World UFO Day 2020: How UFO enthusiasts mark 2 July, history and significance of day

World UFO Day is celebrated annually on 2 July and is dedicated to Unidentified Flying Objects. The first World UFO Day was celebrated in 2001 by UFO researcher Haktan Akdogan. One of the major aims of the day is to raise awareness about the possible existence of UFOs and aliens/ intelligent beings from outer space. The day is also used to encourage governments across the world to declassify their knowledge of UFO sightings throughout history. According to a report in DNA, earlier there used to be two World UFO days on 2 July and 24 June. However, in 2001, an organisation called World UFO Day Organisation (WUFODO) decided to celebrate this day on 2 July as this was the day most UFO enthusiasts gathered to show “evidence” they had collected to support theories of extraterrestrial life.

Theories of UFOs first came into being after the Roswell incident. According to UFO watchers, in 1947 a flying saucer with aliens on board landed outside the New Mexico town of Roswell. However, authorities did an elaborate cover-up of the incident they claimed.

On 29 April, the Pentagon released three short videos showing “unidentified aerial phenomena”. On 27 April, the department of defense said that the videos were taken by US Navy pilots in 2004 and 2005, and had been circulating on the Internet since being leaked in 2007 and 2017. However, according to NASA “no astronaut has seen a UFO in space.” According to it, “Not everything they saw was immediately identified, but on the other hand there is no evidence whatsoever of anyone seeing an alien spacecraft."