Lower Manhattan Residents RELIEF Coalition

In the NEWSPAPER

Some See "Ghost" of Twin Towers at Night

By Mae M. Cheng, STAFF WRITER

For many New Yorkers, the Twin Towers are legendary. But for some, there is now talk about the buildings, the kind that sometimes spurs urban legends. Some residents of the Lower East Side, who for decades have had an unobstructed view of the majestic 110-story towers simply by glancing down East Broadway or Madison Street, say they see the outlines of the two destroyed buildings.

"It was amazing," said Mike Atta, who works at a grocery store at Rutgers and Madison streets. "It was a light, a straight light going up into the sky. It actually looked like the Twin Towers."

Atta said many people have stood outside his store on evenings to admire the "ghost" and have spoken to him about it. "Some people say it's just a light," Atta said. "Some people say it's an amazing thing." Whether it's a light that rescue workers are using to illuminate Ground Zero as they dig for survivors or an inexplicable phenomenon, people say they do not fear what they see.

"I wasn't spooked," said Angela Wu, a volunteer with the nonprofit, community-based Lower Manhattan Residents Relief Coalition, which is helping Lower East Side residents through the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack. "It was sort of a heavy experience."

B.J. Crown, a Red Cross disaster mental health expert, said many things could account for what people see. It could be a light rescue workers are using. But it could also be an image in people's minds that offers them a way to deal with the grief associated with the attacks. "These things are normal reactions to abnormal situations," Crown said. "I would think it would be sort of comforting for them."

Crown explained that if it is an image in people's minds, it is not unlike what victims of lost limbs deal with, initially believing that they can still feel their lost arm or leg. She cautions that if it is an image and people keep seeing it for months to come, they should talk to a mental health expert.

The towers "were the most beautiful thing you could see from here," said Carlos Torres, 28, a lifelong resident of the Lower East Side.

Torres said he also saw the faint image of the towers one recent night when his boss pointed it out to him. "Scared? Why?" Torres asked. "It's a thing of God."