The internet has a weird way of remembering things that might not even exist. You’ve probably heard of the "Mandela Effect," but the search for LOL Superman is something much darker, more obsessive, and deeply tied to the collective trauma of 9/11. It’s the holy grail of "shock" lost media.
Depending on who you ask, it’s either a gruesome piece of history sitting on a dusty hard drive or a total figment of the internet's imagination.
Honestly, the name itself is jarring. "LOL Superman" sounds like a joke, but for those deep in the subreddits of r/lostmedia and r/911archive, it represents the search for a specific, high-quality video filmed from the North Tower plaza on September 11, 2001. The footage supposedly shows people hitting the pavement with terrifying clarity. It’s the kind of thing that sticks in your brain—if you actually saw it.
What exactly is the LOL Superman video supposed to be?
The description is almost always the same.
Witnesses claim the video was filmed by two people (often rumored to be the "Skylight" or "Jack Taliercio" crews, though Taliercio’s actual footage is well-documented and doesn't match the "LOL Superman" description) walking through the WTC plaza. In this alleged clip, the camera captures individuals jumping from the North Tower hitting the ground near the fountain.
The title "LOL Superman" reportedly came from an old YouTube or LiveLeak upload in the mid-2000s. People claim the title was meant to be edgy or mocking—a product of the "edgelord" culture that defined the early web.
But here is the kicker: nobody can find the original link.
Every lead seems to go cold. You find a Dead link on a 2006 forum, you try the Wayback Machine, and... nothing. It’s a 404 error or a "video removed" notice. This has led to a massive, multi-year investigation involving FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to the FBI and NIST.
Why people believe it's real
Is it just a collective hallucination? Probably not entirely.
There are genuine reasons why the search persists. First, we know there is unreleased footage from that day. The FBI confiscated hundreds of cameras and rolls of film for the 9/11 Commission investigation. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) holds a massive archive of media used to study the structural collapse of the towers.
Some researchers, like those on the dedicated Discord servers, have pointed to specific FOIA responses. In some cases, the government has acknowledged the existence of "graphic" footage that is withheld under "Exemption 6" and "Exemption 7(C)"—which basically protects the privacy of the deceased and their families.
Then there are the "memory triggers."
Thousands of people swear they saw it on YouTube between 2006 and 2010. They describe the same camera movements. The same sound of the impact—a loud, metallic "thwack." They describe the camera panning up to the towers and then back down.
But memory is a fickle thing.
It’s incredibly easy for the human brain to stitch together different pieces of information. We’ve all seen the footage of the "Jumpers" from a distance. We’ve seen the Taliercio footage where he walks through the plaza and you hear the impacts, but the camera is pointed away. It is highly possible that people are "remixing" these real memories into a single, more graphic video in their minds.
The FBI and the FOIA Trail
The hunt for LOL Superman isn't just kids on Reddit. It has become a legitimate effort to archive history.
In recent years, users have sent specific requests to the FBI asking for "plaza footage" or "footage showing impacts on the pavement." The responses are often frustratingly vague. However, one specific lead involved a video known as "NIST FOIA 09-42, Release 25."
When the files were released, people scrambled.
They found hours of new perspectives. They found footage of the towers burning from angles never seen by the public. But they didn't find the "Superman" clip.
Some believe the video was part of the "Manley" or "Guy Rosbrook" collections, but those have been largely debunked as being the source of the specific plaza impact footage. The search continues because there are still "black box" archives. The government still holds media that won't be public for decades, if ever.
The Morality of the Search
There is an elephant in the room here. Why are people so desperate to find this?
It’s a mix of morbid curiosity and a weird sense of "preservationism." Lost media hunters feel that every scrap of history, no matter how horrific, belongs in the public record. They argue that "LOL Superman" is a primary source of one of the most significant events in human history.
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Others find the search disrespectful.
If the families of those who died that day don't want that footage public, shouldn't we respect that? The title alone—using "LOL" in relation to a tragedy—makes the whole endeavor feel slimy to many observers.
Where the search stands today
Right now, the search for LOL Superman is at a bit of a stalemate.
The r/911archive community has shifted focus toward identifying the "Plaza Footage" more broadly. They are looking for the photographers. They are tracing the movements of every person known to have a camera in the vicinity of the World Trade Center that morning.
If you want to understand the current state of the mystery, you have to look at the "Skylight" footage. This is a real, confirmed video taken from the WTC plaza. It’s incredibly tense. It shows the chaos. But it doesn't show the "Superman" impacts. Many believe the "Superman" video was filmed just a few feet away, perhaps moments later, by a different person who was eventually forced to flee or who had their camera seized.
Basically, the internet is looking for a ghost.
It’s a digital urban legend that might have a grain of truth buried in a federal vault. Or it might just be the world's most successful example of mass false memory.
How to approach the "LOL Superman" Mystery responsibly
If you’re falling down this rabbit hole, keep your expectations in check and your ethics in mind.
- Verify your sources. Most "re-uploads" on TikTok or Twitter are fakes, "recreations," or clips from movies like Cloverfield or World Trade Center.
- Check the 9/11 Archive. Sites like the 9/11 Real-Time Archive and dedicated subreddits have spreadsheets tracking every known piece of footage. Check those before claiming you’ve found something new.
- Respect the victims. Remember that "lost media" in this context involves real human lives. Avoid sharing "recreations" that mock the tragedy.
- Use FOIA responsibly. If you’re going to contact government agencies, be specific. General "Where is LOL Superman?" requests get ignored. You need to cite specific file numbers or locations.
The search for this footage likely won't end until the last piece of confiscated media is declassified. Until then, it remains a dark corner of internet history—a digital myth that refuses to die.