here's his first version of the story. (The story seems to morph over time.)

Survivor saw inside hijacked jet

September 14, 2001

George Sleigh escaped from the north tower of the World Trade Center before it collapsed

LONDON, England -- A British-born architect who survived Tuesday's attack on the World Trade Center watched in horror from his 91st-floor office as a hijacked jet smashed into the building.

George Sleigh, 63, originally of Gateshead, England, told the Newscastle Evening Chronicle he was close enough to the point of the initial impact to see people in the cockpit of the hijacked American Airlines Boeing 767.

"When I close my eyes and picture that airline coming towards me and the people in the cockpit it is like a dream," Sleigh said.

Aftering hearing the whining engine of the jet, "I looked up out of the window and just a few feet away from the building was this huge jet plane," he said.

"The wheels were down and I could see the people in the cockpit. I thought to myself, 'Man this guy is low in the air,' but I still thought it would clear us. But then it smashed into the tower a few floors above me.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/14/wtc.survivor/

Sleigh claims that he could see into the cockpit and could also see that the landing gear was down? That's interesting since Flight 11 was supposedly came in at about 470 mph and hit the building 3 stories above the floor Sleigh was on. Sleigh was on the 91st floor and Flight 77 hit the building between the 94th floor thru the 97th floor. One other funny thing about WTC1,the building failed at the 92nd floor which was two floors below the impact zone but one floor above Sleigh.


Now here's Sleigh's version two months later:

One survivor's story

12/20/2001

<snip>

On the 91st floor in the north tower, the story was different.

At the American Bureau of Shipping, George Sleigh and his co-workers counted heads after the crash: 11 of the 22 employees were in the office. All were unhurt. Other than Sleigh's area, the office was remarkably intact. Sleigh went back for his briefcase.

The closest stairway was blocked. The second was open. The status of the third was unknown. "It was quiet and peaceful at first" in the stairwell as the employees made their way out, Sleigh recalls. "Nobody was behind us."

A few minutes later, Sleigh's office was engulfed in flames. Fifty minutes after the crash, Sleigh was out of the building.

Bruised, bloodied, covered in dust, separated from his colleagues, he was loaded into an ambulance. A police officer shouted: "Get out! Get out! The building is coming down!"

The south tower was collapsing. It was 9:59 a.m. The north tower's highest survivor was on his way to Beth Israel Hospital.

"Sometimes, I think it was God's providence that spared me," Sleigh said. "Other times, I wonder why me and not others. I realize I am a very fortunate man."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/12/19/usatcov-wtcsurvival.htm

I wonder how many others versions there are out there of Sleigh's story? How did Sleigh go from being fine and going back for his brief case, to severely injured by the time he got downstairs?

On a side note, seems Sleigh found religion some time between Sept and Dec? This is a common trait among the 9-11 survivors whose stories hit the media within the first couple of days and were always the ones with the most vivid details. Details that often don't hold up, upon closer examination.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Here's a third and improved version of Sleigh's story

'I saw the people in the cockpit'

14 September, 2001

A British-born architect has spoken of the moment he saw the people in the cockpit of the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, it has been reported.

George Sleigh, originally from Gateshead, was in his 91st floor office in the North Tower as the doomed plane closed in.

The 63-year-old heard the engine noise from the American Airlines Boeing 767 and glimpsed the interior of the cockpit, the Newcastle Evening Chronicle reported.

After the impact floors above his office, Mr Sleigh hid under his desk from the debris raining down and he fled down a fire escape to eventual safety.

He told the Evening Chronicle: "I was at my desk in the morning looking forward to a normal day when I heard this loud noise.

Wheels down

"I looked up out of the window and just a few feet away from the building was this huge jet plane.

"The wheels were down and I could see the people in the cockpit.

"I thought to myself 'Man this guy is low in the air' but I still thought it would clear us.

"But then it smashed into the tower a few floors above me.

"I couldn't believe it, even now it seems insane that anyone would do that, even a crazed terrorist.

"When I close my eyes and picture that airliner coming towards me and the people in the cockpit it is like a dream."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1544636.stm

So now not only did he see inside the cockpit while the plane came in above his head, he also heard the plane coming before he saw it? All of this while diving under his desk, which is a new detail not mentioned in the other stories.

[DrDebug]

2. Guess what Brian Clark is a fundie as well.

So the guy who rescued the fundie Stanley Praimnath was a fundie as well. And the executive vice president was the boss on 9/11 because the president was in London (how convenient...)

What are the odds that the 5 survivors of WTC2 above impact are at least two fundies and five managers...

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Wow, 5 years later, Sleigh claims original story is not true

Well, this is an interesting twist. Sleigh claims he never said he saw inside the cockpit, nor did he say the wheels were down. He says the British tabloids made all that stuff up!

Here a link to a video of an interview he did telling his version of events. http://www.ohiomm.com/videos/abjvideo/911_Survive/


The following press report from 09/2006 is almost word for word from the interview in the video.

Faces of survival
9/11: five years on


On September 11, 2001, George Sleigh sat at his desk on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center and watched an airplane fly directly toward him.

He noticed the airplane's underbelly gleaming in the morning light. He noticed the wheels were still up. And then, boom. American Airlines Flight 11 hit the building.

"It flew into the building going 500 miles an hour or so," recalls Mr. Sleigh, 68. "I didn't have time to do much else than cover my head and pray for the best."

The ceiling tiles fell. The bookcase in his office toppled; books tumbled on him. He did not know at the time that the plane hit the 92nd floor, just a few feet above him.

It was time to get out. Down, down, down, Mr. Sleigh walked with 10 colleagues from the American Bureau of Shipping, down 182 flights of stairs, past the firefighters walking up and into the concourse. He eventually climbed up a set of stairs onto the street.

As Mr. Sleigh walked up Fulton Street, a photographer named Phil Penman snapped his photograph. It shows him walking behind two Port Authority engineers toward Broadway with a look of determination. His face is covered in ash as he shuffles through an ankle-deep layer of dust and office paper on the street. He is clutching his canvas briefcase.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/comment/story.html?id=3bda1dd9-4b15-4394-b8ca-6dde306bde9c&k=59806

Here's Sleigh explains his version of what happened to his story.

At no time have I ever indicated to anyone that I saw people in the cockpit. Some of the British tabloids attributed that quote to me and subsequently I refused to grant interviews with those tabloids. As is pointed out in the article, if I had seen people in the cockpit I would not be around to discuss it."

"Every time I have discussed my account I have made it quite clear that what I witnessed was a large passenger jet (model or airline unknown) flying above my location with the wheels up, I particularly commented on the smooth underbelly of the plane. I have never indicated to anyone that the undercarriage was down!"

Also, "I was in my office on the north side of the 91st floor. I was alerted by a loud roar to look out of my window and saw the plane approaching about 3 or 4 plane lengths away. I can remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. I recognized it only as a large passenger jet, with a light coloured, and smooth under-body. I had no time to react as the plane almost instantaneously hit the building above my location. We exited from our floor as quickly as possible taking the only stairway that remained accessible to us - the other two stairwells were blocked. We were to find out later that no one above our floor escaped. I continue to praise God for sparing my life that day."

And later, "The plane definitely had engines on its wings."

"I only recall that the undercarriage was light - I have been quoted as saying it was white, but I only saw the plane for a few seconds before it hit the building."

http://www.911research.dsl.pipex.com/wtc1witnessreports/

Question is who's lying? Either CNN and the BCC both deliberately changed his story or Sleigh is trying to cover up his obvious mistake? Either way, the only eyewitness that was in the WTC1, who survived and claimed to have seen the plane coming in, didn't see much of what we were led to believe he saw.

[Katzenjammer]

37. British tabloids are notorious for making things up.

So the question is: where did the original account come from, exactly?

[DoYouEverWonder]

41. Since when are the BBC and CNN

considered to be tabloids?

Mr. Sleigh went to the press with his story by the 14th. He is extensively quoted in a number of interviews. There is even a timeline of his experience. For Mr. Sleigh to come out a few years later and claim that the 'tabloids' (CNN, BBC...) lied is disingenuous to say the least.

[mirandapriestly]

4. Clark, too? I knew about the other two and their

wacky stories, taking it on the road as speakers in front of Evangelicals. I wonder what is going on here?

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Sleigh retired and now volunteers at an evangelical church

Why am I not surprised?

George Sleigh also did not know at the time that another airplane had hit the second tower. And he did not know that everyone on the floors above him in the north tower had died. A religious man, Mr. Sleigh says faith is not what saved him.

"A lot of the people who had the same faith did not make it out that day," Mr. Sleigh says. "But it certainly has sustained me in the days that followed."

Five years later, Mr. Sleigh has retired. It was not a decision born out of the Sept. 11 attacks -- the time merely came. He and his wife, Elaine, have moved to Hudson, Ohio, from Livingston, N.J. He spends his days cutting the lawn, doing the daily Sudoku puzzle and volunteering at their independent evangelical church. They frequently visit their three children and 11 grandchildren in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/comment/story.html?id=3bda1dd9-4b15-4394-b8ca-6dde306bde9c&k=59806&p=1

He even managed to get his picture taken escaping from the WTC.



Out of the 1000's of people who escaped the building, there aren't that many good pictures of people who were leaving the WTC just after the 1st collapse. Just another coincidence I'm sure.


One thing, I don't buy his claim that he never said he could see into the cockpit or that the wheels were down. CNN used that quote in their headline. You would think he would have come out right away to make the correction. Instead, he waited until a few years later, when people started calling him on it and then he changed his story completely, claiming that 'tabloids' like BBC, Guardian and CNN all misquoted him.

[Ferry Fey]

6. Carrying his briefcase by the handle

Odd that he is carrying his briefcase by the handle, and presumably (since there is no slightly cleaner diagonal across his shirt) had not worn it with the strap on.

Maybe I'm just more inclined to want my hands free in any situation, but I certainly would have made sure my hands were free under the circumstances. If nothing else, it would make sure that I was less likely to lose my briefcase.

[Norrin Radd]

9. Odder still that he wouldn't just leave the briefcase. n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. He claims he went back to get it

because his wife had recently changed jobs and he didn't have the number memorized. He had the number in the bag.

I carry a very similar bag with all my work stuff. I would certainly take it with me if I wasn't injured. However, you make a good point about the strap. If you never use the strap, you would take it off because they get in the way and if you use public transportation, the strap would make the bag easier to steal.

However, after walking down 91 flights of stairs, I would be damn glad that I hadn't given up the strap, even if I didn't normally use it.

Sleigh claims that he was doused with water from the sprinklers. Which is interesting, because that means from below the 91st floor at least, the sprinklers did work. Then he was in the concourse, which is below ground, when a big explosion went off in the north tower showering him in debris and causing him shrapnel wounds. Again, an explosion going off under ground in the north tower, at the beginning of the collapse of the south tower is significant, in and off itself. But back to Sleigh. It is amazing that he managed to continue to hang on to the bag, after suffering serious injuries in a explosion. Still he doesn't use the strap, despite the injured hand?

Funny thing about all the fundies I'm finding. They were the ones who got their stories out to the press in the first few days and these were the stories that became the 'official version'.

[spillthebeans]

7. regarding msm it reminds me of

changing from no plane hit to plane hit the pentagon (I can't remember which reporter .. but it's on tape)

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. There were a number of different reports that day

A number of people saw helicopters. Some say they saw a smaller plane. Most just saw the explosion.

Funny thing, very few of the Pentagon 'eyewitnesses' say anything about the C130 that flew in right behind "Flight 77" and then circled the Pentagon an left. You would think if you had really seen Flight 77 less then a minute earlier, you would notice a C130?

[DoYouEverWonder]

19. Seems like every rock I turn over

ends up having a fundie under it.

I was just looking over my tenants list for WTC1 and low and behold, American Bureau of Shipping had space on both the 91st and 92nd floor. Yet according to Sleigh, they only had 22 people who worked on the 91st floor and that the rest of the 91st floor was empty.

What this means is that Sleigh had access to both the 91st & 92nd floor. The 92nd floor is the floor that failed first in WTC1, even though the 92nd floor WAS NOT in the Impact Zone.

Makes you wonder what Sleigh really went back for other then his briefcase?

[Nozebro]

11. None of US can possibly know what he saw. Therefore, in the interest of

accuracy, what you should say is "the man that CLAIMED he saw a plane". Casual readers of these threads might well read your subject line and assume that it's even more evidence that the conspiracy theory promoted by booshco is the truth.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. BBC headline on 09/14/01 - 'I saw the people in the cockpit'

The BBC is read by people all over the world. This was the headline on that day. This little meme was well planted in a lot of people's brains. Yet the meme is complete false, according to the person who was quoted. I think it was apparent, that I was questioning his claims.

[Nozebro]

14. Maybe it is "apparent" to some people. If they bother to read the post...

but studies show that 80+% of readers never go beyond the headline. That's one of the reasons why Matt ( "The Closet" ) Drudge is so successful. He knows most people only read the headlines he writes. The ones that read the articles he links to must surely be regularly surprised to learn that the headline was grossly misleading.

I realize YOU think it was apparent, but effective communication means considering whether or not OTHERS will immediately "get" whatever it is that you think is apparent...based on a misleading headline.

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. I think most people digging around in the DUngeon

are not the same audience as those depending on Drudge for info.

Maybe I give others too much credit. :)

[Nozebro]

16. Who told you that DUers turn to Drudge for info? I think you either missed

the point I was making, didn't understand it, or else you just didn't like the fact I pointed out what I did.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. Maybe be we can stick to discussing the facts of the case

instead of squabbling over semantics? I get the point, but I can't edit the headline anymore. Sorry if my creative writing skills could use some work.

Thanks.

[Nozebro]

18. You consider pointing out a misleading headline "squabbling over semantics"?

I'm surprised.

[mhatrw]

31. Well, once the first hour has passed, it's certainly squabbling over

spilled milk.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. How did Sleigh get injured in an explosion in the concourse

when according to the BBC report, 'Mr Sleigh watched the first tower collapse as he was put on an ambulance'?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1544636.stm

[seatnineb]

20. Nice find DYEW ! n/t

[G Hawes]

21. Just a thought.

Instead of left-handedly accusing the guy of being a liar, or whatever else you're left-handedly accusing him of, why don't you contact him directly and talk to him directly and get his input?

From your own posts, it seems that he isn't too difficult to find, and it seems to me that if you're willing to smear the guy behind his back, you should at least be willing to try to contact him directly or to contact those who have apparently interviewed him, from your own links.

I don't know about others here, but I don't much care for the backhanded smear approach, and that's what I see in this thread. If you're going to call a private individual a liar or if you're going to insinuate things about him on an internet forum that he isn't a participant in, such as this one, then you should put some effort into reaching him and allowing him to respond to your allegations, rather than just smear the guy without having lifted a finger to ascertain the validity of your criticisms.

But maybe that's just me.

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. Well, someone is lying

Either Sleigh is lying or CNN and the BBC are. Sleigh is claiming that the press lied and that he never said 'I saw the people in the cockpit'. When someone like the BBC quotes you and uses that quote has the headline of the story, something is seriously wrong. Funny, Sleigh didn't call them on it at the time?

In regards to calling him, if you can find me a phone to reach him at, just PM it to me and I'll give him a call. I'd love to know how about that explosion that hit him down in the concourse, that happened according to another quote in the BBC article, before the 1st tower fell.

[G Hawes]

23. You seem to have lots of time

to locate news stories that support your theories, so why don't you spend a few minutes looking up his contact information yourself instead of asking me to do it for you?

And since you're relying upon the news stories you cited in order to accuse the guy of lying, what's stopping you from contacting the reporters you're relying upon and asking them to verify their stories or to provide you with Mr. Sleigh's contact information if you can't find it via the usual channels?

Have you even tried to contact the man? Ever? Even once?

Have you ever tried to verify the information you're quoting? Ever? Even once?

Edit to add: It seems that Mr. Sleigh has given several interviews. Why don't you start with the sources of those interviews if you can't locate him via the usual channels?

You could start with www.google.com and the search terms "george sleigh" and you'll probably find some reasonably good sources to follow from there. I do hope you'll follow up on this instead of blindly accusing the man of being a liar, or worse. If you're sincere about seeking the truth, it seems that this is a simple and obvious step along the way. Please post your results here when you find the time to follow up on your accusations.

[G Hawes]

24. Bumped for "Do You Ever Wonder"

since it appears that he may have missed the latest additions to his thread here.

Please follow up as indicated, Do You Ever Wonder, and post your results here after you've contacted Mr. Sleigh.

[DoYouEverWonder]

25. Well at the least

maybe you can sell me a clue has to where Sleigh lives now a days, because so far I haven't had much luck finding him? Especially since this was your idea. Thanks.

BTW: I'm a she, not a he.

[G Hawes]

27. I'd have thought you would have ascertained at least the bare minimum

of basic information and facts about the man, such as his contact information, before you started accusing him of being a liar, but I take it from your response that you did not. Why not?

I also take it from your response that you have never attempted to contact the man, and that you have never attempted to contact any of the journalists whom you cited in your prior posts, who have apparently interviewed him. Why not?

You said that you "haven't had much luck finding him". Have you tried? Have you made any efforts at all to locate him?

I would suggest to you that the journalists you cited in your prior posts as having interviewed him would be a good place for you to start in order to ascertain the man's location and contact information.

I don't know why you're asking me to provide you with the gentleman's contact information. I would not have accused the man of being a liar or insinuated that he was lying without having made such rudimentary inquiries myself. I think it's up to you, as his accuser, to do this basic foundation work yourself.

That said, your own posts above indicate that he now lives in Hudson, Ohio. A 10 second search on the internet turns up a man with the same name in Hudson, Ohio. I don't know if it's him or not, but I'd suggest that if you have no luck with the journalists and if you have no luck with your independent research, that perhaps you could try the 10 second search and follow up on that potential alternative as well.

And thanks for the clarification that you are a "she" and not a "he". I'll be sure to get that right in future.

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. Dupe post

n/t

[JackRiddler]

28. Who cares?!

I saw a documentary covering his story (and his friend Stanley's) and a lot sounded suspect or embellished. So what if Sleigh doesn't recall exactly what happened, or so what even if he fabricated shit to promote his personal relationship with Jesus? What the deuce difference does it make? Are you going to contemplate what he says on TV and magically produce proof he's an actor? Or a mind control drone? And then what conclusion do you want to press out of these rinds? Who cares?!

[greyl]

29. Truth isn't affected by who cares about it.

What's wrong with being aware of all possible anomalies with the intention of strengthening the case for a coverup? Maybe this will lead to the break in the case everyone's been waiting for. Are you saying some lines of inquiry are futile and ridiculous?
How do you suggest people discern legitimate inquiries from the non-productive ones?

Who cares about reasons other than plane impacts, structural damage, and fire to explain the collapse of WTC1, 2 and 7?

[seatnineb]

30. In fact it is very important

Planes don't hit buildings everyday.

And when someone who has had such a close eye-view to such an event(like Sleigh) gives testimony to such a rare and unique event.......then that testimony deserves to be scrutinized.

[G Hawes]

32. So, what are you waiting for?

Why don't you contact the man, ask him your questions, and post the results here?

But DoYouEverWonder might be doing all of that in the near future since she raised the issue initially, so perhaps you can just follow up with her about her results, but either way, I'd love to see the results posted here. Any idea about how long it might take you to follow up? Thanks in advance to both of you.

[seatnineb]

33. No.

Even if I did contact him and posted the results here......

I would not expect you to believe me.

I would not believe you if you said that you yourself had contacted him and posted the results here.

We are just anonymouse internet posters....after all......in a medium such as the internet...and on a forum such as this........anybody can say anything.

[G Hawes]

34. It's a lot easier to make unfounded accusations

than it is to actually talk to the people one accuses of lying, isn't it?

I'd expect that if you think the man's lying, you would make efforts to contact the man and post the results here. If you actually did that, the accompanying information would be enough for others to ascertain the veracity of it if it were in doubt.

You seem to be saying that you're okay with accusing people of lying but you won't trouble yourself to follow up on such accusations. That's a pretty poor standard for someone who portrays himself as a "researcher".

As for your cop-out, no, sorry, if you did proper research into this particular issue about this particular witness, it would be verifiable, so your cop-out is just that.

[seatnineb]

35. No cop out my misinformed friend.......

I have actually spoken to an eye-witness to the first plane .....who did lie ........right here on DU.

His name was Markses....and he is now banned

First he said he only reacted to and saw the explosion:

Thu Mar-04-04 05:10 AM

Posted by Markses(to unknown)

Just then, I saw a young black man, very close to me looking up at the sky. He said “Holy fuckin’ shit!” and his face was contorted and there was the unbelievable rush of noise and then the loud explosion and I’m certainly not talented enough to convey the timing of all this, very fast, seemingly all at once, but I remember it as a chronological sequence, though I don’t feel it that way. I pivoted right towards the sky, towards the loud explosion, and saw the fireball burst from the building – huge – and close: the first hit (“The First One”), North Tower (World Trade Center 1), downtown Manhattan, U.S.A.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x398075#398453

He then told me 3 months or so later that he had in fact seen the plane itself:

Mon Jul-19-04 05:07 AM

Posted by Markses(to Seatnineb)

And I'll tell you this, friend: I saw a large passenger jet, almost certainly a 767, fly over my head at high speed and low altitude, and crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. With my own eyes I saw it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x14285#15016

Eye-witnesses can lie.....something I would not put past George Sleigh....given his widely differing testimony from one interview to the next.

[G Hawes]

38. I'm not the one copping out and I'm not misinformed.

I didn't say that eyewitnesses cannot be lying or that they cannot be mistaken. In fact, I would be among the first to say that eyewitnesses could be mistaken or lying or both.

But you just built a nice little strawman for your own purposes. I'm not impressed and I doubt that others will be by your post. Your anonymous interaction on the internet with an anonymous participant is not only meaningless, but it also has nothing to do with this thread. You chose to make it about you and not about the original subject matter.

The subject matter of the thread was George Sleight. A man who the OP accused of being a liar without ever having actually made any attempts to contact him, without any evidence, and without any rational basis upon which to accuse the man of wrongdoing. You chose to slag the man off by inuendo, and you chose to equate this with your anonymous ramblings with anonymous others. I have no idea how your anonymous ramblings with anonymous others has anything to do with Mr. Sleight and the particular subject of this thread, but feel free to elaborate if you can tie it into the subject matter in some meaningful fashion.

That aside, yes, you are indeed copping out, as set out in prior posts.

[seatnineb]

39. Here is the editor's email address of the Newcastle Chronicle.

Contact him.

And prove to us once and for all that George Sleigh is not a liar:

[e-mail]

[Clinton Crusader]

36. The wheels were down?? n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

40. That was one of his original press statements

That's one of the reason I started looking at him more closely. He originally claimed that the wheels were down and he could see people inside the cockpit. From where his office was in the building, I doubted if that was possible. Then low and behold a few years later, Mr. Sleigh claims that his words which made headline news were not his words and that the M$M (tabloids) lied.

[seatnineb]

42. Is there actually any real proof that Sleigh contacted Icke.....

It is interesting that Sleigh appears to have sought Markus Icke out........

It means if nothing else....that George Sleigh spends some time reading about 9/11 "conspiracy theories"

[DoYouEverWonder]

43. Where did you see that?

One of Sleigh's other claims is that he got injured in an explosion when he got to the concourse level. He then went up to the street and walked to an ambulance and watched the first tower come down. If that is true, then this may be more proof that there were explosions in the basement levels before the buildings fell.