September 11, 2025 • 39 mins
This week, Georgia covers the heroic passengers of United Flight 93 on September 11th.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder. That's Georgia Hartstark.
That's Karen Kilgariff, And we're just here to.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Tell you a couple things before we go dish, like
four four things, and then we're gonna go back on tour. Yeah,
we'll just go back to the hotel.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Rooms constantly for the rest of our lives wherever and
eat chicken strips and caesar salads.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I mean caesar salad. You're being good.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Oh, I don't eat it. I just order it.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Oh, I see it.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Vince eats it.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
He gets that rough as he does.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
He's so good at it. And I'm just like a child,
fucking I just ate a fucking uncrustable like I don't.
I eat like a toddler.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I had my first uncrestable in the Denver dressing room.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Georgia came up and was holding on crustables, like would
you like some of these?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Because I asked for them in the dressing room, because
like the perfect snack. Yeah, and they gave me like
twelve of them, so I was like, I'm gonna share
the Well, everyone gets it. Uncrustable.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's so funny. They asked what I wanted in my
dressing room, and I'm like, I don't know, and I
said mozz of relisticks, but I meant string cheese and
it's the same as it. Everyone kind of pauses, like, Okay,
I guess we'll get you hot mazza Relai sticks impossibly.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, string cheese is a good idea. Yeah, it's such
a weird part of it that you're like, I don't
want do people fucking want green rooms. I've never coked,
I don't know cocaine, always coke, cocaine.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Cocaine and Edamammy. I asked for ed a mommy as well.
I was trying to do protein things. But again it's
absolutely performative. Yeah, right, for exactly, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
But well we're back, except we're not because when this
comes out or in Austin, Yes, that's right, night two
in Austin, that's right, which I'm very excited about. I
think I'm gonna work out boots to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, local jokes, get local work. Yeah, in the best way,
in the best way. Give them what they want is
what I meant for that one.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Thank you everyone who came to Denver. That was like
such a fucking amazing time. It was.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I mean I would have to say, to go back
on stage after six years, it was perfection.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It was great. We forgot how to do it. They
didn't care. They were so supportive.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
They were really right there with us as we didn't
know our lines in our own show.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It was so much fun. I hope you guys are
coming to the live shows coming up. Yeah, I think
they're going to be fucking fun.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I mean, first of all, I would just say Denver
was the loudest audience I've ever heard. Both nights. Yeah,
but that first night was nuts, like dumb nuts.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And there was a Katie dressed as a hot dog
front and sentence.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I mean, there's just a lot of a lot of
great stuff. Mary drove from South Dakota. There was just
a positivity, people repping from all over this great land.
We were in our own little fantasy worlds in that theater.
It was really great.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Us and and crustables.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, we were you giving me a signal to put
my hair.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I was texting my own hair. When we were in
done for I went to an vintage store and I
bought this shirt that this blouse, what was it called
gold mine, gold mine, thank you, oh my god. And
I steamed it and it smells vintage now, yes, and
you know how that happened Siggs cigarettes and mothalls. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, I have a thing that's very has nothing to
do with anything, okay except for that. Just it was
very touching to me. So there was the like the
Technical Emmys. But there is an actor who I've always
been a huge fan of and I actually kind of
became you know, fake Twitter friends with for a little while.
His name Sean Hattisey, and he has been working since
(03:51):
I think he's in his early twenties. He's been in
a million things. He used to be on a show
called Southland but now he's on the Pit and he
won for Best Supporting Actor.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So I have always loved him, of course. And somewhere
in the Twitter world he did something like he posted
a picture. He's like, what is this outside of and
it was like a bunch of bikes that had goofy
shit all over them and people were just guessing and
I guessed yoga studio in Santa Monica or something like that,
and he wrote back, I expected better from you, Karen.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And then I was like, wait, what the fuck. Then
I would post a joke and he would be there
baking jokes back, and so it was almost like we
were already friends. Like I went to high school Shawn Hatessey,
where I was just like my friend Mollie, who I
was also a Twitter friends, which she was like, what
the fuck's going on? I'm like, I truly don't know,
but just everybody at calm and pretend like whatever. He's
(04:45):
just a funny guy, but he's also just like one
of those working actor people that like everybody loves and
is so good and everything he does. And when I
posted a thing when my mom died, he DMed me
and sent me the loveliest message of like whatever. So
I just wanted to say, because now Twitter's gone, right,
I'm over on TikTok, on my TikTok island on your
(05:07):
own with no connections to anything, and I'm just fucking
basically a weird lurker. I don't get to write my
jokes or do my fun stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, they really ruined that for me.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
They ruined everything.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
One hundred and forty characters.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Congratulations to Sean Hattisey.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
That's amazing. I have an update or a thing that
is that has nothing to do with this except it's
true crime.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Oh maybe we do more stuff like that on our
true crime podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I guess so. In July of twenty twenty four, I
did on episode four thirty six called You, Me and
American Geography. I covered Buford Pusser, who was the walking
tall guy yes, and about how they got ambush his
wife was killed by the people who were like going
(05:50):
after him, and how he became this hero. Well, it
looks like he killed his wife. Oh no, yep, spoiler alert.
They think he did it.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, like all the lore around that man is false.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yep, and they think he killed her. They like looked
at the evidence again. The wife's name was Pauline. It
was said that she was shot in the car while
writing with him, but new evidence shows she may have
been shot outside the car, and Buford had been shot
in the face, which was like a huge He survived,
you know, but it's like, oh, that looks like a
self inflicted gunman.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Now, now do we know for a factor? Is this
just is like we think and we're getting close to
the answer.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I think they're pretty set on it. He's dead, you know,
long dead. So it's like nothing could be done, but
there's like the new evidence is pretty damning. Yeah, I guess.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Also it's the kind of thing where and will the
new evidence even matter? Because oftentimes when like lore happens
like that, it's just set and people kind of never
change their mind.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I mean it's almost like, yeah, like cold cases that
are just so fascinating, it's like, oh fuck, man, you
find out new shit all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That's a real twist.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I know, I know, I know. Should we do some highlights?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Okay, we have a podcast network. It's called Exactly Right Media.
Here are some highlights.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
We've got a new Buried Bones episode this week called
Blood on the Cobblestones, Part one. Kate and Paul head
to Boston nineteen sixty two, where a series of women
are found strangled and this story is just beginning.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Oh wow. Speaking of Buried Bones, Kate and Paul are
going on vacation and they're taking you with them. That's right.
Buried Bones is setting sail this October as part of
Virgin Voyage's first ever true crime cruse.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Can you imagine?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I cannot imagine.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Do you think that ID channel will just zap out?
Because everyone will be on it at eleven thirty like buffet,
dance party whatever. Then you need those forensic files.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Oh my god, that sounds amazing. They're stopping in the
Dominican Republic and Vimini and Bahamas and there'll be a
live taping of Buried Bones and a meet and greet
with Kate and Paul. So make sure you check that
out if that's your thing. At virgin voyages dot com
slash true.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Crime, I mean that's going to be really fun. Yeah,
also amazing places to go.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Then over on I Said No Gifts, Bridger is joined
by some hilarious guests, Lauren Lapkis, Tarren Killem, and Vinnie Thomas,
my very favorite. If you haven't followed Vinnie Thomas on
either Instagram or TikTok, he is one of the funniest
people out there. He was just on I Said No
Gifts individually anyway, They're live in Los Angeles and the
topics include deodorant application and OJ Simpson pog and the
(08:23):
Capitol One Cafe.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And then over on our newest podcast, Trust Me, Lola
and Meghan are joined by journalist Jane Borden. Oh my god,
good friend of the podcast, friend of the pod author
of the book Cults Like Us that I've mentioned here before.
It's so freaking good. She talks about how cult thinking
is baked into American life, from doomsday myths to self
help empires, and why we're all more susceptible than we think.
(08:46):
Fascinating stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, that's very cool. And also, finally, over on That's
Messed Up, Karen Lisa covered the SVU episode Dare, which
is the tragic story of actress Isabella Grasso, and discuss
the gruesome case of doctor Michael Mastro Marino. Oh, just
flipping around on Deep Cable last night. You want to
see what I saw?
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
This commercial right here? My god, it's Nicole right Hi.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's Nicole from the merch Department. I've just returned from
a very dangerous excavation. We found artifacts ancient, powerful, possibly cursed.
It's the og Stay sext dug up from the year
twenty seventeen, designed by Katzlan, preserved by time, now reissued
in a unisex fit. Some say these belong in a museum.
(09:31):
We say they belong on your body. Available now at
exactly rightstore dot com. Get yours before they go extinct.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Nicole, What a treasure.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Another great ad from Nicole, Such a treasure. And she's
actually at all our live shows. If you're a huge
Nicole head, then you got to come to the live
shows because she sells the merch.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Right, she's at our merchbooth. Fucking taken over. Yep, all right,
Well I'm solo today. Yes, it's your day, it's my day.
It's also nine to eleven when this comes out.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Never forget.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
In the spirit of not forgetting, I'm going to tell
you a story that happened exactly twenty four years ago.
On September eleventh, two thousand and one. As you know, Karen,
four hijacked airplanes were used to conduct the deadliest attack
on American soil. And what boggles aren't my mind is
that there are people who listen to this podcast who
weren't even born yet. Yeah, and who are adults. It's
(10:30):
fucking crazy, I know, like the trauma that we collectivey
still have from it from that day and people hadn't
been born yet. I can't even imagine.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
The weirdest thing. And I know I feel like we've
talked about this, but I remember, like three days later
we all me and my friends went to the beach
and we were in the water, you know, out in
Santa Monica, and a plane came to land and we
all just froze in the water. Everybody at the beach
was like, what's going to happen right now? And it's
like the plane just landed normal constantly. It was a
(10:58):
complete paradigm shift, obviously, totally, totally.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
It changed the way you saw the world completely. A
week after the attacks, the famous journalist Hunter S. Thompson,
who then had a column for ESPN sports writing site
Page two, wrote, quote, the twenty two babies born in
New York City while the World Trade Center burned will
never know what they missed. The last half of the
twentieth century will seem like a wild party for rich
(11:23):
kids compared to what's coming now. The party's over, folks.
End quote, And he was correct.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Dang, Hunter Thompson knew it.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Can you imagine? Give it like going into labor when
that's happening you used to go to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I mean New York And it's basically like now we're
all in a disaster movie right that no one is
even ever imagined.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Oh, it's like the serious finale of some fucking hospital
movie that like is awful, so crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I had friends that had to run They lived down
near Wall Street and they had to run out of
their apartment with no shoes on and like just to
get away from the buildings. So nuts.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
The shock waves from that day have reshaped our country
and our world, and we're still living with the consequences.
But today's story is about some of the people who,
in the moment, decided to sacrifice themselves to ensure that
as little harm as possible would come to their fellow Americans.
This is the story of the passengers and crew of
United ninety three, the only hijacked plane that did not
(12:22):
hit its intended target.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Holy shait I know, great idea.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Right, Yeah, thank you to Ali and Molly for suggesting this.
I've been waiting to do this, and today of all
fucking days. Yeah. Really. Along the way, we'll talk about
some of the other people on board the other planes
who sounded the alarm and relate as much information as
possible over the phone. It's because of these phone calls
that we have any information about what happened on those planes.
I also wanted to talk about how like cell phones
were like in their infancy, everyone maybe had a cell phone.
(12:50):
There was no texting though, there was no sending photos.
If you were on an airplane, you couldn't make a
call most of the time.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, probably not. There was texting, but it was that
you had to do. You would depressed the little number
a certain amount of times for the certain letters.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Oh, I was so good at that, but so exhausted.
Oh my god, it was. It was exhausting.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
People would not understand today. Also, was so expensive, so expensive, Yeah,
I'm sure, yeah, calling from an airplane, can you like? Yeah.
So the main sources I used for the story were
an article in The New Yorker by Paige Williams, a
segment from sixty Minutes, and the nine to eleven Commission report,
and the rest of the sources can be found in
the show notes. So we're going to start in oak Brook, Illinois,
(13:30):
a Chicago suburb, and we're at the customer service call
center for Verizon's airphone service. Remember they had phones on
the back.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Of this seat with the wires.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yes, you press this button and a phone would pop
out of the back of the seat in front of
you on an airplane.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And it was ten dollars a minute.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I was like, so expensive, so expensive, nobody use them
like they were for show. It felt like well. The
woman named Lisa Jefferson is a supervisor at this call center.
She spent the morning working in her office, and sometime
after eight am Central time, a coworker asks if she's
heard that two planes have crashed into the World Trade
Center buildings in New York. Lisa hadn't heard yet, and
(14:09):
at about eight forty five am, she steps out of
her office to find out more. And she's only taken
a few steps when one of the call center reps
she supervises flags her down. She says she's on the
phone with a man who is on another plane that
has been hijacked. Lisa has the representative gets some more
information for her to relate to her supervisors, and by
the time Lisa has done this and returns, she can
(14:31):
tell that the representative is having trouble handling the information
she's hearing. Obviously she's panicking. Lisa has to lift her
physically out of the chair and sit her down next
to her so she can get on the call. Because
this woman is just rosen. Yeah. She puts on the
headset and starts talking to quote a soft spoken, calm man,
(14:54):
as she puts it, He introduces himself as Todd. So,
Todd Mehmer is thirty two years old and he's from Cranberry,
New Jersey. He has two little boys, David who's three
and Drew who was one, and one more baby on
the way. His wife, coincidentally, is also named Lisa. Todd
works as a software salesman for the software company Oracle.
(15:14):
He had flown out of Newark that morning to attend
a meeting in San Francisco, and he was just gonna
take the meeting and come right back home to be
with his family. He was supposed to have gone the
day before, which is like fucking always right, Yeah, But
he and Lisa had just gotten back from a trip
to Italy and he wanted to spend that night with
his kids, so he took the flight the next he rushed. Yeah.
(15:38):
So Todd is a baseball fanatic. He can't wait to
start his kids in the sport. He's already assembled a
full catcher's uniform for his three year old, right like,
I could see that. It's doing that everything except the
mit and that's because Lisa, the wife, had put her
foot down about this. She's like, he's three years old.
He doesn't mean the whole thing yet, Like, let's wait
(15:58):
on the mit. You know these are they're expensive. It's
sometimes reported that Todd was trying to call his wife
initially but the call wouldn't connect, and that he called
the airphone customer service desk and said But according to
Lisa Beemer, the wife and Lisa Jefferson, Todd didn't try
to call his wife at all. He knew she was
home with her two very young children, and she was pregnant,
(16:18):
and Todd did not want to upset his family and
freak her out. So, because it was two thousand and one,
which is ancient, there's no transcript of Lisa Jefferson's call
with Todd. It was not recorded. Lisa took some notes
on a post it and those were what was handed
over to the FBI. So everything we know about the
conversations from Lisa's memory. There was a transcript circulating online,
(16:40):
but it was fake. So of the four planes that
were ultimately hijacked that morning, Todd's flight from Newark, United
ninety three had been the last to take off between
the four planes that were nineteen hijackers total, and four
of them are on flight ninety three. Each of the
other flights have five hijackers on board and its guests.
At the final hijacker was detained upon attempting to enter
(17:02):
the United States, so there's only four on his flight.
All nineteen hijackers are members of the Al Kaeda terrorist network,
and most but not all, of them are from Saudi Arabia,
where Al Kada has the strongest presence. The hijackers are
between the ages of twenty and thirty three, with the
majority of them being in their early twenties. I know,
the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Just like watching radicalization and that's what we're doing in
this country now. But it just like that thing of
there is no end, it's the one end. Actually sorry,
it's a zero sum game. Like it's just so sad.
And then the idea that something has gotten into their
head to the degree where they're like, yep, I'm going
to die for this belief. Yeah, and I'm going to
(17:43):
kill a bunch of other people for this belief.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
It's a horrible thing.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah. So some of the hijackers had been in America
for years and have attended American flight schools, other hijackers
that were there just to subdue the passengers and crew
mostly arrive in the US later, and they are kept
separate from the pilots until the day of the attack.
I mean, you can read about this and watch the
details about this everywhere obviously, so I'm not going to
(18:08):
get super in the weeds. But all four of the
flight ninety three hijackers are seated in first class in
the front of the plane, So the TSA will be
created in response to nine to eleven, you're just so wild.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, you used to be able to go up to
the gate.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, well, yeah, you could walk your person up to
the gate. That's right. There was no centralized authority performing
security screenings at every airport. The airlines instead contract out
their security to individual companies, you know, So it's just
there's no rules. Especially there's no rules. Surveillance footage from
these checkpoints show that several of the hijackers set off
the metal detectors and then they get checked with a
(18:45):
wand that morning. In the footage, one of them appears
to have something clipped to his back pocket, but he's
allowed through the checkpoint without it being examined, and it
will turn out that most of the hijackers were able
to get knives or box cutters on board, which is
why you have to take your shoes off now, I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, you absolutely could have a box cutter in those
doctor shoals. I mean, it doesn't make sense anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I know. It sucks that we like we do things
in response to tragedy, not to like circumvent it.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yes, there's no one sitting down and preventatively. Yeah, maybe
they are, But I just watched a woman do this
TikTok where she's like, so, you're telling me that my
pet has to stay in quarantine till his vaccines come
all the way through, but there's not going to be
any vaccines for children, right, And it's just like, oh
my god, Like the mentality of things where you're just like,
(19:37):
how are we there's no not overwriting logic.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
No, it's fucking mayhem. Yeah now yeah, it's total mayhem.
So United ninety three boards around eight am Eastern time.
There are thirty three passengers who range in age from
twenty to seventy nine. They're from all over the country Minnesota, California, Florida,
some even from overseas in Germany and Japan. It's believed
(20:02):
that the first hijacking on the first plane, American Airlines
eleven begins around eight fourteen in the morning, shortly after
that flight took off out of Boston's Logan Airport. This
is when communications between air traffic control and the pilots
started going unanswered, so that's how they know something had started.
There were seven crew members aboard that day, and two
(20:24):
heroic flight attendants on that flight are able to separately
contact American Airlines to sound the alarm, but something had happened.
At eight nineteen am, Betty Annong calls the American Airlines
reservations desk from the jump seat in coach and informs
them that she believes the flight has been hijacked, so
that's the first they hear about it. She says that
(20:45):
two first class flight attendants have been stabbed and that
she believes that the hijackers have taken over the cockpit.
She says people are having trouble breathing and that she
thinks the hijackers sprayed nace up in first class.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Oh my god, I never heard any of that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah. At eight twenty nine, Madeline Amy Sweeney, another flight
attendant on American Airlines eleven, who goes my Amy also
contacts American Airlines, reaching their flight services desk in Boston
and confirms that two flight attendants had been stabbed and
that an additional passenger in first class was also killed.
It's believed that this was a man named Daniel Lewin,
(21:21):
and that he had attempted to stop the two hijackers
seated in front of him, not realizing that additional hijackers
were seated behind him, so he just jumped into action. Wow. Yeah.
American Airlines personnel reached the air traffic control tower in Boston,
which is already aware that there's a situation on flight
eleven because of the dropout in communication, but also because
(21:42):
one of the American Airlines eleven hijackers mistakenly radios them.
At eight twenty four am. He says, quote, we have
some planes end quote and tells the passengers to sit down.
It seems like he thought he was using the plane's
PA system, but instead had broadcast that out to pilots
and air traffic controllers. So you're just fucking flying your
(22:04):
plane and you hear that terribly. Wow. Yeah. Both Betty
and Amy remain on the line with American Airlines personnel
calmly relaying information At eight forty six am. Amy said
she can see water and buildings and that the plane
is flying way too low. Both phone calls and when
American Airlines eleven hits the North tower of New York's
(22:24):
World Trade Center and it's just horrific. She seems to
know what's coming across the river in Newark, New Jersey.
Todd's flight United ninety three has taken off four minutes earlier,
So like, just.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
If there was just some delay, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Some delay at eight forty two am, after a twenty
five minute delay on the tarmac, So if it had
just been a little bit long long between the hijacking
of American Airlines eleven and United ninety three taking off,
the two other flights have also taken off. Those are
United Airlines one seventy five from Boston to la which
took off at eight fifteen, one minute after the American
(23:01):
Airlines eleven hijacking began, so too late by then, an
American Airline seventy seven, which took off from Washington, DC's
Dallas Airport at eight twenty. These two flights are hijacked
within ten minutes of United ninety three taking off, so
air traffic Control loses contact with American Airline seventy seven,
the flight that left out of Dulles at nine am,
about fifteen minutes after the North Tower had been hit.
(23:25):
By this point in time, the FAA is aware that
multiple hijackings are taking place, but they have not put
out the warning to other planes that are currently flying.
I mean, what would you do, well, there is no
protocol in place for this kind of thing. Oh, because
this is never.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Happen because multiple Yeah, it's like one hijacking at a
time in the past.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah, So they don't know when to like emergency land.
They don't tell them to stop taking off.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I mean, imagine it's like have you ever seen one
of those maps with all the planes flying and how
many are flying at the same time, and you're supposed
to get on a mic and be like, guys, everybody land.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, And then imagine being one of the pilots like
on the tarmac that day who was so not to
take off, and the people on the plane who are like,
what the fuck's going on? You can't tell them, will
freak out. It's just the worst an impossible situation. Yeah.
At eight fifty nine, a passenger aboard United Airlines one
seventy five named Brian David Sweeney. Oh my god, have
you heard this? He leaves a message for his wife
(24:17):
on his home answering machine. Have you heard it?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It's fucking heartbreaking, he says, in a calm voice. Can
I read it to you? Sure? Quote Jules, this is Brian. Listen,
I'm on an airplane that's been hijacked. If things don't
go well and it's not looking good, I just want
you to know I absolutely love you. I know. I
want you to do good, go have good times. Same
to my parents and everybody. And I just totally love you.
(24:42):
And I'll see you when you get there, I know.
And it's like his voice is like kind of calm,
but you can tell it's like resigned. It sounds resigned.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
It's just like I just need you to know this, Yeah,
which is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I know. I'm saying I want you to do good
and go have good time, knowing like, yeah, she's about
to lose everything.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
What a loss of a man that would place that
call totally God damn, I know.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
So five minutes later, that flight strikes the South tower
of the World Trade Center. The attacks in New York
ultimately killed two seven hundred and fifty three people. So
at this point, back on United ninety three, they've been
in the air for about twenty minutes when that happens.
And in the beginning the first tower, we like weren't
sure what it was. Even the second tower, that's when
(25:34):
you started to hear about like the word terrorist. But
it was slow. I mean the news I was with
my grandma was living at her house at the time.
The news came in so slowly, and it came in
as the newscasters were learning it as well. Yeah, fucking
no one knew anything. And then suddenly there's another plane
that had been hijacked and another plane, and like it
(25:54):
was just very it was a panemonium.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, it's like started surreal. Well yeah, then got weirder.
I've told you this already. But my sister called me
and I didn't get up because it was like really early,
and she kept calling, and when I finally picked up,
she was like, she said, they attacked the White House,
which I thought she meant aliens. So it was just
just like what what what? And I turned on the TV.
But then it was this like when the first plane
(26:19):
went you were like, oh, what a terrible accent.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, my grandma came and woke me up, you know,
my one hundred year old grandma. She woke me up
in a really nervous, weird way. That was like after
the first plane had hit and she was like, I
don't want to be alone anymore. And I came and
woke me up. I was like a fuck a twenty
year old, you know, like, and we watched it together. Oh,
I know, Okay. The pilots on flight ninety three are
(26:43):
named Jason Dahl and Leroy Homer, and they've already heard
the mistaken transmission go out from one of the hijackers
when at nine twenty three am, a United Airlines dispatcher
named Ed Ballinger lets them know about the other hijackings,
sending written transmission quote beware and any cockpit intrusion two
aircraft hit World Trade Center end quote. So they're fucking
(27:05):
mid air and they get that fucking message. I mean,
and there's a movie called United ninety three that seems
to be pretty close to the actual events, which is
terrifying and really hard to watch.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
But I know, remember when that movie came out. I
was just like, who has the kind of weekend where
they feel like they have the capacity to take that in?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Right? Well, I just watched the last scene that I'm
going to tell you about, and it was it was brutal.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
A few minutes later, air traffic control sees that that
plane loses seven hundred feet of altitude out of nowhere,
and the pilot's issue a may day call. This message
is received by an air traffic control tower in Cleveland.
The plane levels off, and thirty seconds later, the Cleveland
air traffic controllers hear the sound of a struggle and
First Officer Leroy Homer saying, quote get out of here
(27:54):
end quote. So obviously that's when they breached therein cockpit,
seems like like there wasn't the security with the cockpits
that there is now, Like they've locked the aisle when
the pilot has to come out to go to the bathroom.
It's like this whole protocol. It was not like that
then at at all, Like they'd leave the door open.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Sometime the last flight I was on, I think on
the way to Denver, the pilot came out a bunch.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
They kept being like, oh no, you can't be up
here whatever, And I was just like, I've never seen
pilots walk around this much, very weird.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, I would have been like, oh no, what's happening?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Ye just like Charlie Horse, So okay, Charlie.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Meanwhile, at nine thirty seven, American Airline seventy seven hits
the Pentagon in Washington, d C. All passengers and crew
on board are killed, as are one hundred and twenty
five people in the building. Two minutes after this, Cleveland's
air traffic controllers hear a message from the hijackers that
are on United ninety three, which had been intended for
(28:52):
the passengers but again was broadcast on the Rock channel.
In it, the hijacker falsely clams there's a bomb on board,
so it seems like that's how they use. They subdued
people as saying there was a bomb and told everyone
to remain in their seats. Hijackers engage the plane's autopilot
and the plane turns heading southeast towards Washington, DC. Right
(29:14):
then they turn off the plane's transponder, making it more
difficult to track, which shouldn't be a thing you can
turn off. Probably right, they can't do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Who knows these transponders these days?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Truly, the hijackers on the previous three planes had done
the same thing, and it's believed that the intended target
of this plane is either the White House or the
Capitol Building. Yeah, the hijackers split up the passengers, sending
most to the back of the plane and some to
first class. When we know this because the passengers and
crew in the back of the planes start making phone calls,
(29:46):
including Todd. Todd uses the airphone and wound up talking
to Lisa Jefferson at the Verizon call center. As I
told you in the beginning of this. Again, we don't
have the transcript, but Lisa says that she does not
tell Todd about the attacks in the World Train Center
and the Pentagon, wanting to freak him out. But there
are at least ten passengers on the phone at the
same time as Todd, and so the people on flight
(30:06):
ninety three do learn about the other attacks. So like,
it's not a nice related incident and this is a
suicide mission. Yeah, finding that out horrifying. Yeah, just yeah.
They also felt themselves change directions, so they are aware
that they are now flying back to the East Coast,
which is bad news. At multiple points her conversation with Todd,
Lisa offers to connect him with his wife, but he
(30:28):
tells her that he doesn't want to scare her and
the children. It seems from Lisa's end of the conversation then,
that a decision is made pretty quickly, in less than
a ten minute timeframe. It seems like all those passengers
back there decide to retake the plane, which is like
fucking bananas.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I know, how who did it first?
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I don't know, Like yeah, this like collective, like we
can't just stand here. Yes, and these things already Like
it's almost better that they knew what had already happened,
because otherwise maybe they thought everything would be fine. They
were hijacking a plane and wasn't a suicide mission. But
right they found out, yes, and they're like, we gotta
do something. Yes, it's so up against it how to
(31:08):
do something. Yeah, Like we outnumber them, I mean, and
they thought they had a bomb. It's like, but fuck it, yeah,
we have to do something. I mean, I'm just it's unbelievable.
So the widow of one of the other passengers says
that her husband, while he's on the phone with her,
then tells her that a group is planning to fight
and that they're waiting until they are above a rural
area with no houses because they are aware the crashing
(31:32):
the plane will be the likely outcome. They fucking know
the plane is going to crash and they're going to die.
Let's do this somewhere where it will take as few
you know, people on the ground as possible.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Like they're thinking of everybody else right the whole time.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Because they know if it flies into a building, it's
again like you know in Washington where they think they're going,
it's going to kill tons of people. We need to
take it down now somewhere, which was the least amount
of damn. But I know I'm going to die.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Like that is I mean like that they're not just
sitting there frozen like the person rightfully was like freaking out.
It's like they're the ones taking action in there and
the eye of the storm totally.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
So at nine fifty seven am, everyone who is on
the phone with loved ones say that they have to go.
Everyone gets off the phone. Oh one caller who's not named,
and the reporting says, quote, everyone is running up to
first class I've got to go by end quote. It's
just like they decided. Todd asks Lisa to recite the
(32:32):
Lord's Prayer with him, and he asked her to tell
his family that he loves them, and then asks her
to relay a private message to his wife, which Lisa
Jefferson has never shared. She's like, oh. Then Lisa hears
Todd asks the other people around him quote are you ready?
End quote, and then she hears them say yes, Todd's
the leader. It seems like Todd is part of the
(32:54):
people who are like leading this. Then Todd says, quote, Okay,
let's roll.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Oh that's right, because Neil Young wrote the song.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Right, so let's roll becomes this well known part of
the story, and it's like kind of used in a
way that is very Hollywood Hollywood, but also political, like
George W. Bush turns it into a political phrase. Oh right,
and it just kind of is gross. But like, so
let's just look at it now as a man who
knew he was about to die said it.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
A man who knew he was about to die and
becomes a leader on a plane where these days people
can't even like sit next to each other without fighting, right,
And this guy gets everybody together and then gets them
to do that and let's roll. Let's fucking roll.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
The cockpit's voice recorder was recovered from flight ninety three,
and it captures the sound of what the nine to
eleven commissions report will later call a sustained assault outside
the cockpit doors. Wow, loved ones. The passengers and crew
members on that flight can pick out the individual voices
of the people they lost who are fighting.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Of course they can. Can you imagine if you lose
someone and then you get a tape of their last moments,
you would be able to fucking their.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Last moments fighting for civilians lives. I mean, that's just
it's so heroic. I can't even it's the word isn't
even good enough. The hijackers try to disabled the passengers
by flying erratically to throw them all over the plane,
and the voice recorder captures the sound of things crashing
and breaking glass. The voice recorder captures one hijacker asking
(34:26):
the other if he should just crash the plane now,
and the other hijacker says to wait until the people
reach the cockpit, like they realize that.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
They're going to get overtaken.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, And so he says wait, the passengers continue their assault,
and within two minutes, one of the hijacker's yells put
it down, like they realize they've been overcome.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Put the plane down.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Yeah. This leads the nine to eleven commission to believe
that the passengers and crew were about to overcome them,
and in that movie it shows that. So at ten
oh two AM United ninety three, after just gimming the
village of Lambertsville with four thousand people in it, crashes
into an abandoned strip mine in the rolling hills of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
(35:11):
So they took it down in the middle of nowhere,
barely skimming a town full of people, to save everybody,
everybody's life but their own. Fuck I know.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
And also like, how did they do the mentality? How
did they do that? Bravery wise? Incredible?
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Everyone on board is killed instantly, but there are no
additional casualties on the ground. The plane would have been
about twenty minutes away from Washington, d C. Fifteen minutes earlier,
US airspace had been shut down and all flights had
been ordered to land finally, and it is possible that
before reaching DC, United ninety three would have been shot
down by military aircraft because at that point they had
(35:56):
been deployed. However, this would not have ensured the safety
people on the ground the way the passengers had taken
such care to. Oh, like they just were trying to
get the plane down anyway they could, and passengers.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Were like, we got to do it where there isn't anybody.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
The crash site in Shanksville has since been turned into
a memorial honoring the passengers and crew of United ninety three.
In a clearing in the trees, there's a wall of
names with a white marble block for each of the
forty passengers and crew members on board. There's also something
called the Tower of Voices, a ninety three foot tall
giant musical instrument that holds forty wind chimes. Oh that
(36:36):
beautiful Yeah, One for each voice that was cut short
on that flight. Okay, you're gonna cry so. In January
of two thousand and two, a couple months later, Lisa
Beemer welcomes a baby girl named Morgan. Later that year,
she gives an interview on NBC about her husband, Todd,
and she says that just a few weeks earlier, she
had been digging through some of Todd's things in their
(36:57):
home's basement. She says, quote, I found a catchersmith that
Todd had bought and I gave it to David and
he was thrilled. So now he has the whole gear
from Daddy, I know. And that is the story of
the passengers of United Flight ninety three on nine to eleven.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
God damn it, I know. I mean, people have the
potential to be incredible, right, and sometimes it does take
the worst of the worst to get that out of people.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah, and let's practice doing it while not in a
dire situation. Yes's exactly is bringing out the best in
you in everyday life.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
In everyday life, and people have it in them. Yeah,
I mean, goddamn, let's roll.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Let's roll. All right. Well, thank you guys for listening
to this solo episode.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Sorry I cried. I'm kind of tired.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
We have a good car and cry. Everyone knows that.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
And we love your support while we do any kind
of type of version of this show so we can
do all of the different things we're doing right now.
We're so thrilled to be out there seeing you again
doing it in person. It really is the best.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's thrilling.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
It's so fun. Anyway, stay sexy and don't get murdered.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Goodbye, Elvis, Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 2 (38:27):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Our editor is Aristotle Oscevedo.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
This episode was mixed by Leona Squalacci.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Our researchers are Maaron McGlashan and Ali Elkin.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Email your homecounts to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and now.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
You can watch us on Exactly Wright's YouTube page. While
you're there, please like and subscribe. Goodbyeye
Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder. That's Georgia Hartstark.
That's Karen Kilgariff, And we're just here to.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Tell you a couple things before we go dish, like
four four things, and then we're gonna go back on tour. Yeah,
we'll just go back to the hotel.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Rooms constantly for the rest of our lives wherever and
eat chicken strips and caesar salads.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I mean caesar salad. You're being good.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Oh, I don't eat it. I just order it.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Oh, I see it.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Vince eats it.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
He gets that rough as he does.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
He's so good at it. And I'm just like a child,
fucking I just ate a fucking uncrustable like I don't.
I eat like a toddler.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I had my first uncrestable in the Denver dressing room.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Georgia came up and was holding on crustables, like would
you like some of these?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Because I asked for them in the dressing room, because
like the perfect snack. Yeah, and they gave me like
twelve of them, so I was like, I'm gonna share
the Well, everyone gets it. Uncrustable.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's so funny. They asked what I wanted in my
dressing room, and I'm like, I don't know, and I
said mozz of relisticks, but I meant string cheese and
it's the same as it. Everyone kind of pauses, like, Okay,
I guess we'll get you hot mazza Relai sticks impossibly.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, string cheese is a good idea. Yeah, it's such
a weird part of it that you're like, I don't
want do people fucking want green rooms. I've never coked,
I don't know cocaine, always coke, cocaine.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Cocaine and Edamammy. I asked for ed a mommy as well.
I was trying to do protein things. But again it's
absolutely performative. Yeah, right, for exactly, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
But well we're back, except we're not because when this
comes out or in Austin, Yes, that's right, night two
in Austin, that's right, which I'm very excited about. I
think I'm gonna work out boots to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, local jokes, get local work. Yeah, in the best way,
in the best way. Give them what they want is
what I meant for that one.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Thank you everyone who came to Denver. That was like
such a fucking amazing time. It was.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I mean I would have to say, to go back
on stage after six years, it was perfection.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
It was great. We forgot how to do it. They
didn't care. They were so supportive.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
They were really right there with us as we didn't
know our lines in our own show.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It was so much fun. I hope you guys are
coming to the live shows coming up. Yeah, I think
they're going to be fucking fun.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I mean, first of all, I would just say Denver
was the loudest audience I've ever heard. Both nights. Yeah,
but that first night was nuts, like dumb nuts.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And there was a Katie dressed as a hot dog
front and sentence.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I mean, there's just a lot of a lot of
great stuff. Mary drove from South Dakota. There was just
a positivity, people repping from all over this great land.
We were in our own little fantasy worlds in that theater.
It was really great.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Us and and crustables.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, we were you giving me a signal to put
my hair.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I was texting my own hair. When we were in
done for I went to an vintage store and I
bought this shirt that this blouse, what was it called
gold mine, gold mine, thank you, oh my god. And
I steamed it and it smells vintage now, yes, and
you know how that happened Siggs cigarettes and mothalls. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, I have a thing that's very has nothing to
do with anything, okay except for that. Just it was
very touching to me. So there was the like the
Technical Emmys. But there is an actor who I've always
been a huge fan of and I actually kind of
became you know, fake Twitter friends with for a little while.
His name Sean Hattisey, and he has been working since
(03:51):
I think he's in his early twenties. He's been in
a million things. He used to be on a show
called Southland but now he's on the Pit and he
won for Best Supporting Actor.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So I have always loved him, of course. And somewhere
in the Twitter world he did something like he posted
a picture. He's like, what is this outside of and
it was like a bunch of bikes that had goofy
shit all over them and people were just guessing and
I guessed yoga studio in Santa Monica or something like that,
and he wrote back, I expected better from you, Karen.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And then I was like, wait, what the fuck. Then
I would post a joke and he would be there
baking jokes back, and so it was almost like we
were already friends. Like I went to high school Shawn Hatessey,
where I was just like my friend Mollie, who I
was also a Twitter friends, which she was like, what
the fuck's going on? I'm like, I truly don't know,
but just everybody at calm and pretend like whatever. He's
(04:45):
just a funny guy, but he's also just like one
of those working actor people that like everybody loves and
is so good and everything he does. And when I
posted a thing when my mom died, he DMed me
and sent me the loveliest message of like whatever. So
I just wanted to say, because now Twitter's gone, right,
I'm over on TikTok, on my TikTok island on your
(05:07):
own with no connections to anything, and I'm just fucking
basically a weird lurker. I don't get to write my
jokes or do my fun stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, they really ruined that for me.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
They ruined everything.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
One hundred and forty characters.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Congratulations to Sean Hattisey.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
That's amazing. I have an update or a thing that
is that has nothing to do with this except it's
true crime.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Oh maybe we do more stuff like that on our
true crime podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I guess so. In July of twenty twenty four, I
did on episode four thirty six called You, Me and
American Geography. I covered Buford Pusser, who was the walking
tall guy yes, and about how they got ambush his
wife was killed by the people who were like going
(05:50):
after him, and how he became this hero. Well, it
looks like he killed his wife. Oh no, yep, spoiler alert.
They think he did it.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, like all the lore around that man is false.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yep, and they think he killed her. They like looked
at the evidence again. The wife's name was Pauline. It
was said that she was shot in the car while
writing with him, but new evidence shows she may have
been shot outside the car, and Buford had been shot
in the face, which was like a huge He survived,
you know, but it's like, oh, that looks like a
self inflicted gunman.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Now, now do we know for a factor? Is this
just is like we think and we're getting close to
the answer.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I think they're pretty set on it. He's dead, you know,
long dead. So it's like nothing could be done, but
there's like the new evidence is pretty damning. Yeah, I guess.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Also it's the kind of thing where and will the
new evidence even matter? Because oftentimes when like lore happens
like that, it's just set and people kind of never
change their mind.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I mean it's almost like, yeah, like cold cases that
are just so fascinating, it's like, oh fuck, man, you
find out new shit all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That's a real twist.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I know, I know, I know. Should we do some highlights?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Let's do it.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Okay, we have a podcast network. It's called Exactly Right Media.
Here are some highlights.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
We've got a new Buried Bones episode this week called
Blood on the Cobblestones, Part one. Kate and Paul head
to Boston nineteen sixty two, where a series of women
are found strangled and this story is just beginning.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Oh wow. Speaking of Buried Bones, Kate and Paul are
going on vacation and they're taking you with them. That's right.
Buried Bones is setting sail this October as part of
Virgin Voyage's first ever true crime cruse.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Can you imagine?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I cannot imagine.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Do you think that ID channel will just zap out?
Because everyone will be on it at eleven thirty like buffet,
dance party whatever. Then you need those forensic files.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Oh my god, that sounds amazing. They're stopping in the
Dominican Republic and Vimini and Bahamas and there'll be a
live taping of Buried Bones and a meet and greet
with Kate and Paul. So make sure you check that
out if that's your thing. At virgin voyages dot com
slash true.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Crime, I mean that's going to be really fun. Yeah,
also amazing places to go.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Then over on I Said No Gifts, Bridger is joined
by some hilarious guests, Lauren Lapkis, Tarren Killem, and Vinnie Thomas,
my very favorite. If you haven't followed Vinnie Thomas on
either Instagram or TikTok, he is one of the funniest
people out there. He was just on I Said No
Gifts individually anyway, They're live in Los Angeles and the
topics include deodorant application and OJ Simpson pog and the
(08:23):
Capitol One Cafe.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And then over on our newest podcast, Trust Me, Lola
and Meghan are joined by journalist Jane Borden. Oh my god,
good friend of the podcast, friend of the pod author
of the book Cults Like Us that I've mentioned here before.
It's so freaking good. She talks about how cult thinking
is baked into American life, from doomsday myths to self
help empires, and why we're all more susceptible than we think.
(08:46):
Fascinating stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, that's very cool. And also, finally, over on That's
Messed Up, Karen Lisa covered the SVU episode Dare, which
is the tragic story of actress Isabella Grasso, and discuss
the gruesome case of doctor Michael Mastro Marino. Oh, just
flipping around on Deep Cable last night. You want to
see what I saw?
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
This commercial right here? My god, it's Nicole right Hi.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's Nicole from the merch Department. I've just returned from
a very dangerous excavation. We found artifacts ancient, powerful, possibly cursed.
It's the og Stay sext dug up from the year
twenty seventeen, designed by Katzlan, preserved by time, now reissued
in a unisex fit. Some say these belong in a museum.
(09:31):
We say they belong on your body. Available now at
exactly rightstore dot com. Get yours before they go extinct.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Nicole, What a treasure.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Another great ad from Nicole, Such a treasure. And she's
actually at all our live shows. If you're a huge
Nicole head, then you got to come to the live
shows because she sells the merch.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Right, she's at our merchbooth. Fucking taken over. Yep, all right,
Well I'm solo today. Yes, it's your day, it's my day.
It's also nine to eleven when this comes out.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Never forget.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
In the spirit of not forgetting, I'm going to tell
you a story that happened exactly twenty four years ago.
On September eleventh, two thousand and one. As you know, Karen,
four hijacked airplanes were used to conduct the deadliest attack
on American soil. And what boggles aren't my mind is
that there are people who listen to this podcast who
weren't even born yet. Yeah, and who are adults. It's
(10:30):
fucking crazy, I know, like the trauma that we collectivey
still have from it from that day and people hadn't
been born yet. I can't even imagine.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
The weirdest thing. And I know I feel like we've
talked about this, but I remember, like three days later
we all me and my friends went to the beach
and we were in the water, you know, out in
Santa Monica, and a plane came to land and we
all just froze in the water. Everybody at the beach
was like, what's going to happen right now? And it's
like the plane just landed normal constantly. It was a
(10:58):
complete paradigm shift, obviously, totally, totally.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
It changed the way you saw the world completely. A
week after the attacks, the famous journalist Hunter S. Thompson,
who then had a column for ESPN sports writing site
Page two, wrote, quote, the twenty two babies born in
New York City while the World Trade Center burned will
never know what they missed. The last half of the
twentieth century will seem like a wild party for rich
(11:23):
kids compared to what's coming now. The party's over, folks.
End quote, And he was correct.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Dang, Hunter Thompson knew it.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Can you imagine? Give it like going into labor when
that's happening you used to go to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I mean New York And it's basically like now we're
all in a disaster movie right that no one is
even ever imagined.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Oh, it's like the serious finale of some fucking hospital
movie that like is awful, so crazy.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I had friends that had to run They lived down
near Wall Street and they had to run out of
their apartment with no shoes on and like just to
get away from the buildings. So nuts.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
The shock waves from that day have reshaped our country
and our world, and we're still living with the consequences.
But today's story is about some of the people who,
in the moment, decided to sacrifice themselves to ensure that
as little harm as possible would come to their fellow Americans.
This is the story of the passengers and crew of
United ninety three, the only hijacked plane that did not
(12:22):
hit its intended target.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Holy shait I know, great idea.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Right, Yeah, thank you to Ali and Molly for suggesting this.
I've been waiting to do this, and today of all
fucking days. Yeah. Really. Along the way, we'll talk about
some of the other people on board the other planes
who sounded the alarm and relate as much information as
possible over the phone. It's because of these phone calls
that we have any information about what happened on those planes.
I also wanted to talk about how like cell phones
were like in their infancy, everyone maybe had a cell phone.
(12:50):
There was no texting though, there was no sending photos.
If you were on an airplane, you couldn't make a
call most of the time.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, probably not. There was texting, but it was that
you had to do. You would depressed the little number
a certain amount of times for the certain letters.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Oh, I was so good at that, but so exhausted.
Oh my god, it was. It was exhausting.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
People would not understand today. Also, was so expensive, so expensive, Yeah,
I'm sure, yeah, calling from an airplane, can you like? Yeah.
So the main sources I used for the story were
an article in The New Yorker by Paige Williams, a
segment from sixty Minutes, and the nine to eleven Commission report,
and the rest of the sources can be found in
the show notes. So we're going to start in oak Brook, Illinois,
(13:30):
a Chicago suburb, and we're at the customer service call
center for Verizon's airphone service. Remember they had phones on
the back.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Of this seat with the wires.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yes, you press this button and a phone would pop
out of the back of the seat in front of
you on an airplane.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And it was ten dollars a minute.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I was like, so expensive, so expensive, nobody use them
like they were for show. It felt like well. The
woman named Lisa Jefferson is a supervisor at this call center.
She spent the morning working in her office, and sometime
after eight am Central time, a coworker asks if she's
heard that two planes have crashed into the World Trade
Center buildings in New York. Lisa hadn't heard yet, and
(14:09):
at about eight forty five am, she steps out of
her office to find out more. And she's only taken
a few steps when one of the call center reps
she supervises flags her down. She says she's on the
phone with a man who is on another plane that
has been hijacked. Lisa has the representative gets some more
information for her to relate to her supervisors, and by
the time Lisa has done this and returns, she can
(14:31):
tell that the representative is having trouble handling the information
she's hearing. Obviously she's panicking. Lisa has to lift her
physically out of the chair and sit her down next
to her so she can get on the call. Because
this woman is just rosen. Yeah. She puts on the
headset and starts talking to quote a soft spoken, calm man,
(14:54):
as she puts it, He introduces himself as Todd. So,
Todd Mehmer is thirty two years old and he's from Cranberry,
New Jersey. He has two little boys, David who's three
and Drew who was one, and one more baby on
the way. His wife, coincidentally, is also named Lisa. Todd
works as a software salesman for the software company Oracle.
(15:14):
He had flown out of Newark that morning to attend
a meeting in San Francisco, and he was just gonna
take the meeting and come right back home to be
with his family. He was supposed to have gone the
day before, which is like fucking always right, Yeah, But
he and Lisa had just gotten back from a trip
to Italy and he wanted to spend that night with
his kids, so he took the flight the next he rushed. Yeah.
(15:38):
So Todd is a baseball fanatic. He can't wait to
start his kids in the sport. He's already assembled a
full catcher's uniform for his three year old, right like,
I could see that. It's doing that everything except the
mit and that's because Lisa, the wife, had put her
foot down about this. She's like, he's three years old.
He doesn't mean the whole thing yet, Like, let's wait
(15:58):
on the mit. You know these are they're expensive. It's
sometimes reported that Todd was trying to call his wife
initially but the call wouldn't connect, and that he called
the airphone customer service desk and said But according to
Lisa Beemer, the wife and Lisa Jefferson, Todd didn't try
to call his wife at all. He knew she was
home with her two very young children, and she was pregnant,
(16:18):
and Todd did not want to upset his family and
freak her out. So, because it was two thousand and one,
which is ancient, there's no transcript of Lisa Jefferson's call
with Todd. It was not recorded. Lisa took some notes
on a post it and those were what was handed
over to the FBI. So everything we know about the
conversations from Lisa's memory. There was a transcript circulating online,
(16:40):
but it was fake. So of the four planes that
were ultimately hijacked that morning, Todd's flight from Newark, United
ninety three had been the last to take off between
the four planes that were nineteen hijackers total, and four
of them are on flight ninety three. Each of the
other flights have five hijackers on board and its guests.
At the final hijacker was detained upon attempting to enter
(17:02):
the United States, so there's only four on his flight.
All nineteen hijackers are members of the Al Kaeda terrorist network,
and most but not all, of them are from Saudi Arabia,
where Al Kada has the strongest presence. The hijackers are
between the ages of twenty and thirty three, with the
majority of them being in their early twenties. I know,
the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Just like watching radicalization and that's what we're doing in
this country now. But it just like that thing of
there is no end, it's the one end. Actually sorry,
it's a zero sum game. Like it's just so sad.
And then the idea that something has gotten into their
head to the degree where they're like, yep, I'm going
to die for this belief. Yeah, and I'm going to
(17:43):
kill a bunch of other people for this belief.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
It's a horrible thing.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah. So some of the hijackers had been in America
for years and have attended American flight schools, other hijackers
that were there just to subdue the passengers and crew
mostly arrive in the US later, and they are kept
separate from the pilots until the day of the attack.
I mean, you can read about this and watch the
details about this everywhere obviously, so I'm not going to
(18:08):
get super in the weeds. But all four of the
flight ninety three hijackers are seated in first class in
the front of the plane, So the TSA will be
created in response to nine to eleven, you're just so wild.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, you used to be able to go up to
the gate.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah, well, yeah, you could walk your person up to
the gate. That's right. There was no centralized authority performing
security screenings at every airport. The airlines instead contract out
their security to individual companies, you know, So it's just
there's no rules. Especially there's no rules. Surveillance footage from
these checkpoints show that several of the hijackers set off
the metal detectors and then they get checked with a
(18:45):
wand that morning. In the footage, one of them appears
to have something clipped to his back pocket, but he's
allowed through the checkpoint without it being examined, and it
will turn out that most of the hijackers were able
to get knives or box cutters on board, which is
why you have to take your shoes off now, I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, you absolutely could have a box cutter in those
doctor shoals. I mean, it doesn't make sense anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I know. It sucks that we like we do things
in response to tragedy, not to like circumvent it.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yes, there's no one sitting down and preventatively. Yeah, maybe
they are, But I just watched a woman do this
TikTok where she's like, so, you're telling me that my
pet has to stay in quarantine till his vaccines come
all the way through, but there's not going to be
any vaccines for children, right, And it's just like, oh
my god, Like the mentality of things where you're just like,
(19:37):
how are we there's no not overwriting logic.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
No, it's fucking mayhem. Yeah now yeah, it's total mayhem.
So United ninety three boards around eight am Eastern time.
There are thirty three passengers who range in age from
twenty to seventy nine. They're from all over the country Minnesota, California, Florida,
some even from overseas in Germany and Japan. It's believed
(20:02):
that the first hijacking on the first plane, American Airlines
eleven begins around eight fourteen in the morning, shortly after
that flight took off out of Boston's Logan Airport. This
is when communications between air traffic control and the pilots
started going unanswered, so that's how they know something had started.
There were seven crew members aboard that day, and two
(20:24):
heroic flight attendants on that flight are able to separately
contact American Airlines to sound the alarm, but something had happened.
At eight nineteen am, Betty Annong calls the American Airlines
reservations desk from the jump seat in coach and informs
them that she believes the flight has been hijacked, so
that's the first they hear about it. She says that
(20:45):
two first class flight attendants have been stabbed and that
she believes that the hijackers have taken over the cockpit.
She says people are having trouble breathing and that she
thinks the hijackers sprayed nace up in first class.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Oh my god, I never heard any of that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah. At eight twenty nine, Madeline Amy Sweeney, another flight
attendant on American Airlines eleven, who goes my Amy also
contacts American Airlines, reaching their flight services desk in Boston
and confirms that two flight attendants had been stabbed and
that an additional passenger in first class was also killed.
It's believed that this was a man named Daniel Lewin,
(21:21):
and that he had attempted to stop the two hijackers
seated in front of him, not realizing that additional hijackers
were seated behind him, so he just jumped into action. Wow. Yeah.
American Airlines personnel reached the air traffic control tower in Boston,
which is already aware that there's a situation on flight
eleven because of the dropout in communication, but also because
(21:42):
one of the American Airlines eleven hijackers mistakenly radios them.
At eight twenty four am. He says, quote, we have
some planes end quote and tells the passengers to sit down.
It seems like he thought he was using the plane's
PA system, but instead had broadcast that out to pilots
and air traffic controllers. So you're just fucking flying your
(22:04):
plane and you hear that terribly. Wow. Yeah. Both Betty
and Amy remain on the line with American Airlines personnel
calmly relaying information At eight forty six am. Amy said
she can see water and buildings and that the plane
is flying way too low. Both phone calls and when
American Airlines eleven hits the North tower of New York's
(22:24):
World Trade Center and it's just horrific. She seems to
know what's coming across the river in Newark, New Jersey.
Todd's flight United ninety three has taken off four minutes earlier,
So like, just.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
If there was just some delay, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Some delay at eight forty two am, after a twenty
five minute delay on the tarmac, So if it had
just been a little bit long long between the hijacking
of American Airlines eleven and United ninety three taking off,
the two other flights have also taken off. Those are
United Airlines one seventy five from Boston to la which
took off at eight fifteen, one minute after the American
(23:01):
Airlines eleven hijacking began, so too late by then, an
American Airline seventy seven, which took off from Washington, DC's
Dallas Airport at eight twenty. These two flights are hijacked
within ten minutes of United ninety three taking off, so
air traffic Control loses contact with American Airline seventy seven,
the flight that left out of Dulles at nine am,
about fifteen minutes after the North Tower had been hit.
(23:25):
By this point in time, the FAA is aware that
multiple hijackings are taking place, but they have not put
out the warning to other planes that are currently flying.
I mean, what would you do, well, there is no
protocol in place for this kind of thing. Oh, because
this is never.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Happen because multiple Yeah, it's like one hijacking at a
time in the past.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Yeah, So they don't know when to like emergency land.
They don't tell them to stop taking off.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I mean, imagine it's like have you ever seen one
of those maps with all the planes flying and how
many are flying at the same time, and you're supposed
to get on a mic and be like, guys, everybody land.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah, And then imagine being one of the pilots like
on the tarmac that day who was so not to
take off, and the people on the plane who are like,
what the fuck's going on? You can't tell them, will
freak out. It's just the worst an impossible situation. Yeah.
At eight fifty nine, a passenger aboard United Airlines one
seventy five named Brian David Sweeney. Oh my god, have
you heard this? He leaves a message for his wife
(24:17):
on his home answering machine. Have you heard it?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It's fucking heartbreaking, he says, in a calm voice. Can
I read it to you? Sure? Quote Jules, this is Brian. Listen,
I'm on an airplane that's been hijacked. If things don't
go well and it's not looking good, I just want
you to know I absolutely love you. I know. I
want you to do good, go have good times. Same
to my parents and everybody. And I just totally love you.
(24:42):
And I'll see you when you get there, I know.
And it's like his voice is like kind of calm,
but you can tell it's like resigned. It sounds resigned.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
It's just like I just need you to know this, Yeah,
which is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I know. I'm saying I want you to do good
and go have good time, knowing like, yeah, she's about
to lose everything.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
What a loss of a man that would place that
call totally God damn, I know.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
So five minutes later, that flight strikes the South tower
of the World Trade Center. The attacks in New York
ultimately killed two seven hundred and fifty three people. So
at this point, back on United ninety three, they've been
in the air for about twenty minutes when that happens.
And in the beginning the first tower, we like weren't
sure what it was. Even the second tower, that's when
(25:34):
you started to hear about like the word terrorist. But
it was slow. I mean the news I was with
my grandma was living at her house at the time.
The news came in so slowly, and it came in
as the newscasters were learning it as well. Yeah, fucking
no one knew anything. And then suddenly there's another plane
that had been hijacked and another plane, and like it
(25:54):
was just very it was a panemonium.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, it's like started surreal. Well yeah, then got weirder.
I've told you this already. But my sister called me
and I didn't get up because it was like really early,
and she kept calling, and when I finally picked up,
she was like, she said, they attacked the White House,
which I thought she meant aliens. So it was just
just like what what what? And I turned on the TV.
But then it was this like when the first plane
(26:19):
went you were like, oh, what a terrible accent.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, my grandma came and woke me up, you know,
my one hundred year old grandma. She woke me up
in a really nervous, weird way. That was like after
the first plane had hit and she was like, I
don't want to be alone anymore. And I came and
woke me up. I was like a fuck a twenty
year old, you know, like, and we watched it together. Oh,
I know, Okay. The pilots on flight ninety three are
(26:43):
named Jason Dahl and Leroy Homer, and they've already heard
the mistaken transmission go out from one of the hijackers
when at nine twenty three am, a United Airlines dispatcher
named Ed Ballinger lets them know about the other hijackings,
sending written transmission quote beware and any cockpit intrusion two
aircraft hit World Trade Center end quote. So they're fucking
(27:05):
mid air and they get that fucking message. I mean,
and there's a movie called United ninety three that seems
to be pretty close to the actual events, which is
terrifying and really hard to watch.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
But I know, remember when that movie came out. I
was just like, who has the kind of weekend where
they feel like they have the capacity to take that in?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Right? Well, I just watched the last scene that I'm
going to tell you about, and it was it was brutal.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
A few minutes later, air traffic control sees that that
plane loses seven hundred feet of altitude out of nowhere,
and the pilot's issue a may day call. This message
is received by an air traffic control tower in Cleveland.
The plane levels off, and thirty seconds later, the Cleveland
air traffic controllers hear the sound of a struggle and
First Officer Leroy Homer saying, quote get out of here
(27:54):
end quote. So obviously that's when they breached therein cockpit,
seems like like there wasn't the security with the cockpits
that there is now, Like they've locked the aisle when
the pilot has to come out to go to the bathroom.
It's like this whole protocol. It was not like that
then at at all, Like they'd leave the door open.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Sometime the last flight I was on, I think on
the way to Denver, the pilot came out a bunch.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
They kept being like, oh no, you can't be up
here whatever, And I was just like, I've never seen
pilots walk around this much, very weird.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, I would have been like, oh no, what's happening?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Ye just like Charlie Horse, So okay, Charlie.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Meanwhile, at nine thirty seven, American Airline seventy seven hits
the Pentagon in Washington, d C. All passengers and crew
on board are killed, as are one hundred and twenty
five people in the building. Two minutes after this, Cleveland's
air traffic controllers hear a message from the hijackers that
are on United ninety three, which had been intended for
(28:52):
the passengers but again was broadcast on the Rock channel.
In it, the hijacker falsely clams there's a bomb on board,
so it seems like that's how they use. They subdued
people as saying there was a bomb and told everyone
to remain in their seats. Hijackers engage the plane's autopilot
and the plane turns heading southeast towards Washington, DC. Right
(29:14):
then they turn off the plane's transponder, making it more
difficult to track, which shouldn't be a thing you can
turn off. Probably right, they can't do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Who knows these transponders these days?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Truly, the hijackers on the previous three planes had done
the same thing, and it's believed that the intended target
of this plane is either the White House or the
Capitol Building. Yeah, the hijackers split up the passengers, sending
most to the back of the plane and some to
first class. When we know this because the passengers and
crew in the back of the planes start making phone calls,
(29:46):
including Todd. Todd uses the airphone and wound up talking
to Lisa Jefferson at the Verizon call center. As I
told you in the beginning of this. Again, we don't
have the transcript, but Lisa says that she does not
tell Todd about the attacks in the World Train Center
and the Pentagon, wanting to freak him out. But there
are at least ten passengers on the phone at the
same time as Todd, and so the people on flight
(30:06):
ninety three do learn about the other attacks. So like,
it's not a nice related incident and this is a
suicide mission. Yeah, finding that out horrifying. Yeah, just yeah.
They also felt themselves change directions, so they are aware
that they are now flying back to the East Coast,
which is bad news. At multiple points her conversation with Todd,
Lisa offers to connect him with his wife, but he
(30:28):
tells her that he doesn't want to scare her and
the children. It seems from Lisa's end of the conversation then,
that a decision is made pretty quickly, in less than
a ten minute timeframe. It seems like all those passengers
back there decide to retake the plane, which is like
fucking bananas.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I know, how who did it first?
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I don't know, Like yeah, this like collective, like we
can't just stand here. Yes, and these things already Like
it's almost better that they knew what had already happened,
because otherwise maybe they thought everything would be fine. They
were hijacking a plane and wasn't a suicide mission. But
right they found out, yes, and they're like, we gotta
do something. Yes, it's so up against it how to
(31:08):
do something. Yeah, Like we outnumber them, I mean, and
they thought they had a bomb. It's like, but fuck it, yeah,
we have to do something. I mean, I'm just it's unbelievable.
So the widow of one of the other passengers says
that her husband, while he's on the phone with her,
then tells her that a group is planning to fight
and that they're waiting until they are above a rural
area with no houses because they are aware the crashing
(31:32):
the plane will be the likely outcome. They fucking know
the plane is going to crash and they're going to die.
Let's do this somewhere where it will take as few
you know, people on the ground as possible.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Like they're thinking of everybody else right the whole time.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Because they know if it flies into a building, it's
again like you know in Washington where they think they're going,
it's going to kill tons of people. We need to
take it down now somewhere, which was the least amount
of damn. But I know I'm going to die.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Like that is I mean like that they're not just
sitting there frozen like the person rightfully was like freaking out.
It's like they're the ones taking action in there and
the eye of the storm totally.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
So at nine fifty seven am, everyone who is on
the phone with loved ones say that they have to go.
Everyone gets off the phone. Oh one caller who's not named,
and the reporting says, quote, everyone is running up to
first class I've got to go by end quote. It's
just like they decided. Todd asks Lisa to recite the
(32:32):
Lord's Prayer with him, and he asked her to tell
his family that he loves them, and then asks her
to relay a private message to his wife, which Lisa
Jefferson has never shared. She's like, oh. Then Lisa hears
Todd asks the other people around him quote are you ready?
End quote, and then she hears them say yes, Todd's
the leader. It seems like Todd is part of the
(32:54):
people who are like leading this. Then Todd says, quote, Okay,
let's roll.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Oh that's right, because Neil Young wrote the song.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Right, so let's roll becomes this well known part of
the story, and it's like kind of used in a
way that is very Hollywood Hollywood, but also political, like
George W. Bush turns it into a political phrase. Oh right,
and it just kind of is gross. But like, so
let's just look at it now as a man who
knew he was about to die said it.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
A man who knew he was about to die and
becomes a leader on a plane where these days people
can't even like sit next to each other without fighting, right,
And this guy gets everybody together and then gets them
to do that and let's roll. Let's fucking roll.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
The cockpit's voice recorder was recovered from flight ninety three,
and it captures the sound of what the nine to
eleven commissions report will later call a sustained assault outside
the cockpit doors. Wow, loved ones. The passengers and crew
members on that flight can pick out the individual voices
of the people they lost who are fighting.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Of course they can. Can you imagine if you lose
someone and then you get a tape of their last moments,
you would be able to fucking their.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Last moments fighting for civilians lives. I mean, that's just
it's so heroic. I can't even it's the word isn't
even good enough. The hijackers try to disabled the passengers
by flying erratically to throw them all over the plane,
and the voice recorder captures the sound of things crashing
and breaking glass. The voice recorder captures one hijacker asking
(34:26):
the other if he should just crash the plane now,
and the other hijacker says to wait until the people
reach the cockpit, like they realize that.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
They're going to get overtaken.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, And so he says wait, the passengers continue their assault,
and within two minutes, one of the hijacker's yells put
it down, like they realize they've been overcome.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Put the plane down.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Yeah. This leads the nine to eleven commission to believe
that the passengers and crew were about to overcome them,
and in that movie it shows that. So at ten
oh two AM United ninety three, after just gimming the
village of Lambertsville with four thousand people in it, crashes
into an abandoned strip mine in the rolling hills of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
(35:11):
So they took it down in the middle of nowhere,
barely skimming a town full of people, to save everybody,
everybody's life but their own. Fuck I know.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
And also like, how did they do the mentality? How
did they do that? Bravery wise? Incredible?
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Everyone on board is killed instantly, but there are no
additional casualties on the ground. The plane would have been
about twenty minutes away from Washington, d C. Fifteen minutes earlier,
US airspace had been shut down and all flights had
been ordered to land finally, and it is possible that
before reaching DC, United ninety three would have been shot
down by military aircraft because at that point they had
(35:56):
been deployed. However, this would not have ensured the safety
people on the ground the way the passengers had taken
such care to. Oh, like they just were trying to
get the plane down anyway they could, and passengers.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Were like, we got to do it where there isn't anybody.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
The crash site in Shanksville has since been turned into
a memorial honoring the passengers and crew of United ninety three.
In a clearing in the trees, there's a wall of
names with a white marble block for each of the
forty passengers and crew members on board. There's also something
called the Tower of Voices, a ninety three foot tall
giant musical instrument that holds forty wind chimes. Oh that
(36:36):
beautiful Yeah, One for each voice that was cut short
on that flight. Okay, you're gonna cry so. In January
of two thousand and two, a couple months later, Lisa
Beemer welcomes a baby girl named Morgan. Later that year,
she gives an interview on NBC about her husband, Todd,
and she says that just a few weeks earlier, she
had been digging through some of Todd's things in their
(36:57):
home's basement. She says, quote, I found a catchersmith that
Todd had bought and I gave it to David and
he was thrilled. So now he has the whole gear
from Daddy, I know. And that is the story of
the passengers of United Flight ninety three on nine to eleven.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
God damn it, I know. I mean, people have the
potential to be incredible, right, and sometimes it does take
the worst of the worst to get that out of people.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah, and let's practice doing it while not in a
dire situation. Yes's exactly is bringing out the best in
you in everyday life.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
In everyday life, and people have it in them. Yeah,
I mean, goddamn, let's roll.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Let's roll. All right. Well, thank you guys for listening
to this solo episode.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Sorry I cried. I'm kind of tired.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
We have a good car and cry. Everyone knows that.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
And we love your support while we do any kind
of type of version of this show so we can
do all of the different things we're doing right now.
We're so thrilled to be out there seeing you again
doing it in person. It really is the best.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's thrilling.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
It's so fun. Anyway, stay sexy and don't get murdered.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Goodbye, Elvis, Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 2 (38:27):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Our editor is Aristotle Oscevedo.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
This episode was mixed by Leona Squalacci.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Our researchers are Maaron McGlashan and Ali Elkin.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Email your homecounts to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and now.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
You can watch us on Exactly Wright's YouTube page. While
you're there, please like and subscribe. Goodbyeye
Hosts And Creators
Georgia Hardstark
Karen Kilgariff
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