00:00En 1986, 1.5 million balloons were released in downtown Cleveland.
00:05Cleveland has now broken the Guinness Book of World Records and released over 1 million...
00:10This was meant to be a charity fundraiser and a way to put the growing city of Cleveland on the
00:16map.
00:17But instead of being remembered as an impressive spectacle, it would go down in history as a fatal disaster.
00:27The event was called Balloon Fest, and it was Cleveland's way of trying to rebrand.
00:32You see, at the time, they had a pretty rough reputation, which was exemplified by its well-known nickname.
00:41City leaders wanted to prove that Cleveland wasn't a mistake, and that it was well on its way to becoming
00:47a world-class city.
00:48The previous year, Disneyland had claimed the Guinness World Record for the biggest simultaneous balloon launch.
00:56And for some reason, the city leaders thought that outdoing Disneyland was the perfect way to start cleaning up Cleveland's
01:04image.
01:05Soon after, the United Way of Cleveland developed their ambitious plan to launch nearly 1,500,000 balloons over the
01:14city.
01:15The event required six months of planning, including the construction of a net the size of a city block.
01:22It took thousands of volunteers hours to fill the balloons.
01:27And finally, on September 27, 1986, the day of Balloon Fest arrived.
01:35As these final preparations were underway in downtown Cleveland, a very different story was unfolding, just to the east on
01:43Lake Erie.
01:45The previous night, a severe storm had rolled through the area.
01:49I do want to remind everybody in part of Ohio, we continue with that severe thunderstorm watch until 1 a
01:55.m.
01:55And about an hour before the storm, two men had gone out fishing.
01:59On the morning of the 27th, the day of Balloon Fest, the two men were reported missing by their families.
02:07Their boat was found abandoned on the lake, and authorities suspected that the men had fallen overboard because of the
02:14weather.
02:15The Coast Guard immediately began a search-and-rescue operation.
02:20Meanwhile, in Cleveland's public square, over 100,000 people had gathered to witness the balloon launch.
02:27The organizers were pleased that last night's storm had cleared in time for the event to go forward.
02:33But as the day wore on, the weather once again took a turn for the worse.
02:38A major rainstorm was closing in, but the balloons were already filled and ready to go.
02:44Rescheduling at this point would be near impossible.
02:48So instead, they released the balloons ahead of schedule.
02:51Five, four, three, two, one.
02:55Here they go.
02:55Make a day liftoff.
02:56Amazing.
02:59And the fan is up, and there they go, John.
03:03The Guinness Book of World Records has just been broken in Cleveland.
03:08Over 1,500,000 balloons.
03:11There was no doubt about it.
03:13The launch was spectacular.
03:16We did it, John.
03:18It was a tremendous moment of triumph for the city of Cleveland.
03:22But unfortunately, this moment of triumph did not last long.
03:27The expectation was that the helium-filled balloons would float around for a while,
03:33before eventually deflating and returning to Earth one by one.
03:37But that wasn't what happened.
03:39And the wind has just shifted just enough that the balloons are now trailing fast.
03:43This is beautiful.
03:44The balloons are coming back this way.
03:46They're coming back.
03:46The cold air and oncoming rain immediately pushed the still-inflated balloons,
03:52tens of thousands of them, back down towards the ground in droves.
03:57The result was mass chaos.
03:59Balloons.
04:00One and a half million of them caused quite a stir in Cleveland yesterday.
04:04A northerly wind quickly carried the balloons to Burke Lakefront Airport.
04:09And within minutes, the runways were so clogged that all flights had to be suspended.
04:14The balloons also started to descend on certain streets.
04:18And after a number of car accidents, these roads had to be closed until a bulldozer arrived to clear out
04:25the balloons.
04:26As all this was going on, the Coast Guard was still out looking for the two missing fishermen.
04:32Ironically, that big balloon launch in Cleveland today is one of the things that's making this search so tough for
04:37the Coast Guard.
04:38Balloons had descended on Lake Erie in massive quantities.
04:42There are 60% of the balloons launched landed here instead of the planned 10%.
04:47It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack here.
04:50Can you imagine trying to find somebody floating out here or even spotting a life jacket with all these balloons
04:55on the water?
04:56On September 29th, two days after the balloons were launched, the Coast Guard finally called off the search for the
05:03two missing fishermen.
05:05And shortly after, both men's bodies washed ashore.
05:09Balloon Fest was featured in the 1988 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
05:15However, that was the only edition to include it.
05:18And shortly after, Guinness ended the category of balloon launching altogether.
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