Farmer sparks UFO alert with helium balloons A red-faced farmer, Johnny Hewitt, has come clean after sparking a nationwide UFO sighting frenzy with a pack of illuminated party balloons. Mr Hewitt, 35, had tethered hundreds of the mulit-coloured helium-filled balloons containing miniature LEDs, in a net and floated the craft over his countryside home as a guiding beacon to party-guests before tying it back in his barn.