X-Day (Church of The Sub Genius) - First Event

First Event

When July 5, 1998 arrived and no alien fleet appeared in the sky, members of the Church began citing a large number of conspiracy theories to explain why the predicted end of the world did not take place. The manual page of the ddate program claims that the Church "declared that it had got the year upside down" and that X-Day will actually take place in 8661. The most popular explanation for the failure of the prophecy in the Church is usually summarized with the statement, "the calendar is wrong and July 5th, 1998 has not really arrived yet." Because of this, the Church has held annual gatherings around July 5 of each year since 1998 to celebrate X-Day and greet the arrival of the anticipated alien "Sex Goddesses." No flying saucer rendezvous has been confirmed as of 2012, but members of the Church have been undaunted. A more recent theory suggests that the X-ists did indeed come to Earth on July 5, 1998 as foretold by "Bob," but through one of the most pervasive Conspiracy coverups, Earth and Mars were switched, and the "Earth" we know is actually Mars. And thus, as there was nobody on the True Earth at the time of their arrival, there was nobody there to witness the Rupture.

The X-Day celebration has become well known in underground culture circles, especially in pagan communities. Of the various X-Day celebrations taking place, the largest and most popular each year was held at the Brushwood Folklore Center in Sherman, New York, but as of 2011 it has been scheduled for Wisteria Event Campground in Pomeroy, OH. Many underground rock bands have performed at X-Day, and the event has evolved into a festival similar to Burning Man, lasting for three to five days, with rock concerts, artistic events, bonfires, and parties taking place day and night.