UnderMiner
Silver Member
- Jul 27, 2014
- 3,818
- 9,726
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
22 years ago, on 9/11/2001 the World Trade Center towers of NYC were destroyed. Thousands perished in the wake of the attacks and many thousands more in the subsequent wars that followed.
No amount of time can pass that will make discussing this subject easy as this tragedy surpasses almost all comprehension. The truth of the matter is however, that much like the loss of the Titanic in 1912, the loss of the World Trade Center in 2001 consisted of more than the loss of human life, it was also a colossal financial loss that is seldom discussed in respect for the aforementioned victims. But I think it is about time we discussed the lost treasure of the World Trade Center and revisit the men, the women, the salvage workers, and the looters, who sought to bring it back to the surface.
As the towers collapsed their remains scattered over a large area and burried many smaller buildings under countless tons of debris. Many of these small buildings contained banks, vaults and luxury stores, and for many months these places were completely sealed under over 50 feet of steel and concrete. Lower Manhattan, from September 2001 to mid-2002, was in many ways akin to the city of Pompeii, a large section of a metropolitan area burried, sealed, and locked in a permanent state of tragedy waiting to be rediscovered.
Five months into the salvage effort this photo was taken. It was taken by a friend of mine, and this is the first time I am sharing it publicly. It depicts a crewman unearthing a hoard of wine from inside a recently opened chamber, part of a crushed store. Such chambers and air pockets were a common discovery as the salvage workers inched deeper and deeper down through the debris.
Very little is written of this strange time and place that existed for several months within the shadow of the collapsed Trade Center. Tales exist, that are substantiated by my friends as well as documented in NYC police reports, of men breaking into the exclusion zone to illegally tunnel into and loot the banks and stores buried below.
Millions of dollars in gold bullion, diamonds, jewlery, Rollex watches, and a great variety of other treasures were stolen in these raids.
In the months following September 2001 through to the early months of 2002, salvage crews broke through to entirely intact structures, the deepest places under the debris unscathed by the tremendous weight above them. Here they discovered shops, news stands and cafes completely frozen in time. Breakfast still sat on plates upon tables, coffee still in cups, purses still resting on chairs, even ATM machines still with the receipts of their very last customers, the time recorded on them from the exact moment the attacks had started.
By the end of the year 2002 all these macabre time capsules were completely demolished. It was a strange world that existed but briefly in a time 22 years ago. Some try to forget, others don't want to talk about it, and many more find it insensitive to even mention. Growing up as a kid in NYC the idea of exploring the pile at Ground Zero and looking for treasure was one of my dreams, but it was probably best I never got the chance. At the very least I knew many people who did get the chance, firemen and salvage workers, and they shared their stories with me. The truth is most of them didn't find anything of value, they found bodies and bones.
The following are some more photos taken by my friends at Ground Zero from this strange time and place, these have been in my posession for many years and have never been shared publicly until now (these are all non-graphic images only):
No amount of time can pass that will make discussing this subject easy as this tragedy surpasses almost all comprehension. The truth of the matter is however, that much like the loss of the Titanic in 1912, the loss of the World Trade Center in 2001 consisted of more than the loss of human life, it was also a colossal financial loss that is seldom discussed in respect for the aforementioned victims. But I think it is about time we discussed the lost treasure of the World Trade Center and revisit the men, the women, the salvage workers, and the looters, who sought to bring it back to the surface.
As the towers collapsed their remains scattered over a large area and burried many smaller buildings under countless tons of debris. Many of these small buildings contained banks, vaults and luxury stores, and for many months these places were completely sealed under over 50 feet of steel and concrete. Lower Manhattan, from September 2001 to mid-2002, was in many ways akin to the city of Pompeii, a large section of a metropolitan area burried, sealed, and locked in a permanent state of tragedy waiting to be rediscovered.
Five months into the salvage effort this photo was taken. It was taken by a friend of mine, and this is the first time I am sharing it publicly. It depicts a crewman unearthing a hoard of wine from inside a recently opened chamber, part of a crushed store. Such chambers and air pockets were a common discovery as the salvage workers inched deeper and deeper down through the debris.
Very little is written of this strange time and place that existed for several months within the shadow of the collapsed Trade Center. Tales exist, that are substantiated by my friends as well as documented in NYC police reports, of men breaking into the exclusion zone to illegally tunnel into and loot the banks and stores buried below.
Millions of dollars in gold bullion, diamonds, jewlery, Rollex watches, and a great variety of other treasures were stolen in these raids.
In the months following September 2001 through to the early months of 2002, salvage crews broke through to entirely intact structures, the deepest places under the debris unscathed by the tremendous weight above them. Here they discovered shops, news stands and cafes completely frozen in time. Breakfast still sat on plates upon tables, coffee still in cups, purses still resting on chairs, even ATM machines still with the receipts of their very last customers, the time recorded on them from the exact moment the attacks had started.
By the end of the year 2002 all these macabre time capsules were completely demolished. It was a strange world that existed but briefly in a time 22 years ago. Some try to forget, others don't want to talk about it, and many more find it insensitive to even mention. Growing up as a kid in NYC the idea of exploring the pile at Ground Zero and looking for treasure was one of my dreams, but it was probably best I never got the chance. At the very least I knew many people who did get the chance, firemen and salvage workers, and they shared their stories with me. The truth is most of them didn't find anything of value, they found bodies and bones.
The following are some more photos taken by my friends at Ground Zero from this strange time and place, these have been in my posession for many years and have never been shared publicly until now (these are all non-graphic images only):
