In the north tower, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the 93rd through 98th floors and wrecked the stairwells on the 92nd floor. At the crash and above, 1,360 people died; none survived. Below the crash line, 72 died and more than 4,000 survived.

Despite its bloody reputation, only 22 people were recorded as being executed inside the walls of the Tower of London over its 1,000-year history. Execution within the Tower was considered a "privilege" of high rank, reserved for those the Crown wished to kill privately to avoid public unrest, such as Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey. The vast majority of prisoners associated with the Tower were actually executed nearby on Tower Hill, a public space where more than 125 people met their ends in large, gruesome spectacles. Additionally, during the 20th century, 11 men were executed by firing squad within the Tower for espionage during World Wars I and II. It is a peer-to-peer essential to distinguish between those "executed" and those who "died" there; many others died of natural causes, disease, or mysterious circumstances (like the "Princes in the Tower") while imprisoned. Today, the Tower serves as a monument to these individuals, with a permanent glass memorial on Tower Green honoring the 22 who were executed privately.