‘Balloon boy’ tale all hot air
QUESTION What is the story behind the infamous ‘balloon boy’ hoax from 2009?
THIS extraordinary incident occurred on October 15, 2009.
On that day, Richard and Mayumi Heene, a married couple from Fort Collins, Colorado, US, released a silver homemade gas balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer, into the atmosphere above their home.
The Heenes – who have three sons, Falcon, Bradford and Ryo – claimed they did this accidentally, and that they mistakenly believed the contraption had been tethered to the ground. They also claimed that they quickly came to believe that their six-year-old son Falcon was trapped inside the balloon, as one of their other sons informed them that the boy had climbed inside.
They contacted the authorities, and an emergency operation was launched to bring the balloon down and save the youngster.
The balloon was tracked by helicopters, as it drifted for some 97 kilometres over a two-hour period, before it finally touched down. However, there was no one inside.
Initial concerns that the boy might have fallen out were allayed when it emerged that he had actually been at home the whole time – and had been found safe and well.
His father Richard claimed Falcon had been hiding in the attic all along, explaining: ‘He says it’s because I yelled at him. I’m sorry I yelled at him.’
There was some public speculation that the incident was a hoax – the family had previously appeared on reality TV show Wife Swap, leading sceptics to believe the parents were hungry for publicity.
However, the authorities initially believed the Heenes’ story – until the family carried out an ill-fated interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer shortly after the incident.
During the interview, Falcon was asked by his father, Richard, why he did not emerge from the attic despite his parents calling his name. A confused Falcon responded: ‘You guys said that... we did this for the show.’
Prior to the incident, Richard had unsuccessfully pitched a reality show called The Science Detectives to TV executives – and many believed Falcon had now unwittingly revealed his father’s motivation in the balloon incident: to drum up publicity for this project. Richard continued to deny there was any hoax. When asked by Blitzer what his son had meant, he responded: ‘I can see the direction you guys are hedging on this. I’m kind of appalled after all the feelings that I went through... that you guys are trying to suggest something else.’
However, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden was unconvinced, and said the parents would face charges over the incident. ‘It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt,’ Alderden told a press conference.
The Heene parents ultimately pleaded guilty to charges that they carried out the stunt to promote a reality TV show.
In December 2009, Richard was sentenced to 90 days in jail – and his wife to 20. Bizarrely, Richard continued to deny any wrongdoing, claiming he only pleaded guilty to prevent his wife’s deportation to her native Japan.
In December 2020, Colorado governor Jared Polis granted the Heene parents a pardon over the incident, commenting: ‘Richard and Mayumi have paid the price in the eyes of the public, served their sentences, and it’s time for all of us to move on. It’s time to no longer let a permanent criminal record from the balloon boy saga follow and drag down the parents for the rest of their lives.’ Niall McKenna, Clonmel,
Co. Tipperary.
QUESTION Are any towns and cities named after plants?
PLACES need a distinctive feature for identification and the name often refers to vegetation or habitat. They may give an indication of what the environment was historically like in an area.
Take nettles for example; these flourish in phosphate-rich soil in areas long occupied by humans and animals. Thus, in the UK, we have Nettlebed in Oxfordshire, and Nettleham and Nettleton in Lincolnshire.
Native trees such as oak, beech, birch and field maple occur frequently. There are a host of places with the prefix ‘Oak’; Oakham in Rutland, Oakengates in Shropshire, and several instances of Oakley – in Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Suffolk and Fife. Great oaks were often used as boundary markers so they are particularly common.
Beech, maple and birch occur in names such as Beech in Staffordshire; Cowbeech in East Sussex, Maple Cross in Hertfordshire, Maplehurst in West Sussex, Mapleton in Derbyshire, Birchington in Kent and Birch in Lancashire.
Apple is found in Appleford, Appleby, Apperley and particularly in the compound Appleton – a name ending in ‘ton’ typically means a farmstead or village. Jim Beddoes, Oxford.
QUESTION What are the most patronising pop songs ever? Phil Collins’s Another Day In Paradise springs to mind.
FURTHER to the earlier answer, surely one of the most patronising pop songs has to be John Lennon’s Imagine? ‘Imagine no possessions...’ No one saw John, or any other pop singer, giving away their wealth and property.
Paddy Bowen, Great Torrington, Devon.
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