This podcast is intended for mature audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

On November 21, 1783, two men rose into the air, carried by a balloon made of paper and silk.

The balloon was lifted by hot air, created by a fire on the platform that the aeronauts stood on.

They rose to a height of 500 feet and landed 25 minutes later and five miles away.

Their feet was so unexpected that the farmers and peasants who watched them land thought they were demons coming from the heavens.

They apparently calmed them with bottles of champagne. This first flight was, by all accounts,

relatively simple, but all it would have taken was an errant gust of wind to turn this leisurely jaunt into a disaster,

because, as beautiful as balloons are, they are totally at the control of nature.

My name is Eric Crosby. Welcome to True.

In Cleveland, Ohio, in 1986, the nonprofit charity, United Way, hosted a fundraising event that they hoped would lift spirits, open wallets, and generate some positive PR for the city. The project manager for the

event, Tom Holowoc, said in an interview with Gizmodo, quote, The guy from the United Way who dreamed

this up had been in marketing at Procter & Gamble

and was trying to rebrand Cleveland as cool.

They decided they were going to do this by setting the Guinness World Record for the biggest

simultaneous balloon launch.

The existing record had been set by Disneyland the previous year, in honor of the 30th

anniversary of the park's opening. But Cleveland was

going to do it bigger and better, and they were going to raise money to address poverty and improve

access to essential services at the same time. The ambitious project was called Balloon Fest 86,

and was spearheaded by professional balloon artist Treb Heining.

The plan was that the balloons would be released in a giant simultaneous launch.

...