‘Falling Man’ 9/11 Photos, Videos Popular As September 11 Attacks Nears 15th Anniversary [Graphic]

One popular photo taken on September 11, 2001, as seen in the following video by Time, has been dubbed the “Falling Man” photo. Warning: The following video contains images and videos taken during the 9/11 tragedy that might be disturbing to some viewers.

Due to the approach of September 11, along with the fact that it will mark 15 years since the tragic day that several terrorist attacks claimed many lives, the uptick in searches for information about 9/11 is being noted by social media.

Facebook reports more than 100,000 people talking about September 11, with the #September11 hashtag alone garnering more than 97,000 posts. Another popular search term reported by Facebook is 9/11 in complete numerical format, with approximately 100,000 people talking about the topic in that manner as well.

More detailed searches for “9/11 attack videos” and all sorts of variations appear on the social networking site. After all, the school year recently began for many children who may not have been alive during the attack on September 11 — or were just babies during that fateful day — and they’ve likely been given the homework assignment to learn exactly why 9/11 is a day that will live on in infamy.

Fringe groups touting biblical reasons for September 11 can also be found on social media, with 9/11 being called the “third woe” in biblical terms. Whether true or not, haunting photos of September 11 tell the story of the day in ways that words cannot.

As reported by Time, lots of the photos taken on 9/11 represent burning and felled buildings or planes preparing to charge into the World Trade Center Towers. The “Falling Man” photo, however, captured the nation’s attention in ways that other photos of the day did not.

It was Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when Richard Drew began taking photos as he saw the tragedy unfold in New York. As mentioned in the above video, Drew did not know that he had captured the photo of the man falling headfirst out of the building until Richard came home and reviewed his Associated Press images on his computer.

Richard reflected in the above photo about the brave publications who used the iconic photo to represent the pain of the tragedy. In the above video, people can be seen on 9/11, leaning out of windows and waving white objects, hoping to be rescued and attempting to get air from beyond the smoke billowing out from behind them after the planes struck the buildings.

Drew notes that the photo of the falling man captured so much of the world’s attention because it shows a man about to die — and forces folks to think about what they would do if they had to make the same choice on September 11. The man who is captured in the photo is unknown, but he is believed to have been a man who worked at the top of the north tower in the Windows on the World restaurant.

Other striking photos from 9/11 include ones like the above, which displays flames shooting out of a World Trade Center tower after being struck by a plane in the terrorist attacks.

As President George W. Bush was informed about the attacks on September 11, as his Chief of Staff Andy Card whispered into his ear during the president’s visit to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, his stunned reaction was captured in the above photo.

Photos of the iconic World Trade Center buildings burning stunned the world on September 11, 2001.

Graphic photos of people falling or jumping from as high as 110 stories also stunned viewers.

The 9/11 photos would be studied up close over the years and used as the basis for many conspiracy theories.

Debris also fell as captured in the September 11 photos prior to the buildings falling.

The iconic photo of United Airlines Flight 175 prior to hitting the south tower can be seen above.

Photos of people running on 9/11 as the buildings collapsed are also a horrific sight.

[Photo by Richard Drew/AP Images]