The 10 worst Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade mishaps, from Barney’s ‘murder’ to Sonic’s disastrous debut

Balloons don’t always play by our rules.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade unites generations, encouraging revelers to count their blessings as floating odes to commerce and media fill the wintry sky.

Since its start in 1924, the parade has persevered for more than a century, incorporating sky-high balloons, decked-out floats, and celebrity performances, as well as highlights from New York City’s vibrant theatrical scene.

Of course, controversy is inevitable for such an extravagant, long-running spectacle. To flaunt inflatable behemoths around New York City is to court catastrophe, and the annual parade has seen its fair share — some funny, some tragic.

Below, we’ve assembled 10 of the most memorable Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade mishaps, from a flaming Felix the Cat and the “murder” of Barney to 1997’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad parade.

1931: Felix on Fire

Black cats can be portents of bad luck. It’s fitting, then, that the parade’s first major catastrophe saw Felix the Cat catch fire when a balloon modeled after the animated feline hit a power line.

“Toy cat expires in blaze,” reads The New York Times‘ incredible headline about the incident.

1932: Tom Cat Takes to the Sky

In the parade’s early days, the balloons weren’t deflated once their march down 6th Avenue was completed. Rather, they were simply released into the sky, left to soar for around a week before touching down on some poor soul’s house. But hey, anyone who returned a downed balloon to Macy’s scored a cool $100 from the department store chain.

The downsides of that practice emerged in 1932, when a 22-year-old pilot steering a biplane over Queens came face-to-face with “something yellow, striped and tremendous, like a sea serpent out of its native element,” per the New York Times.

No, it wasn’t a dragon (or an alien). It was Tom Cat, a 60-foot balloon that had just been cut loose from Herald Square. The plane’s left wing clipped the balloon, which wrapped around the wing and sent the vessel into a tailspin. Thankfully, Tom’s grip on the plane eventually loosened and the plane was able to avoid crashing.

It was a close call, though, with the Times reporting that the plane was just 80 feet above ground before the save.

1971: A Mighty Wind

The Macy’s parade is by and large a “rain or shine” situation (sometimes to the peril of those performing), but the storms sweeping New York City on Thanksgiving Day in 1971 were simply too severe. As harsh winds whipped outside, organizers chose to ground the balloons for the first time since the helium shortage during WWII.

That’s not to say there was no entertainment for those who weathered the rain to celebrate the holiday. “Junior Miss America did come,” the New York Times reported, “but she stayed in her pumpkin coach and shivered.”

1983: “Mickey Mouse is Dead”

Mickey Mouse didn’t even get to float over the 1983 Macy’s parade. Why? Well, he literally exploded while being inflated, putting an end to that particular Mickey.

”Mickey Mouse is dead,” Macy’s employee Ken Maddock, who had overseen the Mickey balloon for 15 years, told The New York Times. ”When the workers unpacked him, they tore his arm off and when they went to inflate him, he blew up.”

Maddock added, ”I’m sort of depressed. I think the children will miss him.”

1986: A Raggedy Affair

1986 was a rough year, what with the Challenger explosion and the Chernobyl disaster casting a dark shadow over previous months. Comfort was in short supply at the year’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which proved to be among the most mishap-laden outings in its history.

Heavy winds had their way with the balloons, leading to Woody Woodpecker’s partial decapitation, Garfield limping on just two legs, and Superman losing a hand in the trees along 77th Street. By parade’s end, Olive Oyl “retained just two grotesque fragments of her left arm,” according to the New York Times.

But it was Raggedy Ann who wreaked the most havoc, knocking into a streetlamp that shattered and fell into the cement. Thankfully, nobody was injured.

1993: Sonic’s Disastrous Debut

Nowadays, it’s common to see video game characters at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but that wasn’t the case in 1993.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s beloved Mario, was among the new balloons that year, marking the first time a gaming icon would join the parade. Unfortunately, his chaotic debut did little to win over non-gamers.

It was a windy day, and Sonic smashed into a streetlamp at 58th and Broadway, sending glass and metal raining down on the crowd as the balloon deflated due to a puncture. An off-duty police officer and a little girl were both injured, and the officer was hospitalized. According to a local news report at the time, the girl was treated at the scene.

The incident made national headlines, and the 1994 Friends episode “The One Where Underdog Gets Away” was reportedly inspired by it.

In a Polygon oral history of the calamity, a former marketing executive who worked on the Sonic campaign said that the balloon’s design may have contributed to the mishap.

“Before the design of Sonic, the parade balloons all floated down the parade route parallel to the street. Sonic was captured in mid-flight upward,” she explained. “This meant the ground crew had longer ropes in the front than the back, and consequently, less control over the balloon.”

1995: Dudley is a Dud

Dudley the Dragon, a sneaker-clad green lizard popular on Canadian TV in the mid-90s, made his Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade debut in 1995. Sadly, he spewed more air than fire after slamming into a Columbus Circle streetlight.

Not only did the impact slice open his yellow belly, but it sent shattered glass onto parade attendees. Reports at the time highlighted the poor dragon’s slow deflation and inability to finish the 25 blocks left on his journey. Alas, poor Dudley.

1997: The Cat in the Splat

Perhaps the most disastrous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade occurred in 1997, when an accident involving a Cat in the Hat balloon resulted in multiple injuries, a $395 million lawsuit, and a mayoral task that led to sweeping reforms in terms of balloon size, volunteer training, and even streetlight design.

The most severe of the parade’s many catastrophes saw the Cat in the Hat balloon strike a streetlight at 72nd Street and Central Park West, causing a horizontal metal arm to snap off and fall onto the crowd below.

Four spectators were injured, two with severe head injuries. One woman, Kathleen Caronna, suffered a skull fracture and was in a coma for nearly a month. She went on to sue the city, Macy’s, and the lamppost manufacturer for $395 million, per CNN. A settlement was reached in 2001.

Several other balloons struggled to stay afloat during the 1997 parade, which was derailed by windy conditions. Both the Pink Panther and Barney balloons needed to be punctured with knives to prevent them from imploding, according to the New York Times.

Amusingly, footage of Barney’s collapse and “murder” has become a meme over the past few decades.

2005: Red and Yellow Ruin the Holidays

An M&M’s-sponsored spectacle called Red and Yellow Brighten the Holidays did anything but during a 2005 incident that saw the balloon — designed to resemble an air balloon — careen into a streetlamp in Times Square.

As you can see in video footage, the 515-pound balloon knocked a light fixture off of the tall pole, dropping it onto spectators below. As reported by the New York Times, two spectators were injured.

The first, a 26-year-old woman in a wheelchair, suffered a bruised forehead, while her 11-year-old sister suffered a chipped tooth and a cut to the back of her head necessitating six stitches.

2017: Spider-Man Meets Uncle Sam

This one’s less a mishap than a blush-worthy bit of fun — also, it happened the night before the parade — but we can’t imagine Macy’s was thrilled when a shot of Spider-Man’s masked face nestled in the rear end of an Uncle Sam balloon made the rounds on social media.

Credit the late, great Gilbert Gottfried for the image’s proliferation. “Spider-Man gives America something to be thankful for,” the comedian wrote in a social media post that spread like wildfire through a puerile internet. “Happy Thanksgiving.”