On to another crazy 6 year old story!!!
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/...boy_in_balloon

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A 6-year-old boy climbed into a homemade balloon aircraft and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy as he hurled through the air.


YIKES! Wonder how this will end up...

You beat me to it. YIKES is right!

Live stream video is available here. That thing is moving!

6 year olds are obviously crazy in their plot to take over schools and skies.

They must be stopped. BY.ANY.MEANS.NECESSARY.

Makes me really glad my kids survived past age 6 and are safely into the throes of teenagerhood.

No joke! I cannot imagine how scared that poor kid is! (and his mom and dad) :eek:

I hope it lands safely. They said it could fly all day until the helium leaks out. In the meantime, it's tilting and spinning. Terrifying!

I hope the kid survives. OR that this is an elaborate hoax.

I must admit that eight year old girls are the worst on the spectrum of bad ass kids.

I also want this to be an elaborate hoax.

It's an experimental balloon his parents built.

Not to mention what the air pressure inside that cabin might be like. :eek:

ETA: To answer KSUViolet's other question, all I know is CNN says, "The helium balloon was tethered to the boy's family home, the Larimer County Sheriff's Department said. The boy got into the craft Thursday morning and undid the rope anchoring it."

And it get's worse. CNN is also reporting that the cabin is made of plywood, and that since the door was unlocked, there are fears that the boy may have fallen out.

Lord, have mercy.

It looks like he's down?

It landed but he's not in there.

It's landed, noone inside. Did he fall out? If so, he's gone - it went 8000 feet in the air.

Could it be a hoax (I hope!)?

Me too!

(But if it is, it'll be one expensive hoax.)

Again, per CNN (in an updated report after the balloon touched down):

A sibling saw the boy get into the craft Thursday morning. Officials were concerned that the boy may have fallen out of it, an undersheriff said.

Margie Martinez of the Weld County Sheriff's Office said a sibling saw Falcon Heene climb into the basket before the balloon took off from his parents' Fort Collins, Colorado home.

Since the door on the balloon was unlocked, it's possible the boy had fallen out, Martinez said.

I am truly hoping so, but somehow doubting it. :(

This is turning into an incredibly bizarre and likely sad story.

PS MSNBC has decent coverage if anyone is watching.

Why some people think this is a hoax or publicity stunt:

The Heene family was on Wife Swap in 2008
Falcon Heene and his brothers were in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBWJXXgaYBo
I think the father is a weather chaser, or something.

Here is the family with the kids - they were on Wife Swap!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBWJXXgaYBo

Wow, stranger and stranger!!

Dr.Phil, we cross posted. This family is just crazy enough to concoct this hoax?

I started thinking that this might be a hoax when I heard they were on wife swap... And after that YouTube video, my feelings are just a bit stronger....

Yeahhhhh the more I watch the coverage, the more I am beginning to believe this family was just THAT crazy.

That would be so so soooooo crazy. I wanted it to be a hoax but even a hoax used precious law enforcement and rescue team time and resources.

My thoughts exactly. IF this is a hoax, I hope they are billed for the all of those resources.

Hey, shouldn't these kids have been in school?

I get the impression that they are homeschooled.

They are now reporting that they believe he is somewhere in the neighborhood, that he never got in the balloon.

This is a case where spanking would be in order (in my house).

Having parented 3 boys into young men, I know that when the three of them get together chaos can ensue. Thank heavens we didn't have any big shiny balloons floating above my house ;)

If I or any of my siblings tried that kind of stunt, we'd be lucky if we could sit after a week...

I have three young boys, and this just made me laugh (and gave me hope that they will grow up someday).

I hope that the boy is okay in the neighborhood, but some sort of disciple is definitely in order!

Well, if it turns out he's just hiding, then boy howdy, he'd be in some major trouble.

If he actually fell, then this is beyond tragic.

Was it attached at the time or wasn't it. Did it fall? Was he in it?

ForeverRoses: don't worry, somehow they seem to end up okay despite all the nutty things they do.

**Looking around for DI to post**

Ok...the coast is clear...send the parents to reform school!!!!!! And call Rev AL!

I'm seeing reports on CNN that a deputy saw something fall from the box.

I hope it's a hoax, but I just don't feel good about this.

MSNBC is reporting that the boy has been found safe... IN HIS HOUSE.

Glad he's safe, but I sure hope someone has a good explanation.

ETA: Here's the link

LUUUCY!! SOMEBODY'S GOT SOME SPLAINING TO DO!!

And for a little comic relief - (found while searching for ^^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m1Nubw8XJw

She's the BEST!!

I love Lucy, but I'm very concerned at the #1 related video that popped up.

RICKY has some splaining to do if that video is related lol

Haha! Yeah, I wonder what tiny weenies has to do with Lucy and Ricky! What makes them relate???

I'm not sure if I'm up to checking it out.

Why do I have this feeling that we're going to be seeing this family in their own reality TV show in the not too distance future......?

Are you unpoopular? Do you pop out at parties? Hahah!

They just showed on the news this morning that this kid said, on some night time show (Letterman maybe?) last night "You told me we were doing it for a show?" when the dad asked why the kid kept hiding even though he heard them calling for him. Ok, found a reference online and it was the Larry King Live show: But in a later interview with CNN's "Larry King Live," Falcon said he heard his parents call for him from the garage. When asked by his father on-air why he didn't respond, the boy replied, "You guys said we did this for the show."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/16/col...boy/index.html

Yeah, I saw that on Anderson Cooper last night. They noted that the comments they were receiving online indicated that 90+% of their viewers thought it was a hoax, even though Cooper et al kept stressing that the police were saying that they saw nothing to make them believe it was staged.

I'm sorry, but even putting the kid's comment aside, I'm convinced this was a publicity hoax. They found the kid sometime in the neighborhood of 6-6:30, and a few hours later the whole family is sitting down for a chat on Larry King Live? Seriously?!

I tried to follow this thing on Twitter.

What a useless tool.