No other event has attracted conspiracy theories like 9/11. The only other example which comes to mind is the JFK assassination, but there was no internet at the time and this greatly reduced the reach of the conspiracy theories about it.

September 11, 2001 was the first tragedy where the web has been used as generator of endless conspiracy theories. We could say that 9/11 marked the beginning of an era when everyone with an internet connection has been able to contribute their own theory to the web.

The democratization of conspiracy theories, that is the possibility of finding or inventing new ones and sharing them with the world, has dramatically increased the number of people sincerely convinced of being in possession of a valid and more believable version of the official account of an event. With 9/11 the world of conspiracy theories has finally entered the mainstream. Not that the murder of JFK didn’t see films dedicated to a number of intricate and, somehow, enthralling plots – Oliver Stone’s JFK above all – but ordinary folks didn’t have a megaphone to spread their own self-made theories.

With this in mind, I decided to write I know who did 9/11, the story of Norman Washington, an ordinary man, who, when the white dust of the collapsed second tower was still floating in the air, resolved to give the government of the United States a week to disclose what really happened the day that changed history for ever. At the beginning of the 8th day, disappointed by the Congress’s actions and convinced that the government wasn’t going to unearth the truth, Norman Washington set out to discover himself the Truth – the one “with the capital T,” as he put it.

I know who did 9/11 is a journey throughout the mind of a man who, in good faith and with the best intentions, commits his life, and the life of his beloved dog, Oswald, to a superior goal he honestly believes he can achieve against all the odds.

This story is included in the first Strange Stories collection that will be out in February 2016, but you can read it in weekly installments on this blog starting from today, January the 17th, by clicking on this link: I know who did 9/11 part one

Strange Stories is a new mystery short story collection exploring human obsessions and how they can lead to unexplored territories where anything can happen. Because between reason and madness there is just a thin border we can happen to cross anytime.