About
A 6 year-old boy named Falcon Heene reportedly climbed into a helium-filled balloon which was meant to hover only 20 feet above the ground, but took off. Before a captivated world, news stations tracked the flight of the balloon with video over 8000 feet into the air but once the balloon landed hours later, everyone discovered that Ballon Boy was not in the balloon afterall. Many people suspected that the boy had dropped out of the sky, but soon thereafter Falcon was found at home, hiding in a box in his attic.
Raw Airtracker7 Footage was released on youtube of the drifting helium balloon the same day on October 15th, 2009 (balloon lands at the 5min 40 sec. mark):
The Heenes’ Interview on Larry King Live
Later on the same night, the Heenes appeared for an interview on Larry King Live where Falcon revealed what is considered to be the defacto truth behind the families antics. When asked why he didn’t come out from the attic when the parents called his name, Falcon clearly stated: “You guys said that, um, we did this for the show.”
Accusations of Hoax
On the following day, the family reappeared on TV to face questions about the episode being a hoax. The father Richard Heene denied the claims which occurred at exactly the same time the young boy Falcon literally threwup. Later that day during another TV interview, Falcon threwup again. Mr. Heene claimed that his son’s remark was in regard to an earlier incident when the news organizations came into the house but it’s unclear exactly how the justification followed:
After the local sheriff’s department said they would be questioning the family further, having now seen the Larry King Live interview, a student came forward claiming to have proof the event was pre-planned for a reality TV show. Later, Gawker paid for the exclusive details. People were quick to make the connection that the storm-chasing, mad scientist Heene family had previously appeared on the ABC reality show Wife-Swap (twice) and had shown interest in becoming the subject of their own reality TV show.
Footage in Dispute
It was rumored early in the balloon’s flight that there was video footage of the takeoff and eventually the following video surfaced of what the family said is the authentic moment of lift off that was taped by one of the other brothers, though most people suspect the family was acting:
Criminal Charges
Apparently two military helicopters were involved, Denver International Airport diverted flights, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracked the balloon, and many more people in the air and on the ground contributed to the escapade. Direct costs are estimated to be over $2 million dollars.
After speaking with the Mother and Father team separately on Saturday evening, the local Sheriff announced that charges would be filed against the family, a search warrant was granted and authorities seized Richard Henne’s computer.
On Sunday, October 18th, the Sheriff released an official statement regarding the incident: “It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt and we believe we have evidence at this point to indicate that this was a publicity stunt in hopes to better market themselves for a reality show.”
On December 23, 2009, with just a few days left before the end of a decade, Richard Henne formally apologized to all of the rescue workers who tracked the balloon as he and his wife received a $45,000 fine in damages as well as jail sentences amounting to work release and public service. Also included in the package deal is the inability for the Henne’s to profit off of the escape for the next four years during probation.
Internet Spread
Even before the balloon landed on ground, the news spread virally via Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels.
A single serving site called http://www.whereisballoonboy.com was created to help provide updates on the whereabouts of Falcon.
Twitter accounts were created:
http://twitter.com/boyintheballoon
https://twitter.com/balloonboy
Merchandise was available even before the boy was found:
“Go Falcon Go” T-shirts [Link]
“Save Balloon Boy” T-Shirts [Link]
“Birds of the World” [Link]
According to CNN, "Web sites as diverse as Al-Jazeera and Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald carried news of the wayward aircraft ".
Google Trends was completely dominated by chatter around Balloonboy:
Balloon Path:
View Balloon path in a larger map
Mashup-tweets made their rounds through the social media networks, esp. RT’s related to Kanye Interrupts:
+ "I’m happy for u & imma let u finish, but Pixar’s “Up” was the best balloon adventure of all time!"
+ “Hold on #balloonboy, imma let you finish, but Amelia Earhart had one of the best disappearances in flight OF ALL TIME!!”
+ “Yo Balloon Boy, that was cool and all and I’ma let you finish, but Anne Frank had the best attic hideout of all time”
+ “Ima let you finish but the Hindenburg was the best balloon accident of all time.”
In a true testament to the high level of morphing surrounding this topic, at 9PM ET, hours after the drama was over, Twitter’s top trending words were “Anne Frank” which had surpassed mentions of “#balloonboy”.
Hitler reacts to balloonboy:
The Balloon Boy Game:
In the image below, you can see the Papa Johns pizza truck delivering pizza to the family shortly after Falcon was found. 4chan takes credit for the delivery:
*Note in the proof of purchase it was cash-on-delivery order :)
A few noteable archives of related materials include:
Balloon Boy – Quickest Meme Ever? by Urlesque
Balloon Boy Photoshop Contest by Huffington Post
T shirt gallery by Designora
Political Cartoon roundup by Cagle
Some YTMNDs:
Medieval Balloon Boy 2009-10-16
Balloon Boy is alive! 2009-10-15
TRUTHTMND: Balloon Boy EXPOSED!! 2009-10-16
Balloon Boy Was Not In The Clouds 2009-10-16
Year End Fail Lists:
The parents of Balloon Boy topped many a year-end fail lists and were perhaps most notably recognized for holding the #3 spot on FAIL Blog’s Top Ten FAIL Lists for 2009.
Images were uploaded around the net, for example, see below:
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47 Comments
Meme Details
Origin
Local News in Colorado
Year
2009
Tags
media frenzy, non-event, newscast, twitter, TV, mainstream, metameme
