Strange Country Episode 199: Tania Head

Tania Head told others she was on the 78th floor sky lobby when a plane crashed through the windows, nearly killing everyone on impact. Head said she made it out with seconds to spare before the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in what would turn out to be America's most devastating terrorist attack on Sept. 11. Head took her trauma and put it into action as president of a survivor's network. Trouble is, her story was completely untrue. Strange Country hosts Beth and Kelly discuss Head's deceit and their disbelief over the steps Head took to maintain her ruse.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

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"Barcelona paper casts new doubt on Tania Head's Sept. 11 account." Sep 30 2007. Web. ProQuest. 12 July 2021.

"CON AIR." Daily Telegraph [Sydney, New South Wales, Australia], 14 Sept. 2013, p. 40. Gale OneFile: News, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A352528323/STND?u=nysl_sc_flls&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=8bba2a26. Accessed 12 July 2021.

Dunlap, David W., and Serge F. Kovaleski. “In a Sept. 11 Survival Tale, the Pieces Just Don't Fit.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Sept. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/world/americas/27iht-27survivor.7660692.html?searchResultPosition=14.

Fisher, Robin Gaby, and Angelo J. Gugliemo. The Woman Who Wasn’t There: The True Story of an Incredible Deception. Touchstone Books, 2013.

Graff, Garrett M. “On 9/11, Luck Meant Everything.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 10 Sept. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/september-11-blind-luck-decided-who-lived-or-died/597688/.

Gugliemo, Angelo J., director. The Woman Who Wasn't There. Amazon Prime, 2012, www.amazon.com/Woman-Who-Wasnt-There/dp/B00AHGXIE2.

Kovaleski, Serge F. "Comic Says His Story About 9/11 Was a Lie." New York Times, 17 Sept. 2015, p. C1(L). Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A428848750/ITOF?u=oswego&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=76b45bde. Accessed 12 July 2021.