# Tourist guy
**Tourist guy**, also known as the **Tourist of Death**, is a manipulated photograph that circulated worldwide after the September 11, 2001 attacks, showing a man in a winter coat and hat standing on a World Trade Center observation deck, time-stamped to September 11, 2001, with an airliner apparently about to strike the tower behind him[1](https://www.truthorfiction.com/lastpic/). The image was a composite made by a 25-year-old Hungarian man named Peter, later identified as Péter Guzli, from a photograph he took of himself on the deck on November 28, 1997[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/) • [3](https://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/tourist_guy).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it shows | A man on a WTC observation deck, time-stamped to September 11, 2001, with an airliner behind him about to hit[1](https://www.truthorfiction.com/lastpic/) |
| Actual origin | Base photograph taken on the observation deck on November 28, 1997; the plane was pasted in shortly after September 11, 2001[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/) |
| Creator | A 25-year-old Hungarian man called Peter (Péter Guzli), who initially withheld his surname[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/) • [3](https://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/tourist_guy) |
| Spread | Began moving from inbox to inbox at the end of September 2001, roughly two weeks after the attacks[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/) |
| False backstory | An email claimed the image came from a camera found in the wreckage and developed by the FBI for evidence[5](http://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4310346,00.html) |
| Fatal flaws | Inconsistent shadows, wrong timestamp font, winter clothing on a warm day, a Boeing 757 where Flight 11's 767 should be, and an observation deck that opened at 9:30 A.M., after the first impact[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/) |
| Afterlife | Web users photoshopped him into historical events, making him "the Forrest Gump of the Internet"[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/) |
## The image
The photograph shows a young man in a winter coat and hat standing on the outdoor observation deck of the World Trade Center while an airliner looms behind him on a collision course with the tower[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/) • [1](https://www.truthorfiction.com/lastpic/). The image carries a date-time stamp reading September 11, 2001, the day of the attacks[1](https://www.truthorfiction.com/lastpic/). In reality, the underlying photograph was taken on November 28, 1997, when Peter visited the observation deck during a trip to New York to see relatives; at the time he was working at a hotel in [Colorado Springs, Colorado](https://www.edgepedia.org/colorado-springs-colorado)[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/).
## Origin and manipulation
Shortly after September 11, Peter pasted an airliner into his 1997 observation-deck photograph and e-mailed the result to a few friends as a joke[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/). The plane itself was not his own image: online sleuths established that it had been digitally cut and pasted from an aviation photograph taken by Jonathan Derden[3](https://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/tourist_guy). Peter later said he had hidden his identity because the joke was originally meant only for his friends[6](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/ohne-gewaehr-hier-spricht-der-touristguy-a-170220.html).
## Spread after September 11
The image began speeding from inbox to inbox at the end of September 2001, roughly two weeks after the attacks[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/). A widely forwarded email supplied a backstory that made it seem like a miraculous artifact: "This was from a camera found in the wreckage of the WTC, developed by the FBI for evidence and released on the net today... The guy still has no name and is missing"[5](http://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4310346,00.html). The Guardian situated the image within the post-9/11 email wave that grabbed the attention of "bored office workers the world over"[5](http://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4310346,00.html).
Collections of different versions of the image were already circulating about a week after it first appeared, yet even fan sites could establish little about where the picture actually came from[7](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/touristguy-wer-ist-der-kerl-mit-der-muetze-a-163790.html).
## Debunking and identification
The technical case against the photograph accumulated quickly. Snopes listed shadows of different objects that did not correspond to the same light source, a date-time stamp in the wrong type of font, and winter coat and hat inconsistent with the warm, sunny late-summer weather of September 11[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/). The aircraft shown is a [Boeing 757](https://www.edgepedia.org/boeing-757) bearing [American Airlines](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-airlines) markings, but [American Airlines Flight 11](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-airlines-flight-11), which crashed into the World Trade Center, was a 767; the plane image was probably taken from a photograph on Airliners.net[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/). The plane also approaches from the north, meaning it would have been the aircraft that hit WTC1, which had no outdoor observation deck; only the south tower (WTC2) had one[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/). The WTC2 observatories opened at 9:30 A.M. in September, too late for a tourist to be on the deck before the first plane hit[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/). A fast-approaching plane should also have appeared blurry, and the deck was closed at the relevant time[3](https://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/tourist_guy).
**Competing claimants.** In November 2001 a 41-year-old Brazilian man, José Roberto Penteado of Campinas, São Paulo, stepped forward to assert that his face had been used, but his claim proved dubious[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/). He gave interviews to the international press and gave lectures before the matter died down[8](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq1209200210.htm).
**The real creator.** Friends of a Hungarian man named Peter Guzli identified him on a Hungarian news site as the real Tourist Guy after a worldwide search, and Guzli then supplied photos of himself posed in other settings from the same session[3](https://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/tourist_guy). Wired News reported the identification in November 2001 as a 25-year-old Hungarian called Peter who asked that his surname be kept confidential; he supplied an apparently undoctored copy of the original observation-deck photograph plus additional photos from the same session, which strongly indicated him as the source[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/). A September 12, 2002 Folha de S.Paulo column reported that a year after the attacks the accepted "real" Tourist Guy was the 25-year-old Hungarian Peter, according to touristguy.com, which the column called the most reliable source[8](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq1209200210.htm).
## The creator's response
In an interview conducted via the Hungarian site Index and published by [Der Spiegel](https://www.edgepedia.org/der-spiegel), Peter said he had hidden his identity because the joke was originally meant only for his friends[6](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/ohne-gewaehr-hier-spricht-der-touristguy-a-170220.html). He said he assumed his friends would recognize him and call to check he was alright, but they forwarded it onward until it was all over the world; he said he never did it for money and never intended harm to the real victims or their families[9](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/911-tourist-guy).
He was also critical of how the image was handled. "I believe they were aware it was a montage," he said of mainstream media; "selling it as real was simply the better story"[6](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/ohne-gewaehr-hier-spricht-der-touristguy-a-170220.html). He stated that Snopes published the truth about the image just three days after he produced it[6](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/ohne-gewaehr-hier-spricht-der-touristguy-a-170220.html). He said he was ashamed that even afterward the police still received calls about it[6](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/ohne-gewaehr-hier-spricht-der-touristguy-a-170220.html) • [9](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/911-tourist-guy).
## By the numbers
- **November 28, 1997**: date the base observation-deck photograph was taken[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/).
- **End of September 2001**: when the image began spreading by email, about two weeks after the attacks[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/).
- **First impact vs 9:30 A.M.**: the time of the first impact versus the September opening time of the WTC2 observatories, an impossibility for any genuine tourist photo[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/).
- **Boeing 757 vs 767**: the aircraft type shown versus the type of Flight 11, the only American flight to hit the World Trade Center[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/).
- **25 and 41**: the ages of the Hungarian creator and the Brazilian claimant who came forward in November 2001[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/) • [4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/).
## Cultural significance
Once the doctored photo spread worldwide, web users photoshopped Peter into major, minor, and inane historical events, making him "the Forrest Gump of the Internet"[2](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/). The hoax spawned an iconic genre of internet lore featured at sites such as TouristofDeath.com[4](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/).
The episode is a document of its medium: virality by forwarded email among office workers, a fabricated provenance story that traveled faster than any correction, and a distributed debunking effort in which amateur sleuths matched the pasted plane to a photographer's catalog and checked observatory opening hours[5](http://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4310346,00.html) • [3](https://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/tourist_guy). The creator's own account adds a further observation: he believed mainstream outlets that ran the image knew it was a montage but reported it as real because that was the better story[6](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/ohne-gewaehr-hier-spricht-der-touristguy-a-170220.html).
## References
1. [The Story of the 9/11 'Tourist of Death', Truth or Fiction?](https://www.truthorfiction.com/lastpic/)
2. [He's the Real Tourist Guy, Wired News (November 2001)](https://www.wired.com/2001/11/hes-the-real-tourist-guy/)
3. [Tourist Guy, Museum of Hoaxes](https://hoaxes.org/photo_database/image/tourist_guy)
4. [Is This a Photograph of a World Trade Center Tourist on 9/11?, Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tourist-wtc-911/)
5. [Tracking down the tourist of death, The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4310346,00.html)
6. [Ohne Gewähr: Hier spricht der Touristguy, Der Spiegel](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/ohne-gewaehr-hier-spricht-der-touristguy-a-170220.html)
7. ["Touristguy": Wer ist der Kerl mit der Mütze?, Der Spiegel](https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/touristguy-wer-ist-der-kerl-mit-der-muetze-a-163790.html)
8. [Net Cetera: Um ano depois, ainda o "Tourist Guy", Folha de S.Paulo (September 12, 2002)](https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq1209200210.htm)
9. [9/11 Tourist Guy, Know Your Meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/911-tourist-guy)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Philosophy › Philosophical disciplines › Value theory: ethics, politics, and aesthetics › Aesthetics and philosophy of art › Internet and popular aesthetics*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license