Foreshadowing the Attack

Popular Culture Seemed to Anticipate the World Trade Center Attack

There are several examples in popular culture of elements of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center appearing before the attack.

The Coup Album Cover

:

Album cover originally planned for "Party Music" (above) and the South Tower a few seconds after the collision of Flight 175 (below).

A planned cover design for the album "Party Music" by the hip-hop band the Coup shows DJ Pam the Funktress and "Boots" Riley in the foreground and the Twin Towers with explosions emanating from the South Tower in the background. The depicted explosions look eerily similar to the fireballs that emerged from the South Tower upon the crash of Flight 175.

The album cover was pulled within two days of the attack, and replaced with a new design in time for the album's release date of November 6. ¹   Band member Riley explained that the resemblance to the real event was coincidental:

I came up with the idea with the photographer. We took the pictures on May 15, and we were done with it by the beginning of June. Any similarities are totally coincidental, and it was originally supposed to be more of a metaphor for destroying capitalism — where the music is making capitalist towers blow up. The politics of the Coup have more to do with the people organizing each other.

The Lone Gunman's 'PILOT' Episode

On March 4, 2001, FOX TV aired an episode of The Lone Gunmen show named PILOT, in which a secret US government agency attempts to crash a Boeing 727 into one of the Twin Towers via remote control, and blame the attack on foreign powers. The episode aired in Australia on August 30, 2001.

At the episode's climax, the jetliner's pilots realize that the plane has been commandeered as they approach the Twin Towers from the north, and manage to avert the crash at the last second by overriding a lock that is preventing them from regaining control of the aircraft from the autopilot.

An excerpt from the show is available as an MPEG on sf.indymedia.org .

---

References

1. Album cover of WTC blast pulled, CNN.com, 9/13/01