September 2001 was Michael Mania in New York. It was soo crazy, YOU ROCK MY WORLD had been “leaked” to a radio station, Michael made a surprise appearance at the VMA’S with NSYNC and then the 2 huge concerts friday September 7 and Monday September 10 2001.

The morning of Tuesday Spetember 11, about 40 fans were outside the PALACE HOTEL, where Michael and his children were staying, along with his staff and dancers and musicians. Michael had arrived back at the hotel late the night before, about 1am. Many fans including myself went to the hotel after the concerts, the excitement and happiness of the concerts carried on to an impromptu fan party afterwards.

9AM and our world changed forever

That day still haunts me, and all the other MJ fans, who were there for the 2 MSG concerts.

Me and my friends were supposed to fly home to Ireland that day. We had checked out of our hotel early in the morning and dragged our luggage to Michael’s hotel, where we had planned to spend the day until going to the airport in the evening for our flight. We knew we probably would not see Michael before we left, we just wanted to spend our last hours in New York with the other fans. Michael’s usual routine when on a public trip was to not appear in the mornings, especially if he had been out late the night before. No matter whether he was in London, New York or any other city on a public trip, he would only schedule business meeting, shopping trips, theatre trips etc in afternoons or evenings. Regular hotel fans knew this, and most would only turn up to the hotel from 12pm onwards. There is no way Michael would have been going to The Twin Towers on the morning of the Terror Attacks.

At about 9 am I decide to go to the deli for breakfast for us and that’s when people started screaming and pointing to the sky and our lives changed forever.

We are the lost stories of September 11, the MJ fans and all the tourists trapped in a city under attack, cut off from the outside world, scared to stay in our hotels but also scared to go outside, not knowing even when we we could fly home, with no money to sometimes buy food, trying to call home, but not being able to cos the phones where not working, conflicting info about flights from airlines and embassy’s and all the while hearing the endless emergency services sirens, and looking downtown and seeing the smoke and smelling it in the air………

Everyone focuses on what happened at Ground Zero, but the whole city was affected. Those of us, tourists and locals of New York, who suddenly found ourselves trapped in a city at war, no way in, no way out, as Manhattan went into lock down

We couldn’t even ring home for 6 hours to let our families know we were safe, as all the phone lines went down. We had no money and had to get money wired to us, as we had no idea when we would get home.

Fighter planes were cris crossing the skies, National Guard Tanks patrolling the streets.

The never-ending sirens, hour after hour, day after day…..

Every building had continuous evacuations, we went to bed at night knowing there was a possibility the sirens would go off and we would have to run….

conflicting information from embassy’s and airlines, no one knowing when the airports would be open….

the streets deserted, Times Square silent with the billboards turned off, hardly any taxis, and those that were on the streets reluctant to take fares in case the had to go off the Island and wouldn’t be allowed back…..

The smell of smoke in the air, people wearing masks as they were afraid of breathing the smoke

Cars, emergency vehicles and firefighters in the streets covered in dust…….

Together we got though it, all the MJ fans togther, making sure everyone was ok, sharing flight info, food and making sure everyone had somewhere safe to spend the night.

Those were special times. And one special person made it just a little bit easier. The knowlege that Michael cared and was making sure we were ok when he didnt have to, made each day we were stranded just that bit easier to get through.

At about 1pm on September 11 Michael and his children left the hotel. They were taken by Police escort out of the city. They did not have any luggage with them, they did not check out of the hotel, they just left. Michael and his children were taken to safety in New Jersey, where they remained for a few weeks. He most certainly did not have a wild bus journey across America with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando the day of the Terror Attacks.

What most people dont know is that after Michael was taken to safety in New Jersey, he told his bodyguards, to stay at the hotel to look after us. All the fans stranded in New York continued to meet at Michael’s hotel even after he left. Every day the bodyguards would come out to make sure we were ok. Michael told them to use the hire cars to take us places if we needed to go somewhere. Michael told them to let fans who had no where to stay, to stay in his hotel rooms. When they came out to see us, Michael would call them on the phone and he would hear us thanking him. The bodyguards would bring us food from the hotel, and helped us with contacting airlines and embassy’s. Michael told them to stay in New York until ALL the International fans outside the hotel had gone home.

I managed to get out on the first flight to Ireland when the airports opened. Most fans were not that lucky. I was stranded for 5 days, but most fans were stranded 7 or more days. When the airports opened and Michael heard fans were having difficulty getting on flights, he sent a tour bus to the hotel to give the fans still stranded a treat. About 40 fans were there when the bus turned up with no warning. The fans were taken by the bodyguards out of New York, to New Jersey, where Michael was. They went to the cinema, had a meal, and went shopping in HMV. They spent the night in the bus, parked in the car park where Michael was staying. The next morning, they were taken back to New York.

The urban myths about Michael and September 11 need to stop, this is the truth of what happened, from someone who was there