The hill is regarded as a sacred mountain by members of the Aetherius Society, a UFO religion founded in 1954 by George King. They believe that Brown Willy was charged with holy energy on 23 November, which they celebrate each year as Charging Day, and gather at the hill on that day each year to celebrate the sun's alignment with positive and negative rocks. Other Aetherian holy mountains include Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, a mountain in California, two in New South Wales in Australia and two in Devon.