Before Balloon Boy: A Recent History of Publicity Hoaxes

The "Balloon Boy" story was full of helium hot air? Say it ain't so! Turns out young Falcon Heene was just hiding in a box in the attic because his parents, former Wife Swap reality TV morons Richard and Mayumi Heene, told him the family was pulling off a stunt "for a show." Now we can collectively despise and shame them for using their kid to get publicity (and causing lil' homie to vomit repeatedly when they put him in front of media vultures who grilled him) and feel less disgusted with ourselves for morbidly following the balloon flight live in the off chance that we'd see a dead boy pulled from wreckage.

Of course, Balloon Boy's parents weren't the first people to pull one over on us, then eventually get caught in their lies. Check out more sensational publicity hoaxes after the jump...