Curious Events Day is October 9 and it’s the day to wonder about everything we’ve ever wondered about. How do they get those clipper ships inside the bottles? Who figured out how to tie shoelaces? What’s the most recent sighting of Bigfoot in North America? Why can’t we find out what happened at Roswell? Be inquisitive. Be persistent. And be careful, don’t forget that adage — curiosity killed the cat.
History of CURIOUS EVENTS DAY
Curious Events Day is aptly named since it is itself a curiosity. Nobody knows how it originated, or when, and certainly not why. All of which makes it an appropriate subject for curiosity. Or at least reasoned conjecture.
Some have theorized that it was intended as a day when we could feel free to not sweat the small stuff. The annoying squeak in the door of the medicine chest. Those hard-to-open blister packs. The speed with which refrigerated strawberries appear to have attracted dryer lint. With all of that off our minds, we could concentrate on things really worthy of our mental ability.
Everyone, for example, is curious about the Loch Ness Monster. Somebody saw something. We have photos. We have scientific instruments. All this time and nobody has an answer? And what about those big stone heads on Easter Island? Archaeologists have researched moving them on sledges and walking them side-to-side on ropes. But we’re still curious.
Don’t forget crop circles. What explanation will we accept for that? Aliens who drop in after midnight to prepare a landing field? Artistic cows who need something to do besides chew their cud? A PR stunt for a tractor that can turn on a dime? We can’t forget the massive 780-foot crop circle appearing in 2001 at the remote area of Milk Hill in Wiltshire, England. The elaborate design is composed of 409 circles. The mystery has inspired countless books, blogs, fan groups and even Hollywood films. This, and other crop circles, remain a mystery to date.
In fact, Curious Events Day may be a PR stunt. Or it may have been born in a late-night session involving too much drinking, with participants waxing silly, wondering if there is a Guinness record for a large number of Sumo wrestlers jumping on bubble wrap, and why some people insist that cilantro tastes like soap. Nevertheless, it’s a digital holiday now, and it’s the perfect day to be curiously baffled about ancient mysteries, modern conspiracy theories, and the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
CURIOUS EVENTS DAY timeline
A farmer in Cardiff, New York, buries a 10-foot stone statue on his land, has two guys "discover" it while digging a well, and manages to turn the fake petrified man, his "Cardiff Giant," into a popular attraction for several months.
L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," about the search for a wizard who turns out to be a charlatan, is published.
The "Daily Mail," a London tabloid, publishes a photo of a curious creature with a long neck and one or two humps in Loch Ness, in the Scottish Highlands.
The crash of an "unidentified flying object" near Roswell, New Mexico, spawns 70 years of speculation about whether the U.S. government could be concealing the fatal arrival of aliens from outer space.
CURIOUS EVENTS DAY FAQs
What is Curious Events Day?
Curious Events Day is an outlet for you to exercise your curiosity, and therefore your creativity, as you contemplate the world. Give yourself this time to wonder how kittens figure out how to use the litter box so fast, and come up with a satisfactory explanation for someone who claims to have seen a ghost.
What is a "buttinsky?"
The first known use of the word for a busybody, or someone who has to know what you’re doing and can’t resist telling you there’s a better way to do it, was in 1901. A buttinsky is a good example of inappropriate curiosity corrupted into antisocial and offensive behavior.
What is the origin of "curiosity killed the cat?"
This proverb first appeared in a play by Ben Jonson, “Every Man in His Humour,” in 1598. In 1901, a newspaper in Titusville, Pennsylvania, printed an updated variation, which includes a second line: “but satisfaction brought it back.”
How to Celebrate Curious Events Day
Hunt a missing person
Watch "The Search for D.B. Cooper" and make up your own mind about what you think happened to the legendary skyjacker who parachuted out of a Boeing 727 with a bag full of cash. Read "D.B. Cooper & Me: A Criminal, A Spy, My Best Friend" and learn about another theory of who Cooper was.
Debunk a conspiracy theory
Tell 10 people that you heard Bill Gates is using the pandemic to implant chips in people with the testing swabs and see how many of them accept that as truth. Find out how many of them have been tested. Try to tell them this is just a crazy story that went viral.
Get a tattoo of Natalie Wood
The actress we remember from "Miracle on 34th Street" drowned mysteriously in 1981. Recently, her case has been reopened, and her husband, Robert Wagner, now 90, was named "a person of interest" in her death. Hmmmm.
5 Facts About Curious Deaths And Disappearances That Will Blow Your Mind
There was no material evidence
American Jim Thompson, who revitalized the silk industry in Thailand in the 1950s and supplied the fabric for the costumes in Broadway's "The King and I," simply vanished while taking a walk in the jungle when he was visiting friends in Malaysia in 1967.
Some suspected homicide on the hoof
Phar Lap, the racehorse who won the Melbourne Cup in Australia in 1930 just hours after surviving an assassination attempt, collapsed and died in California two years later, and rumors of poisoning swirled.
Deserted Roanoke was unsettling
There was no trace of English settlers who arrived on Roanoke Island, Virginia, in 1587, when the ship that was to resupply them returned three years later.
He went into the soup
Theories of cannibalism, going native, and drowning have competed since 1961 when Michael Rockefeller, son of Nelson Rockefeller, was dumped off a catamaran off the coast of Indonesia, set out to swim ashore with two jerry cans attached to his belt, and was never seen again.
He was a mystery man
In 1840, Edgar Allan Poe found delirious in shabby clothes in a Baltimore gutter, lingered for several days, hallucinating, and calling out for a mysterious "Reynolds."
Why We Love Curious Events Day
Everyone's nosy at heart
Go ahead and admit it. You've been curious about what was in the huge box delivered across the street two days ago. Why wonder? This is the day to ask.
We need perspective
When is the last time you checked in with Voyager 1 and 2, the interstellar explorers that left Earth 43 years ago because people on our planet are curious about what’s out there beyond the sun? Go to the Jet Propulsion Lab's website and see the latest photos from the Voyager Interstellar Mission. Don't you wonder if creatures on another heavenly body are looking for us?
Knowledge begins with curiosity
Everything we know today is the result of someone's curiosity. It was William Harvey in the 16th century who wondered how your blood circulates. The Wright brothers were curious about being able to control a flying craft that was heavier than air. Curiosity builds our mental muscle and improves our lives. What have you been noodling about?
CURIOUS EVENTS DAY dates
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | October 9 | Thursday |
| 2026 | October 9 | Friday |
| 2027 | October 9 | Saturday |
| 2028 | October 9 | Monday |
| 2029 | October 9 | Tuesday |
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