Intact WTC1 Stairwell

Cropped and enlarged:

I posted this before-- but it's worth another look because it is so mind-blowing. Note the stairwell in the core section that escaped the destruction! (click to enlarge)

I think this intact stairwell tends to support the idea of demolition more than collapse-- as a straight-down collapse of that whole tower should have smashed this stairway to bits, whereas you could imagine with demolition, the section above this core section could have been blown away by mini-nukes before the debris fell down to smash these stairs.

Which reminds me of a story I read somewhere ( I have tried and tried to find it again but can't) where a ground zero worker described how he found a shadow on the wall of a WTC stairwell where it looked like a person had been vaporized-- leaving only their shadow on the wall behind-- much like happened with some people who had been nuked at Hiroshima. When I read this before, I was confused because I didn't know any stairwell of the WTC was left-- but now I have to think it was this one in the picture above.

UPDATE: This stairwell is likely the famous "Stairwell B" where several survivors from the destruction were found. There was a show on the History channel on them.

The first article has some interesting bits-- most notably how the firemen thought they survived a nuclear attack when they came out.

It's also not clear if the survivors were deeper in this stairwell during the destruction-- or if they were blown away from the main core, as what seems to be described in some parts of the story.

I don't quite understand what happened with this guy though:

He assured her that he and a dozen other employees were about to head down Stairwell B. He’d investigated. It was free of smoke. Buzzelli took the lead, his briefcase over his shoulder. It was slow going. The stairs were narrow, and clogged with people.

Then, as he reached the 22nd floor, the building shook, stairs started to heave. It sounded to Buzzelli like heavy objects were being dropped right above his head. The sound got louder, closer. He dove into a corner. “I felt the walls next to me crack and buckle on top of me,” he says. Suddenly, he seemed to be in free fall, and the walls seemed to separate and move away from him.

Maybe two hours later, he regained consciousness on a slab of concrete 180 feet below the 22nd floor. (He may be the source of the rumor that someone surfed the collapse and lived.) He was atop a hill of rubble in the midst of an endless field of rubble, smoke, and fire, sitting as if in an armchair, his feet dangling over the edge. His bag was gone. He felt numb. The air was thick with smoke and dust. He heard explosions.

That's freaking crazy. I tend to think this story is either totally bogus, or critical details aren't being told here.