Balloon Boy Story Always Flies in the Sky

The balloon boy story is viral. The media loves the balloon boy story. The balloon boy story started to unwind much like a tragedy, but then turned into a strange chain of events.

The whole balloon boy story situations leads me to wonder - was the father of the balloon boy successful in his endeavors?

The Heene family thrives on public attention. They were boisterous and obnoxious in ABC's "Wife Swap." The couple - Richard and Mayumi - met at an acting school in Hollywood. This leads you to wonder just how "real" they act when they are on TV.

Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi had this big make-shift balloon in their back yard. Since the two are weather chasers, the giant balloon didn't seem so suspicious. It also didn't seem strange that Richard and Mayumi wanted to test the balloon - but that's where the innocence ends.

The balloon boy story officially "launched" when Richard Heene pulled the tether to release the balloon. It was only supposed to float 100 feet above the air. Mayumi "forgot" to anchor the tethers and the balloon took off.

The balloon story gets better when one of 6-year-old Falcon Heene's brothers exclaims "Falcon is in there!" As Richard Heene scrambles to call the FAA and the media before calling 911, Falcon is assumed to be floating in the sky.

The country watched in terror as a silver UFO-like balloon zipped through the sky at 25 miles per hour, thousands of feet above the air. About 50 miles from the Heene's Fort Collins, Colorado home the balloon finally made its descent. The balloon boy story took a turn for the worse when it was determined that there was no 6-year-old boy in the balloon.

A couple of days later, it was revealed after much speculation and an awkward interview with Wolf Blitzer that the whole balloon boy story was a hoax played out by a family that wanted their own reality TV show. The balloon boy story was orchestrated so that the family would be in a better position to receive their own reality show.

It was announced by Sheriff Jim Alderden that the Heene's would be charged with various misdemeanor and felony charges for the whole balloon boy story hoax. The latest speculations are a debate over whether Richard and Mayumi Heene should be allowed to keep their three children, who they included in the hoax.

We are still waiting to see how the whole balloon boy story will end. Will it be a tragedy? Will the Heenes lose everything? Will the Heenes gain so much popularity that a TV station will give them their own reality show? Will they be chastised and ignored? The whole balloon boy story is a joke, so I figure the ending will be quite comical.

Sources:

CNN.com "Authorities: Balloon Boy Incident was a Hoax" http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/18/colorado.balloon.investigation/index.html

CNN.com "6-year-old Colorado Boy Found Alive in Attic after Balloon Lands" http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html