Tania Head: The Woman Who Claimed To Be a 9/11 Survivor But Wasn’t Even There
In the years following the 9/11 attacks, the name “Tania Head” became widely recognised as that of a remarkable survivor of one of the most devastating events in modern history. She captured the hearts of many with her vivid and emotional accounts of escaping the South Tower of the World Trade Center, surviving against impossible odds, and becoming a figure of strength for other survivors. However, her story was nothing more than an elaborate lie. Alicia Esteve Head, the woman behind the Tania Head persona, fabricated her entire experience of that fateful day.
Alicia Esteve Head’s Early Life
Alicia Esteve Head was born on 31st July 1973 in Barcelona, Spain, into a wealthy and prominent family. Her upbringing was marked by privilege, though her family’s reputation suffered a serious blow when they became embroiled in a financial scandal in 1992. Alicia’s father and brother were convicted and served prison terms in connection to this scandal, tarnishing the family name.
Despite these setbacks, Alicia pursued an education at the University of Barcelona and later worked for Hotel de la Villa Olímpica S.A., a Spanish hotel company. Between 1998 and 2000, she was employed as a management secretary in Barcelona. In 2001, she was enrolled in a master’s degree programme at ESADE, a renowned business school in Spain. During this period, when the September 11 attacks took place, she was living and studying in Barcelona—far from the World Trade Center in New York.
The Rise of Tania Head
In 2003, Alicia Esteve Head travelled to the United States for the first time. She reinvented herself as Tania Head, a survivor of the September 11 attacks. The following year, she made contact with the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network, a support group founded by Gerry Bogacz and others to assist survivors of the attacks. Head, claiming to be one of those survivors, eventually merged her own online support group with theirs.
Tania Head quickly rose to prominence within the network. Her harrowing account of the day of the attacks was compelling and rich in detail. She claimed to have been on the 78th floor of the South Tower when United Airlines Flight 175 struck. According to her story, she crawled through smoke and flames, suffering severe burns to her arm, and was one of only nineteen survivors above the point of impact. She further claimed that her fiancé, a man named Dave, perished in the North Tower, and that she had been saved by Welles Crowther, a real-life hero of 9/11, who became known as the “Man in the Red Bandana” for his role in rescuing many survivors.
Head’s story captivated the media and the public. She became a spokesperson for the survivors’ community, giving interviews, leading tours at the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, and even being photographed with prominent figures such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former New York Governor George Pataki.
The World Trade Center Survivors’ Network
Tania Head’s involvement with the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network was extensive. As one of the organisation’s leaders, she was instrumental in helping other survivors cope with the trauma of that day. The network aimed to provide support not just to the families of the victims but also to those who had been present at Ground Zero and were affected in various ways by the tragedy.
Head donated money to the group and was a passionate advocate for its mission. She was seen as a beacon of hope for many who had been overlooked or forgotten in the aftermath of 9/11. Her dedication, combined with her vivid recounting of the horrors of that day, solidified her position as one of the leading voices in the survivor community.
Unraveling the Lies
In September 2007, six years after the attacks, suspicions about Tania Head’s story began to surface. The New York Times sought to verify some of the key details of her account for an anniversary piece on 9/11. It was then that her story started to fall apart.
Head had claimed to have degrees from both Harvard University and Stanford University, but neither institution had any record of her attendance. She also stated that she had been working at Merrill Lynch in the South Tower at the time of the attacks, but Merrill Lynch had no record of her employment. Furthermore, Merrill Lynch did not even have offices in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks.
When pressed for clarification, Head began to back out of interviews and refused to engage with reporters. As more questions arose, the Survivors’ Network conducted its own investigation, leading to her removal as president of the organisation by the end of September 2007.
Among the many inconsistencies in her story was her relationship with “Dave,” the man she claimed had been her fiancé. His family, when contacted, revealed they had never heard of Tania Head, and there was no evidence that she had any connection to him.
The Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia further exposed her lies when they reported that Head had been attending classes at ESADE in Barcelona during the September 11 attacks. She had told her classmates that the scars on her arm were from either a car accident or a horse-riding accident that had occurred years before.
The Aftermath of Deception
After her lies were exposed, Tania Head, or rather Alicia Esteve Head, abruptly left New York and returned to Spain. She declined all further interviews and retreated from the public eye. In 2008, an anonymous email circulated among members of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network, claiming that Head had died by suicide. This turned out to be yet another fabrication.
In 2012, the full extent of Head’s deception was chronicled in both a book and a feature documentary titled The Woman Who Wasn’t There. These works delved deep into her story, with interviews from members of the Survivors’ Network before and after the revelation of her lies. The documentary also noted that Head had been spotted with her mother in New York on 14th September 2011, a clear indication that she was still alive.
Back in Barcelona, Head continued to live quietly. In 2012, she lost her job at Inter Partner Assistance, an insurance company, when her employers discovered her fraudulent past. By 2021, she had reportedly started a renovation company in her home city and was seen in Terrassa, a city in the province of Barcelona.
Tania Head’s story is one of the most shocking cases of identity fraud in recent memory. Her falsehoods not only betrayed the trust of thousands of people, particularly those in the survivors’ community, but they also desecrated the memory of those who had genuinely suffered and perished in the attacks.
Head’s tale stands as a cautionary reminder of the dangers of unchecked narratives and the power of lies to manipulate public opinion. Despite her deception, the strength of the 9/11 survivors’ community endures, proving that while one person may have tried to exploit the tragedy for personal gain, the resilience and unity of those affected remain unshaken.
Sources:
• Dwyer, Jim; Shane, Scott (2007-09-27). “In a 9/11 Survival Tale, the Pieces Just Don’t Fit”. The New York Times.
• Stempel, Jonathan (2008-05-29). “Author tells story of 9/11 fraud”. Reuters.
• Paddock, Barry (2012-04-13). “Woman who faked 9/11 survival claims revealed”. New York Daily News.
• Garbarine, Rachelle (2012-04-11). The Woman Who Wasn’t There. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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