DENVER, CO – Richard Heene has admitted the balloon fiasco was a hoax; his child is really an alien they were trying to send home.

Last week the world watched stunned as a homemade weather balloon floated over Colorado for hours, supposedly with a six year old boy inside.  Shortly after the balloon touched down the family said he had been hiding in the attic the whole time.

Authorities immediately suspected that the Heene story did not add up.  “As soon as we saw the balloon up close,” said local Deputy Alex Farbingrass, “we knew there was no way a child could have flown in that thing.  At least no human child anyway.  Then there was the attic he said to be hiding in.  That attic was 15 feet up!  And the ladder weighed a ton!  How would a kid get himself up there?  He kept eating dog food, and that was just weird.  The real kicker was when the kid admitted on national TV that it was staged.  That’s when we knew something was up.”

Richard Heene has since come forward saying this was an attempt to get his alien child back home that went spiraling out of control.  Richard and his wife say that young Falcon fell to earth a little over a year ago.  They found him in a small crater in their back yard in his natural alien form, which resembles a large mollusk.  Richard was halfway to the taxidermist when the creature finally woke up and spoke.

Falcon’s real parents are political exiles barred from entering Earth’s atmosphere.  Since losing their child they have been in geosynchronous orbit over Colorado and in good contact with the Heene parents.  Falcon has helped Richard with his career in storm chasing, since Richard only has a high school diploma and never really understood the science behind what he was doing.

According to Heene he had been working on a weather balloon to take the child into the upper atmosphere where his parents’ ship could pick him up undetected.  While playing outside last week the other Heene children accidentally let the balloon go without Falcon in it.  Richard Heene panicked and came up with the falcon story to get police away from the house so they would not see the child in alien form.

Richard Heene came clean in a press conference with his family, saying, “We are truly sorry for misleading the people of America, and the world.  We hope this does not deter the producers at TLC from considering a reality show based on our wacky life.  Thank you and God bless.”

FORT COLLINS, CO – Falcon Heene was finally found yesterday hiding in the attic. But some believe there is more to the story than meets the eye.

On Thursday, America watched as local authorities, aviation officials and the Colorado National Guard chased a runaway hot air balloon believed to be carrying 6 year old Falcon Heene. When it finally came down, the balloon was ripped open to find no trace of the child.

Fearing he had fallen from the balloon, police began searching the balloon’s path for any sign of the boy. Although the house had been searched twice, Falcon Heene walked out of the attic and into his mother’s arms.

While many are happy the boy is safe, some are already questioning how the whole fiasco came about. How did the older boy think he saw his brother crawl into the balloon? Why was Falcon hiding for five hours?

Considering the parents’ past of happily accepting attention by appearing on “Wife Swap”, some believe this may have been a planned hoax from the start.

The most telling piece of evidence has been from Falcon’s own mouth. When asked why he didn’t come out after being called for, he said, “We did this for the show.”

His father seemed incapable of explaining what the statement meant.

This morning, Falcon threw up on two different morning talk shows as his parents spoke to newscasters. While it is being attributed to “the flu”, some think he could be vomiting from being drugged yesterday to sleep away his time in the attic.

It is unclear at this point whether police will be investigating the parents.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – America watched as police chased down a drifting hot air balloon with a child supposedly trapped onboard, only to find it empty.

Emergency services for notified Thursday morning that a homemade air balloon had accidentally been set adrift with 6 year old Falcon Heene inside. His father, Richard Heene, says the family had been building an experimental aircraft in their backyard.

Richard claims that Thursday morning, one of his other sons ran in and said he saw Falcon climb into the balloon and it took off. The balloon, which resembles a UFO, is about 20 feet by 5 feet, with a bottom only made of cardboard.

The craft floated along for two hours, which officials driving and flying alongside the balloon to keep track of it. When it gently crash-landed, police secured it before tearing it open to find no child inside.

Although the Heenes’ house had been searched, police will begin looking again, in the hopes that he never crawled into the balloon at all.

The family had previously appeared on ABC’s “Wife Swap”.