911 Actors? Flight 11 & 175: The Strange Tale of Ruth McCourt & Paige Hackel

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Originally posted by do2read: } 3 May 2010 , 00:36 AM

Original link @ Way Back

911 Actors? Flight 11 & 175: The Strange Tale of Ruth McCourt & Paige Hackel -​

Paige Farley Hackel pictured above with Ruth Clifford McCourt & her daughter

Ruth Clifford McCourt and Paige Farley Hackel were inseparable friends for 20 years, then when they couldn't get tickets on the same flight boarded flights 11 and 175.

This fact is in every story on them I could find.

The major problem with this story line is that all four 911 flights were drastically under booked. There were plenty of extra seats on both flights. One story says;

Quote:

Try as they might, they couldn't get seats on the same plane.

None of the news stories or biographies of these two women ever mentions anything besides they couldn't get seats on the same flight.

Original link http://www.sun-sentinel.com/topic/la...1.story?page=1

Quote:

You may think of it as the strangest collision in the strangest week in American memory. You might call it the deadly serendipity of circumstances, an incredible freak of science and mathematics and airline schedules, or the terrible collateral of terrorist carnage. Ruth Clifford McCourt and Paige Farley Hackel would say you were wrong to think of their story as random--if only they were still here to tell it. McCourt and Hackel were best friends for more than a decade. They toured Africa together. They were meditation partners. In their mid-40s, they still were turning heads all over New England. "Soul sisters," they called themselves. Separate the two and the universe might be thrown dangerously out of balance. Tuesday, they were traveling with each other again, driving to Boston's Logan International Airport to begin a vacation in Southern California. With Ruth's daughter Juliana in tow, they would see friends and spend a few days at Deepak Chopra's Center for Well Being in La Jolla. But their togetherness ended at the airport: Try as they might, they couldn't get seats on the same plane. Hackel, 46, left first, on American Airlines Flight 11. Ruth McCourt, 45, and Juliana, 4, boarded United Airlines Flight 175. In New York, McCourt's brother, Ronald Clifford, had arrived at the World Trade Center from his home in New Jersey. He was 15 minutes early for a business meeting. As he paced the lobby, he felt the building shake. It was Paige Hackel's flight crashing into the north tower. Clifford spotted a woman whose skin had been singed. He led her out of the building and helped her find medical treatment, according to relatives. Then he looked up and saw the plane carrying his sister and niece crash into the south tower. On Saturday, Hackel's family, including her mother, husband and stepson, attended a funeral Mass for McCourt and her daughter in East Lyme, Conn. Today, the McCourt clan will travel north to Boston for Hackel's service. The brother who saw it all insisted on handling the arrangements. "This is all completely appropriate," said McCourt's mother, Paula Scott. "I knew that if one of them had to go, both of them would have to go. And now our families have come together. "My daughter and Paige were terribly connected." One morning 11 years ago, Paige Hackel walked into Clifford Classiques, a spa on Centre Street in Boston that Ruth Clifford had opened in 1985. A conversation about everything from skin treatments to the afterlife ensued. The two women discovered they had, in different ways, devoted their lives to healing. The third of six children and the only daughter of a paper merchant and his wife in Cork, Ireland, Ruth Clifford had immigrated to the United States at age 17. After living briefly in Los Angeles, she moved to Rochester, N.Y., where she was hired to open satellite campuses around the country for a modeling school based there. In 1982, she settled in Boston. The woman who entered her shop had a tougher life. Born in the Boston suburb of Framingham, the former Paige Farley, one of three siblings, spent much of her early years battling drug and alcohol addiction. She successfully completed treatment in 1985 and, by the time she met Clifford, she was volunteering with Salvation Army treatment programs and working toward a master's degree in substance abuse counseling. She sought out spiritual counsel from self-help gurus, notably author Wayne Dyer. She met and married Allan Hackel and they settled into a home in Newton, not far from McCourt's. Their answering machine playfully urges friends to "take a deep breath, smile, enjoy the day." "Paige had been through a lot," says Mimi Torp of Santa Monica, who was a friend of both women. But now "she was married to a husband who . . . was a very supportive man." The new friends made a striking pair on the streets of Boston. Clifford, who had done some modeling, was tall with fire-red hair. Hackel, who ran triathlons, had dark hair and bright eyes that commanded attention. Hackel introduced Clifford to meditation. They had traveled to Chopra's center in La Jolla at least once before. In recent years, Hackel had studied with a colleague of Chopra's, Debbie Ford, author of the New York Times bestseller "The Dark Side of the Light Chasers." Hackel was a member of an "integrative coaching" group that met over the phone every Tuesday. She found Ford's "shadow process" so inspiring that she made plans to start an AM radio show to be called "Spiritually Speaking." "For many people who have been on the road to recovery, it's not about trying to get rid of or change everything," says Ford. "It's about learning to love and integrate all parts of you." In September 1994, Clifford married David McCourt, owner of a construction business, in a ceremony at the Vatican. When Juliana was born, Hackel was her godmother. In 1999, the McCourts moved to a waterfront home in New London, Conn., David's hometown. To bridge the distance, the friends scheduled outings. Hackel would come to Connecticut for McCourt's St. Patrick's Day parties, or McCourt would travel north to join Hackel on trips to Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. In January of this year, McCourt, Hackel and Hackel's mother, Marjorie Farley, visited South Africa and Zimbabwe. In March, they went skiing. Last month, McCourt helped her friend organize a birthday party for Hackel's mother in Boston. The California trip would be another opportunity to be together. McCourt would tag along with Hackel on a four-day intensive session with Ford at Chopra's. They would visit friends in Los Angeles and take Juliana to Disneyland. It wasn't until Tuesday night that their loved ones pieced together the details of the tragedy. Family and friends said they took small comfort--but comfort nonetheless--in the fact that the two friends had perished together. In California, Ford said she believes that in some way, the proximity of the deaths of Hackel and the two McCourts were "planned, fated. . . . I don't really believe in coincidences." Family and friends say McCourt and Hackel would have responded to the terrorist attack by emphasizing peace and negotiation. In New London, the Juliana McCourt Children's Educational Fund has been established to help foreign students come to the United States and study subjects related to healing and tolerance. In California, a Paige Farley Scholarship will allow people to attend Ford's training program tuition-free. As she prepared for the two funerals, Paula Scott, McCourt's mother, kept replaying the World Trade Center crashes in her mind. She says she somehow knew at the moment she saw the second plane crash on TV that she had lost her granddaughter, her daughter and her daughter's best friend. "I know it wasn't physically possible," she says. "But I had a vision of all of them holding onto each other."

see also: http://www.naebunny.net/~mommylemur/?p=1794

Quote:

Ruth Magdaline (Clifford) McCourt A tribute in the 2,996 Project On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Ruth McCourt, her four year old daughter Juliana and her best friend Paige Farley-Hackel drove to Boston’s Logan International Airport. They were on their way to Southern California. They were going to see friends, they were going to spend a few days at Deepak Chopra’s Center for Well-Being where Paige would receive certification in the Debbie Ford Shadow Process and they were going to take “Miss J” to Disneyland. Because they wanted to use frequent flier miles, they wound up on different airlines. Paige was on American Airlines flight 11, Ruth and Juliana were on United flight 175. They would meet up at the airport in Los Angeles, California, and begin their mini-vacation. Paige Farley Hackel pictured above with Ruth Clifford McCourt& her daughter That same morning Ruth’s brother Ron Clifford, who lives in New Jersey, had a meeting scheduled at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown, but it was moved to the Marriott World Trade Center at the last moment. He and Ruth were especially close, she’d even instructed him on which tie to wear for the meeting. It was a beautiful day, his daughter Monica’s 11th birthday, and this meeting was extremely important to his career future. He arrived about 15 minutes early, and was standing in the lobby of the WTC when the first plane, American 11, hit the north tower. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but a terribly burned woman appeared in front of him and he wound up helping her. He was praying with her and trying to keep her talking (and conscious) when the second plane hit the south tower and he knew he had to get her out of there quickly. (The woman was 40-year old Jennieann Maffeo, who had been standing at a bus stop outside the twin towers. She had been doused with burning jet fuel when the first plane crashed, and had suffered third degree burns over more than 90% of her body. Forty two days after Ron Clifford led her from the WTC she died of kidney failure.) It wasn’t until after he’d gotten the lady to an ambulance and boarded the ferry to New Jersey that he learned the cause of the fires. He was glad his sister and niece had left for California the day before and hoped that they weren’t watching CNN. He didn’t want them seeing this and worrying about his safety. As he watched the first tower collapse from the ferry, he realized that by giving him something to focus on, the lady he’d helped had probably saved his life. Ron made it home, stunned, shaken and devastated by all that he had witnessed. Later that evening he learned that Ruth and Juliana had not left the day before, and had, in fact, been on that second plane which crashed into the south tower at 9:02:54 a.m., and that Paige Farley-Hackel, a friend of the entire family, had been on the first, which crashed into the north tower at 8:46:26 a.m. Days later, as she prepared for the funerals, Paula Scott, Ruth’s mom, kept replaying the World Trade Center crashes in her mind. She says she somehow knew at the moment she saw the second plane crash on TV that she had lost her granddaughter, her daughter and her daughter’s best friend. “I know it wasn’t physically possible, but I had a vision of all of them holding onto each other.” Ron asked a friend of his, a NY policeman, to retrieve some ashes for Ron to send back to a brother in Ireland. When Tommy the cop gave Ron the ashes, he also gave him a piece of glass, tinted black, irregularly shaped, but smooth on the edges. It’s a piece of the World Trade Center, and now Ron carries it all the time. ”It gives me some solace to have something. Some remembrance. It’s tempered glass. You can hold it as tight as you can and it’s not going to cut you.” Ron had his piece of glass engraved. On one side it reads, ”What a sister.” On the other, ”In the life.” ~~~~~ “In the life,” was Ruth’s saying. In addition to her tall, elegant beauty, the redhead was blessed with a sharp, quick mind and stood firm in her convictions. She often began her proclamations with the phrase, which is an old Irish expression meaning something akin to “in this lifetime.” Born on June 4, 1956, Ruth was the third of six children and the only daughter born to her parents in Ballintemple, County Cork, Ireland. She immigrated with her family to the United States in 1973 at the age of 17. She first lived in Pacific Palisades with her family, her step-father was a professor at UCLA. After doing some modeling of her own, Ruth moved to Rochester, NY, where she worked for a modeling school: she was tasked with opening new branches of the school around the country. In 1982, she settled just outside of Boston in Newton, Massachusetts, and in 1985, she opened a day spa there, “Clifford Classiques” which eventually grew into full service spas and salons with its own line of products. Paige and Ruth had met in 1989, when Paige came to Ruth’s Newton spa. The two women began chatting about this and that, and, as they realized how much they had in common, something sparked between them. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, the women considered themselves soul-sisters. Paige became a part of Ruth’s extended family, who liked to joke that if you separated the two of them the universe might be thrown dangerously out of balance. In September 1994, Ruth married David McCourt, owner of Abco Wire and Metal Products, in a ceremony at the Vatican. She sold her business and the happy couple moved to New London, Connecticut, which was David’s hometown. Paige still lived in Newton, but the women were as close as ever and frequently traveled together or spent time at one another’s homes. When Juliana was born on May 4, 1997, Paige was named her Godmother. In 2001, Ruth and Paige had been busy. In January, along with Paige’s mom Marjorie, they visited South Africa and Zimbabwe. In March, Paige had gone to Ruth’s St. Patrick’s Day party in Connecticut, and later that month they’d gone on a skiing trip. In August, they’d organized a birthday party for Paige’s mom in Boston. Their September trip would include several days with friends and a surprise visit to Disneyland for Juliana. Ruth loved gardening, reading and cooking. She and Paige were meditation partners, while she and her mother were active members of the New London Gardening Club. She lived in an elegant home built on the foundation of an old casino. The property had three beaches, and she had created a meditation garden. Ruth spent quite a bit of time getting her garden just right. Her garden featured flowing water, a small bridge, sculpture and benches. Ruth and her mom had also recreated Mr. McGregor’s Garden, a children’s vegetable and flower garden complete with a potter’s shed. Ruth’s garden served as the inspiration for the McCourt Memorial Garden, which was dedicated four years after her death. Ruth was extremely close to her family (including those still in Ireland) and doted on her husband and daughter. Family and friends describe her as very spiritual. About a week before the tragedy, Ruth had called her brother Ron to relate an anecdote about Juliana. She told how she’d instructed Juliana to eat her cheerios, and the little girl had replied “yes, your highness.” Through her laughter Ruth asked Ron “where is she getting this stuff?” Like her mom, Juliana was very feminine and very concerned about others, a little girl who would question strangers who seemed sad about what was bothering them. Ruth’s family comforts themselves with their belief that when the plane crashed, Ruth was probably calm, holding her daughter tightly and softly singing in her ear. ~~~~~ In New London, four years after the attack, the governor officially opened the McCourt Memorial Garden, a six-acre garden inspired by the memory of Ruth and Juliana. Ruth’s mom describes it as a contemplative and beautiful spot that she hopes will inspire thoughts of peace and love. “The first time I walked through the area I felt a profound peace come over me. Amid all the turmoil, it is such a joy to be able to connect with nature. Every time I am at the Garden I am reminded of the words ‘one is nearer to heaven in the garden than anywhere else on earth.’ This is my peaceful place and our family is so grateful to all those who have made this Garden possible. I hope that everyone who visits this Garden will share in the joy that it has brought to so many.” The garden features several inviting areas including a Children’s Secret Garden, where visitors will find whimsical mushroom-shaped tables and stools and a “Fairy Circle” perfect for storytelling, birthday parties or picnic lunches for the many school children who visit the Museum. A brick “tea terrace” on the side of the historic Deshon-Allyn House has been named after Ruth McCourt in celebration of her Irish heritage.

Only one obscure reference on the company website of Paige's stepson tries to explain that they decided to use frequent flyer miles they had accumulated on different airlines. http://www.phproductions.net/otherside.html

The explanation seems out of place in such a short memorial. Like it answers a question nobody has asked. The other articles mention that they always traveled together, and had taken several trips that very year together, making it seem more unlikely they would have to use miles from different airlines.

The picture of Paige and Ruth together above looks very strange indeed. The two subjects appear to be at different focal distances and appear to be "pasted together". Something about the shadowing is strange. Such a dark flash-shadow considering there is bright sunshine outside a sliding glass door behind them.

The only professor who matched the description at UCLA is this man, Professor Allen J. Scott. According to this bio he has served as "Associate Dean of the School of Public Policy and Social Research" among other things.

http://www.spa.ucla.edu/dept.cfm?d=p...ty1.cfm&id=248

Quote:

Allen J. Scott Ph.D. in Geography, Northwestern University Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Geography Phone: 310-825-7344 Fax: 310-206-0337 ajscott@geog.ucla.edu For the last several years, Professor Scott's research has been focused on issues of industrialization, urbanization, and regional development. This research has involved extensive theoretical and empirical work. On the theoretical front, Dr. Scott has written numerous pieces on the interrelations between industrial organization, technology, local labor markets, and location, with particular reference to the phenomenon of agglomeration economies. He also has carried out a large number of studies of individual industrial sectors in the United States, Europe and Asia. Most recently, he has been researching the origins and development of high-technology industry in Southern California, and the policy predicaments thrown into relief by the recent crisis of the region's aerospace-defense industry in the post-Cold War era. Professor Scott has served as a member of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Commission's Aerospace Task Force. He also has been engaged in the formulation of a variety of economic development strategies for Southern California, including the setting up of an electric vehicle industry and an advanced ground transportation industry. A Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Scott has been a visiting scholar at Zhongshan University in the People's Republic of China, the University of Paris, the University of Hong Kong and the University of Sao Paulo. From 1990 to 1995 he was director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at UCLA. He formerly served as Associate Dean of the School of Public Policy and Social Research. Selected Publications: Scott, A.J. Metropolis: From the Division of Labor to Urban Form. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Scott, A.J. New Industrial Sources: Flexible Production Organization and Regional Development in North America and Western Europe. London: Pion, 1988. Scott, A.J. Technopolis: High-Technology Industry and Regional Development in Southern California. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

In this Yorkshire Post article, John Clifford is interviewed saying;


Quote:
“I was very concerned when the two buildings collapsed, because I knew Ronnie worked in one.
Notice he says Ronnie WORKS in one of the towers.

All of the other stories say Ron Clifford was headed to a meeting that had been rescheduled TO the WTC Marriot from the Marriot Marquis Midtown.

So apparently John Clifford's brother is confused about where his brother works.

Ron Clifford in the same Yellow tie:


President Murphy, Ron Clifford

Ron tells his story very unconvincingly in this video:

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YouTube- PROPAGANDA911

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http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/...jack.203129.jp

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It keeps getting more bizarre, this story claims NYPD gives her wedding ring to her husband in September 2006, near the 5 year anniversary.

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishpost/200.../story4645.asp

Check out the Vatican references in this one:

Quote:

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 : Wife’s ring helps 9/11 widower with grief FIVE years after the events of September 11 a ray of hope was delivered to a man who lost his Irish wife and daughter in the tragedy. Cork-born Ruth Clifford McCourt and her four-year old daughter Juliana were killed when their plane, Flight 175 exploded into the south tower of the World Trade Centre. And only now has Ruth’s husband David been handed a ‘miracle’ when his wife’s wedding ring was returned to him by the New York City police department. He said: “I think for me it is symbolic in that it goes beyond the law of probability that I would get it back intact. I consider it a miracle. I just started crying because I felt like she was giving it back to me.” The ring, a pearl and diamond-encrusted band survived the fiery crash in pristine condition and was returned to Mr McCourt five years on from the tragic events. The story serves as a reminder that amid the tons of debris from that day there are still some 400 pieces of jewellery sitting unclaimed at police headquarters. New York Police Chief Joe McGrann, who oversees the property division said: “Some of it is in fairly decent and certainly recognisable condition but in many instances, it will be a single stone, like a pearl, or an earring that is damaged, or a watch with no identifying marks on it.” The police department continues to try to reunite the lost treasures with victims’ family members. But the process is cumbersome as relatives are required to submit detailed claims or photos describing each item and, even then, must prove they are the rightful heirs. Mr McCourt had stayed in contact with the police, hoping they would somehow find the distinctive ring with the South Sea pearl that he had placed on his wife’s finger when they married at the Vatican in 1994. He said she was a beautiful lass from Co. Cork who loved painting, gardening and most of all motherhood. The 45-year-old mother was flying from Boston to Disneyland with Juliana — born in 1997 — that September morning in 2001. Mr McCourt provided the ring’s exact specifications to the police in 2004, thanks in part to the jeweler who made the sacred band. But Mr McCourt never thought he’d find the ring,which unbeknown to him had been recovered amid the rubble in 2001 and safeguarded ever since, awaiting a claimant. He said: “Before I could never look at a picture of Ruth. It was just too painful. Now I can look at her picture so it was transformative for me in many respects.” In 2002, police had returned to Mr McCourt his wife’s wallet, which contained her ID as well as a papal coin from their wedding day — a keepsake he never knew she carried with her. “Now I wear it around my neck,” he said of the coin. “I just want it close to me.” Mr McCourt feels blessed that five years after terrorists took his family his wife found a way to comfort him again.​ He said: “She gave me back the two most precious things — the ring and the papal coin. Now I hold the ring and I cry and I don’t want to let it go.”

Very lucky indeed for the ring of soft gold to survive the inferno that melted steel beams.

Another researcher more knowledgeable on Irish culture pointed out that the Vatican references are not at all unusual for someone from the County Cork. By the same token, they would make a nice touch in a fictional story about someone from the County Cork also.

There are a great number of things wrong with this made for Hollywood story. The idea that two wealthy women on a trip together would split up over frequent flyer miles, the amazing coincidence, the very odd and inconsistent stories of the Clifford brothers, the amazing indestructable papal ring, the faked and altered photos, all add up to a story which will require much more investigation.