World Ufo Day
People have been seeing unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, for thousands of years. There have always been mysterious objects in the sky that confounded and intrigued human beings. That’s why UFOs are such a big part of our pop culture and why hundreds of movies, TV shows, comic books, novels, and other art forms have included aliens and alien technology in them—especially over the past few decades.
It’s also the reason why there’s a holiday known as World UFO Day. The purpose of this day is for people to gather together and search the skies for UFOs. It’s a holiday that some people observe on June 24th and others celebrate on July 2nd.
Why are there two separate dates for the celebration of this holiday? It is celebrated on June 24th because that is the date aviator Kenneth Arnold reported what many people consider to be the first widely reported UFO in the U.S.
It’s celebrated on July 2nd because that is the date when the Roswell Incident occurred in 1947. Since there are eight days between those two dates, we suggest that people should just celebrate both holidays and declare the week as World UFO Week.
The 1947 Sighting By Kenneth Arnold
On June 24, 1947, aviator Kenneth Arnold was flying near Mt. Rainier in Washington State when he supposedly saw nine unusual objects all flying in a string. According to Arnold’s calculations, he estimated that the speeds of these objects were approximately 1,200 miles per hour.
He was later able to calculate the speed of these objects because they traversed the distance from Mt. Rainier to Mount Adams in about one minute and forty-two seconds. The distance between those two mountains is 50 miles. That was a speed of about 1,730 miles per hour or about three times the speed of any known aircraft at the time.
Because he didn’t know exactly where the objects faded from view, he rounded down his estimate of the aircraft’s speed to 1,200 miles per hour. This was the first UFO sighting after WWII, so many people consider this to be the first modern UFO sighting.
The 1947 Roswell Incident
In 1947, there was a flying saucer craze sweeping the United States, and Roswell, New Mexico, would be drawn right into the middle of it. On July 2, 1947, there was a crash of a U.S. Army Air Force balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico.
Six days later, on July 8th, the Roswell Army Air Field issued a press release stating they had recovered a flying disc from a ranch near Roswell. Almost immediately, the Army attempted to retract the statement and say that it was just a weather balloon, but the damage had already been done.
Soon news swept the country that a UFO had crashed at Roswell and that the U.S. government had not only recovered alien technology but also the bodies of aliens. This conspiracy theory continued to grow, and pretty soon people all over the world believed that the U.S. government was engaged in an elaborate cover-up.
Observing World UFO Day
There are a ton of different ways to observe World UFO Day. One of the recommended ways of celebrating this holiday is to go out on either June 24th or July 2nd, or both days if you really want to engage with this holiday, and have a Welcome To Earth party. Go out there with friends and family and scan the skies for signs of extraterrestrial life.
While you’re throwing a party, be sure to make some alien-themed foods such as UFO sliders, alien face cookies, or fruit rockets made by placing pieces of melon and strawberries on a skewer. This is a great way to celebrate this holiday. However, that’s not the only way you can celebrate this holiday.
Another way to observe this holiday is by having a UFO or alien movie marathon. Once again, gather some friends and family members together and watch some exciting alien movies. Don’t know what to watch? Well, allow us to recommend some popular movies about aliens that you might like below:
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
- Alien (1979)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- Enemy Mine (1985)
- Aliens (1986)
- Predator (1987)
- Independence Day (1996)
- Contact (1997)
- Men in Black (1997)
- Predators (2010)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Dune (2021)
You can also take the time to watch some of the great TV shows over the years that have featured aliens or UFOs. Want some recommendations for those, too? If you do, then you’re in luck because we’ve listed some:
