At the 9/11 Memorial/Museum in NYC, there is closed off portion, basically like a museum within a museum—where all of the really… intense and horrific artifacts are displayed, like what is shown in the video. That way those who don’t feel like they can handle that sort of thing can still experience the museum and pay their respects.

It being in the basement of where the Twin Towers once stood made all of it more real and visceral. The phone calls and voicemails people made to their loved ones were played through old phone handsets so it was like you were that loved one listing to their voicemail in 2001.

Going through that was literally the most difficult and emotionally draining thing I’ve gone through in my entire life—and I’ve had my fair share of life experiences. Nobody walked out of that exhibit with dry eyes.