On a crisp September morning in 2001, Associated Press photojournalist Richard Drew captured an image that would become one of the most haunting and controversial photographs of the 21st century. Known as "The Falling Man," the photograph shows a man plummeting headfirst from the burning North Tower of New York City's World Trade Center. Taken at 9:41 a.m. on September 11, the image freezes a split second of impossible calm amid chaos, as the city reeled from the deadliest terror attack on American soil.
When the photograph appeared in the New York Times and newspapers across the country the following day, it provoked an immediate and visceral reaction. According to New York magazine, many readers accused the media of exploiting the unknown man's final moments, describing the image as both an insult to the dead and an unbearable shock to the living. The backlash was so intense that major outlets quickly made images of victims falling from the towers taboo. As Susie Linfield wrote, "Photographs of the so-called jumpers have been rendered taboo, vilified as an insult to the dead and an unbearably brutal shock to the living."
Despite the controversy, the photograph has endured. It remains on display at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, tucked away in a discrete alcove projection—a silent testament to the estimated 200 people who jumped or fell from the upper floors of the Twin Towers that day. In total, the attacks killed 2,996 people and injured 25,000 others, leaving a scar on the city and the world that has yet to fully heal.
For musician Elton John, however, the image held a different kind of importance. According to CBS News, John spent two years acquiring a print of "The Falling Man" for his renowned fine art photography collection, which by 2016 had grown to nearly 8,000 prints. The singer described his perspective in a candid interview: "It’s the most beautiful image of something so tragic. It’s probably one of the most perfect photographs ever taken. It’s not a shot that a lot of people probably would want to hang on their wall. And we’ve never hung it on our wall."
John’s collection includes other iconic images of historical trauma, such as the 1972 Vietnam War photograph known as "The Napalm Girl" and, as he noted, he was actively seeking a recent image of a boy in Syria sitting silently in a chair after an airstrike. As he put it, "No, because this is an historical event. It’s as important as the naked girl running down the road [in] Vietnam [1972's 'The Napalm Girl'], and I have that. The little boy in Syria recently, just sitting there on the chair? I desperately want that photograph. And we’re trying to get it. It’s just important to have them."
The identity of the man in Drew’s photograph has never been definitively established. Early speculation suggested he might be Noberto Hernandez, a pastry chef at the Windows on the World restaurant on the 106th floor of the North Tower. But journalist Tom Junod, writing for Esquire, later suggested the man could be Jonathan Briley, a sound engineer at the same restaurant and the brother of Village People’s original "G.I.," Alex Briley. In a 2021 Associated Press article, Drew himself seemed to dismiss the need for a specific identification. "Though his quest proved fruitless, Junod eventually concluded, as I did, that the point was moot. For we already knew the identity of the man in the picture. He was you and me."
The photograph’s legacy continues to spark debate, with reactions running the gamut from reverence to revulsion. As Junod observed, "You have people saying, ‘I read this story every year, I look at this photo every year, I think of the falling man every year.’ And then you have people saying, ‘Every year I am accosted by this horror. Please make it stop.’" For some, the image is a necessary confrontation with the reality of that day; for others, it is a wound reopened each time it appears.
While most who were trapped on the upper floors perished, a handful survived in ways that defy belief. Among the most remarkable stories is that of structural engineer Pasquale Buzzelli. According to interviews with CBS News, Buzzelli was on the 22nd floor of the North Tower when the building began to collapse. He had called his wife Louise, who was seven months pregnant and watching events unfold from their New Jersey home, shortly after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building. "I called [my wife] and I said, 'Louise', I said, 'Don't be alarmed, I'm okay, everything's fine, just, can you put the television on, and tell me what you see', and she goes,…’Oh my God’… she goes, 'a plane hit your building'," he recalled.
Buzzelli and his group had tried to evacuate via the stairwell, gathering flashlights and wet towels to aid their escape. As they descended, he described the moment the structure gave way: "We gathered everything,…a flashlight, [and] we wet down some towels and stuff, and we started our way down the stairs." On the 22nd floor, "all of a sudden, you know, everything started to shake… I heard screaming, you know, people behind me screaming, and then, just everything went dark." Buzzelli dove into a corner, curling into a fetal position as the building crumbled around him. "I felt the wall that I was laying next to, just crack and the floor give away, and I stayed tucked in the foetal position with my eyes closed."
Miraculously, Buzzelli survived a 15-story fall as the tower collapsed, suffering only minor burns and a broken foot. He was rescued from the rubble by firefighters two hours later, one of only 16 survivors pulled alive from the debris. Firefighter Michael Morabito, who helped locate Buzzelli, later described the moment: "It was amazing, especially the way he was sitting. The sky was blue and he was just untouched in all that destruction." Another firefighter was overheard exclaiming, "Holy s, guys, we have a civilian up there," while a rescuer joked, "Man, you are a heavy f. What’s your name?" Morabito summed up the feeling of the rescue: "It's gotta be a miracle. Someone was watching over him. He needed to make it home."
The aftermath of 9/11 has continued to unfold in ways both visible and hidden. Health studies have revealed that long-term toxic exposure at the World Trade Center site has been linked to over 100 types of cancer, causing thousands of additional illnesses and deaths in the years since the attack. For survivors like Buzzelli and their families, the psychological toll has been profound. As Louise Buzzelli put it, "People think it ended when my husband walked through the door alive. That’s when it began for us. You can’t understand why you feel so bad when you should feel so elated. You can’t make sense of anything."
Elton John’s decision to acquire "The Falling Man" speaks to the enduring power of photojournalism to force us to confront the realities of history, no matter how painful. The image, like the story of survival and loss it represents, continues to challenge, disturb, and move those who encounter it, even a quarter-century after that fateful day.