Ballon Boy Hoax was Planned as UFO Hoax, Says Former Heene Associate

In Gawker's exclusive interview with Robert Thomas, a former Richard Heene associate, claims Heene had pre-planned the balloon hoax as a publicity stunt to drum up interest about UFO sightings and use the exposure to get his own science-related reality show, a la "Mythbusters."

Richard Heene, a UFO enthusiast who has been a panel member of the conspiracy-heavy YouTube web series The Psycience Detectives, may have first planned to use his flying saucer-esque weather balloons as a means of a UFO hoax that would be videotaped by himself.

Instead his plan may have morphed into Thursday's "balloon boy" incident in which he falsely reported his 6-year-old son, Falcon Heene, as riding on the helium balloon, which brought media attention, shutting down the local airport, and exposing weekday viewers to news footage of the balloon floating through the Colorado sky.

It's hard to tell exactly what Heene seeked to gain from the hoax. Certainly, he got the exposure of the media, but he also got exposure from the sheriff's department, who plan to file criminal charges against Richard Heene and searched his home last night, as the family fled to a nearby hotel.

Perhaps Richard Heene planned for the balloon to stay aloft in the air much longer than it did, at barely under an hour. Had it been aloft all day long with the hoax that the boy was on-board, it might have resulted in an O.J. Simpson chase-esque news story, with the imagery of a flying saucer balloon causing fervor and UFO interest among viewers.

The Heene Family feels like a hoax for multiple reasons. The family videotaped the balloon's takeoff, and then later the 911 call came in that the balloon boy was on-board. In the balloon boy 911 call, both parents sound frantic, but don't forget to describe it as a "flying saucer."

Falcon let a "We did it for the show" comment slip out during an interview that night, and whenever reporters would grill Falcon on what he meant by his comment, he reacted by vomiting.

Yesterday, after Richard Heene's dud of a "big announcement," he brought out a cardboard "suggestion box" for reporters to stick their questions into the box so he could read them beforehand. He let out a "We don't have cable" comment, but TMZ has reported they were shopping their reality show around to various cable channels.

Lastly, and most importantly, the family is still talking to the media. Had it been a real scare, they would likely have thanked their lucky stars and gone about their lives. The choice to engage the media has invited scrutiny, and they have gotten the public exposure they deserve.

Sources:
Gawker, "Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax"
Youtube, "The Psycience Detectives"
CBS, "Balloon Boy Falcon Heene 911 Call"
TMZ, "Heene Family's Reality is TV"