DECEPTION: Balloon Boy: The Hoax That Gripped America

Hi, everyone. Before today's episode, we want to tell you about What the Fact. It's a new show from Conor Tomlinson, you know, from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum, and Carter Roy from Murder, True Crime Stories. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Conor's infectious energy will make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on Earth. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod. Welcome back, everyone. This is a new season, which means we are mixing it up. We're going to play a new game, so retiring the red flag, green flag. Yes. This season is all about crimes of deception, where the line between the truth and a lie gets so blurred, it's really hard to tell which way is up. So we're going to be doing a little bit of a new season of What the Fact. If this sounds made up, well, then that just proves our point of this season, because truth is stranger than fiction. I can't. can't even imagine the fear of a parent no thinking that their child is floating in this like backyard balloon contraption oh my god i think i just basically killed my kid which also like prior to this they had tried to like fly this balloon before but it hadn't worked and this is the first time that it's flying it was supposed to be tethered down to the ground right and now it is everything out of their reach oh and their six-year-old child is in it the anxiety horrifying but this is real this is very real this really happened and we're going to tell you everything that happened after this moment and how it started as a family testing out an experiment on a nice fall day turned into a living nightmare where they believed their six-year-old son was floating away in a balloon in front of their eyes and i want to be able to have fun this episode so maybe to give everyone the chance to breathe we will give a disclaimer that no one dies in this episode in fact no one's injured no no not at all no children are harmed so we can have some fun because the optics of a child named falcon floating away in a balloon is honestly hilarious soaring through the sky yeah like it's a little on the nose like it feels like it was like his destiny when he was named falcon as a child like one day you'll fly so there is a lot of fun to be had in this episode um but at that moment on october 15th of 2009 the heaney family was not having fun they were in sheer panic richard jumped into action he had to get his son to safety right so his first instinct was to call the faa the federal aviation administration because he knew this balloon was now entering federal airspace he needed to alert them so they're not just going to like shoot down a balloon that has his kid inside or like that a plane doesn't fly into it or something yeah yeah yeah so he's terrified because he no longer has his eyes on the balloon it has drifted out of sight so he's so scared for falcon he doesn't really know what to do so he calls the faa the faa dispatcher couldn't understand what richard was trying to tell her it's confusing what do you mean your child is in a balloon in the sky your son is in an action is it a flying saucer what sir experimental flying saucer from your backyard yeah it makes no sense so richard doesn't really know what else to say so mayumi hopped on the phone and tries to tell her version of like what is happening and reiterate how urgent the situation is and that is when the faa agent is like you need to call 9-1-1 so they hang up and that is what they did feeling desperate richard does something that i don't think i would have thought of in this i think it's brilliant it is quite brilliant he calls the local tv station and asks for the news helicopter to follow the balloon's flight because they can't see the balloon anymore the news has a helicopter so they can track it and i feel like in this part of the story some people are like oh why would you call the news but i also think i think it's brilliant like you were saying it's so smart he does not have eyes on it the faa doesn't know what to do the police what are they gonna do so he's like who could get eyes on this balloon yeah it's smart so the media is not only eager to help find the young boy but they're also like this is what a great story we're gonna follow this so the nbc pilot jimmy negri and reporter greg feith climbed into the helicopter with a camera operator and took off shortly after bob heffernan an investigator with the larimer county sheriff's office arrived to the heaney's house and he's also very confused just as confused as the faa dispatcher and he's like you know what i'm sure it's just a case of your child hiding in the house we'll we'll search the home and we'll find him so once other deputies come to the house they search the home from top to bottom but they do not find falcon anywhere they search a second time they search a third time still falcon is nowhere to be found so richard and mayumi are completely distraught because of course they were hoping that their kid was inside but they had already done a search luckily though the nbc news team that's in the air and actively searching for falcon and a balloon for a while all they could see was clear blue sky but soon they spotted a silver disc in the distance it is 10 000 feet in the air and it's moving fast due to high winds but they have eyes on it which is at least something local reporters notified the national nbc station which at the time was airing a town hall with then president barack obama and national reporters interrupt this town hall to broadcast the news to the entire country that there is a little boy floating in a helium balloon over colorado so now naturally everyone across the country is tuning in it was so wild like mr president there's a backyard ufo with a six-year-old yeah and we need to watch wild and 2009 was peak live cable news and the combination of a missing child plus live aerial footage was irresistible i mean people were like glued to the tv the entire time they were watching it and they were like oh my god i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry people could not look away i think like facebook groups were being created like live in the moment people were creating merch actively as it was happening and i'm sure like kind of like storm chasers people were going out trying to follow the did you we were in high school did you follow it did were you aware of it at the time i vaguely remember it happening but i didn't learn the ditty gritty drama and details of the story because of course i took a couple years to fully unfold too until a couple years ago and i'm like oh my god i'm so sorry i'm so i truly had never heard of this yeah because the office makes mention of it in one of the episodes i re-watched that episode recently and i was like oh like it was so part of yeah the zeitgeist i feel like it was like a blip for me it was like oh the pun intended kind of limp okay so soon an update came in someone in fort collins area contacted police and showed them a photo that they took of the flying saucer and then a few feet below the photo they took of the balloon although there was a smaller object which looked like it was falling out or had fallen out of this like something had fallen out of the yes yeah but it's like still in the sky right so the photo is grainy it was taken from far away it wasn't clear what the object was but authorities and the heenies and members of the public are fearing the worst they're thinking oh my god this is a photo of falcon falling out of the balloon yeah so as panic ramped up more stations started picking up the story until almost every channel was covering it people watched with bated breath afraid that they were about to see a deadly disaster play out on tv and like a child to a six years old yeah meanwhile a reporter named brian willie had been tracking the story and managed to actually track the balloon with his car kind of like what i was saying like storm chaser style and brian sped down a two-lane dirt road that ran through a bunch of fields as the balloon drifted above him pretty soon brian noticed that this balloon started to get a little bit closer to him it appeared to be inflating which this reminds me i grew up in a town where like the biggest hot air balloon festival in the united states would happen every summer wait we met okay yeah i had like the same thing yeah and so like the hot air balloons would like come down in our neighborhoods and it was like a whole thing where we would run into like on their bikes and you'd like run and try to help the balloon like this moment into the air it was so fun yeah it was so much fun it reminds me of that a lot more stakes there's no one manning this craft two hours had passed since the balloon first flew away and now it was losing helium over these fields that brian is driving below which were 90 miles away from the heaney's house so this has made some serious distance brian reported live as the balloon made its fast descent towards the ground people watching became very worried that falcon was inside he was about to endure this horrific and potentially deadly crash well and also i mean there's so many concerns because at the height it was flying like 10 000 feet and it was flying like 10 000 feet and it was flying like 10 000 feet and potentially more what is the air pressure like what is the oxygen level like there's so much concern throughout all of this it's a power line so many concerns yeah it blows up yeah it's just it's terrible so brian is watching this balloon come like seemingly come crashing down to earth he steps on the gas he tries to catch up to this quickly falling balloon and once he's close enough he slams on the brakes of his car jumps out of his car and rinses full speed towards the balloon the entire nation is holding his breath because there's news cameras right like people are tracking everyone's watching so like people are getting live footage of this he's sprinting as the balloon gets lower and lower but then it gets slower and reporters oh everyone just sighs out with the relief because it became clear that the balloon was actually going to make quite a soft landing in the field police had caught up and they were now gathering under the balloon alongside brian and finally it touched the ground everyone ran to the balloon wanting to check on falcon they tried to find the door to the compartment that the heaney family had told them of but there wasn't one it was just plywood wrapped in foil so they used shovels to like poke holes in the balloon to try to like remove back the foil they couldn't see into the compartment so they gently lifted the contraption and turned it over and can you guess what they found falcon the little boy whisked away the balloon causing all of this panic was not inside This episode 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What do you do when a spirit saves you from the edge of death? When a single night in a strange hotel ends with you running for the door? From angry spirits to haunted houses to unexplainable magic, these are true, first-person accounts told by the stars who lived through them. Follow Celebrity Ghost Stories, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Brian's voice shook as he narrated what was going on. If Falcon wasn't inside, had he fallen out? Like, they were really, really scared. Right. Reporters covering the event live were audibly devastated. But more importantly, when the Heeneys got the news, they were a complete wreck. And at this time, also, reporters and news. Like, everyone was outside of their house, too, and the Heeneys were too distraught to even talk to them. But now they're just so scared. Panic and dismay set in, and investigators were searching the area where the saucer had landed. And they also searched the ground underneath the balloon's entire flight path. But there was no sign of Falcon. Meanwhile, the Heeneys huddled in their living room, surrounded by police, fearing with each passing moment that they were about to get the most devastating news of their lives. As officers spoke in hushed tones in the hall, they suddenly felt something brush past their legs. They looked down and they saw a little boy. Stunned, one of the officers asked, who are you? And from the living room, the family looks up to see Falcon. Obviously, everyone's staring at six-year-old Falcon. It's also confusing because they have two other kids, right? They're like, wait, did we get confused? Yeah. But no, he's like, I'm Falcon. Just casually walking past. Just casually walking past the barrage of police in his living room. And they're all staring at him in disbelief. And Falcon's like, can I have a snack? The Heeney household erupted into a mixture of relief, joy, and obviously confusion. The police were dumbfounded and also a little embarrassed. They had searched the house three times. How had they missed Falcon if he was inside the house the whole time? And Richard and Mayumi wanted to know the same thing. But they also don't blame the police because they knew that their son liked to hide. He was a little bit scared. He was a little bit sneaky. They embraced him. And they asked tearfully, where were you? The six-year-old boy, Falcon, explained nonchalantly, because he's six, he doesn't realize the weight of everything that had just happened, that he had fallen asleep in the attic above the garage. He said that he had gone inside after getting in trouble for climbing into the balloon that first time when he did come out. And that he went inside to go hide in the attic. He was upset that his parents had yelled at him, so he was hiding in there and played with his toys for a little bit before he got tired and fell asleep. I actually do believe that part. I do not have a six-year-old, but I have a 19-month-old that has started to, when upset about something, run and try to hide and cry it in. I did that as a kid. I'm like, hello? My version of it was I would storm downstairs in my basement and play Guitar Hero. I'd like really jam on those four buttons. Yeah, get that energy out. Yours is probably for a good reason. Noah, right now, it's like, I try to turn the harmonica the right way, so he blows through the right hole, and it's too much. Too much to handle. Gotta go cry in the corner. But I get it. That's a normal kid reaction to go hide, and then he fell asleep. According to Falcon, he woke up when he heard voices from inside the house, and his stomach started grumbling, and he was like, I'm hungry, so I'll go downstairs. So to be clear on the timeline here, so the balloon took off around 1130 a.m., and Falcon anywhere between like 1230 and 1 p.m., so it was like an hour to an hour and a half had fully passed that he was hiding upstairs and asleep. Which is a normal nap. Totally normal nap. But how did he sleep through his family and the police going through the house so many times, calling his name, panicking, freaking out? There's police cars outside. There's news reporters outside. Again, he's a child. So in the moment, they're just grateful that Falcon was safe. So you would think that this would be the end of the story? Yeah. I think so. I think so. I think so. I think so. But it is, in fact, far from over. Yes, the story goes on and on. Okay, so once the family's shock were off, they finally agreed to speak to reporters who were still gathered outside of the family's home. In their mind, I think that they were thinking they would thank everyone for their care and for their concern, inform them that their son is, in fact, safe, was not in the balloon. Because the whole world was watching. The end. Right. Yeah. Yeah. On paper, this should be a moment of relief. But it was the first media appearance that set this bizarre case in motion. Because on camera, Richard is just super awkward. And he mostly looks off to the distance as he speaks or like down to the ground. And he quickly thanked police. And that was pretty much it. He didn't really offer any explanation or show any accountability for the situation that got so out of hand that the entire nation has been watching. And also, Falcon is there. And he's not showing Falcon the child that he loved. And he thought might die moments before any affection at all. Like he doesn't even touch him like on the shoulder or anything. Nope. Falcon's just standing there and his dad is just like looking off in the distance or like at the ground being like, all right, thanks. You guys can go now. So weird. Yeah. So it was very strange. That whole interaction was just like it was weird. And Mayumi sounded slightly rehearsed, too, with what she was saying, which people started picking up on. And they felt awkward about that. And then when the interview wrapped, it was kind of like, crickets were chirping all over the country. And people started talking about how they thought that this is not how parents or a father would react in this situation. Which you could say maybe they were just uncomfortable about the whole thing. Maybe they were embarrassed. They just wanted it all to be over. Maybe they were awkward around cameras. But as we'll learn, this is a family that is used to cameras, in fact, likes cameras and maybe seeks them out. Yeah. So this it was it was picking up on it and also what they did next. Like because in my mind, I was like, OK, maybe they just wanted this to be over and they wanted they were embarrassed because I would be embarrassed if you got the whole world to be looking for your child and he was just asleep in the basement or the attic, you know, like I'd be like, I'm so sorry. Yeah. I'm embarrassed. I never want I don't want any of you to talk to me about this again. Or like crying with relief that your child, because you have just thought for two hours that your child is flying ten thousand feet in the air. But what they did next completely contradicts all of that. Yeah. So after that interview, people were left with more questions than answers because things had gone from this complete media circus to the family acting like, oh, pish posh, no big deal. Everyone at home for dinner. So as people flooded the Internet to talk about what the heck just happened, TV producers started reaching out to the Heaney's for more interviews. And Richard and Mayumi agreed to one of the interviews, which offered Larry King live. The Heaney's appeared on the show that same evening, October 15th, 2009, the same day they thought their child had been lifted into the air on their UFO shaped balloon. And from the comfort of their living room, they spoke to Wolf Blitzer, who was filling in for Larry that night. And Wolf laid out the story so that everyone understood it. The Heaney's had built their own flying saucer in their backyard. It had been tethered down with ropes. But when they filled the balloon up, the rope snapped and the balloon flew away. Then they realized that their son, six-year-old Falcon, was gone. And they thought that perhaps he had climbed into the balloon before it took off. But fortunately, he had been safe at home the entire time. The Heaney's said, yes, this is what happened. And that is sort of kind of the thing you would expect from a far out family like them. But then Wolf starts asking more questions because everyone has everyone had a lot of questions. And the main one being, did Falcon hear his family calling for him? And Falcon said yes richard and miami look surprised and richard goes like if you heard us why didn't you come out when we called you falcon paused for a while and then he said quote you guys said that we did it for the show but um um let's just let that land you guys said that we did it for the show and like he's taking time to answer because he's trying to read his parents and and say wait why are we going off script here yeah what do you mean i did it because you told me yeah that's what it's implying yeah yeah that single statement from falcon really broke the campbell's back here what seemed like a terrifying moment for the family now they're being questioned if any of it was real yeah after falcon said what he said miami softly replied no and richard seemed he basically like pretended like he didn't hear anything la la la but wolf blitzer was not gonna let this go so he asked falcon what he meant but falcon wouldn't answer which listen he's six years old and just granted he wasn't in the balloon but it's still a traumatic day that he experienced and this family has not really taken a beat to process it there have been strangers and cameras and lights in his house like all day police well and also like his he's trying to read his parents and he might be thinking that he just said something wrong based on their so he's scared awkwardness but also like did he say that because his parents were like oh we're gonna be on a tv show tonight and like he just was you can tell them what happened yeah yeah yeah like oh i'm supposed to repeat my version of events for the show exactly that makes sense right so wolf kept pushing and eventually richard snapped and was like are you implying that we staged the whole thing and wolf didn't exactly deny that he was implying that so he asked richard what his son meant by quote doing it for the show and richard explained that earlier that day reporters had been at the house they were asking falcon to show them where he had been hiding for their show and that this must be what the six-year-old was referencing which he's six yeah no that makes sense it makes so much sense yeah and pretty much that is where the interview ended but the story was far from over again if anything people were more interested in the story now because was the whole thing a hoax like what the heck is going on had richard and mayumi heaney intentionally staged the incident to make it seem like their son who people were now calling the balloon boy had been caught up in this sort of like hijinks and if so why would they do why yeah what's the incentive why would you endanger your child or pretend to endanger your child right in any way but to answer that people began to dig into richard and mayumi heaney and who they were prior to that wild day in 2009 which is exactly what we too are going to do so richard heaney and mayumi izuka met in los angeles in the early 90s and can you guess where they met acting school yes a ufo conference that would have easily been just unbelievable for them they wanted to be actors and so this became a red flag to people who were now looking into this questioning whether or not the whole balloon incident was a hoax because they're like oh are they just seeking fame right they both were in the early to mid 30s at the time when they met and mayumi had come to the u.s from japan they started dating and got married in 1997 and after their wedding mayumi started earning a living by producing demo reels for actors and richard tried to break into show business himself he was acting doing stand-up comedy but never had much success the couple eventually got married and they were both in the early 90s and they were both in the early 90s and decided to let go of their hollywood ambitions and focus on other interests which their other interests are quite spectacular they were storm chasers literally yeah and specifically they chased tornadoes which is so cool and so dangerous and so zany very i feel like you have to be a certain character to type of person yeah very and la was not the best place to go chase tornadoes and it was also the worst place to go chase tornadoes and it was also the worst place to go chase tornadoes getting expensive so they packed up their bags and moved to fort collins colorado located on the edge of the rocky mountains and great plains it was much easier to get to tornado alley and richard was a bit of an inventor he was always thinking up new inventions he fancied himself an engineer though he didn't have any formal training and he also had a lot of fringe beliefs he believed in time travel he believed aliens were real which okay well what are you saying about those types of people because i think we're going to have to figure out how to do that i think we're going to 100 we are for sure alien believers but he took it like time travel i would love to think that that's true i don't think it currently exists but the possibility that i would love for it too yeah but he took things a little bit further than the typical you and me alien you know paranormal lovers yes he believed aliens were communicating with him telepathically and um he also will get into this a little bit but he also thought he was a a descendant of aliens that him and mayumi both were like oh both of them yeah yeah but anyway they're living life on the edge and they want to have a family so over the next few years richard and mayumi go on to have three sons bradford rio and falcon and their parenting style was very laid back the heaties believed kids should be able to let out all their energy and act however they wanted even if that meant throwing chairs or just farting whenever they wanted like at the dinner table they also thought their kids have absolute freedom which also meant bringing their kids along with them to go storm chasing their kids would go to sleep fully dressed in clothes like they didn't own pajamas just in case there was a storm in the middle of the night and they all had to get up and go chase it okay so i know that they were on wife swap but this would have been they would have been the perfect family to include in this show i think it was called the parent test that came out a few years ago and it was different parenting styles and they all competed and they all competed and against each other basically interesting to find the parenting style like they were there were still a lot of like respect and prose and every single style but like the one that seemed to work the best and they would have been so fun to watch on that show i'm telling you they are very fun to watch on wife swap even though it's also like ah i can't believe this is real but yeah it's and it's also it brings up this conversation of like their kids are young yeah and they're kind of endangering them by bringing them into tornadoes like it's one thing for you because they even pulled them out of school when there was yeah tornadoes it's one thing for you like as a consenting adult who knows the risks to like go literally into the storm but to bring your children is a questionable choice i wonder how legally it is viewed okay but for richard storm chasing was definitely more than a hobby because yes there's the thrill of finding that twister right but richard actually wanted to figure out a way to stop tornadoes in its tracks which like if that's actually kind of amazing because if you think about how like deadly and destructive some of them are to stop the ones that are going towards populated areas areas like that would be awesome so he spent a ton of time he was very obsessed with this he spent a ton of time and money on trying to figure this out trying to figure out how to dissipate a tornado which also if this sounds like the movie twisters you're absolutely right like it literally feels like copy and paste yeah so he wanted to raise money to ride a motorcycle into the eye of a hurricane and it is not exactly clear how that would have helped to stop a tornado but um that's what he was trying to do and unsurprisingly there were not many takers so the funny thing is like richard definitely sounds a little bit kooky right it sounds like his ideas are outlandish yeah they're out there but he actually had legit knowledge and training here he had co-written a paper on electromagnetic fields that appeared in the national weather digest in 2005 he joined members of the national weather digest and he was a member of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration so noaa on a plane ride through the center of hurricane wilma and he had even been profiled in the denver post for his storm chasing efforts so he had some credentials within this field yeah and he he's dedicated to it he cares a lot about it so he's investing a lot of time and energy into learning and trying to create new methods right but making a living off of storm chasing while it's possible it is definitely difficult yeah and it was um not happening for richard so to try to make some extra cash he put his construction experience to use running a home remodeling and renovation business but this was at the height of the 2008 recession so the timing was horrible he didn't really have many clients and that meant that mayumi was the main breadwinner she was supporting her family through the demo real business that she had which also wasn't very lucrative either so the heenies were basically like in this constant financial strain yeah part of the reason that mayumi's business couldn't take off was because richard also expected her to do everything all the housework the cooking the cleaning that was women's work and his energy was best spent on his scientific experiments and that meant that they basically were left pretty strapped for cash in the end Afternoon glare totally ruined my watch party for the big day. game that's when my buddy recommended blinds.com with custom window treatments made to fit your style space and budget 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history lesson you actually wished you had in high school with everything they cut for being too interesting put back in every week we take the wildest true things that ever happened and tell you the whole story behind them i bring the history i bring the facts the tangents and the occasional british accent the wildest stuff is real and the real stuff is wilder than you think new episodes every wednesday follow what the fact on apple podcasts spotify amazon music or subscribe on youtube at what the fact pod and then in 2008 when their kids were eight seven and five they got an opportunity that was unlike anything they'd ever done but was also very akin to something they had long sought out they were asked to go on the abc reality show life swap which i don't know how you get fat like do like if producers reached out to them or did they apply you know yeah exactly fine i could see a world where they did apply i wouldn't be surprised uh yeah i put my money towards them applying yes i just we don't have fact on that um the heenies were excited they were thrilled richard also thought it was a chance to raise awareness about his storm chasing plus this would be a good paycheck for them and also they were theater kids probably very excited they wanted to be actors they were gonna be actors they're gonna be on tv it's their chance so for anyone who doesn't know what wife swap was uh basically it was a show where two married women who lived very extremely different lifestyles would swap lives with each other for two weeks so during the first week the wives would live according to the rules of the host family and basically have to do everything and like live the life the other wife did and then during the second week the host family had to live like the new wife would uh-huh so richard and mayumi appeared in the first episode of season five and if you don't have anything to do tonight or this weekend i highly recommend watching it it's on hulu oh big drama lots of heated arguments yeah and this case just is so fascinating watching the two episodes that they are on is very informative it gives you a lot of context like to the point where richard calls for mayumi through a phone call and she's like bullhorn yeah okay so mayumi swapped lives with a woman named karen martell karen and her husband jay were like complete opposites from the heenies they believe children to be disciplined and well behaved but they were also so obsessed with safety to the point where their sons max and dean were afraid to use the microwave because they thought it would give them cancer and in the episode like the kids start listing all of the things that they were afraid of and they're like oh my god the things that they don't do and can't do and there's like this little they call it like their their jail or mayumi called it their jail there's like this little like it's a tiny little square that they would like put the kids in to like make sure they were safe oh my god yeah suffice it to say karen and her kids had never chased a tornado their two families were the epitome of night and day indifferences i feel like karen would have a well i didn't watch the episode i should because i can just like imagine it and i'm like oh my god i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die the connection she'd have when realizing that children were storm chasing that she was going to storm chase yes there was there is a lot after karen arrived at the heeny household things between her and richard went downhill pretty pretty fast and i would say the profile i got on richard from these episodes is pretty damning like he is very misogynistic when they sat down for their first breakfast together karen criticized him for playing with his food and he was like oh my god he responded by saying that younger women like mayumi would laugh at all of his childish antics because women's minds start to decline at the age of 25 so he's basically calling karen old well and women useless after after 25 karen calls him out for his misogyny and richard told the camera that he thought she was only upset because she liked him and wished that her husband was more like him what a scary thing to hear and things just got worse and worse and worse and worse and worse as the day progressed karen realized that she was responsible for all the chores she told richard repeatedly that he treated his wife like a servant she got so fed up later in the day while they were all out chasing a storm and richard was like continually barking orders at her like people had not seen anger like richard's ever before on the show he was yelling scary it was very it's so curious with the tv producers like what sort of involvement they had if they had any he screamed out how she was a nag he like literally mimicked the sound of a jackhammer saying that's what she sounded like he also sang at the top of his lungs about how annoying he found her it's great tv i've seen clips of it on tiktok but it is horrific behavior yeah um he would fly into angry outbursts he would antagonize and berate karen and then also the kids are a little bit out of control like five-year-old falcon at the time it's like saying fuck that rule he's like cursing all the kids are farting and cursing and just like my god yeah so when it was her turn to make the rules because so the first week she lived the way that mayumi lived but when it was her turn to make the rules she was like you're gonna start helping out with the house and the chores but he basically would turn it on her because she was so scared of like cancer and stuff coming in the microwave so any tour he's like i can't go by the oven i could get cancer like he was just a prick yeah didn't she also ban storm chasing yeah i think like during that week it was very much like which probably sent him she bought them like helmets to ride their bikes and all these things normal safety yeah as a parent normal safety yes i will say though her safety standards were a little bit extreme she was extreme yeah they were both extreme um which is why they got paired together for the show when karen called him out for like his behavior richard drew on a paper plate calling it the bitch meter like horrible that day karen called one of richard's female friends barb over to the house to try and help her level with richard during that conversation barb admitted to richard that he had a problem with how he communicated with women and of course what did richard do he lost his temper yep he kept yelling at karen for every little thing and eventually she left the house and stayed at a hotel okay so part of wife swap is that mayumi has to go somewhere too right so she is at the other family and it's not a walk in the park for her either for the most part she and karen's husband jay got along a lot better than karen and richard yes did but mayumi was worried about how protective jay was over his sons so she tried talking to him about it but jay was not receptive so mayumi started screaming at him and accusing him of treating her like she was crazy she eventually calmed down and they came to an agreement but back in colorado karen stayed at the hotel for the remainder of her trip that was not the end of richard's erratic behavior though because there was a reunion portion of the episode where each couple was reunited and sat down together to debrief and he this is the craziest thing he performed a song he wrote for karen about how much he appreciated her it was it's so cringe and they hugged oh and she and it's also sad because karen even says like after he sang he's like that she's like that's the nicest apology i've ever received and i'm like girl that was all fake that was for the camera that was for the camera yeah because they're not trying to end their tv career here right and it wasn't the end because when it came time for the 100th episode of wife swap producers were like for the 100th episode what's better than bringing back all-time like favorite families so viewers voted guess who won the heaney family they were brought back again these are both on hulu season 5 episode 1 and then season 5 episode 18 but this time miami swapped lives with sheree silver who is a psychic from florida and when sheree got to the heaney household she had a lot more to deal with than karen did if you if you can believe it my god the heaney's sons cussed at her constantly both of the boys and richard complained constantly about how lazy they thought that she was and again like he did with karen richard kept screaming at sheree and berated her non-stop and then falcon on camera, called Cherie a dumb bitch. He's like five or six at this time. Their treatment only got worse. She was trying, when it was her turn to make rules, like she ate very healthy at home. So she tried to like have them eat a vegetarian diet. Richard refused. And when she confronted Richard about it, he threw a ham sandwich at her and then later threw milk all over her. It's so bad. How is he allowed on the show? Because they just were around kids. Good question. Unlike him and Karen, they did have a breakthrough, Richard and Cherie. Did he sit down with his acoustic guitar and sing her a song? Well, no. In that episode, though, Mayumi does sing briefly and it's not great, but she enjoys it. She says it's very therapeutic for her and I support that. This is how they get the breakthrough. She sits him down and does a hypnosis on him. And she wanted, to initially hypnotize him to make him kinder and more proactive about doing housework. But instead, Richard taps into a past life as an alien who. Oh my God, the TV producers are loving this. Oh, absolutely. Dream come true. Well, because it starts in the beginning when she gets to the house. He's like, what am I thinking right now? Because he's like so pish posh about her being a psychic. But during this hypnosis and like the alien stuff coming through. So this is his past life. He piloted a ship that transported humans. And other extraterrestrials between Earth and his home planet. And because of this, he believes her. He's like, wow, you are a psychic. It is real. And they bond. Because he had an important role, right? Exactly. So you have to believe when you were a prince in their past life. And he also already thought he was of alien descent. But this is also the episode that Richard debuts his homemade flying saucer for the first time to the world. And he also tells the camera that he and Mayumi believe they are direct descendants of aliens from outer space and that they were hunting UFOs. In the episode, he does try to launch the saucer, but it doesn't work. And I am going to say, because Richard's behavior is so extreme that he does get a lot of like the featuring in the episode. But Mayumi seems like a great mother. Like when she goes to Shuri's family, she sees that like one of the sons is being spotlighted over the other one. And the other one's like kind of reserved and quiet because no one's really paying attention to him. And she like has the kids put on a performance and has the one son who's been like neglected be the center of attention. Oh, I love that. And like it was very, very sweet. Yeah. Yeah. They're just a kooky family. A very kooky family. So fast forward one year later, one year after being on Wife Swap twice, the family launched their own experiment and thought their son had floated away in it, causing a national panic. After Larry King Live, people began to pull up the Heaney's past. And with all this information, that you now know too, you can understand why people wondered if the so-called balloon boy incident was actually just a publicity stunt. Yeah. So if Richard was hoping to benefit from this hoax, it did backfire because people no longer trusted Richard and Mayumi. Instead, they wanted to prove that this was a hoax. So people started digging. They started searching for dirt on the family. And their history of wanting fame seemed to basically be proof of the family seeking attention. It was also discovered that at the time of the incident, the family had been looking for dirt on the family. And so they started looking Richard Heaney had pitched a reality TV show to TLC, a reality TV show that would follow the Heaney family and their outrageous homemade science experiments, which actually would have been probably a great show. It probably would have. But like, I think they had been denied a bunch of times. And I imagine if they were like, were they planning to do this hoax to then sell the show? Oh, yeah. Oh, that's that's a good idea. So people. Yeah. Was this a preplanned hoax? Was this a stir up? Yeah. So people definitely thought so. More and more people were starting to believe that he and Mayumi had forced their kids into an odd and potentially unsafe situation for personal gain. And not just people, but the police also believed that. Yeah. After the public became suspicious that Richard and Mayumi had staged the whole Balloon Boy incident, the Heaney family spent the next few days on a press tour, which questionable choice. But they were trying to prove that it wasn't just a publicity stunt, but it only made them look more suspicious, especially in the eyes of the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, who had initially responded to Richard's call about the incident. Because in total, they spent fourteen thousand five hundred dollars on military helicopters to look for the balloon, not to mention with all the other costs that were associated with the investigation. So if it was all a hoax, the police were like, this came at a massive cost. If it was a hoax, Richard and Mayumi should not get away with it. So they brought Richard into the station for questioning. They asked him to take a polygraph test and he agreed. But he started acting very, very weird and was like breathing very heavily and then like acting like he was falling asleep, which they believe were tactics. And I think there were known tactics to like try to like sway results of a polygraph test. Oh, yeah. So they were like, he is trying to make the results wrong. And we all know today that polygraph tests are like not admissible in as evidence. But back then, they thought they were, you know, so it worked because Richard's results were inconclusive. So the police moved to plan B. They brought Mayumi in for questioning. And that is when they finally started to get somewhere. Almost as soon as she sat down, Mayumi took investigators by surprise when she confessed, just sat down and confessed. She said the whole thing was a publicity stunt. After that, she and Richard were both formally charged with trying to influence a public servant, which was a felony. But Mayumi came out to say that she basically was coerced into giving a confession of some kind, that the police were threatening her, that if she was found guilty of a felony, that they would basically use that to get her deported, which is why she claimed she struck a deal with them, pled guilty to the lesser misdemeanor charge of false reporting. However, the Larimer County DA's office denied the claim that they were going to try to have Mayumi deported. But either way, in the end, both of them, Richard and Mayumi, ended up pleading guilty. Yeah. Because if they really were innocent, like, why wouldn't they just fight for their innocence? Yeah. It's like a he said, she said almost situation where they're just like. Like, it feels like you couldn't have proved it either way. I don't know. It feels like you couldn't have proved it either way. Richard was sentenced to 90 days in prison and Mayumi was sentenced to 20 days. Richard only had to spend the first 30 days of his sentence fully behind bars because for the last 60, he was granted work release so he could go out and work during the day and then sleep in his cell at night. It's not really clear what he did for work at that time, but apparently they found some way to make money. The couple was also ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution. And I do appreciate this. The court ruled that Richard and Mayumi Heeney could never financially benefit from the hoax. So they couldn't sell books or write about it, whatnot. Documentaries, no kickback. Yeah. But don't worry. Richard was an inventor. He had so many ideas, so many ideas that he thought would make him a fortune. And after they both served their time, the family moved to Florida. They started a new chapter and Mayumi started homeschooling the kids. And then in 2011, they put the infamous balloon up for auction. And they said that they were going to or they hoped they were going to raise a million dollars and they would donate it to victims of the tsunami that occurred in Japan that year. They ended up selling it for $2,500 to a man in Aurora, Colorado. But it is unclear if they actually donated the money. So Richard kept creating new inventions, everything from a wooden pole meant to provide the perfect back scratch to a metal cart on wheels that could load items into the bed of a pickup truck, as well as an electric powered machine that shakes ketchup out of a bottle. I feel like he should just own the infomercial channel. I think he does. Yeah, come up with things. Richard also created a loading device known as the Heeney Duty Truck Transformer in 2011. That's a mouthful. Heeney Duty Truck Transformer. Heeney Duty. It actually is kind of impressive. According to the HuffPost, it could lift over 2,400 pounds and allow truck owners to load up and go in just a few minutes. Okay. So in very typical Richard fashion, he filmed his own commercial for it, where he yelled at the top of his lungs about how to use it. And at one point in the video, Richard says that he uses the pickup truck to pick up hot chicks. And Mayumi runs into frame. She's wearing a bra and yoga pants. And she leaps into Richard's arms and they kiss before she runs off again. I mean, incredible. of like they get an idea and they run with it they make it happen It's weird, but apparently it worked and it was effective because Richard ended up licensing the truck transformer to a company called AME International, which makes tire changing equipment. And they now sell the truck transformer for $17,000. I don't know how much of it that the Heaney's get, but the VP of sales of AME called Richard a crazy genius and that he'd probably make millions off the truck transformer. I don't know if that's true, if he does. But after this, this is my favorite invention that Richard has created. He started selling his ketchup bottle shaking device, which is called the Your Shakedown. And its purpose, its entire purpose was to shake the remnants of your condiments down to make them easy to dispense. And he created a more industrial size for workspaces or restaurants. He also created an at-home one, which this thing is massive. And there's already, how do you store your candy? How do you store your candy? KitchenAid and all these things in your house. This, Your Shakedown is pretty massive. It's also kind of an, like, I wonder how much. It was $200. The restaurant version was $350. So I'm like, is that worth the scraps that you're saving in the end of your ketchup bottle? Nope. And also, how often are you using that, that you need that in your kitchen? Right. And also, they have squeeze bottles. There's different tricks with like a knife on the underside of. Yeah. He was hoping to feature his invention on Shark Tank, but because of his felony record, he was not allowed on the show. I think it's like within the last 10 years, you can't have a record. So unfortunately, he has not been on Shark Tank, and we do not know how many he has sold. So after that, Richard started dedicating more time to his artistic pursuits. In 2011, he teamed up with a musician by the name of Smokey Miles to write a song called Aluminum Man, which is about the fortitude of a working man, apparently. And he got the idea from a character that he'd play for his son. So this mad scientist dressed up in all aluminum, which is what Richard wears in the music video for this song. When I'm hearing that, I'm like, I do imagine that their childhood was very fun and like so full of play and imagination. But like the social structure are important too. And like how to interact with others. It's not there. Yeah. The lyrics, if you were curious about some of them, aluminum man lives inside of aluminum can, cooks his eggs. He's on an aluminum pan, leaves all the elements back in the dust. His aluminum man, and he'll never rest. Super conductive like you've never seen. In a lightning storm, you'll be struck instantly. Here's my favorite line. He's light as a feather and easy to screw. You can recycle him and make him brand new. Which is true of aluminum foil. You can recycle that. That is true. That is true. He's producing facts. Years later, in 2015, Richard and his son started a new musical venture, a rock musical called American Chili. C-H-I-L-L-Y. Yeah, like birth, chili. Chili in here. And he had originally written this like script as a screenplay, but then reworked it into a musical. He wrote it himself. And according to the Tampa Bay Times, the story follows a 19th century gold prospector who murders Native Americans while high on peyote. And then the story travels back to the late 90s. And he's like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And spans generations from there and involves critiques of news outlets that publish sensationalized stories as well as a lot of potty humor. Just like with the truck transformer, Richard did find someone who believed in his venture. And that person invested $120,000 into the rock musical. They rented a theater out in St. Petersburg, Florida, using $30,000 and premiered the show. And they planned to take it to Broadway, but it has not happened yet. Yet. Key word. Oh, yeah. Because the Heaney's don't give up. We know that they do not. The Heaney's have continued to pursue music. They initially formed a band together back in 2008 when Richard and Mayumi were on their second episode of Wife Swap. Mayumi's host family was musically inclined. So when she got home, she and Richard got their boys to start writing songs together about storm chasing. And around the same time that they were working on their musical, Bradford, Rio and Falcon wrote a song called All Caps. The entire song is Falcon doing screamo about how the incident is not a hoax. You can watch it like this. This exists on the Internet. And in the music video that they created, they like pulled a bunch of news headlines from the time. And it just the music video like flashes a bunch of those. Yeah. So clearly the family was still very intent on claiming that they were wrongfully accused. But unfortunately for them, things didn't work out that way. Because in 2019, there was a shocking new development in this story. So even though they both pled guilty, they for years were like, we aren't actually guilty. We didn't do this. It wasn't a hoax. But in 2019, Mayumi's lawyer who had represented her when she was charged with lying to the police reached out to a reporter named Robert Sanchez, who is working on a story about the Heaney's for the 10 year anniversary of the Balloon Boy incident. And Mayumi's lawyer told Robert that he had a whole box of documents related to the Heaney's. And he said, I don't know. I don't to the case that he had kept over the years, including handwritten notes from Mayumi, which outlined like a confession of what happened. According to her notes, which it's hard to verify that she had written them or that they were written prior to the so-called hoax. But apparently after appearing on their two episodes of Wife Swap, they had started working with show's producers to pitch a series about their life. The idea was to showcase them as a quirky family along with their wild science experiments. But as they were pitching the idea to the networks, they were constantly being rejected. So after their fifth rejection, the Heaney's started brainstorming ways to drum up more interest. And that is when a light bulb went off. They looked at their flying saucer that was half built in their backyard and realized it could be their claim to fame. It had already been on Wife Swap, so it had been tied to Richard's Mad Scientist interview. If you could figure out how to make it fly, then maybe networks would be more interested in their show. But they also knew that they needed more to drum up interest in them. Something that the viewers would get excited about. They would have to pull off something unforgettable. And they came up with the idea. They sat their kids down and explained that once Richard could get the flying saucer up in the air, they would plan an official launch and get the whole thing on tape. And then they were going to pretend that Falcon had snuck in. Inside before it lifted off and that he was floating away. Again, this is all like written down. And then in the writings, Naomi wrote that Richard would call the FAA in a fake panic. They would track the balloon. A media frenzy would ensue and everyone would tune in to make sure little Falcon was OK. No one would know that he was actually hiding in the basement. That was the plan. That was the plan. And they would wait for the perfect moment and Falcon would come out of the basement. Including the family would pretend to be relieved to see him. And they would catch that on camera, too. But they didn't want him to stay down there for long. Certainly not long enough to warrant $14,000 of helicopter search. And their plan had everything. Science, whimsy, fright, a wholesome family reunion. And they thought it would make the perfect TV. Mm hmm. The only problem was when the day came, Falcon did not hide in the basement. He hid. He hid in the attic above the garage. So when police didn't find him in the basement, the Heeneys were very confused. They looked down there themselves, but they couldn't find him either. And then this is when they started to actually really worry because. The longer they went without finding Falcon, they started to wonder if little six year old Falcon did get confused and he actually somehow was in the balloon. Yeah. So according to Miami's notes, their panic was completely real. And when Falcon finally emerged, the relief was real, too. Robert Sanchez, the reporter, was, of course, shocked to read through Miami's notes. He'd gotten to know the Heeneys pretty well over the last few weeks, so he called them up to ask about it. However, when confronted with the discovery of these notes, Miami backtracked and she told Robert that she'd lied to her attorney to, quote, save herself. Which she could have said, like, those notes aren't mine. But instead, she was like, no, he lied. Or he told me to write those. Yeah. Something. Yeah. When Richard heard her admit this, he started yelling at her, saying that she caused a shit storm. And on the other end of the line, Robert could hear Miami crying as Richard kept yelling. And finally, Miami said, I'm sorry. And that was the end of the conversation. So the Heeneys left things very confusing and a little bit concerning. Yeah. Are they OK? We don't know. But after everything, I'm like, it does feel like it was a hoax. It was a hoax. It feels like it was a hoax. If you thought that was the end of the story, it is not. Because just one year later, in 2020, they did finally catch a break. The governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, pardoned the Heeneys. He said that they had paid the price for their actions. And in response, the Heeneys lawyer said, quote, the balloonacy has ended. Like, how long did he wait for that? I know. He was sitting on that pun for a long time. After this pardon, Miami became an official U.S. citizen. It was the start of a fresh chapter for the family. But is the balloonacy over? Now that Richard's record is clear, will he actually go on Shark Tank? seems like he might be trying to make that happen because in the 2025 netflix documentary train wreck balloon boy richard says that he's quote working on something new and that it's going to be quote really big so whether or not the balloon boy saga was actually a hoax one thing is for sure the heenies have a knack for outrageous television yeah despite how much they've lamented the media they'd be nothing without it so as long as there's an audience they'll probably keep chasing the spotlight and i will say falcon has said that it wasn't a hoax like he wasn't told or instructed to do anything but who knows yeah it does feel like it was a hoax and i'm very curious what the math on how old they are i'm not gonna pretend i can't do it that quickly we'll pretend that we know and like let's wrap it up so you don't have to think about how long it's taking us to not put it together thank you so much for listening we are your hosts sabrina diana roga and corinne vienne join us next tuesday for another peek inside another crimes of deception and if there are any other cases you'd like us to cover please let us know in the comments here at crime house we want to thank each and every one of you for your support if you like what you've heard today reach out on all social media at crime house don't forget to rate review and follow crimes of wherever you get your podcasts your feedback truly makes a difference bye mommies you are more than just a heart patient at trinity health of new england we get to know you which can help us diagnose a problem and start treatment faster our cardiovascular team offers the latest imaging and device technology and the latest imaging and device technology and the latest testing and surgical procedures you'd expect from a national health system with the personal touch you want from local experts we know the importance of seeing the person behind the patient because we see all of you learn more at trinityhealthofne.org slash heart a woman once survived a fall for more than two miles up because she crash landed on a nest of furious fire ants a 13th century pope once condemned black cats and black cats and black cats and black cats and black cats and black cats as the servants of satan a lumberjack once survived near decapitation by his own chainsaw now these aren't tall tales they aren't urban legends they're real events i want to take a quick moment to tell you about the unbelievable a new podcast from the history channel and rewind studios adapted from the hit tv show every episode opens a cabinet of curiosities to uncover the strangest but true story of the history of the world in human history then digs into the historical record to show you exactly how and why they happened strange people odd places peculiar events when it comes to history the truth is always more unbelievable than you think follow the unbelievable on apple podcasts spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts this is jill schlesinger from money moves you started a business to follow your passion not to get buried in financial details zero makes managing your numbers simple by bringing accounting payments payroll and analytics together in one place instead of trying to sound smart zero is designed to make you feel smart with easy to read dashboards and smart insights that give you better control over your money join five million customers worldwide who trust zero to keep their business running smoothly without the hassle learn more at xero.com looking for your next podcast check out what the fact it's a new show from connor tomlinson who you know from netflix's love on the spectrum alongside carter roy every week they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them follow what the fact wherever you listen or subscribe on youtube at what the fact pod