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| Art attack ... 1988 drawing foretells 9/11 atrocity |
Chilling Twin Towers image was
hanging in office from 1988
THE nightmare of the Twin Towers is captured in a haunting picture — made by a Brit 13 years BEFORE 9/11.
The chalk drawing of passenger jets, skyscrapers, flames and a scared child emerged yesterday ahead of tomorrow's solemn tenth anniversary of the terror attacks.
Amateur artist Willie Gardner's work from 1988 hung in a back office at an obscure Scottish community centre as the hellish events of September 11, 2001, unfolded.
Last night Willie's daughter Aileen, 53, said: "It sends a shiver down people's spines.
"My father never showed any psychic qualities when he was alive but it's like he predicted the future."
She confessed: "It's chilling that what he drew 13 years earlier went on to become such horrible reality."
The picture — now promoted to the foyer of Grangemouth's Community Education Unit in Stirlingshire — has sparked a similar sensation to that of another famous "premonition" image.
That one — a Pakistan Airlines ad from 1979 — showed the shadow of an airliner hanging over the doomed New York landmark. Willie's includes two planes. One sports a distinctive red-tipped tail — echoing the livery of one of the hijacked jets that were crashed into the World Trade Center.
A fearful-looking girl with fiery tendrils of hair is seen looking skywards.
Real life ... second jet heads for tower
Astonished New Yorker Michael Devers declared after seeing the image: "How did this man in Scotland predict the future so accurately? It's beyond spooky."
Fellow American Simone Tranter, of Florida, said: "I've shown this to everyone I know.
"It's more than a coincidence. It's just plain weird. It sent a shiver down my spine." Willie drew the picture at the art club he attended at the education centre — and a worker there at the time recalled the boss's reaction.
Lex Cook said: "He liked it — and Willie kindly gave it to him for the centre.
"I can remember at the time standing looking at it and trying to figure out what it was showing.
"It was eye-catching, but strange even at the same time. Now people who see it always ask if it is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
"They have no idea it was painted such a long time ago." Jody Cannon, the centre's current boss, confirmed: "When I show it to someone new I don't say anything and they usually say it must be some kind of tribute.
Amateur artist ... Willie Gardner
Central Scotland News Agency
"When I tell them it was painted years before it happened they don't believe it."
Mr Cannon volunteered to lend the picture out to any exhibitions interested in showing it.
Willie died last year aged 78. His daughter said: "My father was a great artist but although this image is spooky there was nothing supernatural about him.
"He was interested in science fiction, though."
She added: "Thousands of people all over the world are now sending dad's picture to each other over the internet. His 'premonition' has meant he's become a famous artist at last."
