There are a lot of great UFO mysteries. From big stories, like whether or not Roswell is real. To smaller stories, like the UFO researcher who was found dead after vomiting black liquid. (Did they ever find out what caused his death anyway? That’s an intriguing story I’d like to look into. Super curious to hear what –if anything– ever came of that.)
Here’s another, albeit smaller, mystery: is World UFO Day June 24 or July 2?
The Backstory
Over at Haunt Jaunts, I have a page that lists Weird Holidays & Observances. I set reminders for myself to create videos or share photos on social media in honor of some.
One such reminder came up for June 24: World UFO Day.
I already had a good photo (the one accompanying this post in fact), but out of curiosity I decided to search “world” and “UFO” in Shutterstock. To my surprise (but also delight), several photos specifically dedicated to World UFO Day popped up.
But a couple of those said, “World UFO Day – July 2.”
Wait. What?
Fact Check
The first thing I did was Google, “When is World UFO Day?”
Google immediately spit back the date for this year, “Tuesday, July 2, 2019.”
Um…why did I have a note to social media celebrate it on June 24 then? Did I goof? Every once in a while I do that. Because some celebrations fall on the same date every year. Others, however, fall on the first Sunday of a month, or the third Tuesday. It’s happened where I haven’t paid attention to that when I update the calendar at the beginning of the year and keep an old date.
But June 24 vs. July 2? That’s a bit of a discrepancy. A pretty big one. How did I miss that?
So I Googled “World UFO Day June 24” and got my answer.
Both Days
I’m not the only one confused about what date World UFO Day falls on. According to Wikipedia, it actually falls on both days and here’s why:
The day is celebrated by some on June 24, and others on July 2. June 24 is the date that aviator Kenneth Arnold reported what is generally considered to be the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States, while July 2 commemorates the supposed UFO crash in the 1947 Roswell UFO Incident.
So happy World UFO Day! (Either on time, or early if you don’t celebrate until July 2. Which, hey, actually makes a perfect “Check-In” question.)
Check-In
Do you celebrate World UFO Day? If so, do you celebrate on June 24, July 2, or both?
Or are you like, “World UFO Day? There’s such a thing? Didn’t even know about it.”
