So did you guys hear about that kid and the helium balloon, but he wasn’t really in the balloon at all, and he was hiding the whole time? And it was maybe really just a publicity stunt by his somewhat off kilter family? Oh, you did? Really? Well it turns out he wasn’t just the embodiment of an anticlimax, he was also kind of a ripoff as well. Here are some people who really did some far-out things with balloons:

Fortunately, “Balloon boy” Falcon Henne was just found alive in an attic. But when it wasn’t certain whether he was dead, the Internet went wild making jokes about him. It doesn’t help that “balloon” is a funny-sounding word and that the craft in question is funny-looking, but the detachedness with which many people treated the possible death of a 6-year-old boy is disturbing.