A haunting homemade video is resurfacing online showing the moment a group of students witnessed the 9/11 terror attacks from their dorm room window in New York City.
While many people today know 9/11 only through documentaries or archive footage, one woman’s camcorder tape captures the sheer shock and confusion in real-time - before the world fully understood what was happening.
A generation without smartphones, caught in the chaos
In 2001, there was no social media. No Twitter updates or live-streamed footage.
Most people relied on the TV or phone calls to understand what was unfolding in Manhattan that day. And for those who lived there, like Caroline Dries, it was a terrifying descent into the unknown.
Caroline, who later became a successful TV writer on shows like The Vampire Diaries and Batwoman, was a student in NYC when she picked up a camcorder and started filming from her dorm room.
What she captured is one of the most raw, real, and chilling glimpses into the events of that day.
“Thank god it’s not a terrorist attack”
In the footage, Caroline’s roommate is seen speaking on the phone to her mother, explaining they had been woken up by a loud noise. When they looked out the window, smoke was already pouring from the North Tower.
“No way... what is that,” one woman says, while another adds: “Thank god it's not a terrorist attack.”
The video captures their voices trembling with uncertainty, completely unaware of what was still to come.
A horrifying realisation as the second plane hits
The situation quickly turns from confusion to horror. The women begin to realise the true scale of the tragedy, one of them pointing out that people are falling from the tower. Just moments later, the second plane slams into the South Tower.
Panic erupts in the room. One woman, overwhelmed by what she’s witnessing, attempts to leave the apartment.
Screaming as the towers fall and smoke fills the city
Later, another clip shows the group trying to regain a sense of normalcy. They're back in the apartment, drinking apple juice and joking about vodka - still processing the trauma of what they’ve seen.
But that fragile calm doesn’t last long.
As the towers begin to collapse, a giant cloud of smoke rushes toward their building. Screams fill the room.
"Shut the window, shut the window," one of the women shouts—just before the footage cuts off.
"Sometimes I think it would be nice to have not filmed it"
Caroline’s footage was later featured in the Emmy-winning documentary 102 Minutes That Changed America, which compiled real-time recordings taken by people across New York on 11 September 2001.
Reflecting on her decision to film, Caroline told CNN: “People want to remember the details. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have not filmed it, just have run [and] for time to have erased it and moved on a little faster.”