Footage of Sonic the Hedgehog’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Incident from 1993 Surfaces Online

A Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade disaster took place in 1993 when the parade’s Sonic the Hedgehog balloon was wrapped up in heavy winds and thrown around until it hit a lamppost and also injured two people. Those who saw the event when it happened may still recall the incident, but there hasn’t been any known footage of the Sonic balloon catastrophe to show what happened if you didn’t see it in person. That’s now changed thanks to a new video’s that surfaced which contained a brief clip of the incident as it happened.

The footage of the Sonic the Hedgehog balloon flying asunder came from Eyewitness News ABC7NY when the outlet shared the video below to show a similar incident occurring in 1997. The focus of the video was on a Cat in the Hat balloon which also collided with a lamppost, but instead of just popping itself on the protrusion, it knocked a piece of the actual lamppost off which then fell into the crowd.

The Sonic the Hedgehog incident was less eventful than that, but you can see it taking place around 1:39 in the video below.

We also have Twitter user RenandStimpySon to thank for spotting the footage which would’ve slipped by many people had they not thought to watch the entire video seeing how ABC7NY’s footage makes no mention of the event until it actually showed it. It’s an extremely brief look at the event happening, but it’s still the only footage that’s known to exist of the collision happening.

Injuries resulting from the Sonic the Hedgehog included an off-duty police officer being struck by the balloon as it was thrown off course, according to ABC7NY. The police officer’s shoulder was broken, but the incident was still not as damaging as when the Cat in the Hat balloon’s mishap caused it to injure four people.

Winds were high once again during this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and at one point, it was unclear how much freedom the balloons would have during the event. There was a chance that the balloons wouldn’t fly at all if winds were strong enough, though they were ultimately allowed into the parade.