The six-year anniversary is, apparently, when the gloves come off.
The New York Times has a brutal take-down of a 9/11 survivor activist whose sob story of lost love and heroic escape in the flames of the crumbling World Trace Center appears to be almost entirely bunk.
Tania Head – possibly not even her real name – sure did have a good story, though. She said she survived the terror attack on the World Trade Center despite having been badly burned when the plane crashed in the upper floors of the south tower. Crawling through the chaos, she said she encountered a dying man who handed her his wedding ring, which she later returned to his widow. Her own life was saved, she said, by a selfless volunteer who put out the flames on her clothes and carried her down the stairs.
She was only able to make it, she said, by imagining the beautiful white dress she would wear at her coming marriage to a man named Dave. But later she discovered that Dave, her fiancé, perished in the north tower, she said.
It turns out that almost none of the story could be corroborated once the Times reporters began picking it apart – nor could most of the biographical details she has put forward.
As a result of the paper’s prying, this week the Survivors Network booted her from her position as president and a director of the nonprofit group. Officials at the Tribute Center said they’d no longer let her volunteer as a tour guide.
Saddest of all, the family of Dave, who refused to disclose their last name, say they’ve never heard of her, and none of their lost loved one’s email correspondence suggests there was a relationship.
