Falcon Heene is the 6-year-old boy who was thought to have flown off in a homemade helium balloon on October 15, 2009. Believing that a child was in the balloon that was swiftly flying across Colorado, the media covered the event until the balloon finally landed with no one inside. Three hours after the possible "boy in a balloon" story was reported, little Falcon Heene apparently emerged from his hiding spot in the family's attic.

It is believed Falcon's father, Richard Heene, has pulled off an hoax or publicity stunt. On October 18, 2009, Sheriff Jim Alderden said the Heenes will be criminally charged and confirmed that the Balloon Boy incident was a hoax. On October 24, 2009, the sheriff said Mayumi Heene admitted the incident was a hoax.

That evening, during a via-satellite interview with CNN's Larry King, Falcon was asked why he didn't respond when he heard his parents calling for him frantically. Falcon said, "you guys (parents) said we did this for the show."

The Heene family was on the reality show Wife Swap twice. The parents, Mayuri and Richard Heene are storm-chasers with a lenient parenting style. Mr. Heene runs a website called ThePsyienceDetectives.com and does a series of paranormal-ufo type videos. One of the videos on his YouTube account show his sons rapping in a video.