Post by JoannaL on Jul 2, 2021 11:13:00 GMT -5
July 2: World UFO Day!
For the past 20 years, World UFO Day, created by the World UFO Day Organization (WUFODO), has been celebrated July 2. Although some still celebrate the day on June 24, the anniversary of the Kenneth Arnold sighting, July 2, which marks the anniversary of the Roswell Incident, is now the official day.
The public has been fascinated by unidentified flying objects since 1947 when Arnold, who was flying a small plane near Mount Ranier in Washington state, reported seeing nine “saucer-like” objects moving at what he described as supersonic speed. It was Arnold’s account that led to a newspaper’s including the term “flying saucers” in a headline and the name stuck.
The Arnold report likely wouldn’t have been as polarizing had military officials not recovered wreckage of what some believe was an out-of-this-world craft near Roswell, New Mexico, a few days later. Although the U.S. Air Force later claimed what some thought was a flying saucer was nothing more than the remnants of a weather balloon, few believe the “official” explanation. For the past 74 years, there have been many claims of not only a strange metal with hieroglyphic markings recovered at the site, but also actual extraterrestrial beings.
While publicly dismissive when it came to visitors from outer space, the Air Force created a program called Project Blue Book in which 12,000 sightings were investigated and 701 of such incidents were classified “unidentified.” The program ended in 1969 with the Air Force later declaring there was no evidence of extraterrestrial craft or threats to national security.
Fast-forward to 2021: A recent report indicates researchers can explain only one of 144 UFO sightings by U.S. government personnel between 2004 and 2021. Eighteen of the sightings were observed from multiple angles and appeared to exhibit unusual movements and surprising flight characteristics, such as remaining stationary at high altitudes in high winds and moving with extreme speeds absent any discernible means of propulsion.
At present, members of congress, including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, are demanding answers. “For me, there’s stuff flying over military installations and no one knows what it is, and it isn’t ours,” Rubio said in a recent interview. “If stuff’s flying over the top of your most sensitive installations, and it’s not ours, and no one knows whose it is – you should find out who it is, and tell us.”
WUFODO has issued a statement indicating one of the primary reasons we should celebrate World UFO Day is to spread awareness concerning “the undoubted existence of UFOs and with that intelligent beings from outer space,” adding that observing the day encourages governments throughout the world to release information on UFOs to the public.
Sources: Vyomica Berry, WION, July 2, 2021; The Quint, July 2, 2021; The Fremont (Ohio) News-Messenger, June 24, 2021.
See also “September 3, 1965: Incident at Exeter.”
