Was Balloon Boy Chase a Hoax?
by
Ground Report October 15, 2009
Hours after the "balloon boy" drama of a 6-year-old allegedly trapped aloft a homemade hot-air balloon gripped the nation, some are wondering whether the child's fame-seeking parents made the whole thing up.
Why? First, the family is no stranger to reality TV, thanks to
two appearances on the television program "
Wife Swap." Second, the father, Richard Heene, is the host of a show called
The Psyience Detectives, which invesigates paranormal activity.
Last year the father
posted the video below on CNN's iReport, allegedly "clearly showing civilization on Mars." He ends with the phrase, "This is not a hoax.
After the balloon landed without anyone inside,
CNN reported that Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said, "At this point, we are thinking that he did not fall out of the balloon and is somewhere on the ground. The basket itself was not breached. It does not look like he fell out of it, but again, this is all conjecture."
"I'm very confident we will find him. I think it's a matter of him being a little scared," she said. "Maybe he's not ready to be found."
CBS is also questioning
whether the event was a publicity hoax, citing aviation experts who said the balloon couldn't have been carrying the boy, and report by Falcon's brother that he saw him fall out.