Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, one photograph continues to haunt the collective memory of the tragedy. Known simply as “The Falling Man,” the image shows an unidentified man falling from the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center as the buildings were engulfed in flames and smoke.

Captured by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, the photograph became one of the most controversial and powerful images of 9/11. Unlike the widely circulated photographs of burning towers and aircraft striking buildings, Drew’s image focused on a single human being caught in the final moments of an unimaginable catastrophe.

As the United States marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks, the photograph has once again come under scrutiny. Questions about the identity of the man, the circumstances of his fall and the ethics of publishing such an intimate image of death continue to surround it.

How the photograph was taken-The Falling Man

Drew was originally in New York to cover Fashion Week on September 11, 2001. After hearing that an aircraft had struck the World Trade Center, he immediately made his way toward Lower Manhattan.

When he arrived, the situation was rapidly deteriorating. Smoke and debris filled the streets as the Twin Towers burned. Drew began documenting the unfolding disaster through his camera. He soon noticed people falling from the upper floors of the towers.

Drew photographed several such moments before the North Tower eventually collapsed. One frame stood out: a man appeared almost perfectly aligned with the vertical lines of the buildings behind him. His body was captured in a strikingly symmetrical position as he fell toward the ground.

The photograph was taken at approximately 9:41 a.m., according to historical records of the image.

A photograph that divided the public

The image appeared in several newspapers on September 12, 2001, but it immediately generated controversy. Some readers objected to the publication of a photograph showing a person in the final moments of his life.

Many newspapers and television networks subsequently avoided repeatedly displaying images of people falling from the towers, considering them too disturbing for audiences and potentially painful for victims’ families.

Yet over time, “The Falling Man” came to be regarded not merely as a photograph of death but as a visual representation of the human cost of the attacks.The image captured something that photographs of buildings could not: the personal tragedy hidden behind the enormous scale of the disaster.

Who was the Falling Man?

The identity of the man has never been officially confirmed.Several journalists attempted to determine who he was. Early investigations suggested that he could have been an employee of Windows on the World, the restaurant located near the top of the North Tower.

One early identification pointed toward restaurant worker Norberto Hernandez, but members of his family rejected that possibility. Later investigations focused on several other employees.

One of the strongest theories identified the man as Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old sound engineer who worked at Windows on the World.

Journalist Tom Junod investigated the possibility and found several clues connecting Briley to the photograph. One particularly significant detail was an orange T-shirt apparently visible beneath the man’s clothing in another photograph from the same sequence. Briley was known to wear such shirts. His shoes and physical appearance were also cited as supporting clues.However, despite these clues, the identification has never been conclusively established.

Briley’s sister, Gwen Briley-Strand, has said that she prefers to view the photograph as representing everyone who died that day rather than focusing exclusively on whether it depicts her brother.

More than a photograph

For Drew himself, the image is not simply a record of someone dying. He has repeatedly explained that the photograph represents a person whose identity may never be known.

The photograph’s power comes partly from its anonymity. The man could represent any one of the thousands of people affected by the attacks.

Drew has said that viewers often identify with the figure because they instinctively think: that could have been me.

That anonymity has also transformed the man into a symbol. Rather than being remembered only as an individual victim, the Falling Man has come to represent the thousands of lives lost during the attacks and their aftermath.

The difficult question of choice

Another reason the photograph remains deeply disturbing is that it raises an uncomfortable question: was the man falling accidentally, or had he deliberately chosen to escape the burning building?The photograph itself cannot answer that question.

The North Tower was struck by American Airlines Flight 11, trapping many people on upper floors. Those individuals faced fire, smoke and extreme heat, leaving them with extraordinarily limited options for survival. Historical accounts note that hundreds of people above the impact zone were unable to escape.

For this reason, experts and journalists have cautioned against simplistic descriptions of those who fell as having “jumped.” The exact circumstances differed from person to person and, in many cases, remain unknown.

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A lasting symbol of September 11

Over the years, “The Falling Man” has appeared in documentaries, books, exhibitions and discussions about journalism and the ethics of photographing tragedy.

British singer Elton John, who owns a copy of the photograph, has described it as an extraordinarily powerful image of tragedy.

The photograph has also become part of a larger debate about the role of journalists during disasters. Drew was confronted with an extraordinary ethical challenge: whether to photograph people in their final moments while the world around him was collapsing.

For Drew, the camera became a means of documenting history.

25 years later, the mystery remains

As America observes the 25th anniversary of September 11, the identity of the Falling Man remains one of the enduring mysteries surrounding the attacks. Recent reporting has again highlighted the theory that the man may have been Jonathan Briley, but the evidence remains inconclusive.That uncertainty may ultimately be part of the photograph’s enduring significance.

The man remains unnamed, but his image has survived for a quarter-century. He represents not only one person’s final moments but the thousands of individual stories that were overshadowed by the enormous scale of the September 11 attacks.

“The Falling Man” therefore remains more than an iconic photograph. It is a reminder that behind every historic event are individual lives, families and stories—many of which can never be fully recovered.