In a Sept. 11 survival tale, the pieces just don't fit

[snopes]

Tania Head's story, as shared over the years with reporters, students, friends and hundreds of visitors to ground zero, was a remarkable account of both life and death.

She had, she said, survived the terror attack on the World Trade Center despite having been badly burned when the plane crashed into the upper floors of the south tower.

Crawling through the chaos and carnage on the 78th floor that morning, she said, she encountered a dying man who handed her his inscribed wedding ring, which she later returned to his widow.

Her own life was saved, she said, by a selfless volunteer who stanched the flames on her burning clothes before she was helped down the stairs. It was a journey she said she had the strength to make because she kept thinking of a beautiful white dress she was to wear at her coming marriage ceremony to a man named Dave.

She would discover, she said, that Dave, her fiancé, and in some versions her husband, had perished in the north tower.

But no part of her story, it turns out, has been verified.

The family and friends of the man to whom she claimed to be engaged say they have never heard of Tania Head and view the relationship she describes with the man, who truly died in the north tower, as an impossibility.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/...27survivor.php

[ParaDiddle]

New York Times article with pictures.


Link to CBS video.

- P

[Buckle Up]

I just finished reading the Times article. Very interesting. One would assume that perhaps someone would fake being a survivor for financial gain, but she didn't claim any victims' fund money, and she wasn't paid for any of her volunteer positions. Short of a future book deal, it appears she was just doing it for attention...sort of a Munschausen's syndrome-type thing, maybe.

I think it's somewhat normal to want to have a personal connection to a widespread tragedy...like, I know someone that worked there, or I was just at the Pentagon the week before...we tell our friends and families things like that. Maybe it makes us feel important, as if just feeling the communal grief is not enough. I remember in high school one of the cheerleaders died in a car wreck, and I overstated how well I knew her when I was talking to friends or telling my family what happened. I'm not sure why, though...I'm just theorizing.

If her claims are indeed fabricated, it seems pretty foolish to make them on such a grand scale. Did she honestly believe that she could go on national TV and make such specific claims (saying the specific company she supposedly worked for and the name of her supposed fiancee/husband) and she wouldn't be found out?

[Buckle Up]

Originally Posted by Class Bravo

If her claims are indeed fabricated, it seems pretty foolish to make them on such a grand scale. Did she honestly believe that she could go on national TV and make such specific claims (saying the specific company she supposedly worked for and the name of her supposed fiancee/husband) and she wouldn't be found out?

Well, obviously it's not such an outlandish thing to attempt, because she got away with it for over three years. Like the article says, no one wanted to pry and prod her for details when she was seemingly in such grief and trauma.

And I think that once one credible person buys your story, then others kind of piggyback on...e.g., "This is that lady that was on Oprah...I'm sure that Oprah's people did their fact-checking, and obviously she's telling the truth because who would lie about that?"

So, it's a combination of 1) assuming that other people fact-checked it; and 2) wanting to believe such a perfectly tragic and heroic story.

[RivkahChaya]

That actually sounds like true Munschausen's syndrome, a psychiatric disorder where people make up fantastic stories for attention, rather than any tangible gain. The disorders where people make themselves or their children sick isn't all that Munschausen's is-- in fact that subset is also known as FDS-- Facitious Disorder Syndrome.

I have a feeling that she probably made up a story one day not realizing things would get out of hand.

Not that there are no repercussions, however-- I have an aunt by marriage who survived the Holocaust in hiding, and has done some work for Holocaust Survivor Organisations. They check people's stories out for two reasons: the first is that if individuals are lying, it would feed the Holocaust deniers. The second is more generally applicable: if in any way a person's story is used to elicit sympathy that somewhere down the line results in financial contributions or in-kind contributions to any group, the contributors could withdraw or lodge complaints of fraud.

So even though Tania Head might not have sought any personal gain, if someone who visited the site, met her, and was moved to contribute to a survivors' fund, and is reading today's NYT now, well, the fallout is yet to come.

Why does this sound like a Sandra Bullock movie idea?

[Buckle Up]

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

So even though Tania Head might not have sought any personal gain, if someone who visited the site, met her, and was moved to contribute to a survivors' fund, and is reading today's NYT now, well, the fallout is yet to come.

Also, surely there might have been some sort of financial gain, even if it were indirect. For example, was she ever paid a fee to appear on any of those talk shows? Maybe someone decided to hire her for a paying job because of her credentials as a board officer for the victims' group? And even if her story were untrue, she could still do a book deal (Why I Did It, by Tania Head! Reserve your copy now on amazon.com!).

[Lawgiver]

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

That actually sounds like true Munschausen's syndrome, a psychiatric disorder where people make up fantastic stories for attention, rather than any tangible gain. The disorders where people make themselves or their children sick isn't all that Munschausen's is-- in fact that subset is also known as FDS-- Facitious Disorder Syndrome.
.

[hijack] Do you have any info on this ? When I googled Munchausens , it was specifically related to illness. My sister is like this, she tells the most outragous lies, it's unreal. Everything from Discovery channel wanted to interview her for some such show to dad molested her, none of which are true. Course, she does fake illnesses also, she has cancer of some sort or another numerous times, MS, Fibromyalgia, the list is very long. [/hijack]

[Cactus Wren]

Originally Posted by Class Bravo

If her claims are indeed fabricated, it seems pretty foolish to make them on such a grand scale. Did she honestly believe that she could go on national TV and make such specific claims (saying the specific company she supposedly worked for and the name of her supposed fiancee/husband) and she wouldn't be found out?

She wouldn't be the only one.