"Balloon boy" found safe at home (pictures)

The silver, flying-saucer-shaped balloon was shown on live TV as it soared up to 7,000 feet and drifted for miles across the Colorado skies, landing gently in a field after slowly deflating.

But the boy was not found inside the balloon after it landed.

"Apparently, he's been there (at home) the whole time," said Jim Alderden, the County Sheriff.

"Hiding in a box a cardboard box, in an attic above the garage," he added.

The boy was identified by the Denver Post as Falcon Heene.

The newspaper said the boy's father, Richard Heene, a storm chaser and amateur scientist, had built the contraption and that the boy's brother had seen him get inside before it broke loose from its moorings.