No, it's not a UFO although in 20 years when people have forgotten about this I bet somebody will try to pass this video off as a sighting of one.
It's an over-sized, homemade helium balloon that a little boy in Ft. Collins allegedly climbed into, untied from its anchor and floated away in. And it wasn't just hovering along the ground - we're talking 7,000 feet in the air.
I'm sure you already know most of this as it's been all over the news and it turns out that the boy wasn't in the compartment under the balloon when it landed - he either got out before the balloon rose from the ground or fell out. But anyway I had to post on it since it's close to home (Ft. Collins, where the balloon took off, and Keenesburg, where it landed, aren't that far from Boulder).
There is so much oddity about the whole thing.
The boy's brother apparently stood by and saw his sibling climb into the balloon and untie it, and watched the two rise into the air. Isn't that a bit odd? Wouldn't you walk over ahead of time and say, "Hey, umm, maybe don't do that?" Or grab the rope before it leaves the ground? Or maybe run into the house and tell mom or dad before it was too late?
Speaking of mom and dad, apparently they appeared on the ABC show "Wife Swap," which explains a lot if you've ever watched the show. We're not talking about the sharpest knives in the drawer here. According to ABC's website, members of the family "devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into they eye of the storm."
Nice to know they left one of their experiments - one filled with helium that had a compartment for a human and capable of soaring as high as a small airplane might cruise - tied up in their yard with a rope and accessible to their small children. They may not have found E.T. yet but they quickly are becoming the eye of a decent-sized media storm.
The reporting was odd also. One of the CNN articles I read had a quote along the lines of, "Well, it's a nice day. I'm sure it's chilly at 7,000 feet but at least the weather is calm." I just can't even fathom how that thought would enter someone's mind when a small child might be inside. Maybe you'd think something like, "Wow, if this had happened last week, when we had wind, an early snow and freezing temperatures, it would surely be a disaster. At least the boy has a chance."
I don't know. The whole thing is weird. It's so weird that I think it just might be a publicity stunt. But in either case I'm going to be paranoid next time I see Audrey or Grace holding a bunch of helium-filled party balloons.
