why did they choose to do it right next to a tall building lol? this was poorly thought out on many fronts but that's just asking for the release to be unviewable from certain angles and the balloons to fly unevenly.
The whimsical side of me thinks this is awesome and wishes I could have been there, but the practical side of me realizes how incomprehensibly stupid this was. As much as I love whimsical spectacles, how could anyone possibly expect releasing 1.5 million balloons to not be disastrous???
mummyjohn you can find about it on Wikipedia. it didn't directly kill two people, it just hampered search and rescue efforts of two people who were found dead.
Surely much of our evolutionary development on this planet won't cease to exist due to the depletion of helium because we used it all up making balloons fly.... Oh wait
It's also a good thing to do your research and learn that these balloons didnt degrade until over a year later and caused many environmental casualties and a couple human lives lost
Dear god... all that garbage... how many animals were killed and how much garbage ended up in the lakes and environment, never recovered? Who could have thought this was a good idea?
***** They were lost the day before the balloons were sent away. It just made it harder to confirm their deaths considering the amount of balloons that deflated into the Lake.
In 1986, Cleveland released 1.5 million balloons into the hair. Now, in 2013, we have a shortage of helium and a horribly polluted environment. THANKS, CLEVELAND!
Ah yes. The horribly polluted environment we have today is totally the fault of these balloons and totally nothing else. And obviously, the entire city is totally the one to be blamed and totally not the company who orchestrated the event. Your logic is flawless.
@@JarvisBaileyVA yes, the river caught fire....several times in fact. The Cuyahoga was one of the most polluted rivers in North America and the stuff that got dumped into it was flammable. an oil fire in 1969 was the final wake up call and atleast to my understanding Cleveland/State of Ohio had done a lot to clean up the river
I heard several people died during this event because there was so many balloons in the sky that rescue helicopters were unable to take off. 2 fishermen drowned when their boat flipped over and there bodies weren't found for hours because they were floating amongst thousands of balloons that landed in the water.
Meh Possibly, but the whole purpose of bio-degradable material is that it will dissolve quickly in a natural environment if not dissolve within the acids of a fish's digestive system.
+Karl Franz Unlikely. The coast guard spotted their boat anchored and empty on the day of the event. The boat had overturned and the men in it tried to swim to land, which most likely had happened the previous day. The coast guard were just looking for bodies at that point. It only hampered their search for said bodies, as many of the balloons had landed on the lake and made it impossible to see most of its surface.
I mean what did they expect? Honestly, even kids know helium in lasts so long before the balloon sinks and what if it all had sunken onto freeways and such? The amount of death could’ve been cataclysmic!
This was more bizarre than the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in '97, The 1997 Parade was nicknamed "The Great Balloon Massacre of 1997" Because so many Balloons were destroyed due to the high levels of the Wind, List of Balloons were removed due to this, "Pink Panther" "Barney the Dinosaur" Even, Sonic the Hedgehog was removed and Retired, The Cat in the hat balloon was banned from the Parade. Because, He knocked down so much lampposts.
This looks absolutely horrifying wtf especially the part where the balloons almost completely engulf that building like It was a scene from a monster b movie.
***** my comment was a reply to someone saying that song's message was not welcome in america today… which makes no sense given what 'america' actually is...
Now, who in their right minds would think that sending 1.4 million balloons up into the atmosphere would just gradually come back down, and expect no massive destruction in the end? 😀
Why is everyone getting so annoyed at something that happened in 1986? What's the point? We can't change what happened then, it doesn't matter what happened! Because this is _now!_ Focus on what you could be doing for the earth now instead of getting angry at things that happened more than 33 years ago. Take a chill pill my dudes! x
Like, i know this resulted in deaths, cr crashes and all that... But... It looked really cool... If only ballons never fell down and flew into space...
+crudecod The wind carried many of the balloons back to the city where they caused a lot of problems, sections of the city had to be closed down to clean them up, but they also ended in the water, and probably in a bunch of unfortunate bird's stomachs. A really stupid idea.
Rashida Ansari It murdered a ton of people and caused hell to break loose across earth. I would not define it as "cool" and I would define it as "Hellish catastrophe".
***** It still caused millions in damages and became one of the worst marketing campaigns ever (next to Just for Shoes Super Bowl commercial), but it was still an awful idea and exaggerations are in place.
jtv9033 The two people on that boat drowned, its not exactly a harmless crime. While those are the only two reported deaths the balloons caused no small amount of trouble in the city and surrounding area. Burke Lakefront Airport had to shut down, forcing air traffic to be redirected and Cleveland experienced a huge spike in traffic accidents.
