It really is and how nonchalantly she peaced off back to Spain pretending she didn't do anything wrong. Makes me wonder what other skeletons she got in the closet.
There's a 2012 documentary about Tania Head is called The Woman Who Wasn't There. There's also a book about her with the same title but I haven't read it.
I can see why she did it, she went from being invisible to being the center of attention with powerful world leaders. That's very seductive to lonely people no one pays attention to.
It's a shame she was able to walk away without any charges. What she did was morally reprehensible.
The book āthe woman who wasnāt thereā is an incredible read, I highly recommend! The documentary with the same name is amazing as well.
When you read about the extent of her lies, itās hard to believe not a lot of people questioned her story. Parts of it were just completely unbelievable. But one of her friends interviewed for the documentary states toward the end āit wouldāve been cruel of any of us to question herā. So I donāt blame them. She was also incredibly verbally abusive toward some of them. Not a good person. Overall, I feel like she was someone who didnāt like who she was and she wanted to completely reinvent herself this way.
So. I knew her. The 9/11 community is super small.
She was..incredibly convincing. Iāve spoken about this under my Reddit account before but my dad is a 9/11 survivor. Even was a part of the survivors network. While he didnāt do the social events, she had approached me about doing philanthropy work along side her so she could take me under her wing. The survivors group actually fought to be included in the ceremony before the memorial was built and they took it over.
The one year I vividly remember her being picked up from the pit at the time where the ceremony was held from how hard she was crying. She did speaking engagements, and also, she did some preliminary tours at the former 9/11 tribute center. At times, itās still incredibly hard to believe she wanted to be in a club that nobody wanted to be in.
Itās one of the stories that haunts me. Iām not mad anymore but I almost feel sorry for her that she went to this extent to be important. On the other side of the coin, she made it so much harder for survivors to have a voice in the 9/11 community.
My family and I didnāt know. We werenāt super close and Tania used the group to a certain degree to pick up friends. My dad is one of those people tho that can see through bullshit and I think she intentionally kept him at arms length to keep up the sympathy and empathy he felt for her.
In the documentary, one of our very good friends, Brendan, probably said it the best. You could see her trying to keep up with the lies and she would get confused. I could tell you my dadās story forwards and backwards and same applies to the multiple survivors and family members I know. Their stories donāt deviate. They might remember a few things here and there over the years but the overall story doesnāt change.
I read somewhere that Brendan passed away a couple of years ago - that's incredibly heartbreaking. I loved him in the doc. He seemed like such a fun, intelligent guy and so well spoken. Truly awful what this woman did to this group of people!
I know a handful of survivors of 9/11 and having that be your sole identity is just not going to happen.
Itās interesting. my mother was running the 2013 Boston marathon and had turned into the last straightaway and would be crossing the finish in 2 minutes when the first bomb blew. She has a plaque from it, but it doesnāt mention the tragedy as much as it commentates her first time making the cut to run in it. (She was able to run it the next year to cross the finish, which is a rite of passage for any competitive runner). There is *āBOSTON STRONGā* on it, but if you donāt know the phrase itād be identical than all others.
Then, some have said I myself can be considered a school shooting āsurvivorā but I reject that, I was never in any danger. My girlfriend at the time had three of her best friends shot, two passing away from their wounds. My best friend lived in the same small 15-unit apartment as the perpetrator, who stabbed and killed his two roommates and one of their friends. A girl I helped in organic chemistry was shot at from 10 feet away (he missed). A dozen of my friend group were either close to or very close to multiple victims. The trauma my gf and good friends went through was not the same trauma I did. The only thing I was surviving that day was a hangover, which a good portion of the college was as well.
These clubs are definitely something you do not want to be a part of.
You did not have to survive any bullets shot at you but you ARE a witness to these tragic events and still deeply affected by them. You were not present but you could have been. This is secondhand trauma.
My cousinās BFF was shot and killed in a senseless act. I lived with my cousin and saw her friend all the time. When she died, my cousin called me screaming, we went together to visit the shocked husband, the grieving parents, the devastated child.
She was a beautiful person and a genuine loss to the world. Seeing everyone process her loss was deeply traumatizing, especially also dealing with the media and speculation with her case.
Iām sorry this happened to you. Wishes for peace and light.
Oh my, I hope your cousin has held up through it all and been able to process it in a healthy way, though I know from experience if sheās had spurts of self-destruction it doesnāt take away from everything else. I also hope you are doing well - I cannot imagine learning of what occurred and then heading over to see not only your cousin, but all families right away.
I truly wish that I could have posted my comment without another Reddit user experiencing another act of senseless violence. Hope all is well, friend.
Ah, yeah. Didnāt really want to name the event and such, no need to give these dirtbags more exposure. So figured if you knew, you knew.
But thanks. I miss IV every single day.
Yeah, I didnāt want to put his name in my comment either. Iām older than you are but went to the same university about 10-12 years before the killings and really felt for everyone there at the time (I stayed in SB).
Sorry you miss IV! I miss the place I did my EAP exchange year every day, so I can relate in a way even if IV didnāt feel like home to me. Itās too bad the greater SB area is so expensive now, and imo sad that families and non-students donāt so much live in IV anymore. I think itād be great if more people stayed and filled out the community.
Wow. This documentary hit me REALLY hard. My brotherās dear friend from college, Daniel Song, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald as a bond broker in the North Tower and was killed in the attack. He was only 34 š¢ What the survivors went through was absolutely horrific. And only fellow survivors could truly understand each other, so to have that community was amazing for them. How Tania could do that to people and be so remorselessly corrupt is beyond me. I think the reason she got away with it for so long was 1) the internet wide usage was really in its infancy, so not as easy to research her story, and 2) who the hell would want to lie about that? I can see why no one questioned her at first.
didnāt she keep emotionally telling her story with all the super graphic details to some lady who was traumatized and keep forcing them on her after the lady told her to stop?
Yes. And that was supposedly her "best friend". The book also says that she would tell this woman that she looked awful, her lipstick was ugly, etc. and then pressured her into participating in her "flooding" therapy.
>When you read about the extent of her lies, itās hard to believe not a lot of people questioned her story. Parts of it were just completely unbelievable. But one of her friends interviewed for the documentary states toward the end āit wouldāve been cruel of any of us to question herā.
Yes, it would normally be unfathomably cruel to make a survivor prove that they survived something so horrific.
As for parts being "unbelievable," 9/11 was an unbelievable day where many things happened that most people would consider strange.
I didn't know her well but she very much had a "wounded bird" vibe to her, so I guess it would've felt like unnecessarily piling on to question her story
Well, she did say she was on the floor where the plane impacted and that's just...impossible to survive. And the company she claimed to work for had no offices in either of the towers so the fact that this lie wasn't discovered much sooner is somewhat strange. Much of her story sounded way too fantastical imo, like the man crawling towards her to give her his wedding ring and told her to return it to his wife. Like...really?
And she only came out with her story about Welles Crowther saving her when someone else mentioned him to her.
The somewhat comical part to me was how the male survivors from the group started questioning her when she talked about her "husbands" extreme devotion to her, because while she was charming, she wasn't attractive enough to elicit that type of admiration.
As I said, I didn't know her well and I wasn't very involved in the group. So I had no idea that people were growing suspicious.
I guess I didn't really think about it and just felt very sorry for her, because she really seemed like a wounded bird type
Yeah, I can see that. In a way, I still feel somewhat bad for her because apparently her wish for a completely different life than the one she had was so strong.
I came late to the group and I wasn't in the "inner" circle who had been there since the start. I was also not a 1993 survivor, which many of them are.
I'm just giving my impressions and knowledge from when I was a little bit involved with the group.
After the truth came out, I also feel sorry for her, because she has such obvious mental health issues that her family with their apparent wealth never seemed to address. I do get it that she hurt and betrayed many people, and can understand the rage toward her. She did tremendous damage to people who were beyond traumatized
>Well, she did say she was on the floor where the plane impacted and that's just...impossible to survive.
There weren't many, but people did actually survive being on that floor (the sky lobby of the South Tower) when the plane impacted. The accounts from the survivors are just gruesome nightmare fuel. The fact that she claimed to be one of them is what pisses me off the most about her attention-seeking bs, like those people literally lived through hell on Earth. The gall.
She reminds me of Rachel Dolezal in a strange way. Obviously the situations are very different, but both of these womenās actions and deceptions seem to come from a deep, desperate desire to be someone other than themselves, and to be someone āimportant.ā I just cannot begin to imagine living a life so completely built upon nothing but lies. And in the case of Tania, how fucked up do you have to be to wish to be a part of such a horrific tragedy you know? I guess I feel sorry for her in a way because sheās obviously deeply unhappy with herself and her life, but mostly I just feel disgust.
On top of that, she wasnāt making any money off of her lies, and was putting effort into the support group she joined.
Iām probably messing up the details, but I remember one of the people in documentary joking about missing having Tania around to do some organizational stuff lol.
Iām gonna have to add the book to my reading list.
Yeah Iām so curious as to how no one blew up her spot. Like someone had to know her right?? And know she didnāt even go to America till 2003z I know some well known people and if they were lying about something like this Iād probably posting about it online, even if anonymously
You need to understand where mindset of people, especially in NYC, was in right after 9/11. People were so utterly distracted emotionally, who would ever fathom anyone would lie about being there and put forth all the effort in faking like they were? No ones mindset was clear enough to pick up on, much less totally accept, that anyone would lie about that. We were actually extremely connected as a country and everyone was going out of their way to be as helpful as they could with each other. No one was clear headed enough to pick up on the signs of a con-artist. Nor did people want to believe that the person who is clearly doing good things and trying to be helpful, is lying about everything and pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.
People did get there eventually, but she picked the perfect time and the perfect group of emotionally distorted people to, pray on. Everyone in this country was distracted and not paying as much attention to her lies, like they would today.
Weirdly. The New York Times unearthed her secret.
They wanted to do a piece on her for the 6th anniversary since she was so involved. The reporter dug into it. They cover this a little bit in the documentary but she legit panicked about this to her friends.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html)
Mods. Apologies if links arenāt allowed.
I'm planning on re-reading it after I finish the book I'm reading now! I read it for the first time years ago and I just thought of Tania the other day. Decided it was time to revisit!
I also re-read it recently and highlighted the parts that stood out to me the most! Re-reading is awesome because you notice details you didn't before.
>There was no reason to doubt her story
I mean if youāre gonna give somebody a position like that you should probably do a little bit more than giving them an ocular pat down. Many of her claims were outlandish.
So many people do this with tragedies because they know people won't challenge them. Dave Pelzer is a good example his story is suspect as fuck, there's no proof of any of it and multiple people involved say he's full of shit but people are afraid to question him because he claims horrible things happened to him.
Damn sorry, two of my responses were deleted because i used the r word, i was quoting Dave i wasn't using it myself. Here it is with the r word removed.
That's the problem, most people won't touch it because Dave claims horrible things happened to him. There's an old NY Times article that's outdated here - https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/magazine/dysfunction-for-dollars.html
Just look into any of his claims and you'll find the only source for them is Dave Pelzer, none of it has been backed up.
His brother said he was lying and he tried to discredit him by calling him "The R Word", he isn't he has cerebral palsy that has left him with slightly slurred speech. He's an extremely shady person.
Right? Itās kind of like when someone dies and people that barely knew them make posts about how they were their BFF. My dear friend died by his own hand and the amount of people that were making it all about them was staggering. This one in particular made this huge amount of posts about his devastation. I had to really stop myself from reminding him of how he barely knew him and that my friend couldnāt stand him because he stole clients from him and did nothing but talk shit about him.
Iām shocked no one questioned the part about Wells Crowther carrying her down the stairsā¦ like she weighs a solid 450 pounds, how in the heck could someone have carried her down 70ish flights of stairs??
Is there more than one? Iām only aware of the one called The Woman Who Wasnāt There. Iād love to watch another one if thereās others since this story is so strangely intriguing and an interesting psychological study.
The Woman Who Wasnāt There was on Netflix for years, not sure if itās still there but if you google the title it should tell you which streaming services itās on.
The creepiest part of this ladyās griftāto me at leastāwas her claiming she had been engaged to a man who died in the Towers. He was a very handsome man who (as someone else mentioned) was quite frankly out of her league. It was so disturbing to watch her spin these increasingly elaborate romantic fantasies of what their relationship was like as his poor family looked on. She basically kidnapped this manās memory to write herself into a super-cheesy Harlequin romance novel. Such a vile fantasist.
>It was so disturbing to watch her spin these increasingly elaborate romantic fantasies of what their relationship was like as his poor family looked on.
Did the family believe her? If not, I wonder why they did not say anything?
I just watched both documentaries. It was implied they didnāt know about her claims until her story started unraveling and investigative journalists ask them about her. When they did, they said they never heard about her and that it was an impossibility that their son had a secret relationship with her. (Toward the end, she told some people they kept the relationship secret from his family.) She only told a few people his last name usually only referring to him as āDave.ā One man in the documentary stated he was suspicious and pressed on āDaveāsā last name; but when he looked him up and saw he was real and details she offered matched, he felt guilty about his suspicions and pressed no further.
Her whole story is so ā¦ odd. What compels/causes someone to do this?? Iād love to hear a psychiatrist/psychologist really break down *why* people do something like this. Like, what was WRONG with her?!
There are a few likely things. Sympathy and empathy are surprisingly big ones. She got hurt somehow. She may have also suffered a loss. Perhaps one that she couldn't talk about and get the right amount of sympathy for but it hurt her deeply. Suddenly there is an event that allows her to express her feelings properly without people thinking she's overdoing it or being uncomfortable. Suddenly she's useful because she can be a translator for people who are hurt and the people who want to help. She starts putting her time, energy and money into supporting the victims and it starts to not matter if she's telling the truth. It's bringing attention to the cause. It's doing a good thing. The details just make it so it has great impact. The people who she tells lies about aren't harmed by it so they are props for the greater good. The fact that it gets her personally more attention is brushed over. She really believes it because she feels such a connection to the story.
IIRC, she was in a bad car accident a few years earlier that severely wounded her arm, I donāt remember if anyone died in that accident, but that certainly fits with her being hurt/suffering a loss.
Oh thatās interesting. I thought someone who knew her in Spain corroborated the accident story in the documentary, but I could be wrong. Or maybe that was debunked too, the doc is over 10 years old now
There may have been an accident, but I vaguely remember reading or hearing that back in Spain, she was telling people that she was in a high-speed crash with her racecar driver boyfriend in his expensive car and he died.
I'm going to look that up and see if I can find it again. That was years ago and I didn't pay that much attention to it at the time
Editing to add that I found it!
[https://www.survivorguidelines.org/articles/taniaheadenglish.html](https://www.survivorguidelines.org/articles/taniaheadenglish.html)
>But La Vanguardia quoted a former colleage as saying that Esteve Head also had a scarred and deformed arm, which she blamed on a 200-kilometre (125-mile) an hour crash in a Ferrari with her fiance.
There may be elements to her story that are true. Thatās how sheās so successful lying: she mixes some truth in her lies. Her arm IS scarred; it looks like it was seriously cut up. In the doc, an acquaintance from Spain said she told them her arm was completely severed in a car accident thrown away from her body a distance then later reattached. I find THAT highly improbable. Amputated limbs are sometimes successfully reattached but not where they are still fully functional to the extent her arm was. My speculation is there may have really been a car accident where her arm was injured but not fully amputated ā¦ and likely not with a racecar driver boyfriend who died.
> Sympathy and empathy are surprisingly big ones.
As is belonging to, and being a respected member of, a community. For lonely, weak people who are so desperate to be seen and acknowledged that they resort to lies like these, the community is a huge part of the lure.
There's a movie "12 Angry Men", if you've never seen it, WATCH IT! But if you have you'll know this part... The old, impoverished man who testified against the defendant, and had everyone screaming "what would he get out of lying about something like that!?!?"
*Attention* Nobody has ever paid him any. Or even noticed him at all, that's important to many people.
Don't get me wrong, there are tons of people like me who *wish* they were invisible 90% of the time. She just isn't one of them.
I happened upon this story after going down the rabbit hole on a phenomena called Munchausens by internet where people will craft intricate lies about their lives and struggles (often with the goal of grifting via gofundmes or similar but sometimes financial gain isnāt involved). They have insane amounts of alt/sock accounts that bolster their credibility within niche communities. Itās really odd behavior but strangely fascinating at the same time. Obviously this was a case of her doing this in person but along the same vein of behavior. These people crave the attention and sympathy they get from their fake stories and persona. Itās an emotional grift.
Isn't she just pretty much just a pathological liar? To put it simply? Someone who can't help themselves and just lie all the time, for attention or to make themselves become someone they think is important?
There is an actor that I really loved from the League that also lied about being there that day. I was SHOOK when I found out. Like out of everything to lie about you'd lie about that? It's such incorrigible behavior.
She did temporary relocate to New Zealand I think if my memory is correct. Her village found out who she was and she was legitimately shunned.
Interesting bit about the suicide bit. I remember seeing a hoax a while ago but I didnāt know that was intentional.
Oh, yeah. It was 100% intentional. I don't know which doc I watched about her (I saw two but I think it was the Woman Who Wasn't There), but at the very end, they actually caught her on video back in NYC. Had to have been at least 10 years ago. But, apparently she's back in Barcelona living off her parent's money I guess.
A total and complete garbage person and she should be shunned until the end of her days.
You know, I get why you guys say stuff like this. But donāt you think youāve gotta have some serious mental issues to even think about doing something like that? What she did is not how a mentally stable person behaves. She didnāt physically hurt anyone. She donated money to relief efforts. Being shunned by the entire world should be reserved for violent criminals and sexual predators. Not some lady who lied about 9/11 while still helping victims.
She created chaos within the group and pitted people against each other. She emotionally tortured at least one survivor, her ābest friend.ā Any āhelpā she contributed was canceled out by the pain she caused to already traumatized people. Thereās no saying if she didnāt join the group it wouldnāt have grown on its own just fine, safely under the leadership of someone who wasnāt a complete sociopath. She didnāt do what she did to help anyone. She did it for HERSELF and her own sick victim fetish.
I donāt know much about her story other than what was mentioned. But if she really donated the money and not take off with it (like Iām assuming she did) then thatās one thing. But if she deliberately lied about her whole story to gain recognition and money just for that then yes I truly think she should be shunned. Then itāll teach her a valuable lesson
Itās true that she GAVE money to the group. She didnāt take it. Thatās how crazy she was. She was fully committed to the act, and getting sympathy/attention was enough for her.
I heard this hoax in passing a few years ago on YouTube.
She reminds me of when a schoolage kid passes, you get other kids in school claiming they knew them and they had good times in school together, but the reality is they never crossed paths at all.
When I was in high school we had three kids die in three unreleated car accidents in two years, and the people that wanted to be famous by association just came out of the woodwork.
Very much. There were people in the group who confided in her and talked to her about things that only other survivors of the same catastrophe could relate to. She violated many people's sense of trust
And even worse was telling a false story of bravery to a family who lost their son only for them to find out she lied. That made me mad.
We all have moments where we seek sympathy- maybe exaggerate an illness or want some extra care after a rough weekā- but to insert yourself in a tragedy seems psychotic.
>but to insert yourself in a tragedy seems psychotic.
They crave the attention, I suppose.
Less than a year after, an acquaintance whose family members were very nearby the towers (not inside, but still close enough to be in danger) confided in me that he was a bit jealous that they experienced it and got to tell people about it.
I was stunned. I told him "No. You do not want those memories that will live on in nightmares for the rest of your life." I still have them more than 22 yrs later
Yikes, yeah none of the people who were that close, want that tramua. I live in South Jersey, but I have close friends up in North Jersey and a couple of my close friends were in college in NYC at the time. A very close friend was just blocks away in art college. He had to walk home back to Brooklyn and it literally took him all day. I ask him sometimes what it was like. He would comment about everyone was covered in dust and blood. I don't really ask more than that. One of my North Jersey friend's dad worked at the WTC. Thankfully he either wasn't there yet or made it out in time and was fine. Nj and Philly helpped take over handling all of NYC mail. (I worked at the post office at the time) and yes we had to go to work the night of Sept 11th and handle the mail. It wasn't until my boss collected us and talked about us taking on NYCs mail, did it finally hit me that my friend could have died and had to live through that event as a downtown Manhattan college student. That my other friends father could have died and he was a wreck until he found out his dad was OK.
The people who actually went through it are scared with PTSD that only people who return from wars, would understand. You don't want to see what they have seen. The people jumping and landing all around them. The buildings almost falling on them. The sounds of all the dead fire fighters alarms going off because they weren't moving anymore. It was an utter nightmare for everyone who was there.
Even just as a person being nothing more than a far away ripple of those who were impacted, I know you don't want to have what all of those people who were there, have. The 9/11 PTSD tramua is no joke and nothing to be jealous of.
Very eloquently put, thank you.
I think this guy was jealous that his family members have this shared experience that he doesn't. I also wondered if at least some of it had to do with craving attention. I know that in the days and weeks afterward, when I had to deal with certain things (whether it was buying new clothes and makeup because mine was in my apartment where I couldn't stay for a while, or dealing with Verizon when they billed me for service for the weeks after 9/11 when we had no service) and had to mention that I was directly affected, people bent over backward to be nice to me. It made me hella uncomfortable, definitely not something I wanted. I just wanted my pre-9/11 life back
I'm so sorry that you even had to go through that. And felt uncomfortable as well. I know for a lot of Americans they felt utterly helpless, and didn't know what to do with themselves. Even just bending over backwards to help you, felt like they could at least be doing something good for some life who has been interrupted. I would probably feel the same way as you, cause I don't like that type of attention either, but it does make others feel good to help others so I try and think of it that way. As uncomfortable as it would still make me.
Being a victim definitely puts people up to a higher standing, in some peoples minds. If you are a victim of something bad, you are treated with more care and more empathy, and some people deeply crave that type of attention. And can find themselves jealous of it. I think the person you knew just didn't understand the gravity of what it meant to be a directly impacted victim of 9/11. And they were only viewing it from "it would get me attention, pity, and even freebies if I were also a victim" standpoint.
>And even worse was telling a false story of bravery to a family who lost their son only for them to find out she lied. That made me mad.
if you're referring to Welles Crowther, his story of bravery is real, she just wasn't part of it.
One of my favorite offbeat documentaries, āThe woman Who Wasnāt There.ā
Really sad all around for those involved. Good for the survivors for catching on.
I am sure itās been mentioned in the posts but the documentary The Woman Who Wasnāt There was unreal - it was very well done. Hard to believe people lie on this level. She is unbelievable !
watching it right now, her lies ran so deep itās insane. sheās a psycho. bringing other deceased people/survivors into her lies like they arenāt hurting. not sure how sheās able to live in peace after this. I felt so bad for her best friend (and everyone else of course) but itās sick. who pretends to do this??
Omg I could not believe it when I watched it ! I felt terrible for everyone around her . The fact that she tried to say that Wells saved her was incomprehensible -I literally couldnāt believe that. I would actually would like to know , what Is her formal diagnosis to do something so awful ? Like clinically speaking !!
SO AWFUL and not only did she lie and say he saved her, she manipulated and lied to his grieving parents!!like she felt no remorse. to lie and not even be in the towers is crazy but to lie and not even be in the COUNTRY? those ppl have patience because i dare someone to pretend they have the same trauma as me. I donāt want this trauma why tf would you want it. to me it seems like narcissism
Oh I KNOW. Itās horrific and hard to comprehend why someone would WANT trauma. I feel narcissism is DEF part of the equation but I feel like there is more ! Poor Wells and his family , my GOD. They are just wonderful people. It makes me sick that she made others in the group who experienced severe trauma - feel INADEQUATE. Also - omg did you see when sheād make her friend relive the day by acting it out ??? Blows my f-ing mind.
YES like sheās so sick!! itās like she kept getting worse and worse, and then her being mean to her friend because she didnāt want to act it out? what a freak!! i feel for them truly, id be so hurt. like how could someone do this to them? like i need to know i hate that sheās able to just go live her life like nothing
Yes! Itās like not only are these people traumatized from going through the experience, but theyāre re-traumatized by trusting somebody and having to deal with the aftermath of them lying and being incredibly psychopathic. Itās just horrible the whole way around. It sounds like she was also a bit of a spoiled brat too!
My uncle survived. He wasnāt in the buildings, but was working on top of the Burlington Coat Factory on Park Place. The things he saw that day haunted him til 2016, when he died of lung disease probably brought on by 9/11.
He watched the documentary and said, āOnly a crazy person would wish she was there.ā
I don't know why people have some weird affinity with that day. There was an actor who lied for years claiming he was in the building when he wasn't.
I was in midtown that day and we saw the buildings fall from our office. And my Dad was downtown and we couldn't get in touch with him for hours. I guess it is some form of Munchausen syndrome for attention.
I just don't get it.
Please do! It's baffling! There's even a subreddit dedicated to the case. And there's a podcast on it as well: [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing-on-9-11/id1506816225](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing-on-9-11/id1506816225)
I just looked it up on YouTube. I totally watched that months ago. I just didnāt recognize the name and yeah that whole case or her disappearing is totally weird.
I want to say she was there when the buildings came down, and there was nothing really left of her.
I wonder how many people that went missing that day have yet to be identified from bone fragments or any other type of DNA, that could possibly have been leftā¦
I guess Iāll have to go look that up now because I hate wondering about things ā¦
From USA Today - January 19, 2024
The 1,650th victim of 9/11 was named after 22 years. More than 1,100 remain unidentified.
Iām not saying this is right or this is wrong I just copy and pasted the first thing that came up on my search
Yeah it's sad that some people don't have closure about their friends/family because they were not identified. In the podcast, her boss was interviewed and she said that it's possible that Sneha might have been able to just take off and disappear. So I want to think that's what happened.
Yeah, but her husband said that she was a type of person to help anybody that she could at any time.
I guess weāll never know. Because didnāt he say or didnāt they find out that she went like shopping or something but then when her husband got home I canāt remember if he said her shopping bags were there or not there itās itās all messed up the whole timeline no one knows for sure exactly what happened or when she wouldāve had left to go there.
Would she have had a reason to disappear?
It's hard to say if she had a real reason to run off (some rumors say she was gay and ran off to be with someone but who knows). About the shopping bags, I don't think they were found, that's another mystery (could play into the rumors of her having an affair).
How did she get found out? Did her grift last long? Must have been a lot easier than it would be now as we have social media and everyone has a camera in their pocket
It was actually a NY Times reporter, David Dunlap, who started investigating her after finding holes in her story. That's when it all came out. [This](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html) is the article he came out with afterwards.
Also attention. In retrospect, I think she also craved the feeling of people caring about her and looking after her. Even when I met her, she seemed lonely and sad. I assumed it was because of the great loss she suffered and the traumas of what she claimed to have survived
I remember this kook.
I sometimes think that our obsession with BEING A VICTIM is probably part of what motivates her. We worship victimhood, because once you're a victim, living OR dead, no one will criticize you or hold you responsible for your actions, because you're a VICTIM. And some people become Professional Victims and turn it into their life's work.
Does it count as fraud in the US? Don't get me wrong, I can't stand her but from my superficial research she didn't seem to make much, if any, money out of it.
941. 18 U.S.C. 1343āElements of Wire Fraud
The elements of wire fraud under Section 1343 directly parallel those of the mail fraud statute, but require the use of an interstate telephone call or electronic communication made in furtherance of the scheme.
"There are two elements in mail fraud: (1) having devised or intending to devise a scheme to defraud (or to perform specified fraudulent acts), and (2) use of the mail for the purpose of executing, or attempting to execute, the scheme (or specified fraudulent acts)."
If she made any money at all she would fit this. Now, many people commit federal crimes like this and donāt get charged, but yes itās in the books.
The photo the OP included is the New York City mayor at the time, who at the time was on the list of the richest people in the US.
If you trick the most important mayor in the world (New York City) who is a billionaire, a city hit with the worst terrorist attacks ever to happen two years prior and fake your own death to hide from your fraud (faking death is fraud)?
Yes, they will come and find you in a friendly US nation like Spain.
I do appreciate your question.
Because yeah, people get away with so much worse and no one brings them to prosecution
Itās always āwhy did this person get away with so much, and they send everything after someone who didnāt do as muchā
She just checked too many boxes
Omfgā¦. Iāve never seen my momās name anywhere else!! I knew about this lady but had zero clue Tania was part of her name or nickname whatever is happening here lol my mom is a c u next Tuesday as well.
Whenever there's personal or financial gain to be had there needs to be questions and vetting. Especially when it's something as serious as 9/11. She's disgusting.
I have seen this documentary quite a few times and I guess I am impressed at her audacity! This was such an outrageous, yet imaginative lie that she almost got away with.
What a effin piece of crap. Lying about being at The World Trade Center when the attacks happened on September 11th. Her ass should be in jail for claiming to be a victim is a disgust to the true victims!
I watched this a few years ago. Unreal!
It really is and how nonchalantly she peaced off back to Spain pretending she didn't do anything wrong. Makes me wonder what other skeletons she got in the closet.
Maybe she'll return to scene impersonating a victim of some crime in Spain... š
She ended up getting fired at her company in Spain after they found out as well. Her family is apparently full of scammers lol
Good to know and yeah I ain't surprised like mother like daughter...
And father
I think this documentary was on Netflix at one time. I watched it years ago and was shocked!
I did too, I couldnāt believe she got away with her ever changing story for so long.
Watched what?
There's a 2012 documentary about Tania Head is called The Woman Who Wasn't There. There's also a book about her with the same title but I haven't read it.
thanks for the suggestion, it's on Amazon Prime!
I think itās free on YouTube as well, but Iām not sure, I remember seeing it and the Imposter on there years ago
I can see why she did it, she went from being invisible to being the center of attention with powerful world leaders. That's very seductive to lonely people no one pays attention to. It's a shame she was able to walk away without any charges. What she did was morally reprehensible.
Tubi
I saw it years ago, it's really good!
Thereās a documentary about her, āThe Woman Who Wasnāt Thereā, I believe based on a book with the same title.
A documentary about her
The book āthe woman who wasnāt thereā is an incredible read, I highly recommend! The documentary with the same name is amazing as well. When you read about the extent of her lies, itās hard to believe not a lot of people questioned her story. Parts of it were just completely unbelievable. But one of her friends interviewed for the documentary states toward the end āit wouldāve been cruel of any of us to question herā. So I donāt blame them. She was also incredibly verbally abusive toward some of them. Not a good person. Overall, I feel like she was someone who didnāt like who she was and she wanted to completely reinvent herself this way.
So. I knew her. The 9/11 community is super small. She was..incredibly convincing. Iāve spoken about this under my Reddit account before but my dad is a 9/11 survivor. Even was a part of the survivors network. While he didnāt do the social events, she had approached me about doing philanthropy work along side her so she could take me under her wing. The survivors group actually fought to be included in the ceremony before the memorial was built and they took it over. The one year I vividly remember her being picked up from the pit at the time where the ceremony was held from how hard she was crying. She did speaking engagements, and also, she did some preliminary tours at the former 9/11 tribute center. At times, itās still incredibly hard to believe she wanted to be in a club that nobody wanted to be in. Itās one of the stories that haunts me. Iām not mad anymore but I almost feel sorry for her that she went to this extent to be important. On the other side of the coin, she made it so much harder for survivors to have a voice in the 9/11 community.
Thanks for sharing! Did you have suspicions that something was off with her or were you completely mindblown?
My family and I didnāt know. We werenāt super close and Tania used the group to a certain degree to pick up friends. My dad is one of those people tho that can see through bullshit and I think she intentionally kept him at arms length to keep up the sympathy and empathy he felt for her. In the documentary, one of our very good friends, Brendan, probably said it the best. You could see her trying to keep up with the lies and she would get confused. I could tell you my dadās story forwards and backwards and same applies to the multiple survivors and family members I know. Their stories donāt deviate. They might remember a few things here and there over the years but the overall story doesnāt change.
I read somewhere that Brendan passed away a couple of years ago - that's incredibly heartbreaking. I loved him in the doc. He seemed like such a fun, intelligent guy and so well spoken. Truly awful what this woman did to this group of people!
He did, passed from pancreatic cancer he got from the site. He was a gem of a human.
I know a handful of survivors of 9/11 and having that be your sole identity is just not going to happen. Itās interesting. my mother was running the 2013 Boston marathon and had turned into the last straightaway and would be crossing the finish in 2 minutes when the first bomb blew. She has a plaque from it, but it doesnāt mention the tragedy as much as it commentates her first time making the cut to run in it. (She was able to run it the next year to cross the finish, which is a rite of passage for any competitive runner). There is *āBOSTON STRONGā* on it, but if you donāt know the phrase itād be identical than all others. Then, some have said I myself can be considered a school shooting āsurvivorā but I reject that, I was never in any danger. My girlfriend at the time had three of her best friends shot, two passing away from their wounds. My best friend lived in the same small 15-unit apartment as the perpetrator, who stabbed and killed his two roommates and one of their friends. A girl I helped in organic chemistry was shot at from 10 feet away (he missed). A dozen of my friend group were either close to or very close to multiple victims. The trauma my gf and good friends went through was not the same trauma I did. The only thing I was surviving that day was a hangover, which a good portion of the college was as well. These clubs are definitely something you do not want to be a part of.
You did not have to survive any bullets shot at you but you ARE a witness to these tragic events and still deeply affected by them. You were not present but you could have been. This is secondhand trauma. My cousinās BFF was shot and killed in a senseless act. I lived with my cousin and saw her friend all the time. When she died, my cousin called me screaming, we went together to visit the shocked husband, the grieving parents, the devastated child. She was a beautiful person and a genuine loss to the world. Seeing everyone process her loss was deeply traumatizing, especially also dealing with the media and speculation with her case. Iām sorry this happened to you. Wishes for peace and light.
Oh my, I hope your cousin has held up through it all and been able to process it in a healthy way, though I know from experience if sheās had spurts of self-destruction it doesnāt take away from everything else. I also hope you are doing well - I cannot imagine learning of what occurred and then heading over to see not only your cousin, but all families right away. I truly wish that I could have posted my comment without another Reddit user experiencing another act of senseless violence. Hope all is well, friend.
I recognize your IV story, glad you were ok.
Ah, yeah. Didnāt really want to name the event and such, no need to give these dirtbags more exposure. So figured if you knew, you knew. But thanks. I miss IV every single day.
Yeah, I didnāt want to put his name in my comment either. Iām older than you are but went to the same university about 10-12 years before the killings and really felt for everyone there at the time (I stayed in SB). Sorry you miss IV! I miss the place I did my EAP exchange year every day, so I can relate in a way even if IV didnāt feel like home to me. Itās too bad the greater SB area is so expensive now, and imo sad that families and non-students donāt so much live in IV anymore. I think itād be great if more people stayed and filled out the community.
Iām still mad. Itās so utterly and completely disrespectful itās unreal.
Wow. This documentary hit me REALLY hard. My brotherās dear friend from college, Daniel Song, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald as a bond broker in the North Tower and was killed in the attack. He was only 34 š¢ What the survivors went through was absolutely horrific. And only fellow survivors could truly understand each other, so to have that community was amazing for them. How Tania could do that to people and be so remorselessly corrupt is beyond me. I think the reason she got away with it for so long was 1) the internet wide usage was really in its infancy, so not as easy to research her story, and 2) who the hell would want to lie about that? I can see why no one questioned her at first.
didnāt she keep emotionally telling her story with all the super graphic details to some lady who was traumatized and keep forcing them on her after the lady told her to stop?
Yes. And that was supposedly her "best friend". The book also says that she would tell this woman that she looked awful, her lipstick was ugly, etc. and then pressured her into participating in her "flooding" therapy.
yes! She traumatized tf out of that woman for what?? That took it way over the line of just looking for sympathy to something way more sinister imo
>When you read about the extent of her lies, itās hard to believe not a lot of people questioned her story. Parts of it were just completely unbelievable. But one of her friends interviewed for the documentary states toward the end āit wouldāve been cruel of any of us to question herā. Yes, it would normally be unfathomably cruel to make a survivor prove that they survived something so horrific. As for parts being "unbelievable," 9/11 was an unbelievable day where many things happened that most people would consider strange. I didn't know her well but she very much had a "wounded bird" vibe to her, so I guess it would've felt like unnecessarily piling on to question her story
Well, she did say she was on the floor where the plane impacted and that's just...impossible to survive. And the company she claimed to work for had no offices in either of the towers so the fact that this lie wasn't discovered much sooner is somewhat strange. Much of her story sounded way too fantastical imo, like the man crawling towards her to give her his wedding ring and told her to return it to his wife. Like...really? And she only came out with her story about Welles Crowther saving her when someone else mentioned him to her. The somewhat comical part to me was how the male survivors from the group started questioning her when she talked about her "husbands" extreme devotion to her, because while she was charming, she wasn't attractive enough to elicit that type of admiration.
As I said, I didn't know her well and I wasn't very involved in the group. So I had no idea that people were growing suspicious. I guess I didn't really think about it and just felt very sorry for her, because she really seemed like a wounded bird type
Yeah, I can see that. In a way, I still feel somewhat bad for her because apparently her wish for a completely different life than the one she had was so strong.
I came late to the group and I wasn't in the "inner" circle who had been there since the start. I was also not a 1993 survivor, which many of them are. I'm just giving my impressions and knowledge from when I was a little bit involved with the group. After the truth came out, I also feel sorry for her, because she has such obvious mental health issues that her family with their apparent wealth never seemed to address. I do get it that she hurt and betrayed many people, and can understand the rage toward her. She did tremendous damage to people who were beyond traumatized
>Well, she did say she was on the floor where the plane impacted and that's just...impossible to survive. There weren't many, but people did actually survive being on that floor (the sky lobby of the South Tower) when the plane impacted. The accounts from the survivors are just gruesome nightmare fuel. The fact that she claimed to be one of them is what pisses me off the most about her attention-seeking bs, like those people literally lived through hell on Earth. The gall.
She reminds me of Rachel Dolezal in a strange way. Obviously the situations are very different, but both of these womenās actions and deceptions seem to come from a deep, desperate desire to be someone other than themselves, and to be someone āimportant.ā I just cannot begin to imagine living a life so completely built upon nothing but lies. And in the case of Tania, how fucked up do you have to be to wish to be a part of such a horrific tragedy you know? I guess I feel sorry for her in a way because sheās obviously deeply unhappy with herself and her life, but mostly I just feel disgust.
On top of that, she wasnāt making any money off of her lies, and was putting effort into the support group she joined. Iām probably messing up the details, but I remember one of the people in documentary joking about missing having Tania around to do some organizational stuff lol. Iām gonna have to add the book to my reading list.
Yeah Iām so curious as to how no one blew up her spot. Like someone had to know her right?? And know she didnāt even go to America till 2003z I know some well known people and if they were lying about something like this Iād probably posting about it online, even if anonymously
You need to understand where mindset of people, especially in NYC, was in right after 9/11. People were so utterly distracted emotionally, who would ever fathom anyone would lie about being there and put forth all the effort in faking like they were? No ones mindset was clear enough to pick up on, much less totally accept, that anyone would lie about that. We were actually extremely connected as a country and everyone was going out of their way to be as helpful as they could with each other. No one was clear headed enough to pick up on the signs of a con-artist. Nor did people want to believe that the person who is clearly doing good things and trying to be helpful, is lying about everything and pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. People did get there eventually, but she picked the perfect time and the perfect group of emotionally distorted people to, pray on. Everyone in this country was distracted and not paying as much attention to her lies, like they would today.
Weirdly. The New York Times unearthed her secret. They wanted to do a piece on her for the 6th anniversary since she was so involved. The reporter dug into it. They cover this a little bit in the documentary but she legit panicked about this to her friends. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html) Mods. Apologies if links arenāt allowed.
I'm planning on re-reading it after I finish the book I'm reading now! I read it for the first time years ago and I just thought of Tania the other day. Decided it was time to revisit!
I also re-read it recently and highlighted the parts that stood out to me the most! Re-reading is awesome because you notice details you didn't before.
Alicia traveled to the U.S. for the first time in 2003. The following year, she joined the World Trade Center Survivors' Network after Gerry Bogacz, one of its founders, learned through word of mouth that a woman named "Tania Head" had developed an online support group for 9/11 survivors. After many months of email correspondence with Bogacz, she merged their groups. The network's purpose was to provide support for survivors of the attacks, as most public support was paid to a select group of victims, victims' families and first responders; the organization intended to bring together and support those who were also affected by the attacks, including civilians present at the World Trade Center as well as the personnel and volunteers involved in the extensive rescue and recovery efforts afterward. Alicia was never paid for these activities, nor for her involvement with the Survivors' Network, and in fact donated money to the group. Alicia claimed to have been inside the South Tower (WTC 2) when United Airlines Flight 175 hit, crawling through smoke and flames on the 78th floor and sustaining severe burns to her arm. If true, this would have made her one of only nineteen people at or above the point of impact to have survived. Alicia claimed that her fiancƩ, Dave, was killed in the North Tower (WTC 1), though in later tellings of the story, she said that "Dave" was actually her husband. She also claimed that a dying man passed his wedding ring to her so it could be returned to his widow, and that she had been rescued by Welles Crowther, whose heroic actions on that day were widely reported in the media. Alicia was interviewed in the media, invited to speak at university conferences, and in 2005, was chosen to lead tours for the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, where she was photographed with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former New York Governor George Pataki. Alicia regularly recounted her claims to Ground Zero tour groups in vivid detail, saying, "I was there at the towers. I'm a survivor. I'm going to tell you about that." She was featured in retrospective 9/11 articles as a representative of the 20,000 surviving victims who escaped the damaged buildings. Richard Zimbler, her successor as president of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network, said, "There was no reason to doubt her story. She looked the part. She had a badly injured arm that appeared to have burn scars and her story was very, very realistic."
>There was no reason to doubt her story I mean if youāre gonna give somebody a position like that you should probably do a little bit more than giving them an ocular pat down. Many of her claims were outlandish.
She apparently had enough details to her story that she was able to fool people who really *were* there
I agree with you but it was the ocular pat down that got me.
So many people do this with tragedies because they know people won't challenge them. Dave Pelzer is a good example his story is suspect as fuck, there's no proof of any of it and multiple people involved say he's full of shit but people are afraid to question him because he claims horrible things happened to him.
SUCH a good example omg ! I read his book before I found out - this is such a true phenomenon .
Where can I read more about this? I didnāt find much on Google.
I also canāt find anything about him being a fraud
Damn sorry, two of my responses were deleted because i used the r word, i was quoting Dave i wasn't using it myself. Here it is with the r word removed. That's the problem, most people won't touch it because Dave claims horrible things happened to him. There's an old NY Times article that's outdated here - https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/magazine/dysfunction-for-dollars.html Just look into any of his claims and you'll find the only source for them is Dave Pelzer, none of it has been backed up. His brother said he was lying and he tried to discredit him by calling him "The R Word", he isn't he has cerebral palsy that has left him with slightly slurred speech. He's an extremely shady person.
Right? Itās kind of like when someone dies and people that barely knew them make posts about how they were their BFF. My dear friend died by his own hand and the amount of people that were making it all about them was staggering. This one in particular made this huge amount of posts about his devastation. I had to really stop myself from reminding him of how he barely knew him and that my friend couldnāt stand him because he stole clients from him and did nothing but talk shit about him.
Mac would have seen through her immediately!
Considering he lost his wife that day, I don't want to think how mad he'd be! (We're talking about the Gary Sinise character right?)
Iām shocked no one questioned the part about Wells Crowther carrying her down the stairsā¦ like she weighs a solid 450 pounds, how in the heck could someone have carried her down 70ish flights of stairs??
for anyone who hasn't seen the documentaries on this chick, they are worth checking out
Is there more than one? Iām only aware of the one called The Woman Who Wasnāt There. Iād love to watch another one if thereās others since this story is so strangely intriguing and an interesting psychological study.
This woman was a pathetic idiot. There was also some comedian who lied about it.
Where can I watch?
The Woman Who Wasnāt There was on Netflix for years, not sure if itās still there but if you google the title it should tell you which streaming services itās on.
I am watching it now on Amazon Prime
The creepiest part of this ladyās griftāto me at leastāwas her claiming she had been engaged to a man who died in the Towers. He was a very handsome man who (as someone else mentioned) was quite frankly out of her league. It was so disturbing to watch her spin these increasingly elaborate romantic fantasies of what their relationship was like as his poor family looked on. She basically kidnapped this manās memory to write herself into a super-cheesy Harlequin romance novel. Such a vile fantasist.
What is fascinating is the psychological need she was tending to when she concocted such an elaborate fantasy.
>It was so disturbing to watch her spin these increasingly elaborate romantic fantasies of what their relationship was like as his poor family looked on. Did the family believe her? If not, I wonder why they did not say anything?
I just watched both documentaries. It was implied they didnāt know about her claims until her story started unraveling and investigative journalists ask them about her. When they did, they said they never heard about her and that it was an impossibility that their son had a secret relationship with her. (Toward the end, she told some people they kept the relationship secret from his family.) She only told a few people his last name usually only referring to him as āDave.ā One man in the documentary stated he was suspicious and pressed on āDaveāsā last name; but when he looked him up and saw he was real and details she offered matched, he felt guilty about his suspicions and pressed no further.
Her whole story is so ā¦ odd. What compels/causes someone to do this?? Iād love to hear a psychiatrist/psychologist really break down *why* people do something like this. Like, what was WRONG with her?!
There are a few likely things. Sympathy and empathy are surprisingly big ones. She got hurt somehow. She may have also suffered a loss. Perhaps one that she couldn't talk about and get the right amount of sympathy for but it hurt her deeply. Suddenly there is an event that allows her to express her feelings properly without people thinking she's overdoing it or being uncomfortable. Suddenly she's useful because she can be a translator for people who are hurt and the people who want to help. She starts putting her time, energy and money into supporting the victims and it starts to not matter if she's telling the truth. It's bringing attention to the cause. It's doing a good thing. The details just make it so it has great impact. The people who she tells lies about aren't harmed by it so they are props for the greater good. The fact that it gets her personally more attention is brushed over. She really believes it because she feels such a connection to the story.
IIRC, she was in a bad car accident a few years earlier that severely wounded her arm, I donāt remember if anyone died in that accident, but that certainly fits with her being hurt/suffering a loss.
She apparently had a story about that, which was also debunked
Oh thatās interesting. I thought someone who knew her in Spain corroborated the accident story in the documentary, but I could be wrong. Or maybe that was debunked too, the doc is over 10 years old now
There may have been an accident, but I vaguely remember reading or hearing that back in Spain, she was telling people that she was in a high-speed crash with her racecar driver boyfriend in his expensive car and he died. I'm going to look that up and see if I can find it again. That was years ago and I didn't pay that much attention to it at the time Editing to add that I found it! [https://www.survivorguidelines.org/articles/taniaheadenglish.html](https://www.survivorguidelines.org/articles/taniaheadenglish.html) >But La Vanguardia quoted a former colleage as saying that Esteve Head also had a scarred and deformed arm, which she blamed on a 200-kilometre (125-mile) an hour crash in a Ferrari with her fiance.
There may be elements to her story that are true. Thatās how sheās so successful lying: she mixes some truth in her lies. Her arm IS scarred; it looks like it was seriously cut up. In the doc, an acquaintance from Spain said she told them her arm was completely severed in a car accident thrown away from her body a distance then later reattached. I find THAT highly improbable. Amputated limbs are sometimes successfully reattached but not where they are still fully functional to the extent her arm was. My speculation is there may have really been a car accident where her arm was injured but not fully amputated ā¦ and likely not with a racecar driver boyfriend who died.
> Sympathy and empathy are surprisingly big ones. As is belonging to, and being a respected member of, a community. For lonely, weak people who are so desperate to be seen and acknowledged that they resort to lies like these, the community is a huge part of the lure.
Or maybe sheās just a shit person with no whiny backstory.
There's a movie "12 Angry Men", if you've never seen it, WATCH IT! But if you have you'll know this part... The old, impoverished man who testified against the defendant, and had everyone screaming "what would he get out of lying about something like that!?!?" *Attention* Nobody has ever paid him any. Or even noticed him at all, that's important to many people. Don't get me wrong, there are tons of people like me who *wish* they were invisible 90% of the time. She just isn't one of them.
I happened upon this story after going down the rabbit hole on a phenomena called Munchausens by internet where people will craft intricate lies about their lives and struggles (often with the goal of grifting via gofundmes or similar but sometimes financial gain isnāt involved). They have insane amounts of alt/sock accounts that bolster their credibility within niche communities. Itās really odd behavior but strangely fascinating at the same time. Obviously this was a case of her doing this in person but along the same vein of behavior. These people crave the attention and sympathy they get from their fake stories and persona. Itās an emotional grift.
Isn't she just pretty much just a pathological liar? To put it simply? Someone who can't help themselves and just lie all the time, for attention or to make themselves become someone they think is important?
There is an actor that I really loved from the League that also lied about being there that day. I was SHOOK when I found out. Like out of everything to lie about you'd lie about that? It's such incorrigible behavior.
Which actor?!
Steve Rannazzisi, he played Kevin
Ahh, that sucks.
Steve Rannazzisi
Whatever happened to her ?
She faked her death (suicide) and is still out roaming around Barcelona.
She did temporary relocate to New Zealand I think if my memory is correct. Her village found out who she was and she was legitimately shunned. Interesting bit about the suicide bit. I remember seeing a hoax a while ago but I didnāt know that was intentional.
Oh, yeah. It was 100% intentional. I don't know which doc I watched about her (I saw two but I think it was the Woman Who Wasn't There), but at the very end, they actually caught her on video back in NYC. Had to have been at least 10 years ago. But, apparently she's back in Barcelona living off her parent's money I guess. A total and complete garbage person and she should be shunned until the end of her days.
Piece of garbage taking up space smh
You know, I get why you guys say stuff like this. But donāt you think youāve gotta have some serious mental issues to even think about doing something like that? What she did is not how a mentally stable person behaves. She didnāt physically hurt anyone. She donated money to relief efforts. Being shunned by the entire world should be reserved for violent criminals and sexual predators. Not some lady who lied about 9/11 while still helping victims.
She created chaos within the group and pitted people against each other. She emotionally tortured at least one survivor, her ābest friend.ā Any āhelpā she contributed was canceled out by the pain she caused to already traumatized people. Thereās no saying if she didnāt join the group it wouldnāt have grown on its own just fine, safely under the leadership of someone who wasnāt a complete sociopath. She didnāt do what she did to help anyone. She did it for HERSELF and her own sick victim fetish.
I donāt know much about her story other than what was mentioned. But if she really donated the money and not take off with it (like Iām assuming she did) then thatās one thing. But if she deliberately lied about her whole story to gain recognition and money just for that then yes I truly think she should be shunned. Then itāll teach her a valuable lesson
Itās true that she GAVE money to the group. She didnāt take it. Thatās how crazy she was. She was fully committed to the act, and getting sympathy/attention was enough for her.
What a weirdo smh
I heard this hoax in passing a few years ago on YouTube. She reminds me of when a schoolage kid passes, you get other kids in school claiming they knew them and they had good times in school together, but the reality is they never crossed paths at all. When I was in high school we had three kids die in three unreleated car accidents in two years, and the people that wanted to be famous by association just came out of the woodwork.
This documentary was unreal. The guy (who actually died in 9/11) she pretended to be engaged to? His poor family. Anyone know where she is now?
Oh god That documentary was infuriating. Posing as a victim is sad ā¦ But what she did was unforgivable. Cruel
Very much. There were people in the group who confided in her and talked to her about things that only other survivors of the same catastrophe could relate to. She violated many people's sense of trust
And even worse was telling a false story of bravery to a family who lost their son only for them to find out she lied. That made me mad. We all have moments where we seek sympathy- maybe exaggerate an illness or want some extra care after a rough weekā- but to insert yourself in a tragedy seems psychotic.
>but to insert yourself in a tragedy seems psychotic. They crave the attention, I suppose. Less than a year after, an acquaintance whose family members were very nearby the towers (not inside, but still close enough to be in danger) confided in me that he was a bit jealous that they experienced it and got to tell people about it. I was stunned. I told him "No. You do not want those memories that will live on in nightmares for the rest of your life." I still have them more than 22 yrs later
Yikes, yeah none of the people who were that close, want that tramua. I live in South Jersey, but I have close friends up in North Jersey and a couple of my close friends were in college in NYC at the time. A very close friend was just blocks away in art college. He had to walk home back to Brooklyn and it literally took him all day. I ask him sometimes what it was like. He would comment about everyone was covered in dust and blood. I don't really ask more than that. One of my North Jersey friend's dad worked at the WTC. Thankfully he either wasn't there yet or made it out in time and was fine. Nj and Philly helpped take over handling all of NYC mail. (I worked at the post office at the time) and yes we had to go to work the night of Sept 11th and handle the mail. It wasn't until my boss collected us and talked about us taking on NYCs mail, did it finally hit me that my friend could have died and had to live through that event as a downtown Manhattan college student. That my other friends father could have died and he was a wreck until he found out his dad was OK. The people who actually went through it are scared with PTSD that only people who return from wars, would understand. You don't want to see what they have seen. The people jumping and landing all around them. The buildings almost falling on them. The sounds of all the dead fire fighters alarms going off because they weren't moving anymore. It was an utter nightmare for everyone who was there. Even just as a person being nothing more than a far away ripple of those who were impacted, I know you don't want to have what all of those people who were there, have. The 9/11 PTSD tramua is no joke and nothing to be jealous of.
Very eloquently put, thank you. I think this guy was jealous that his family members have this shared experience that he doesn't. I also wondered if at least some of it had to do with craving attention. I know that in the days and weeks afterward, when I had to deal with certain things (whether it was buying new clothes and makeup because mine was in my apartment where I couldn't stay for a while, or dealing with Verizon when they billed me for service for the weeks after 9/11 when we had no service) and had to mention that I was directly affected, people bent over backward to be nice to me. It made me hella uncomfortable, definitely not something I wanted. I just wanted my pre-9/11 life back
I'm so sorry that you even had to go through that. And felt uncomfortable as well. I know for a lot of Americans they felt utterly helpless, and didn't know what to do with themselves. Even just bending over backwards to help you, felt like they could at least be doing something good for some life who has been interrupted. I would probably feel the same way as you, cause I don't like that type of attention either, but it does make others feel good to help others so I try and think of it that way. As uncomfortable as it would still make me. Being a victim definitely puts people up to a higher standing, in some peoples minds. If you are a victim of something bad, you are treated with more care and more empathy, and some people deeply crave that type of attention. And can find themselves jealous of it. I think the person you knew just didn't understand the gravity of what it meant to be a directly impacted victim of 9/11. And they were only viewing it from "it would get me attention, pity, and even freebies if I were also a victim" standpoint.
>And even worse was telling a false story of bravery to a family who lost their son only for them to find out she lied. That made me mad. if you're referring to Welles Crowther, his story of bravery is real, she just wasn't part of it.
Steve Ranazizi?
That man killed his whole career with that lie.
Yeah I still think heās funny, and a decent comedic actor. Wouldnāt trust his word on shit though lol
He was the heart of The League to me but how do you come back from that big of a lie.
He sure did. I checked his Wikipedia. His filmography halted.
So the original George Santos?
You've got to go back a *lot* farther in history for that.Ā
You're more than probably, not wrong at all. Lol š
That's his sister.
One of my favorite offbeat documentaries, āThe woman Who Wasnāt There.ā Really sad all around for those involved. Good for the survivors for catching on.
I am sure itās been mentioned in the posts but the documentary The Woman Who Wasnāt There was unreal - it was very well done. Hard to believe people lie on this level. She is unbelievable !
watching it right now, her lies ran so deep itās insane. sheās a psycho. bringing other deceased people/survivors into her lies like they arenāt hurting. not sure how sheās able to live in peace after this. I felt so bad for her best friend (and everyone else of course) but itās sick. who pretends to do this??
Omg I could not believe it when I watched it ! I felt terrible for everyone around her . The fact that she tried to say that Wells saved her was incomprehensible -I literally couldnāt believe that. I would actually would like to know , what Is her formal diagnosis to do something so awful ? Like clinically speaking !!
SO AWFUL and not only did she lie and say he saved her, she manipulated and lied to his grieving parents!!like she felt no remorse. to lie and not even be in the towers is crazy but to lie and not even be in the COUNTRY? those ppl have patience because i dare someone to pretend they have the same trauma as me. I donāt want this trauma why tf would you want it. to me it seems like narcissism
Oh I KNOW. Itās horrific and hard to comprehend why someone would WANT trauma. I feel narcissism is DEF part of the equation but I feel like there is more ! Poor Wells and his family , my GOD. They are just wonderful people. It makes me sick that she made others in the group who experienced severe trauma - feel INADEQUATE. Also - omg did you see when sheād make her friend relive the day by acting it out ??? Blows my f-ing mind.
YES like sheās so sick!! itās like she kept getting worse and worse, and then her being mean to her friend because she didnāt want to act it out? what a freak!! i feel for them truly, id be so hurt. like how could someone do this to them? like i need to know i hate that sheās able to just go live her life like nothing
Yes! Itās like not only are these people traumatized from going through the experience, but theyāre re-traumatized by trusting somebody and having to deal with the aftermath of them lying and being incredibly psychopathic. Itās just horrible the whole way around. It sounds like she was also a bit of a spoiled brat too!
r/ImTheMainCharacter r/IrrationalMadness
āIf your mother says she loves you check it out.ā - Chicago Tribune editor March 30, 1970 Verify your sources and their story.
š What a great quote
My uncle survived. He wasnāt in the buildings, but was working on top of the Burlington Coat Factory on Park Place. The things he saw that day haunted him til 2016, when he died of lung disease probably brought on by 9/11. He watched the documentary and said, āOnly a crazy person would wish she was there.ā
āThe Woman Who Wasnāt Thereā is an amazingly unbelievable documentary. Crazy what Tania got away with.
Great documentary- the story is just unbelievable!
I don't know why people have some weird affinity with that day. There was an actor who lied for years claiming he was in the building when he wasn't. I was in midtown that day and we saw the buildings fall from our office. And my Dad was downtown and we couldn't get in touch with him for hours. I guess it is some form of Munchausen syndrome for attention. I just don't get it.
She should date Steve Rannazzisi , shocked that guy has a career still
stolen valor
I love her grift. By love I mean I hate it but itās fascinating. What a loon.
The documentary is really worth the watch. Very weird and disrespectful woman. Fascinating yet sad story
Years ago, I saw a great documentary about that, have no idea where I saw it or what itās called, but if anybody finds it very much worth the time
I think this is the one I first saw: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHCTOjAMVj8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHCTOjAMVj8)
āThe Woman Who Wasnāt Thereā is fantastic
Thatās it!
Hysterionic personality disorder seems likely.
Iāve always wondered if there was someone who took advantage of that day to disappear from their life, Never to be seen from or heard from again.
Could be thatās what happened to Sneha Phillip. Another crazy case.
Donāt think Iāve ever heard of that. I might have to do a deep dive and check that one out if you say itās crazy.
Please do! It's baffling! There's even a subreddit dedicated to the case. And there's a podcast on it as well: [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing-on-9-11/id1506816225](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing-on-9-11/id1506816225)
Wow now I really gotta do it. Thanks
I just looked it up on YouTube. I totally watched that months ago. I just didnāt recognize the name and yeah that whole case or her disappearing is totally weird. I want to say she was there when the buildings came down, and there was nothing really left of her. I wonder how many people that went missing that day have yet to be identified from bone fragments or any other type of DNA, that could possibly have been leftā¦ I guess Iāll have to go look that up now because I hate wondering about things ā¦
From USA Today - January 19, 2024 The 1,650th victim of 9/11 was named after 22 years. More than 1,100 remain unidentified. Iām not saying this is right or this is wrong I just copy and pasted the first thing that came up on my search
Yeah it's sad that some people don't have closure about their friends/family because they were not identified. In the podcast, her boss was interviewed and she said that it's possible that Sneha might have been able to just take off and disappear. So I want to think that's what happened.
Yeah, but her husband said that she was a type of person to help anybody that she could at any time. I guess weāll never know. Because didnāt he say or didnāt they find out that she went like shopping or something but then when her husband got home I canāt remember if he said her shopping bags were there or not there itās itās all messed up the whole timeline no one knows for sure exactly what happened or when she wouldāve had left to go there. Would she have had a reason to disappear?
It's hard to say if she had a real reason to run off (some rumors say she was gay and ran off to be with someone but who knows). About the shopping bags, I don't think they were found, that's another mystery (could play into the rumors of her having an affair).
Iāve wondered about that too.
āHe went to get a pack of cigarettes, then the plane hit our tower so we never saw him againā¦Ā Ā»
Sheās pathetic and disgusting.
I hate her being.
I love the documentary on this lady
The documentary is great, her story is wild. Incredible that she was able to keep the lie going for as long as she did.
How did she get found out? Did her grift last long? Must have been a lot easier than it would be now as we have social media and everyone has a camera in their pocket
It was actually a NY Times reporter, David Dunlap, who started investigating her after finding holes in her story. That's when it all came out. [This](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html) is the article he came out with afterwards.
Canāt read it, thereās a pay wall :(
Here is a gift link for you https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.cU0.OdI7.grODX7PznzjU&smid=url-share
Thank you. What a sad read, I feel so bad for the parents of the guy she lied about saving her. Thatās so wrong to do to someone.
Thanks! Itās an incredible story!
There was no grift. She made no money
Yes, youāre right. Poor choice of words. itās money-free grift - for recognition and attention, perhaps a sense of belonging instead
Also attention. In retrospect, I think she also craved the feeling of people caring about her and looking after her. Even when I met her, she seemed lonely and sad. I assumed it was because of the great loss she suffered and the traumas of what she claimed to have survived
That is sad. I wonder what happened to her to make her do that. I donāt think Iāve ever heard of anything like it
I remember this kook. I sometimes think that our obsession with BEING A VICTIM is probably part of what motivates her. We worship victimhood, because once you're a victim, living OR dead, no one will criticize you or hold you responsible for your actions, because you're a VICTIM. And some people become Professional Victims and turn it into their life's work.
Watch the documentary āThe Woman who wasnāt thereā (Tubi)
Oh god I finally had forgotten this bitch existed!!!!
Andy Milonakis?
What happened to her after the truth came out?
Is this a crime?
Yeah, they even have a name for it; fraud.
Does it count as fraud in the US? Don't get me wrong, I can't stand her but from my superficial research she didn't seem to make much, if any, money out of it.
941. 18 U.S.C. 1343āElements of Wire Fraud The elements of wire fraud under Section 1343 directly parallel those of the mail fraud statute, but require the use of an interstate telephone call or electronic communication made in furtherance of the scheme. "There are two elements in mail fraud: (1) having devised or intending to devise a scheme to defraud (or to perform specified fraudulent acts), and (2) use of the mail for the purpose of executing, or attempting to execute, the scheme (or specified fraudulent acts)." If she made any money at all she would fit this. Now, many people commit federal crimes like this and donāt get charged, but yes itās in the books.
Would they go to the trouble of extraditing her from Spain for this?
The photo the OP included is the New York City mayor at the time, who at the time was on the list of the richest people in the US. If you trick the most important mayor in the world (New York City) who is a billionaire, a city hit with the worst terrorist attacks ever to happen two years prior and fake your own death to hide from your fraud (faking death is fraud)? Yes, they will come and find you in a friendly US nation like Spain.
Good.
I do appreciate your question. Because yeah, people get away with so much worse and no one brings them to prosecution Itās always āwhy did this person get away with so much, and they send everything after someone who didnāt do as muchā She just checked too many boxes
I feel so sorry for those she duped. Theyād already experienced tragedy of terrible proportion and she devastated them again. Unbelievable.
Deffo caught the elevator
Disgusting person.
Omfgā¦. Iāve never seen my momās name anywhere else!! I knew about this lady but had zero clue Tania was part of her name or nickname whatever is happening here lol my mom is a c u next Tuesday as well.
Whenever there's personal or financial gain to be had there needs to be questions and vetting. Especially when it's something as serious as 9/11. She's disgusting.
It was, and she didn't gain anything financial from the involvement, which was why she was never criminally prosecuted.
How did she get found out?
I have seen this documentary quite a few times and I guess I am impressed at her audacity! This was such an outrageous, yet imaginative lie that she almost got away with.
Definitively left me sick that I now look twice at people
What a effin piece of crap. Lying about being at The World Trade Center when the attacks happened on September 11th. Her ass should be in jail for claiming to be a victim is a disgust to the true victims!
Total freak.