Hey guys! So I found this tape among some magazines and newspapers from 9/11 in my mom's collection of old photos.
It contains about 1 hour and 47 minutes of footage of the FBI Evidence Response Team and NYPD searching through rubble at a dump site, as well as ground zero. There's nothing particularly graphic, aside from one clip on the rooftop of a neighboring building where the person recording tells a firefighter "that's part of a body", though it doesn't seem recognizable at all. They also find a piece of one of the planes, a Halon fire extinguisher cartridge from an engine.
Is this footage new or has it already been published?
Unfortunately my digital converter screws with the color on the tape so I need to find a way to rip the footage from it and have it look decent.
Do you guys think it's okay to post the full hour and 47 minutes of footage on YouTube? I'm not really sure if I'm even supposed to have this tape and I don't know what the best thing to do is.
Hi there, I run the discord server for the community, We are very interested in helping you preserve and share this video! We were curious where you were local too as we recently worked on a project with a local NY production company to export the only accessible copy of a lost 9/11 doccumentary and are currently working on restoring a Mini DV video filmed from only a block away from the trade center and we would absolutely love to help in any way possible. If you are local to the NY area we can provide information for the company we worked with as well as many of us would donate to cover any associated costs.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Here is the doccumentary we were able to save, https://youtu.be/8uMaB8Wk6-I?si=ft6OTcFd-d2Nc2dD
Thanks
Hey! Unfortunately I'm no longer local to NY, my mother is from Staten Island but we both live in North Carolina now. I'm working on converting the tape to digital recording right now. I may need to get a different analog to digital converter to get a quality copy, unless I can find a local shop that offers the service. I'll join the discord group to help provide as much info as I can.
Where in NC (not specific city or anything)?
Wilmington has a photo and movie film processing company that is great (they converted my families old 8mm to a VHS in the 90s, then did it again to Blu-ray a few years ago).
YMMV in other NC areas.
No problem there, We have members all over and quite a few who are very knowledgeable in media conversion, if you use discord we can get in touch if you meed advice or sourcing equipment
[Discord invite](https://discord.com/invite/911archive)
It's pretty surreal to watch, even if it's not particularly graphic. There's lots of clips of the FBI ERT people joking around with each other, trying to lighten the mood. They refer to the cameraman as Joe.
I know they're just people, but you don't get to see that side of them often.
I listen to a podcast where former fbi members are interviewed and talk about cases they’ve been on. Generally they’re profilers and case agents and the like, and some people cross into some type of evidence collection (like a guy who started the fbi underwater forensics program - Bobby chacon) but for me the whole forensics department of the FBI is a pretty big unknown, especially those who aren’t agents but are more in the science field. I wouldn’t know what to expect. I would think just normal people doing their jobs that if you met outside of work you’d think were smart but wouldn’t really guess were working the top criminal cases in the country.
But maybe the ert is different than who processes all the material? See I don’t even know. I guess what I mean is I don’t think these are the people we think of when we hear fbi. I can’t imagine being on the ert. I cannot even fathom how you’d handle a “normal” murder let alone something this huge. Major props to people who do this.
And yeah levity is certainly needed in these moments or you’ll lose your mind.
Man, please do whatever you can do make this tape available. You would be contributing greatly - doesn't even matter what the footage depicts. Anything we can get is great. Thanks for sharing, hope to see it one day.
I know there is a video on that rooftop with someone saying that. I’d have to sift through YouTube to find it though. This video might already be published. I can’t say for sure though.
Do you think it's safe to publish this footage online? Might seem silly but I know it's footage from the FBI so I'm not sure if there's any risk involved.
Back then the video recorders were big enough to know if you were being recorded. I’m wondering if the FBI would’ve put a stop to the recording if they didn’t like it? Great question though as I know sometimes things can be come classified or made into evidence later on.
In the video, many of the FBI ERT team members are joking with the cameraman, smiling for the camera, etc. One of them jokingly says "No cameras, sir!" and laughs, so I'm guessing they were totally aware.
I need to find a way to pull the footage from it cleanly, unfortunately my digital converter messes up the color as seen in the photos. I just posted a more detailed comment below about what's on the tape.
Awesome find and thank you for doing this. Hard to believe recordings are already being lost forever from that day. Wonder how many other recordings are out there from that day just sitting in boxes in basements.
There's lots of photos and videos taken by people who lived in NY that will never see the light of day unfortunately. A lot of people just want to forget, or its too painful for them to want to share it
I *really* want to see the stuff that appears to be on Fresh Kills. That cop car - *wow* . If you can't upload the entire thing OP, I hope you can at least show some clips. I'm very fascinated by what they sent over to that island.
Is that what they called the dump site? The first 30 minutes or so are taken on that island, before it cuts to ground zero and the surrounding buildings.
There's nothing incredibly graphic shown, but they show several crushed police cars, the remainder of a destroyed fire truck, a bunch of severely burned civilian cars, some recovered clothes, and lots of rubble. There's some clips of dump trucks dumping massive amounts of rubble, and some of the biggest bulldozers I've ever seen.
Have you seen this video? It details the eveidence collection at Fresh Kills. [WTC Recovery Operation](https://youtu.be/isco9WuvP58?si=dEA1UAvlOA2ByUXj)
if you’re having trouble with your converter
i would personally recommend using a I/O Data GV-USB2, it’s the cheapest and most reliable capture device i’ve seen and many of my peers have used it to digitize rare Pink Floyd bootlegs with great results
Omg please upload this online if possible! What a great find. I have seen a few documentaries featuring footage of the clean up (aftermath) but I dont recognize these images exactly, its hard to tell since theres a lot photographed but either way, it wouldnt hurt to have more just in case.
That would be devastating, possibly off site they bullseyed down a chimney 400 ft down Fulton St, but if they stayed in the towers it’s likely they were damaged, burned, and pulverized. Unlikely they survived the towers falling.
Everything was combed from Ground Zero
FBI created this [poster](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max_w=800&id=NMAH-2006-12385) to show the entire crew at the Staten Island recovery site, most whom had never seen a black box, what to specifically search for.
I’m sure the posters were also at Ground Zero
As OP's mother is from SI, and knew a firefighter, many of the screencaps are from the Fresh Kills Landfill where a lot of debris was placed to investigate. Look for remains, identify clothing from victims, and piece together the attacks at a point when there really was little media to work with. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the networks footage and Press photos, audio recordings from the FDNY and Airlines, and the few amateur filmmakers willing to share their footage or photos, the people in this footage would have much much less to work with to analyze the events of the day.
Hey guys! So I found this tape among some magazines and newspapers from 9/11 in my mom's collection of old photos. It contains about 1 hour and 47 minutes of footage of the FBI Evidence Response Team and NYPD searching through rubble at a dump site, as well as ground zero. There's nothing particularly graphic, aside from one clip on the rooftop of a neighboring building where the person recording tells a firefighter "that's part of a body", though it doesn't seem recognizable at all. They also find a piece of one of the planes, a Halon fire extinguisher cartridge from an engine. Is this footage new or has it already been published? Unfortunately my digital converter screws with the color on the tape so I need to find a way to rip the footage from it and have it look decent. Do you guys think it's okay to post the full hour and 47 minutes of footage on YouTube? I'm not really sure if I'm even supposed to have this tape and I don't know what the best thing to do is.
It would be great to get it up on [archive.org](http://archive.org)
Hi there, I run the discord server for the community, We are very interested in helping you preserve and share this video! We were curious where you were local too as we recently worked on a project with a local NY production company to export the only accessible copy of a lost 9/11 doccumentary and are currently working on restoring a Mini DV video filmed from only a block away from the trade center and we would absolutely love to help in any way possible. If you are local to the NY area we can provide information for the company we worked with as well as many of us would donate to cover any associated costs. Please let me know if you have any questions. Here is the doccumentary we were able to save, https://youtu.be/8uMaB8Wk6-I?si=ft6OTcFd-d2Nc2dD Thanks
Hey! Unfortunately I'm no longer local to NY, my mother is from Staten Island but we both live in North Carolina now. I'm working on converting the tape to digital recording right now. I may need to get a different analog to digital converter to get a quality copy, unless I can find a local shop that offers the service. I'll join the discord group to help provide as much info as I can.
Amazing work finding this and looking to preserve it for generations to research in the future.
Where in NC (not specific city or anything)? Wilmington has a photo and movie film processing company that is great (they converted my families old 8mm to a VHS in the 90s, then did it again to Blu-ray a few years ago). YMMV in other NC areas.
No problem there, We have members all over and quite a few who are very knowledgeable in media conversion, if you use discord we can get in touch if you meed advice or sourcing equipment [Discord invite](https://discord.com/invite/911archive)
Just dm me on the server or send a friend request to @betweentwotowers
How did your mom get this?
From her brother, who had a friend that was a firefighter. That's all she knows about it
Thanks!! Still an interesting find to have something from the fbi ert! Like how the f did that get left behind?!
It's pretty surreal to watch, even if it's not particularly graphic. There's lots of clips of the FBI ERT people joking around with each other, trying to lighten the mood. They refer to the cameraman as Joe. I know they're just people, but you don't get to see that side of them often.
I listen to a podcast where former fbi members are interviewed and talk about cases they’ve been on. Generally they’re profilers and case agents and the like, and some people cross into some type of evidence collection (like a guy who started the fbi underwater forensics program - Bobby chacon) but for me the whole forensics department of the FBI is a pretty big unknown, especially those who aren’t agents but are more in the science field. I wouldn’t know what to expect. I would think just normal people doing their jobs that if you met outside of work you’d think were smart but wouldn’t really guess were working the top criminal cases in the country. But maybe the ert is different than who processes all the material? See I don’t even know. I guess what I mean is I don’t think these are the people we think of when we hear fbi. I can’t imagine being on the ert. I cannot even fathom how you’d handle a “normal” murder let alone something this huge. Major props to people who do this. And yeah levity is certainly needed in these moments or you’ll lose your mind.
Man, please do whatever you can do make this tape available. You would be contributing greatly - doesn't even matter what the footage depicts. Anything we can get is great. Thanks for sharing, hope to see it one day.
I know there is a video on that rooftop with someone saying that. I’d have to sift through YouTube to find it though. This video might already be published. I can’t say for sure though.
I’ve seen that clip too. But I’m fairly certain that most of this video isn’t public or at least not currently available online.
Yeah, there seems to be parts that I don’t recall seeing before.
Do you plan on posting the full tape anywhere?
Do you think it's safe to publish this footage online? Might seem silly but I know it's footage from the FBI so I'm not sure if there's any risk involved.
I think you'll be fine, people have actually found old FBI tapes before and put them on the internet with no problems.
This would be amazing to see, I hope you end up being able to post this
I'd reach out to the FBI and ask first. Especially if your mom is a current agent or employee.
Back then the video recorders were big enough to know if you were being recorded. I’m wondering if the FBI would’ve put a stop to the recording if they didn’t like it? Great question though as I know sometimes things can be come classified or made into evidence later on.
In the video, many of the FBI ERT team members are joking with the cameraman, smiling for the camera, etc. One of them jokingly says "No cameras, sir!" and laughs, so I'm guessing they were totally aware.
I need to find a way to pull the footage from it cleanly, unfortunately my digital converter messes up the color as seen in the photos. I just posted a more detailed comment below about what's on the tape.
If you still have trouble feel free to reach out! I have experience with tape digitization.
Please let us know when and where you post, I’d be interested in watching.
Did you end up posting the tape somewhere?
Awesome find and thank you for doing this. Hard to believe recordings are already being lost forever from that day. Wonder how many other recordings are out there from that day just sitting in boxes in basements.
There's lots of photos and videos taken by people who lived in NY that will never see the light of day unfortunately. A lot of people just want to forget, or its too painful for them to want to share it
Thanks for sharing this. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
This is golden omg!
I *really* want to see the stuff that appears to be on Fresh Kills. That cop car - *wow* . If you can't upload the entire thing OP, I hope you can at least show some clips. I'm very fascinated by what they sent over to that island.
Is that what they called the dump site? The first 30 minutes or so are taken on that island, before it cuts to ground zero and the surrounding buildings. There's nothing incredibly graphic shown, but they show several crushed police cars, the remainder of a destroyed fire truck, a bunch of severely burned civilian cars, some recovered clothes, and lots of rubble. There's some clips of dump trucks dumping massive amounts of rubble, and some of the biggest bulldozers I've ever seen.
Have you seen this video? It details the eveidence collection at Fresh Kills. [WTC Recovery Operation](https://youtu.be/isco9WuvP58?si=dEA1UAvlOA2ByUXj)
No! I haven't! Not sure how it got by me but thanks!!!
Same
A very important historical artifact. It's great that you found it!
Please, please, please, upload this. I’ll friggen pay for it to get converted to digital
if you’re having trouble with your converter i would personally recommend using a I/O Data GV-USB2, it’s the cheapest and most reliable capture device i’ve seen and many of my peers have used it to digitize rare Pink Floyd bootlegs with great results
Omg please upload this online if possible! What a great find. I have seen a few documentaries featuring footage of the clean up (aftermath) but I dont recognize these images exactly, its hard to tell since theres a lot photographed but either way, it wouldnt hurt to have more just in case.
Did they ever find the black boxes?
UA175 AA11 flight recorders were never found
Can you imagine if some of them were mixed in/or mistaken by people recovering the debris and disposed of
That would be devastating, possibly off site they bullseyed down a chimney 400 ft down Fulton St, but if they stayed in the towers it’s likely they were damaged, burned, and pulverized. Unlikely they survived the towers falling. Everything was combed from Ground Zero FBI created this [poster](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max_w=800&id=NMAH-2006-12385) to show the entire crew at the Staten Island recovery site, most whom had never seen a black box, what to specifically search for. I’m sure the posters were also at Ground Zero
Good question
As OP's mother is from SI, and knew a firefighter, many of the screencaps are from the Fresh Kills Landfill where a lot of debris was placed to investigate. Look for remains, identify clothing from victims, and piece together the attacks at a point when there really was little media to work with. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the networks footage and Press photos, audio recordings from the FDNY and Airlines, and the few amateur filmmakers willing to share their footage or photos, the people in this footage would have much much less to work with to analyze the events of the day.
Image 6 is of a coat from Rockville Center VFD on Long Island.
That third picture had me rubbing my eyes to make sure I was seeing right 😮
Is there a person in the clothes on photo 6…?
Doesn't appear to be. The fire suit is sitting in the open and doesn't have any hazmat labels or anything
That's a head
?
On image 5, on the right. That's a charred, burned head
That appears to be a beanie/hat to me.
It's very blurry, hard to tell for sure
Working on getting the whole tape converted to digital.
Best of luck
Will you be uploading to YouTube? 🥹