Hot air balloon drama preempts Obama; Update: Where is the boy?; Update: Punked?!; Update: “We did this for a show”
Scroll for updates…something reeks…balloonboy tells the truth…”We did it for the show”…
President Obama was on the tube when a truly breath-taking and horrible drama overtook him.
There’s a 6-year-old boy stuck in a homemade hot air ballon vehicle floating over the skies near Denver.
All cable stations have cut away to provide video.
Authorities are now trying to rescue him.
As a mother, I can’t bear to watch. Please pray for this little boy’s safety. Dear Lord.
An errant experimental aircraft attached to a helium hot-air balloon is racing uncontrollably through the Weld County skies today, reportedly with a 6-year-old boy alone inside.
The aircraft, a silver flying-saucer shape, launched from Fort Collins and has been sighted near Weld County roads 46 and 33, about 2 miles northeast of Gilcrest. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
***
UPDATES:
» At about 12:30 p.m., the aircraft was sighted near Weld County roads 32 and 39, about 7 miles east of Platteville, according to KOA.
» 12:55 p.m.: The aircraft is approaching Interstate 76 near the Keenesburg Cutoff, which is Weld County Road 49. This location is near Hudson, which is in south Weld County. 9News is reporting that the aircraft is at about 8,500 feet altitude.
Via Jeff Quinton: CNN reporting that officials fear boy may no longer be in the balloon.
3:20pm Eastern: Balloon rapidly losing helium. Has descended from about 8500 ft altitude down to 6500 ft.
Couldn’t watch it any longer. Twitter abuzz with news that the boy is not in the balloon.
Which should be a relief, but isn’t.
Where is he?
***
Oh, crikey: Found hiding in the attic.
Hmmmm…
Hmmm…if your son had been missing for hours, would you start out a press conference plugging your 3DLEV?!?!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
The little boy tells the truth (via HA headlines) when asked why he didn’t come out of the attic: “You guys said that, um, we did this for a show.”
Rest of the video, in which Father Heene feigns indignance at being delicately questioned by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about the boy’s disclosure, is at Breitbart TV.
One more hmmm…
Richard Heene, in addition to attaining a level of reality TV fame on ABC’s “Wife Swap,” has his own amateur video series on YouTube in which he sizes up various pop culture phenomena.
For each topic, from the Loch Ness monster to Britney Spears’ chest, he asks the question “fake or real?”
…Richard Heene’s “Fake or Real” videos are little more than amusing first-person rants, delivered solo directly into the camera and typically lasting barely a minute.
In one video, dated Jan. 18, 2008, Heene takes on the airplane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr.
“I don’t know why it would make any sense to me,” Heene says, while driving in a car.
It often is difficult to tell if Heene is joking or being serious. In another clip he makes fun of people who say they see life on Mars.
“I want you guys to let me know,” he says before going into a five minute tirade with a NASA photo of Mars’ surface on his computer screen.
Using computer photo software he zooms in on random images and points out what could be “signs of life” — a bone, a skeleton key, eyes, high-rise buildings and a miniature skull, just to name a few.
Chiropractors, teleportation inventors and even Hilary Clinton (is she a reptile?) face similar treatment through Heene’s lens.
Click here to watch some of the videos on YouTube.
But Heene’s brief “Fake or Real” segments are only appetizers compared to some of the other video productions in which has been involved.
Heene also is part of a Web site called thepsyiencedetectives.com. Videos on YouTube show him and two others debating science and pseudo-science issues, such as UFOs, as if auditioning for both Comedy Central and the Discovery Channel.
But while the Web site is prominently displayed and referred to during their videos, a search for the site Thursday night turned up a blank page.
If a criminal investigation hasn’t been initiated, it will be now.
The Storm Chasers are Fame Chasers who manipulated their kids into thinking they were “making a movie” — and then paraded them before hungry news outlets to continue the charade after wasting precious law enforcement and rescue resources.
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Have you ever walked in the Whitechapel district?
The boy was in a box in the garage the whole time.
CNN stuck with the story for hours, long after the landing of the balloon. They were really digging to come up with stuff to say. They looked like clowns.
At 4:12. I think it’s really Filipino.
Yeah, it’s been confirmed he was found hiding in a box either in the garage or in the attic.
I’m glad the kid’s safe. What a diversion from obummer’s holy appearance in New Orleans. Who’s taking the balloon up for his next speech?
not the only thing that’s gettin’ jerked!
And here I thought my subtle in-joke reference to Jamaican haute cuisine might be lost on the masses. Good catch, Purealchemy!
We’ve done worse on the monster thread.
Ok messed up that post….
glad the kind is ok – but this calls for a balloon czar.
Pure – Still dreaming of glory days gone by…
True that.
Hey, chaps, did you see my croquet/croquette email?
I don’t know about Whitechapel district but it sounds compelling.
Oh!-Oh! – thanks for the Halloween reminder, CKid. Gotta stock up on some six packs and make a mess of fried eggs for when the little ones come a knockin’.
Agreed. How about Blago? Barney Fwank?
You’re a real cut-up, Chap.
(Two gawd-awful puns in one day. I’m onna roll!)
Chaps, have you ever seen “Plenty”?
You give the kids sixpacks and fried eggs?
Obama administration tag line: “Consume mass quantities!”
I plead silence. Some transgressions must remain unknown.
Although, I do fess up to breaking an expensive antique stained glass window in our house and hiding in a toy box for about six hours (actually, I took the fall for someone else). Believe me, the fear was far worse than the ultimate punishment.
Something is strange about that family. Not only the reality show they were on, but who names their kid Falcon? What are his brother’s names, Eagle and Crow? I’m glad he is safe.
Yet another example of why 24-hour cable news channels suck.
Getting the country all wee-wee’d up when they don’t actually know what the hell is going on.
LOL, of course not, AlohaGuy. Just one beer and one fried egg for each kid, obviously – otherwise you have to make a liquor store run. And in Minnesota our liquor stores close early, so ya gotta plan ahead!
Watching it. Kind of amazing.
Just did. I had no idea! My apologies to…who was it? txvet?
If you want horrible horrible things done to you, then yes, it is compelling.
No. Movie?
Can’t giver ‘em candy for God’s sake. It’ll give ‘em cavities. Big heart there peep.
AlohaGuy, just a FYI -
“Prymaat Conehead: [ sarcastic ] Oh, my. Your costumes are so frightening. Here. Accept these treats. [ thrusts the beer and fried eggs into their bags, then slams the door shut ].”
SNL Transcript – Halloween/Coneheads
The kid is safe. Obama’s speech was preempted. I’d say that was an act of God, that both are acts of God. (Hee hee hee). The boy was acting like a typical 6 yr old: `Ruh-roh, wasn’t supposed to do that! Time to hide where no one will find me.’ Gosh, could Obama act that way for a couple of days and give us some relief from being in front of the camera? Maybe the Drones can shake out some cobwebs. Could someone suggest he act like LBJ and take the rest of the Term off and golf? General Biden could take over.
Okay, now that little boy is safe I think we can expand…
What is the weirdest thing you ever received when trick or treating?
For me, it would have to be a toss up bible tracts or that god awful invention called candy corn. Interestingly, both are equally as palatable.
Can we get the kid to do this every time Obama’s on TV?
I just found a description on Fox news site which gave the dimensions of this balloon: 20feet diameter by 5 feet. The volume of this balloon equals the volume of a 12.6 foot in diameter sphere, and this could have lifted up somewhere between 60-70 lbs. Maybe someone could figure out how far up this balloon could carry a 60lbs weight.
What was Odumbo speaking about this time, when he was so unceremoniously dumped (thanks six-year-old kid!)? Was he talking about health care again? Or pimping to gays? Or was he actually saying something about Afghanistan? I wasn’t watching. I was listening to Rush. I just hope Obama doesn’t get so angry at the kid who pre-empted him that he “arranges” for him to go to reform school!
I was led astray by kids I was visiting.
We explored the train tressel.
As I remember, the car that was hit on the windshield with the snowball stopped and went looking for us.
The younger brother of the girl I was visiting took the interview.
Lucky for us, it was too small town and pre-cable and internet for us to get busted for safety infractions.
Perhaps if you tried reading the Bible tract rather than eating it, it would be more agreeable.
Hey! I love candy corn! I fill my candy dish with it every Halloween. And I eat it all. Along with those yummy pumpkin candies. The only weird Halloween experience I had was when a woman came to the door and told me I was going to hell for begging. It scared me!!
You are a guy for my own heart!
Pitter pat, pitter pat.
Well, I just had supper and loosened my belt so I could expand, Chap.
Would they have been “Chick Tracts”, Chappy? I knew people who would give them out, but they also tossed in some candy (mebbe candy corn, heh).
PS – I like candy corn. But caady cigs were way cooler!
BTW, the 70lbs of would need to account for the weight of the balloon and the makeshift house, so the actual passenger would have to weigh much less. It would have been helpful for all those folks scrambling to rescue this kid, such details. If we knew that this contraption could only have carried a 20lbs payload, this whole spectacle could have been avoided.
Every year I see thousands of bags of candy corn for sell in the various stores.
In all my 54 years, I have never actually seen anyone eat a candy corn.
It’s kind of like the fruit cakes……
And how did you manage to break that expensive glass window?
Baseball?
That must have been a very large toy box.
Yikes, this thread is growing out of control and Kingfish is supposed to be calling me.
I hope her Minnesota Nice card was immediately revoked.
Worst Halloween thing I ever received?
A Balut
“On October 15th, 2009 at 6:46 pm, Southpaw said:
Oh geez, I plead guilty for being involved in throwing snowballs onto cars from an underpass.
I plead silence. Some transgressions must remain unknown”
Not cool, my friends, tossing snowballs at cars. I woulda got my backside tanned for that.
Now, building a snowfort and going to war with other kids snowforts was cool. Had to watch out for the ice balls though – they could really bean you but good!
I’m not following you.
No. Movie?
Yes. This is must see. Heavy movie version of a David Hare play.
Kingfish!
“All I kin say is when you finds yo’self wanderin’ in a peach orchard, ya don’t go lookin’ for rutabagas.”
Two bad puns and a Kingfish quote in one comment thread! I can die happy now….
Then there was the time some friends set fire to some wooden barricades in town. I was implicated , but I had the perfect alibi:
Because I was a good kid in school, I was given the unique experience of visiting a Minuteman missle site. I was deep inside a nuclear missile silo during the allleged incident. (An eerie experience, to get into the control room you had to walk on a catwalk above the missile.)
You’ve heard of “Minnesota Nice”, eh, Chap?
But to answer your question – it always sucked to get an apple. We tossed ‘em.
Not just because of some crazy might have put razor blades in ‘em – but because they were apples. Halloween isn’t for stuff that keeps the doctor away, it’s for the the stuff that keeps dentists in business.
Chaps, where in the hell were you living where you got bible tracts?
Didn’t you ever get homemade popcorn balls?
The new enemy isn’t sugar, it is acid wear.
What about the candy apples dipped in chocolate with crushed nuts? Good stuff. Just watch out for the razor blades.
Ah yes, those were the days, PA. Us kids got away with a lotta stuff that would end up putting today’s kids in sensitivity training, at the least!
Sadly, I think Minnesota Nice is out of style!
At least it is non-existent on the freeway!! My husband and I go to a movie on Halloween night. Only about 5 kids ever stop at our door any more so why bother? They all go to the Mall. Tricks or Treats on a door-to-door basis pretty much belongs to the “good old days” when we didn’t have to worry about perverts or needles in the candy bars. There are so many more disgusting creeps out there these days…I wonder what has happened to this great country?
Best candy to get in your bag (c. 1964~66):
A Seven-Up candy bar. It was 7 pieces of bridge mix held together with chocolate. Wish they still made them.
Makes me laugh. A few years ago I didn’t feel like dealing with the trick or treaters, so I decide to go to the mall for a few hours. I didn’t know that was the new tradition. Every kid in town was there.
Let’s turn this into the Halloween memory thread.
“it always sucked to get an apple. We tossed ‘em.”
Indeed, good treat, Swede. But getting things like apples or homemade stuff was a dud in my circle. There was usually some kid who would trade, though. So I’d let them risk the blades.
A caramel-crushed nut apple was a fave, but only if they were made by our Ma or store-bought. There were candy stores back in the day, afterall.
For some reason that brought taffy pulls to mind, lol. Great good clean fun!
Go to your Mrs. Gutleys house. (Math teacher who looked and sounded remarkably like Helen Thomas)
Place doggy doo in paper bag.
Place bag on porch. Light on fire. Ring door bell. Run. Laugh.
Get detention and grounded for a month. Worth every minute.
Taffy pull is the real deal.
Going to a fun St. Louis event tomorrow night where the local art glass studio is going to pull a thread of hot glass down the street.
Oh my gosh!!! That was my favorite! And it was made right here in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Pearson Candy Factory. I even checked into why they weren’t made any more and found out that the 7-Up Company bought the rights to the candy bar and immediately retired it forever, because they didn’t want another product with the same name. There is no way that bar will ever come back. I really miss it, as it had 6 different chocolate covered treats and a nut in the center. It was like getting a miniature box of chocolates all in one bar. Sigh.
I remember them, Hangfire!
It’s great that would looked to maybe become a comment thread on a terrible tragedy turned into some fun reminiscing instead.
Scapper! Pearson’s Nut Goodies!!
Anyone remember what 6 flavors of candy were in the Seven-Up bar?
Wow, great picture, Purple!
That’s the one. It brought back memories.
I’d trade my autographed picture of Barbara Feldon for just a taste of one.
Absolutely yummy! And Salted Nut Rolls are made there too. You would never believe that I am in Weight Watchers would you? But I still enjoy good sweets once in a while!
“The seven fillings were: Orange Jelly, Maple, Caramel, Brazil Nut, Fudge, Coconut, and Cherry”
I cheated – it’s from the link I posted above, Scrapper:
But after reading it, I did recall the flavs.
My grandmother I lived with growing up made fruitcakes well in advance of Christmas. She wrapped them up in plain brown paper with a string and stored them in the attic.
There was probably some rum involved with that.
Nougat, Raspbery jelly stick, caramel, uh……uh…….a long nut that I don’t know the real name of, and can’t say on this thread.
Anyone remember N-word babies, the licorice kind. Our town was so lilly white and isolated, those were the only thing the N-word was associated with. Boy do we live in different times.
I also liked the Slo-Poke suckers, and the candy dots on the cash register tape.
You could never get the candy dot off the paper without some of the paper glued to the back.
I think that was how I got all my fiber back then.
I still have a my autographed pic of Sally Fields, Hangfire, from the Gidget/Flying Nun era – before she went nuts.
Lost my Adam West-Batman autograph pic over the years somewhere along the line, though…
For some reason, that site didn’t load. Oh, well, I might have to go out and buy a box of Whitman’s!
Brazil Nut…but I remember the other name you refer to…raaaacist!!
For folks who want a taste of sweet-tooth years gone by there is a site that sells retro candy, Hangfire:
Nostalgic Candy
Even has bubblegum cigs!
I loved the little wax bottles with the nectar in them. And at Halloween, we had the wax lips. We used them for a while and then ate them. A lot of those things are still available and it is fun to get a bunch of the old penny candy at times. Only now, each piece costs about 50 cents!
I am summoning Kingfish now.
I always liked the homemade popcorn balls, but sadly, never got a razor blade in anything.
Think of someone whose name begins with “J” and ends with “ack the Ripper.”
On October 15th, 2009 at 7:39 pm, purplepeep said:
She went nuts, and Liberal!
I remember falling asleep at night, trying to decide if I wanted to marry Barbara Feldon, Marta Kristen, or Joey Heatherton when I grew up.
You will burn in hell.
Ah yes, Boston Baked Beans and Necco wafers! I have to go now. I am hungry. Must.have.sugar.
Have lost track.
Trying to call my hero.
My mother loved those.
Could not get into that.
I remember the “gold nuggets”, little weird shaped bubble-gum coated with yellow candy and sold in little cloth bags with a drawstring.
I have an autographed picture of Robert Wagner…I got it when I was 16 years old. He also wrote his name on my arm!! I didn’t wash it for a week. You can’t get that close to the “stars” any more, but then, who would want to??
No need, PA, I already found him -
Retrovision
You guys got weird stuff on Halloween.
Hmmmm, I can’t imagine asking Kanye West or Courtney Love to write on me.
Now, Anne Coulter or Michelle can write on me anytime.
How old are you, Aloha? Must be under 50.
I bet he’d still autograph your arm.
On October 15th, 2009 at 7:49 pm, AlohaGuy said:
Yeah, not at all like Mochi Crunch or Hurricane Popcorn balls.
I hate to say this to a great looking lady but Michelle, how the heck could you fall for this story? An experienced investigative reporter should have known this was tabloid TMZ style nonsense right fromt the get go. First of all, how would the kid have gained access to a hot air balloon? Did the parents leave it untethered where a 6 year old could sneak into it? Oh puhleez? And how could a six year old fire up the hot air baloon and steer it into space and then a journey of hundreds of miles? I am a bit of a hot air enthusiast so I know that getting into a hot air baloon and getting it ready for flight is not so easy and then firing it up is well beyond the capability of a six year old or his dopey parents. And then once we all heard that the parents were on a show called “Wife Swap”, then it was all to easy to know that this was a hoax. I had it all figured out in a nanosecond. This whole phony story was a nice diversion from the takeover of our economy by trial lawyers and public sector unions. So maybe many or us found it a nice diversion from the horrors taking place in Washington, D.C. Again, I hate saying “how could you fall for this” to a great looking lady but….
Thank you. Boston Baked Beans for Paul Revere’s Birthday, sure, but Halloween?
What? No Julie Newmar? Even before “Batman” she was a “living doll”.
He probably would. I always have thought of him as a really classy guy. I have no idea what his politics are and I guess I’d rather not know. I don’t want the illusion shattered. But if anyone knows he is a conservative, let me know. I just remember looking up at this tall, tan “god” and being completely tongue tied. He had this great smile and was really nice! this was when he was just dating Natalie Wood for the first time, before they were married. I was 16, so that was back in 1958. Everyone stood in line, patiently, and were very courteous and orderly. Times sure have changed! Sigh.
I know, for living a very sheltered life growing up in Wyoming. My dad was a fur trapper, the last of the mountain men.
I didn’t go to school with any blacks or asians until I moved to California and went to high school.
When I was in junior high, a family friend had to deliver a trailer to California so I went along for the ride. A friend of his went along also. The entire trip, all this guy talked about was being gay and Jewish. The entire trip, all I thought about was “what the heck is this guy talking about?” I didn’t know anybody that was either until college.
Julie Newmar? Oh, yeahhhhh
This is a great thread! I hate to leave…but I’LL BE BACK!
I’ll be back, too. Time to lock up and go home.
H1 isn’t too crowded yet.
Marc, the cables dumped Obama’s speech (thankfully) to cover this story. Everyone followed the story, it had the urgency and human interest of a “child who fell into a well” story.
I’m happy that Michelle followed it too and I’m glad it had a “happy ending” rather than a tragic one.
Or a steaming bowl of Dolsot Bibimbap served on the porch under the watchful eye of a beaming Halmoni.
OK never happened…
Fifty degrees in Atlanta tonight. First fire in the fireplace. Nice.
Paging Al Gore: Go visit the thriving polar bears. They did get the message.
I forgot to add the most important point here, Marc:
Michelle is a mom.