Eerie Premonition: September 11th, 2001

Most of us know exactly where we were September 11^th, 2001 ...

However, I knew where I was three months before. I had decided to take my son on an all day excursion into New York City to let him experience the sights and sounds of a big city. We started the day bright and early. From Whitestone we bustled on through the subway system, making stops here and there along the way. At this one particular stop there was a black woman standing outside the gangway, yelling and screaming at the top of her voice. She wasn't in trouble, nor was she seeking help. No, actually she was preaching a spiritual message to the masses en route into the city. I've experienced this type of preaching before when I was a kid since my mother ushered us into a number of small town Pentecostal churches where preachers would run up and down aisles and the congregation raised their hands and spoke in spiritual tongues. Many people on the subway were laughing at this woman because they thought she was crazy, but having knowledge of this type of prophetic spiritual movement I listened carefully because I recognized something powerful.

She told those on the subway to listen, and to listen well for God is speaking to us and forewarning us of impending doom. She called to the mothers to grab hold of their children, and husbands to cling to their wives for the time of God was near and many shall perish. She moved into the car, marching up and down the aisles and I felt the spiritual power move through the entire cabin. She stood right behind me, laid her hands on an individual next to me, and started praying. Again, she called to everyone, caste your sins aside and get right with God for the day of reckoning is at hand. As she marched one last time through the car, I realized not a soul laughed. Instead, there were many with their heads down or those who quietly stared the other way. Perhaps they sensed the same power but they couldn't understand what was happening. As quickly as she got into the car, she got off and went on marching through the subway with her bible in her hand and our subway car rambled away and the people from every walk of life went back to what they were doing, most everyone except for me. I sat there pondering the next ten minutes trying to understand what she'd been trying to say. For the life of me, I couldn't understand what type of impending doom she was trying to communicate and eventually as we drew near to the city, I became excited and forgot the preaching woman in the subway.

Our first stop was Battery Park, and then we walked a few blocks into the financial district until we headed straight for the Twin Towers, which had always fascinated me. The idea was to take my son to the top of the tower so he could get an incredible view of the entire city. Unfortunately, the lines were very long and there was so much to do and see that we decided to go into the other tower to the bottom floor mall and purchase some more film for my camera. We stopped to talk to an old black gentleman, a building security attendant who worked just outside the mall. He was a nice man who smiled and seemed like he really enjoyed his job and hence to this day I often wonder if he ever made it out of the towers alive.

As soon as we made our way into the tower mall, I immediately felt this strange wave of oppression. From the pit of my stomach came this feeling and it traveled to my heart and I felt a huge burden, and one that I'd never felt so powerful before.

I knew I was picking up on something, the spirits were whizzing around, and they were whispering frantically to any psychic heart that would listen. This is what they do right before any kind of disaster. I knew this because in my late teens I'd had this same feeling when someone I knew had died. And so I listened to my psychic nature and I became increasingly restless as I went into a drugstore and purchased the film. The burden in my heart hurt, it hurt so bad that I felt like crying, and it was becoming harder and harder for me to breathe. I remember my son asking me what was wrong with me. For some people there is spiritual knowledge in the air and all you have to do is listen, be in tune and reach out and grab it. And so I replied to my son, telling him that the building was going to fall and we needed to get out of there as soon as possible. My son looked at me as if I was joking. About that time, I got so lightheaded from the dizziness of the oppression that I had to sit down on a step just outside the mall. My son answered to me "Mom, this building is not going to fall." and I replied, "Yes it is and many people are going to die.” We quickly departed, and back into the subway and far away until we reached the Central Park. Again, the day was still young and there was so much to see that eventually I forgot about my insight.

Three months later, the evening before September 11th, I was standing outside on my terrace, looking down on a Via Barbieri street. I lived in Vicenza, Italy at the time and I loved sitting outside in the evenings and listening to the music from a nearby outdoor trattoria. Italians are always busy, even at night and long into the evening. I looked up into the sky and saw the lights of a faraway airplane signaling in the night sky and I had the oddest most morbid thought, which entered my mind. What would happen if that airplane crashed?

The next day, my husband called me at about 4pm in the afternoon. He told me to rush over to the community center on post and watch the main lobby television since our TV was broken. I asked him why and he told me something terrible has happened and he was on alert. Alarmed, I got on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could to Caserma Ederle military post and went to the community center. There must have been at least a hundred people milling around, watching the CNN news. The only sound I heard was the chaos coming from the television. All around me saw the soldiers I saw their faces, the outrage, the horror on the wives faces, the tears of desperation. In that moment, it all came back to me. The preacher in the subway, the burden in my soul as I walked the halls of the twin towers mall, and the night before when I recognized the airplane in flight. Little premonitions that I knew but did not heed ... I often wonder if I had been brave enough, strong enough like that preacher to roam the streets seeking anyone that would listen, would it have made a difference?

Later, my son talked to me. He said, "Mom, do you remember that day when we went to New York City and you said the building was going to fall?” And I silently replied, more than you will ever know.

RD Granados

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