Cleveland United Way’s Balloon Debacle

Doing something bigger than anyone else has ever done, it is still one of the best methods to get attention in today's society. If you break a global record, you'll undoubtedly trend on social media for a day. Although social media didn't exist in 1986, the concept remained the same, and 1.5 million helium balloons could be released in downtown Cleveland and still garner some media attention.

For their annual fundraiser, the United Way of Cleveland did exactly that to get some notice. A few thousand people attended, and many pictures were taken as the multicolored swarm of balloons took off from the city's center. However, science then developed. Since balloons can't float in the air indefinitely, 1.5 million of them eventually had to crash to the ground.

The balloons were immediately knocked back to earth by a cold front, and numerous cars were totaled while attempting to dodge them. Balloons forced the Burke Lakefront Airport to close one of its runways. When their horses panicked, a farmer's horses suffered severe injuries, and he sued the charity. The two men's boat capsized in an accident on Lake Erie, which is the most serious of all. The rescue effort was slowed down by the Coast Guard's difficulty navigating all the floating balloons. Both boaters perished.