It’s Been 10 Years Since Fort Collins Balloon Boy Incident

At first, we thought we were having the first contact. There was a UFO flying around NoCo. We quickly found out that the silver item, made of tarps and aluminum foil, was actually a homemade weather balloon from self-proclaimed storm chasing, weather enthusiast Richard Heene.

He had been "testing" the balloon in the backyard when what we were initially told, Henne's 6-year-old son Falcon had crawled inside and the balloon broke free. The balloon crossed over three NoCo counties being followed by a news helicopter, and we all held our breath as the balloon crashed into an empty field. Was Falcon injured or even worse? As the first responders poked and stabbed at the balloon with pitchforks and other objects to get to the center we all waited for the outcome.

As it turns out, Falcon, was not in the balloon. He never was. At first, we were told Falcon hid in the garage and released the balloon for attention. But after a couple of days, and some questioning and pressure from authorities, it was revealed that Falcon was told by his father to say those things. You see, Richard had been trying to get his family a Reality TV show. He thought that the exposure may help with that.

An outrageous story that gripped the nation and started right here in NoCo. Trevor Hughes was reported for the Coloradoan in '09 and '10 and followed the story closely. If you would like to see the interesting details he remembers, you can check out the USA Today article on the anniversary here.