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Lesley

Grey Matter

Lesley is also a columnist for UFO Magazine. Check it out !

10.20.9

It's for the Show

I think it was the moment when I heard that Richard Heene had been on Wife Swap that I started to wonder if the whole "missing son that might be in a balloon" story was a hoax. It also became quite obvious that it was highly unlikely that the balloon could even lift the 50 pound child. Still, I sat there and watched it all play out until it was reported that the kid was found at home. I was pretty sure it had all been a hoax, but why say so before there is any real evidence? I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, because I like to hope that people are good and not self serving assholes.

It wasn't until the following day that I found the Heene's (the mother and father) downright creepy. Here they were, dragging their 3 sons from TV show to TV show. Falcon (balloon boy) is actually throwing up on TV and his dad just keeps talking like nothing is going on. After being on one show where the kid was sick, the family took him on another show, instead of taking him home and putting him to bed, which is what any normal parent would do. It became obvious that, at the very least, these people cared more about being on TV than the well being of their child. Of course, there is another explanation and that is that Falcon is a pretty good actor and was told to act sick so he wouldn't have to answer any questions about his comment on Larry King the previous night.

The sheriff is now saying that charges will be filed. I wonder if they have real evidence or if it is because of this interesting article -- I helped Richard Heene plan a balloon hoax, which came out Saturday?

In the article, Robert Thomas, claims that Heene had discussed using the saucer shaped balloon to create a hoax and draw the attention of the media, so that he would get some attention and a reality show.

From Richard Heene's own proposal for a reality show:

Can we attract UFO's with a homemade flying saucer? We will modify a weather balloon, so that it resembles a UFO and will electrically charge the skin of the craft (Biefield-Brown Effect). We will capture the footage on film, and will utilize the media as a means with which to make our presence known to the masses. This will not only provide us with incredible footage, but will also generate a tremendous amount of controversy among the public, as well as publicity within the mainstream media. This will be the most significant UFO-related news event to take place since the Roswell Crash of 1947, and the result will be a dramatic increase in local and national awareness about The Heene Family, our Reality Series, as well as the UFO Phenomenon in general.

The strange thing about that is not that he planned such a hoax, but that it is possible that what he wrote in the first sentence actually occurred. I posted this at TDF right after the hoax. There is a photo that shows another object near the balloon. There were theories that this was the basket of the balloon or a toolbox that fell off the balloon, but now that we have seen the video of the balloon taking off we know there was nothing attached to the bottom. Of course, that doesn't mean that the object is some sort of alien craft, but there is that possibility that it did actually attract a UFO.

Of course, if you read the rest of the article you will also find that Richard Heene sounds like a big fan of David Icke and Ed Dames, with talk of Reptilian shape shifters and solar flares wiping out most of the population of earth. It is rather hard to figure out why someone who really believed those types of doom theories would think there is any real value in fame. Then again, does he really believe those things or is it just for the show?

That is the real problem for him, there were experiments he could have done that might have been interesting and might have got him a TV show, but now any real results of any experiment he does will be thought to be a hoax and for the show. In fact, my feeling is by using his child as part of this (at this point still alleged) hoax, he has made himself toxic to any network. Had it just been a UFO hoax, it likely would have been different, but causing people to worry over a child and costing the local government tax money, not to mention the time of police and emergency workers and aircraft being grounded, is not some sort of funny prank that people are likely to easily forgive.

  • Check out Lesley's Blog HERE

    As well as her Beyond the Dial blog