VIDEO: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon accidents through the years

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is world famous for its tradition of larger than life balloons of cartoon characters flying through the streets of Manhattan.

These balloons are also famous for doing what balloons do best — popping.

Metro had no idea just how dangerous lampposts, branches, or even the NYPD could be for these playful looking balloons. Whatch all the rubber carnage in the videos below:

Although there isn’t any footage online of Sonic’s final moments, there’s some pretty graphic footage of Rex the Dinosaur getting bopped right in the face by a lamppost at Columbus Circle. Sonic apparently slammed into another lamppost which then fell and injured a child and police officer.

During the parade of 1997 heavy winds pushed the purple dinosaur into a lamppost. Police officers, fearing for the safety of the parade viewers, leapt upon the dinosaur and deflated it by stabbing and stomping it. Two things were killed that day, a purple dinosaur and the dreams of little kids across the country.

Barney wasn’t the only incident to mar the Thanksgiving Day parade of 1997. The Cat in the hat ran into a lamppost the debris of which injured a woman and left her permanently brain damaged.

You would think Spiderman would be used to soaring through the canyons of New York City, but an accident during 2013’s Thanksgiving Day Parade proved other wise. While gliding down Central Park West Spider man gently rubbed against a bare tree branch and tiny gash deflated his left arm.