12 years later, this is still the most shocking 9/11 documentary you’ll see

Every year, new explorations of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center are released, but none have ever had quite the impact as this shocking true story.

For those outside the US, the impact of the September 11 attacks can be fractionally understood by the effect the event had on popular media.

Whether it was in horror movies or heavy-hitting TV dramas (or even some of the most action-packed superhero movies), it became hard to avoid the imagery and paranoia that resulted.

But no format tackled 9/11 as head-on as documentaries. From explorations of singular figures to complete minute-by-minute breakdowns of the day, the event is covered from practically every angle.

And yet, one documentary stands out from the rest as being the most unbelievable. The Woman Who Wasn’t There, released in 2012, examines one of the most shocking stories to come from the attacks, as well as one of the most despicable lies ever told.

The Woman Who Wasn’t There explores a terrible lie

The Woman Who Wasn’t There explores the case of Alicia Esteve Head, who went by the name of Tania Head, a woman who claimed to be a survivor of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

It would eventually be revealed that this tragic story of survival and recovery was completely fictional. Head made the entire story up, and wasn’t even in the country at the time of the attacks.

The story was made into a book and then a documentary in 2012, both titled The Woman Who Wasn’t There. The movie included interviews from members of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network, who knew Head before and after her lies were exposed.

Tania Head infiltrated a group of survivors

Tania, real name Alicia Esteve Head, was born in Barcelona in 1973. She grew up in Spain, graduating from University of Barcelona and working as a management secretary from 1998 to 2000.

In 2001, when the World Trade Center attacks took place, she was taking a master’s degree program at ESADE, an international school in Barcelona.

Astonishingly, Head wouldn’t travel to the United States until 2003, two years after the attacks happened. In 2004, she joined World Trade Center Survivors’ Network.

One of the network’s founders, Gerry Bogacz, had learned “through word of mouth” that a woman named Tania Head had created an online support group for 9/11 survivors. After a few months of correspondence over email, Head’s online group and Bogacz’s group would merge.

Meredith Vieira Productions

The purpose of World Trade Center Survivors’ Network was to provide support for survivors, as well as the families of those who died in the attacks. This also included others who were affected, including first responders.

It’s maintained that Head never earned any profit from her work in the network, and in fact donated to the cause.

Tania’s story was a disturbing piece of make-believe

Tania would ultimately create her own version of events that took place on September 11. She claimed to have been inside the South Tower when United Airlines Flight 175 flew into the building, on the 78th floor.

As she told it, she crawled through smoke and flames, getting severely burned on her arm. Head claimed that she had a fiancé, who she called Dave, who was killed in the North Tower. (In a later version of the story, she would describe Dave – nicknamed “Big Dave” – as her husband.)

In one eerie detail, she even claimed that a man had passed her his wedding ring, so that she could return it to his widow on his behalf.

Meredith Vieira Productions

As for her “rescue”, she claimed that Welles Crowther, a real man who was in the South Tower during the attacks, saved her by putting out a fire on her clothes. Crowther was considered a genuine “hero”, and died during his attempts to help multiple people. At least eighteen people have credited Crowther as saving their lives.

Alison Crowther, the mother of Welles Crowther, would later say of the alleged rescue: “[Tania] never shared those details, and it was nothing we wanted to probe. I felt it was too private and painful for her.”

It’s worth noting that, if Tania’s story had been true, then this would have made her one of only 19 survivors to have been at that point of impact or above.

In the years following her addition to the network of survivors, Tania was interviewed by the media, spoke at university conferences, and even led tours for the Tribute WTC Visitor Center in 2005.

She would tell the tour groups: “I was there at the towers. I’m a survivor. I’m going to tell you about that.”

She also later said at a memorial event in 2006: “What I witnessed there I will never forget. It was a lot of death and destruction, but I also saw hope.”

What happened to Tania Head?

Tania’s story began to unravel in September 2007, when The New York Times attempted to verify some key details in her story for an anniversary piece.

In the past, Tania claimed to have a degree from Harvard University and a business degree from Stanford University. These schools, of course, had no record of her at all. It was also discovered that Merrill Lynch, who she’d claimed to be working for in the South Tower, had no records of her employment.

In an even stranger twist, Merrill Lynch did not even have offices in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks.

After Head began backing out of interviews and refusing to speak to any reporters, the Times then contacted the Survivors’ Network, hoping to question them about Head’s story. On September 27, 2007, Head was removed from her position as president and director of the group.

Meredith Vieira Productions

When the family of “Big Dave”, who was a real person in the North Tower, were questioned, they confirmed that they’d never heard of anyone called Tania Head.

Finally, the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia later confirmed that Head had been in ESADE in Spain on September 11, where she’d even told her classmates that the scarring on her arm was due to a car accident. (She’d also cited a horse accident in the years prior.)

The publication reported that Head was at ESADE until 2002, and that she’d previously told classmates she wanted to go to New York.

After Head was exposed and her story was uncovered, she declined to speak to all media and withheld any interviews. She left New York shortly afterwards.

In February 2008, a mysterious email from a Spanish address was sent to the World Trade Center Survivors Network, alleging that Head had died by suicide. However, this was also later proven to be false, since Head had been spotted in New York with her mother on September 14, 2011.

Head was fired from her job at an insurance company in Barcelona once they discovered her 9/11 claims, and she later opened a renovation company in 2021. On September 8, she was photographed in Terrassa, a city in Barcelona.

The Woman Who Wasn’t There is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Fubo, and Tubi.