Cleveland Released 1.5 Million Balloons. It Did Not Go as Planned.

On September 27, 1986, the city of Cleveland attempted something spectacular. As part of a United Way fundraiser, volunteers spent hours inflating 1.5 million helium balloons inside a giant net stretched over Public Square. The goal: release them all at once and set a Guinness World Record.

The release was beautiful. For about ten seconds.

The Storm

A cold front moved in just as the balloons launched. Instead of rising gracefully into the atmosphere, 1.5 million balloons were pushed back down by rain and wind. They descended on Cleveland like a latex plague.

The Cascade

Balloons clogged Lake Erie. The Coast Guard was forced to suspend a search for two missing boaters, Ray Broderick and Bernard Sulzer, whose boat had capsized the day before. Their bodies were found days later. The families sued the city, arguing the balloon debris made the search impossible.

A nearby horse farm erupted into chaos. Horses spooked by the falling balloons stampeded and injured themselves. The owner sued.

Burke Lakefront Airport shut down a runway. Traffic on major roads ground to a halt as drivers stopped to stare or swerve around balloon drifts. Emergency services received so many 911 calls about "UFOs" and "debris" that the system was overwhelmed.

The Record

Guinness never officially recognised the record. Cleveland had released 1.5 million balloons, caused two deaths, a horse stampede, an airport shutdown, and a 911 system crash, and didn't even get the line in the book.