Now the Romanian monolith has disappeared, just like the mysterious Utah monolith
mysterious monolith case has gone international.
The metal monolith that appeared in Romania has disappeared – following reports, and the fate, of a perplexing 10-foot metal structure found embedded in rock in remote Utah that made international news, only to disappear 10 days later.
The most recent pillar, triangular in form, was found last week on Batca Doamnei Hill in the northern Romanian city of Piatra Neamt – close to the Petrodava Dacian Fortress archeological landmark.
Reuters reported Tuesday that the shiny metal Romanian monolith had disappeared, quoting journalist Robert Iosub of the local newspaper Ziar Piatra Neamt.
“The 2.8 metre (9ft) tall structure disappeared overnight as quietly as it was erected last week,” Iosub said.
The mayor of Piatra Neamt, Andrei Carabelea, welcomed the discovery with a humorous Facebook statement on Nov. 28, the day after a similar structure went missing in Utah.
Mysterious Utah monolith:Disappears from the desert, removed by ‘unknown party’
“The universe chose,” Carabelea wrote, promising it was “nothing scary. Or at least, there is no reason to panic for those who believe that there is still life in the universe.”
“Piatra Neamț hosts a mysterious object,” he wrote. “My guess is that some naughty and terrifying alien teenagers have left home with their parents’ UFOs and started planting metal monoliths around the world. First in Utah and then in Piatra Neamț. I am honored that they chose our city.”
The town official noted he would have appreciated if the builder “followed the legal steps to obtain a building permit.”
Closer inspection suggested a distinctly regular human origin for the Romanian counterpart, compared to the critically praised Utah creation.
“An unidentified person, apparently a bad local welder, made it … now all that remains is just a small hole covered by rocky soil,” Iosub said.
The Utah Department of Public Safety discovered the original object embedded into the rock Nov. 18 during an expedition counting bighorn sheep in the barren, desolate region of southeastern Utah.
The exact location of the installation was initially not disclosed in an effort to stop individuals from attempting to locate it, for fear visitors could potentially become stranded in a remote area.
Days after the Bureau of Land Management revealed the structure had disappeared, travel photographer Ross Bernards, on the site with his friend Mike Newlands, revealed he saw four unidentified men remove the celebrated object.
“They took it away for a few reasons,” Newlands told USA TODAY on Tuesday. “It’s litter – public lands are to be respected, and this was out of place in a pristine and sensitive environment.”
Newlands noted the monolith had become a major attraction and “the damage to the land from all the vehicles and people was going to be disastrous.”
There could be consequences for the Romanian builder, human or alien. A spokeswoman for Piatra Neamt police, Georgiana Mosu, told Reuters that officers are conducting an inquiry into the illegally-installed structure, which was positioned in a protected archaeological area.