Heene hoax? All signs point to a publicity stunt
With the benefit of hindsight and 17 hours to digest the events surrounding the supposed disappearance of Falcon Heene in his father’s homemade helium balloon, several signs point to a not-so-elaborate publicity stunt.
In a video from Denver’s News4, it’s obvious the entire family was in the backyard when the balloon came loose from its tether. It’s hard to tell, but it appears neither Richard Heene nor his wife, Mayumi, made much of an effort to grab the ropes and prevent the balloon from floating away. Also, if Falcon had been on board, wouldn’t the Heenes have started to yell frantically for their son, or better yet, immediately begin chasing the balloon? This video shows no signs that they are the least bit worried about more than their precious balloon.
The next piece of the puzzle has Richard Heene calling 9News and the Federal Aviation Administration directly for help before calling 911 or the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. This gives the appearance of their having set priorities on helicopter assistance and media coverage over the safety of their son. Once the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department became involved, the hunt was on.
With regard to to the errant balloon, if Richard Heene — a self-proclaimed “storm chaser” — realized his son might have been in peril aboard the balloon, why did he never leave his house in pursuit? Why did he stay home and watch TV coverage all day?
Once the balloon landed without any sign of Falcon Heene, authorities shifted their focus back to the Heene house and surrounding neighborhood. Thankfully, Falcon Heene was “found” in the house when he climbed down from his garage attic hiding place and surprised his mother in the kitchen. But it was reported the boy had with him a supply of drinks and snacks, which he wouldn’t have had if he had rushed away to avoid getting in trouble for doing something “wrong.” It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to point a finger of doubt at this story. Photos show the boy pointing at the pipe he supposedly shinnied up to reach his hiding place. How did he carry the snacks, water and toys with which to spend four hours alone? He said he also took a nap. Did he carry a pillow too?
Finally, in this CNN video of the Heene family’s interview by Wolf Blitzer on the Larry King Show on Thursday night, Falcon is asked why he didn’t answer when his family and authorities were calling out for him. He responded, “You guys said we did it for the show.”
That’s it! Game over! This was a colossal hoax perpetrated by an out-of-work contractor who wants to be a self-proclaimed “scientist.” You don’t need to look further than Google and search for Richard Heene. The Internet is full of self-promoting YouTube videos, not the least of which is the clip from the reality show Wife Swap. If that’s not publicity-seeking, what is?
Ultimately, this a sad event. Sad, for engaging the country in a hoax where we were all riveted to the TV, praying for the well-being of Falcon, at a time when everyone is looking for a story with a happy ending. Sad, for waking up to find that we were duped. Sad, for the waste of time, money and resources that will likely never be recouped from the Heenes, and will mostly be borne by the same duped taxpayers. And, finally, sad for 6-year-old Falcon, who will grow up with the stigma of being the subject of this joke of a hoax. It’s sad that his father would stoop so low as to involve his innocent son.
INDenverTimes: Balloon flight scary; media manipulation appalling
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What is sad is that the media gives people like this so much attention. If it you guys would go out and report on things that actually matter then you would not have to resort to pulling videos off of YouTube, and attention whores like this would have no megaphone for their cries of “look at me look at me!!!” Why don’t you go report on something worthwhile, or get a job that contributes to the benefit of society.
What ultimately appalled me is how utterly ignorant people are of basic…well, everything. When I saw the helium balloon touch down, I spontaneously laughed because although I am not a scientist, I am not a moron. Anybody with a 6th grade education has to know that a helium balloon that small could not raise a 6 year old into the air much less fly away and travel for miles.
Shame on the media for not having someone who is in first year high school physics available to figure this out for them.
I applaud your non-moronity. Except, you’re a moron. Had you waited until someone with basic science training had judged the specifications you’d know that yes most certainly, this balloon could have carried a six year old boy and probably a cut lunch for far, far longer and further than it did.
Kinda funny really. A nation in which reality shows have encouraged people to abuse their own children to be perceived as “real”. It is of course, a priceless metaphor as to how low a once great nation has sunk. 80% believe in angels. Over half of USA citizens believe the bible is literally true. Even worse – a greater percentage cannot understand evolution.
Nah – you’re a nation of idiots, and bragging about how clever you are mate, just proves how rotten the apple in mamas pie really is.
Mr. Heene’s suggesting that he honestly thought that his child was in the balloon that he sent aloft is (and was) obviously a lie in furtherance of perpetrating a fraud.
A balloon creates lift in the same way a boat does, by displacing an amount of air equal in weight to the vessel. In the case of a boat each cubic foot of water displaced will lift 60 pounds, in the case of a helium balloon it takes 16 cubic feet of displaced air to lift one pound or about a thousand cubic feet to have the same lifting force as one cubic foot of water. This knowledge of a balloon’s lifting ability is basic high school physics. This simple math is the basic template for even the simplest balloon design and even Mr. Heene, a person who’s grasp of actual science seems tenuous at best but nonetheless calls himself a “designer of balloons,” should know it; would in fact have to know it to construct this prop for his ongoing quest for self promotion (I mean the balloon, not the child).
Observers on the scene (yes, I am looking at you Colorado authorities and media ) could easily observe that the disk shaped balloon was only about 25’ in diameter and less than 5 feet deep. That would make its volume only about 130 cubic feet and its displacement under 10 pounds. In short, any high-school science teacher could have told you that it would hardly lift a hamster.
In short, it was not the child that should have demonstrated to you that this was a hoax but simple, basic logic and a few seconds of journalistic (or high school) inquiry. The shame is on you as well. Do your homework!
A disk 25′ in diameter and 5′ deep has a volume of (5)*pi*(25/4)^2 = 2454 cubic feet.
*I mistyped that, it should actually be (5)*(pi)*(25^2)/4=2454 cubic feet, but you get the point. You have to calculate the area of the circle using using the diameter and then multiply it by by the depth to get the volume of the disk.
Who was taking the vide?
Someone else knows something.
see how this cheny media does. they tell non true stories then blame the people that believe the lies. wake up people and get real facts for news not fake stuff for news. to bad that people of the usa do nto have good news people to give them facts and the good that shoudl happen for common men.
art
I need to read Glenn Beck’s new book; ARGUING WITH IDIOTS.
Whichever way the wind blows on this, bottom line fact is a child, a six year old child has a forever-label of “balloon Boy”. He has been traumatized–by whom and exactly how is still up in the air. Whether emotional abuse, exploitation, or just plain not-quite-in-this-universe-behavior as normative, a child has been victimized. I do not know what to suggest for “help”. But, help is where I want to focus my attention now. The event has bought things to light that otherwise would have remained hidden for how long?…