Six-year-old was believed to be 7,000 feet in the air!

PublishedJuly 17, 2025 2:47 PM EDT•UpdatedJuly 17, 2025 2:47 PM EDT

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If you don't have plans for tonight, you do now, as I'm demanding that you stay home on your couch and watch the new Netflix Trainwreck: Balloon Boy documentary.

Who or what is the balloon boy? Well, that's the nickname that the Internet gave to 6-year-old Falcon Heene, who caused national hysteria after it was believed for hours that he was inside his father's homemade, UFO-shaped helium balloon that became untethered and floated away. 

As a millennial, I specifically remember when the news broke about this random kid from Colorado that was floating in the air while authorities and emergency personnel helplessly chased the balloon from 7,000 feet below. With all the television networks covering the floating balloon live, the nation stood holding their breath when the authorities finally caught up to the balloon once it crash-landed.

… Only for it to be empty as authorities frantically retraced the flight path of the balloon after one eyewitness called CNN claiming that they saw an object fall from it earlier! Just imagine the sheer insanity and chaos not only from within the Heene household, but also those watching along at home. I'm telling you, it was truly unreal. 

Imagine If Balloon Boy Happened With Today's Social Media?

In the end, it turned out that Falcon was safe and sound the entire time after he emerged from "hiding" and then "taking a nap" in the garage attic. The documentary does a great job of making the police and parents both look like fools for not extensively searching the house before hitting the panic button.  

"There’s a little compartment [in the balloon] there that’s perfect for my size, you know," Falcon, now 22, says in the doc. "I wanted to live in there." On the morning of October 9th, Falcon tried going into the makeshift UFO multiple times before his father yelled at him, sending him to scurry away inside the house. A short while later, the UFO balloon became untethered while one of Falcon's brothers screams, "Falcon was in there!" and you see the reactions of both parents.

Was it A Hoax?

During an interview later that night, however, 6-year-old Falcon's words would forever change his family's lives. Speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, when asked why he didn't come downstairs when he heard all the commotion and sirens going on, Falcon responded, "You guys said we did it for the show!

I'm sorry, what was that, Falcon?! 

Suddenly, the balloon boy story took a major turn as some started debating if the whole thing was purposely made up!

"The parents should have had to pay the city and state back for the cost of the rescue effort," one person tweeted. 

"It feels to me like the Heene's got hosed… I don't think it was a hoax!" another person wrote.

Should The Media Have Run With A 6-Year-Old's Story?

For many of us, the balloon boy saga was the first time that a live event was covered by people across social media. Of course, in 2009 there was no Instagram or TikTok. With Twitter (X) being only three-years-old at that point and still gaining traction, the majority of people hopped on the ol' Facebook to give their takes.

"I remember feeling bad that I did something wrong. But just looking back on it now, I was six-years-old and all these adults took whatever I said they were able to string together what they thought was something else and make it so, so big. "It’s baffling," Falcon continued.

Indeed it is, which is why I need YOU, the OutKick audience, to watch it and tweet me at @TheGunzShow with your thoughts on what you think happened!