Beaten to death with a crazy stick

Tania Head had one of the most tragic and inspiring stories to come out of the Sept. 11 attacks.

She was in the south tower, on the same floor that the second plane hit. She saw horrific carnage and was handed a wedding ring by a dying man who requested that she give it to his wife. Then she was led to safety by Welles Crowther, the famous "man in the red bandanna," who lost his own life rescuing others. And finally, she woke up in a hospital burn unit six days later, only to find out that her husband had been killed in the north tower.

Head became the face of the Sept. 11 survivors movement, telling her story to the media and to tour groups at ground zero.

Wait for it. Here it comes.

There was just one problem: Not a word of it was true.

"Her real name wasn't Tania Head at all," author and documentary filmmaker Angelo Guglielmo tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz. "She was actually not even in the United States on Sept. 11."

From National Public Radio.