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As for eyewitnesses thinking it was lower than what was being reported, it's the first I've heard of that.

I mentioned something about that on another thread. Normally it's too high as it passes over Dallas for us to hear a sonic boom. The last time I saw the shuttle landing approach was at night, around 10:00 pm. The next morning the vapor trail / ionized air / whatever that marked its path was still visible, it had not yet dissipated. Columbia's trail was gone within 30-45(?) minutes after it passed over.

It is difficult to guess the height, but since the trail was gone and we heard the booms, that tells me that it was far lower than normal once it got to this area.

A little info and a couple of points from a newcomer:

I found this forum by reading James Taranto's Best of the Web. Anyway, I live in the DFW area, and was totally unaware that the shuttle was coming down Saturday, until a friend that lives in Knoxville, TN called with the bad news. Our next door neighbors, who have three small kids, were out watching with binoculars, and saw the breakup, not realizing until later what they had seen. My older brother lives in Dallas, and watched it as well. From seeing the multiple trails in the sky, and the noise, he knew immediately that something was wrong.

A couple of points:

1) Human remains surviving reentry - if the astronauts had remained in a relatively intact crew cabin throughout reentry, remains could have survived with burns similar to those sustained in a house or car fire (IMHO).

2) Reentry path - WFFA-TV here in Dallas had two news photographers shooting video of the descent. One of them, Timb Hamilton, is an amatuer astronomer and shuttle buff, and was shooting from his backyard. He pointed out in an interview on WFAA that it's been unusual lately for shuttles to reenter over DFW, as missions to the Intl Space Station normally pass over Cancun and Cozumel, Mexico, rather than DFW.

3) People celebrating in the Middle East - According to Saturday's and Sunday's special editions of BOTW, under the heading "Palestinians Whoop It Up?", some Iraqis, Palestinians and Jordanians were quoted as being pleased about the Columbia breakup. From The Jerusalem Post: "They were sent to space to spy on the Arabs and Muslims," Ramallah schoolteacher Rudainah Salman tells the paper. "I have no sympathy for the astronauts because they were doing something bad to us. Allah punished them because of their bad intentions. I hate the Americans and the Israelis because of what they are doing to our people."

How some things never change.