The Man Who Tried Climbing Down on 9/11…

Top5s

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, as thousands desperately tried to escape the World Trade Center, one man made an impossible decision.  Trapped high inside the North Tower, with the normal routes of escape gone, he climbed through a window on the 94th floor… and began climbing down the outside of the building… To this day, nobody has been able to definitively identify him.   Nobody knows exactly what happened during his final moments. And although one name has repeatedly been connected to the photographs, there is a problem with that theory that has never been satisfactorily explained.  This is the extraordinary and largely forgotten story of the man who tried to climb down the World Trade Center on 9/11…   🎧 Check out the "Hit The Lights" Podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Google and everywhere else you get your podcasts!   🎧 Podcast Links: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6anlNMUERfwC7S0665z3wy Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-hit-the-lights-podcast/id1503579405 Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS84MTIwMzkucnNz  Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/b9116ded-48d9-4f42-ab95-1a74d32c0c89/the-hit-the-lights-podcast   To submit any creepy personal stories or send in videos/photographs you may have caught over the years and can't explain, please email 👉 mystory@top5s.co.uk  Our other channels 👇  🦖 DinosaurDiscovery: DINOSAURS   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzNwK_O14PRYEm5LBiiOAgw   AccessAstronomy: SPACE & ASTRONOMY https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpbMdDya7ubh013QGe0JqHA/featured  🔎 ColdCaseDetective: TRUE CRIME https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdjslyNQupPSFxK_mSPcG-g?   WarsofTheWorld: MILITARY HISTORY https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB29sxIJ9PQIo0hCnIaOMbg  👽 DestinationDeclassified: ALIENS & UFOs https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfxuwHJ4cQHgf1ez7662_fQ  ⚔️ MedievalMadness: MEDIEVAL HISTORY https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWoMpx18YeSVuI7ObqEk8eg   Thanks for watching.   DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement is intended. If you are, or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, PLEASE email us before putting in a claim and we can resolve the issue immediately. We can be reach on this email: info@top5s.co.uk  Copyright © 2026 Top5s All rights reserved.

Transcript

00:01Just a quick mention before we get into this video, I will not be showing videos of anyone

00:05jumping from the towers. As with all 9-11 content, viewer discretion is strongly advised.

00:11This is real. This all happened. And this should not be forgotten.

00:16On the morning of September 11th 2001, as thousands desperately tried to escape the

00:21World Trade Center, one man made an impossible decision. Trapped high inside the North Tower,

00:27with the normal routes of escape gone, he climbed through a window on the 94th floor and began

00:32climbing down the outside of the building. To this day, nobody has been able to definitively

00:38identify him. Nobody knows exactly what happened during his final moments. And although one name

00:44has repeatedly been connected to the photographs and short video, there is a problem with that

00:48theory that has never been explained. This is the extraordinary and largely forgotten story

00:54of the man who tried to climb down the World Trade Center on 9-11.

01:00At 8.46, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. The impact was catastrophic,

01:07ripping through multiple floors and sending a shockwave through the surrounding area.

01:1270 minutes later, at 9.03 am, United Airlines Flight 175 followed a similar path of devastation,

01:19crashing into the South Tower. Inside the towers, individuals were engulfed in smoke and flames.

01:26Officers were reduced to ruins, and glass and debris cascaded from the buildings, littering

01:30the streets below. As the disaster unfolded, the occupants of the towers were faced with an

01:36urgent and terrifying choice. To stay and hope for rescue, or to head down the stairwells.

01:42However, those above the impact zones where the planes hit did not get this option. In both towers,

01:48the stairwells were pretty much completely severed. There was only a partial passage left in the South

01:53Tower, and only four people managed to escape from above the impact zone. Not a single person survived

01:59from above the impact zone in the North Tower. As the fire raged upwards, as well as the smoke,

02:05people were getting desperate. It would be only five minutes from the first plane hitting to the

02:09first documented jumper. As more and more people fell, or jumped, a person from the South Tower

02:15actually landed on a firefighter, Daniel Scherr, who was the first responder killed that day.

02:21Now, the circumstances surrounding each fall are not always clear, but I will not refer to these as

02:27acts of suicide. These were desperate individuals with no other option. They did not go to work,

02:32meetings, or have breakfast in those towers that morning with the intention of ending their lives.

02:36Each fall represents a tragic attempt to escape certain death. Among the photographs and videos

02:42that capture this aspect of the attacks is the image referred to as the Falling Man,

02:46taken by photographer Richard Drew. This image shows a single person falling headfirst from the North

02:52Tower. The identity of the individual has never been definitively identified, but it's widely

02:58believed to be Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old sound engineer who worked at the Windows on the World,

03:03on the 106th floor of the North Tower. We've covered his story in a previous video. But there is another

03:09lesser-known image and short video clip that emerged from that tragic day, which has become known as

03:14the Climbing Man. And ever since I read about this, I've never been able to forget it.

03:20There is only very brief video footage of the Climbing Man and a handful of photographs. On the

03:25west face of the North Tower, an individual emerged from a window on the 94th floor,

03:30positioned between columns 433 and 434. He was clinging to the exterior of the building. He had made the

03:38brave decision to descend the outside of the skyscraper. The man began his climb at approximately 9.35am,

03:45almost an hour into the attack on the towers. The thought going through this man's mind is hard

03:50to comprehend, and this would have been his view for the majority of his descent. Instead of simply

03:57hanging from the outside, he appears to have used the narrow channels created by the tower as exterior

04:02columns, frames and damaged panels. Some observers likened his technique to chimneying and rock climbing.

04:09In chimneying, a rock climber wedges their body between opposing surfaces, using pressure from

04:14their hands, feet, back and legs to support their weight. The photographs suggest that the man adopted

04:20a similar body position, although they do not provide enough detail to determine exactly how he

04:24supported himself. The recessed areas of the tower may have served as places for him to brace himself,

04:30although it's impossible to determine which surfaces he actually used based solely on the images and

04:35short video. Nevertheless, his extraordinary will to survive propelled him forward as he navigated

04:41nearly 10 floors, making an astonishing descent of approximately 150 feet. Witnesses believe at

04:48that one point, he was agonizingly close to a broken window located on floor 85. If he had been

04:54able to reach it, he may have been able to crawl through and access the stairwell below the impact zone.

05:00Now, I've heard people say that floor 85 was a maintenance floor and access down would have been

05:05locked, but that isn't true. Floor 85 was an actual office floor, so it's probable that he would have

05:10been able to descend. However, the window may have been on the next column over, so he may never have

05:15seen it, or have been able to shimmy around the column to get to it. As he continued his descent,

05:21observers and photographers on the ground began to take notice of him. His last known position was on

05:26floor 86, near the access to floor 85. Not long after this, the South Tower fell, the tower next to

05:32him, and he

05:33disappeared from view. It's assumed the impact of the South Tower's collapse made him lose his grip.

05:39Now, he was descending at an average rate of 0.65 floors per minute, so he could have reached

05:44approximately floor 82 or 81 by the time the South Tower collapsed. However, it would have been impossible for

05:51him to reach the ground floor by 10.28 when the North Tower collapsed. According to experts, if travelling at

05:580.65 floors per minute, he would have only had 34 minutes to reach ground level after his last sighting.

06:05At that speed, he would have reached the 64th floor. After both towers collapsed and the public grappled with the

06:12stark reality of the attacks, the questions loomed over the man in the photographs and short video.

06:18Who was he? Now, this is where the story becomes uncertain. Unfortunately, after extensive research,

06:25there are no confirmed records or accounts that reveal who he was or what happened to him after

06:30he disappeared from view. But there is one name frequently associated with the story. Frank Bennett Reisman.

06:37Reisman was a 41-year-old trader who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the North Tower.

06:44Tragically, he was one of the many individuals who lost their lives during the attacks.

06:49However, it is known that he survived the initial impact as he called his wife, who was out jogging at

06:53the time, and also reached out to his mother, telling her, I'll be fine, don't panic mum, I love you.

07:00In the aftermath of 9-11, various researchers and analysts have speculated online that Reisman may have

07:06been the unidentified man, seen trying to escape from the burning building.

07:11This speculation is largely based on Reisman's background, particularly his reported interest

07:16in rock climbing. Before starting a family, Reisman was an avid mountain climber, and his passion for

07:22the outdoors led him to undertake winter mountaineer expeditions in the Adirondack Mountains.

07:27Additionally, after graduating from college, he challenged himself further by hiking the entire

07:32Appalachian Trail alone, a gruelling journey that stretched from Maine down into Pennsylvania.

07:38The skills he gained as a young man would have given him the skills and mindset to attempt the

07:42climb from the tower. At first glance, it seems reasonable to suggest that the climber could have

07:47been Reisman. However, like I said, he worked on the 104th floor, while evidence indicates that the

07:53unidentified climber began his descent from floor 94. Floor 94 was occupied by Marsha McLennan and not

08:00Cantor Fitzgerald. Now we have no idea what happened inside those towers, and he could have just taken

08:05the stairs down to the 94th floor. But the inconsistency raises serious doubts about the

08:10connection between Reisman and the climber depicted. Although it's not entirely impossible, the available

08:16evidence does not provide the necessary confirmation, which means this story cannot be definitively concluded.

08:23Now we're in contact with some sources, as we would love to be able to find the identity of this

08:27individual. If we find out any new information, we'd be sure to share it. However, what remains

08:32unmistakable amidst all the uncertainty is simpler and perhaps more profound. At a time when the North

08:38Tower had become an inescapable death trap, one brave man took an extraordinary risk to escape by

08:44climbing down its exterior. He must have known that remaining there was no longer an option.

08:50For several minutes, many onlookers bore witness to his courageous struggle,

08:54as he inched his way down the burning building over a thousand feet up into the air. A testament to

09:00the

09:00incredible human spirit. We will never know if he would have made it to the ground, because like

09:06thousands of others caught in the attacks that day, his story was abruptly cut short before we could

09:10learn how it ended. There is an extremely small chance that the man climbed through a window below the

09:16impact zone and made it out, but since no one has come forward, this is unlikely. For those brief moments,

09:23he was not just a photograph or a short video clip, a mystery or an unidentified name. He was simply

09:29a

09:29human being trying to survive. Perhaps this is why his and all the 9-11 victims' final moments are so

09:36difficult to forget. My heart truly goes out to all of those involved in this tragic day.

09:42Thank you for watching, stay safe, and I'll see you next time.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended