Balloonfest '86

On September 27, 1986, the United Way of Cleveland tried to put its city on the map with a Guinness world record: nearly 1.5 million helium balloons — 1,429,643 by the official count — released at once from Public Square, surrounding Terminal Tower in a cloud one reporter called a helium mountain. Then a cold front and rain knocked the still-inflated balloons back down over northeast Ohio: a runway at Burke Lakefront Airport closed for half an hour, a ten-car pile-up hit the Shoreway, balloons blanketed Lake Erie while the Coast Guard was searching for two missing fishermen, and balloons washed ashore in Canada. The record stood, the fundraiser lost money, two lawsuits settled quietly — and Cleveland eventually banned mass balloon releases itself. I'm Nate, and this is AmeriWeird: strange but true stories from across America.