Today is Alien Abduction Day: Celebrate It the Washington Way!

If you are one of the millions of people who believe in aliens, break out the tin foil hats because today is your day to celebrate!

Alien Abduction Day: How to Celebrate in Washington State

You may not realize that today, March 20, 2025, is officially Alien Abduction Day. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like, a quirky holiday that honors the countless individuals who claim to have had extraterrestrial encounters. The origins of Alien Abduction Day are unclear, but it really started to get popular in 2008 after a festival in Toronto. For Washington State residents, this day holds special significance due to our long history of UFO sightings and reports of unexplained phenomena. Even personally, I was lucky enough to see something strange back in the 1990s, click here to read that story.

The History of Alien Abduction Day

The first publicized account of an alien abduction came in the 1960s with the case of Barney and Betty Hill, who claimed to have been abducted in rural New Hampshire. After that, UFO sightings and alien encounters have become a large part of American culture. Washington State has had reports for decades of strange lights and unexplained aerial phenomena are frequent. The sighting that led to the nickname “flying saucer” is from a sighting near Mount Rainier.

That UFO sighting happened in 1947 when pilot Kenneth Arnold encountered nine flying saucers near Mount Rainier, and the term "flying saucer" was first used. Today, Washington remains one of the top hot spots for UFO sightings in the United States ranked at #2 in the USA, with cities like Seattle, Spokane, and Vancouver leading in encounters.

Washington: The Perfect Place to Celebrate Alien Abduction Day

Washington’s reputation as a UFO hotspot makes it the perfect spot to celebrate Alien Abduction Day. If you're looking for the best odds, Seattle tops the list with over 700 reports since 1995, according to the National UFO Reporting Center. This fascination with aliens is deeply embedded in the local culture of Washington State.

If you want to celebrate, try learning the rich history of UFO sightings at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. It often has exhibits on space exploration and extraterrestrial encounters. Washington also has huge wild areas that are perfect spots for stargazing or looking for unidentified flying objects. If you look around, you might even find local UFO watch parties where people share experiences of unexplained phenomena they have seen in the Washington sky.

The National UFO Reporting Center is based in Washington keeps record of all sightings and offers an official space for people to share their experiences. Whether you're a skeptic or a true believer, this website is one of the best to read through on National Alien Abduction Day. Don't forget to look up and wonder, “What’s really out there?”