Allen & Ginter Relic Immortalized Aughts’ Hoax
You may not realize it’s already this old, but 15 years ago, one of the most infamous modern hoaxes (maybe) took place.
And part of it exists as one of the greatest relic cards ever made.
On October 15, 2009, cable news cut to live coverage of a giant, shiny, helium-filled homemade balloon shaped like a flying saucer. Reports said a six-year-old boy named Falcon Heene was in it.
A nation followed its path as experts popped on air and tried to explain how the boy snuck into a lower compartment before it went airborne. The Denver airport was closed. The balloon eventually crash-landed in what looked like a desert, with officers feverishly chasing as it zig-zagged down. As the balloon hit the ground, the horror hit everyone watching the live feed that Falcon was insi— no, wait a minute, it’s empty.
Reports then surfaced that maybe someone had seen something fall out at some point. A search was on and authori— no, never mind; he was hiding in his attic all along.
The story took one wild turn after another, culminating with a live TV interview with Wolf Blitzer. A shy and nervous Falcon, when asked why he was hiding in the attic, mentioned that, “You guys said that we did this for the show.” In this case, “you guys” was interpreted as his parents, and the next few days were filled with new details, like the Heenes being on “Wife Swap” and pitching reality shows about themselves.
Three days later, the entire incident was declared a hoax, charges were levied against Falcon’s parents, and they eventually served jail time after striking a plea deal.
The Heenes — in one final twist, over a decade later — were pardoned by Colorado Governor Jared Polis just before Christmas in 2020. Richard Heene, fittingly, told The Denver Post, “I’m flying high” upon hearing the news. His lawyer, David Lane, added, “finally after 11 years, the balloon-acy has ended.” These are actual quotes.
There’s more nuance to the story than you may remember. The Heenes, for instance, were on ABC the following day, where an even more nervous Falcon had to get up and vomit “three times” live on air, off-screen, as the interview somehow was allowed to continue. His father proclaimed his innocence, explaining how a six-year-old with no media training on live TV may have simply committed a malaprop.
Whichever way you fall on the Heenes — fame-hungry attention-seekers vs. tragic truth-tellers pushed along by a narrative everyone wanted to believe — there is one absolute truth: owning a piece of THAT balloon would be undeniably cool. And here’s where the collecting world comes in.
In 2012, Topps produced a “Balloon Boy” card as part of the Allen & Ginter line. Embedded in each card? A piece of the infamous Heene balloon.
The card isn’t worth as much as one would think — you can get one on eBay for under $20. But the path it took and the history inside that card is incredible. The balloon’s flight that one afternoon was a huge event that an entire country watched, and it lasted for close to an hour live on TV, giving people enough time to call everyone in their rolodex, telling them to tune in.
And you can own a piece of it.
The balloon’s history is fairly simple to trace to Topps — Michael Fruitman, owner of Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Denver, bought the balloon on eBay for $2,502. He tells RIPPED that he then sold “a giant pizza slice” of it to Topps (he estimates it was about two feet wide by five feet long) and kept the rest of the balloon in his shop, where it served as a 20-foot-wide tourist attraction.
Fruitman estimates that his $2,502 purchase did well over $15,000 in marketing for the shop. He’s autographed the card for customers. People took pictures with it.
“It was crazy,” Fruitman says.”Somebody came in like, ‘We just got off the plane, and we had to check this out.'” And I’m like, ‘You know, we have a place called Red Rocks that’s pretty cool to check out, too, right? The Beatles played there?”
Eventually, however, things went south.
The silver, it turns out, was spray painted; it was really more of a grey. And it started to deteriorate, so anything under the balloon would be speckled with tiny pieces of falling paint chips as the days wore on.
“And then it started to come apart at the seams,” Fruitman explains. “Every few days, I’d have to tape segments together.”
So he threw the balloon away.
But Fruitman kept the bottom basket — the compartment where an entire nation thought little six-year-old Falcon was hiding — at least for a little while longer. Eventually, after explaining to a card shop employee what it was and why it was significant, he disposed of that, as well.
“I said, ‘You know what? It’s fine. It’s time.'”
The only piece of the balloon left in Fruitman’s possession now is one Allen & Ginter card. And a bunch of fond memories.
“I embrace,” he says, “the ridiculousness of what I purchased.
