The Woman Who Wasn't There Page #2

[MUSIC]

TANIA HEAD:
I think you find

that by talking to other people

and helping others, getting

involved,

it helps carry your own burden,

and I think that's how you mask

it.

You, you kind of, um hide your

pain

by getting involved helping

others.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]

GERRY BOGACZ:
I became aware of

Tania,

and I was very curious as to how

she got through all that.

It was a story that pulled you

in, obviously.

But I did notice that her arm

was, looked like it had been,

I don't know, it almost looked

like skin grafts

on her right arm,

and I remember thinking that it

didn't look like

it had been burned.

GERRY BOGACZ:
I had felt mad at

myself for even thinking

that there was something amiss,

but I often wonder why I was

even asking the question.

[MUSIC]

GERRY BOGACZ:
I first

encountered Tania Head

on the Internet group.

We began having an email

conversation,

and she shared her story with

me,

and I shared my story with her,

which is kind of normal for

survivors to do.

I was struck by how dramatic her

story was.

GERRY BOGACZ:
It was pervasive.

It was this idea of this person

who had gone through so much,

and, and people try to protect

her a lot,

and I think I probably had a

protective feeling

right from the start.

TANIA HEAD:
I had met Gerry

Bogacz,

and Gerry was also meeting with

survivors.

He had started having dinner

with people in his office

who were interested in meeting

and discussing

their September 11th experience.

GERRY BOGACZ:
I had the idea for

the Survivors' Network because,

again, I had this feeling of

having a hole I needed to fill

about 9/11 in me.

I suggested that she come to a

meeting

of the Survivors' Network as a

way of bringing,

bringing these two groups

together,

and that was the first time I

had met her in person.

[MUSIC]

TANIA HEAD:
We ended up going

for coffee that same day,

and we started to unite forces,

and we formed the World Trade

Center Survivors' Network.

I was driven. I'd been working

non-stop.

I'd been working at my work,

for, for my work.

I'd been working for the

Survivors' Network, for the,

for Dave's foundation, for the

widows' group.

I mean, I had just been working

24 hours a day

non-stop for different things,

and that's how my anger was

channeled

because of this obsession that I

had to,

to really not be like the

hijackers.

[MUSIC]

MARIAN FONTANA:
I think Tania's

presence

made the docent program that we

had envisioned possible.

Her story kind of fit into that

kind of all-encompassing

survivor and a hero and, you

know, a widow

and everything that kind of 9/11

came to represent on that day.

So, her story was incredible.

ALICE GREENWALD:
I would call

her just an energetic booster

for the needs of the survivor

community.

She genuinely wanted recognition

for the Survivor Network

and the survivor community to

recognize not only

what they had gone through and

attest to that,

but to provide a venue for them

to feel like this is theirs.

TANIA HEAD:
And from there, I

started going down on my own.

I've seen Sting, because I love

Sting.

GERRY BOGACZ:
We didn't have

access to the site,

so that initial ability to

actually go into the site was,

was a very powerful experience,

and it was very much appreciated

that Tania

was able to make those

arrangements.

JANICE:
It was amazing that she

survived.

So, you were just thankful, you

know, to look at her

and see people recover and heal

and do amazing stuff with their

life.

RICHARD:
She had a tremendous

sense of humor

and laughed a lot [Laughter]

and always wanted to plan

another event

and do important things,

and one couldn't help but be

drawn into that.

RUDY GIULIANI:
Tania, you did a

great job.

TANIA HEAD:
Thank you.

[MUSIC]

MALE IN GREY COAT: Are you

comfortable?

Hey Tania? Walk, walk...

MALE:
I think these reporters

are waiting for you.

TANIA HEAD:
No.

FEMALE IN TAN COAT: You don't,

don't have to.

JANICE:
After we finished the

tour,

we were getting ready to leave,

and a group of reporters came

towards Tania.

They wanted to get an interview.

Tania started having a lot of

anxiety.

She was like out of control...

...and actually led up to a

full-blown panic attack.

MALE IN GRAY COAT Just go, walk

quick, Tania, walk quick.

TANIA HEAD:
Okay.

JANICE:
Like totally breaking

down, crying,

shaking, and I had to tell the

reporters to leave her alone,

and I had to get her out of

there.

MALE IN GRAY COAT: If you don't

wanna talk, we don't talk.

[Camera shutters & crowd

talking]

TANIA HEAD:
One day I came home

from work,

and what I found was rose petals

leading from the door

to our dining room, and I

followed the rose petals,

and I found Dave standing there

with a coconut bra and a grass

skirt,

dancing to Hawaiian songs, and I

was like, "Oh, my God."

And he had, even cooked this

really disgusting Hawaiian food,

recipes that he had found on the

internet.

and on the dining table were

two,

were two tickets to Hawaii

leaving the next day.

[MUSIC]

JANICE:
He'd planned this whole

amazing trip

because she was busy working,

and he wanted to take her away

and had her measurements sent

and made her this beautiful,

white dress, and her parents

came from California over there

to witness the ceremony.

It wasn't a, a, a legal

ceremony.

It was like a just a ceremony of

a wedding.

TANIA HEAD:
I walked outside,

and there were these four huge

Hawaiian warriors with torches

waiting for me outside, and

they, I'm like,

"What's going on?"

And they're like, "No, we're

escorting you down the,

down the garden aisle."

And I go I'm like, "Okay."

So, I followed them, and we went

all the way to the beach,

and there was Dave standing in

the middle

of a circle of orchids.

And the next morning,

we started calling all our

friends and families,

telling them we had gotten

Maui-ed,

not married but Maui-ed.

[MUSIC]

BRENDAN:
Whenever she talked

about Dave,

she never showed any pictures or

anything.

We never met Dave's family.

So, the thought crossed my mind,

"What if she's one of these

people

who just never tells the truth,

and she just made everything

up?"

You know, the, the thought

crossed my mind,

but I, I didn't think it was

possible.

So, what I did was, I was about

to go to bed that night,

and I figured, "You know what?

Let me just look online,

do a little research on part of

her story,

make sure there was a connection

and see the story's true,

go to bed."

[MUSIC]

BRENDAN:
And he existed.

He was where she said he was,

and, you know,

he died on that day.

There were a lot of newspaper

articles, message boards.

He's a very popular guy,

but there was one thing that

wasn't there,

any mention of Tania anywhere.

No mention of a fianc, no

mention of the trip to Hawaii

that she talked about the month

before,

I mean, just no mention of

anything that she said.

[MUSIC]

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