More weirdness:
Now a mysterious Arthur C Clarke-style monolith appears in ROMANIA after unexplained metal vanished from Utah – so who (or what) put it there?
A mysterious metal monolith has appeared in Romania this week after another similar structure found in the remote Utah desert was removed by an 'unknown party'.
The shiny triangular pillar was found on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt in northern Romania last Thursday.
It was spotted a few metres away from the well-known archaeological landmark the Petrodava Dacian Fortress, an fort built by the ancient Dacian people between 82 BC and AD 106.
The peculiar find comes after a similar monolith was found in the Utah desert with no explanation, sparking wry speculation that it could have been the work of aliens, but is more likely the work of a prankster inspired by science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In the book by Arthur C Clarke, later made into a film by Stanley Kubrick, a monolith first appears on Earth in Africa three million years ago and appears to confer intelligence upon a starving tribe of great apes to develop tools.
A mysterious metal monolith has appeared in Romania after another similar structure found in the remote Utah desert was removed by an 'unknown party'
The shiny triangular pillar was found on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt in northern Romania last Thursday.
It was spotted a few metres away from the well-known archaeological landmark the Petrodava Dacian Fortress, which is the oldest historical monument in Piatra Neamt.
The monolith is used as a tool by an alien race to investigate worlds across the galaxy and to encourage the development of intelligent life.
In the book, the great apes use their tools to kill animals to eat meat to end their starvation, and to kill a predatory leopard. The next day, the main character uses a club to kill the leader of a rival tribe of apes, leading to an awakening of intelligence and the development of humans.
In Utah, the pillar, which protruded approximately 12 feet from the red rocks in southern Utah, was spotted last Wednesday by baffled local BLM officials who were counting bighorn sheep from a helicopter.
However the three-sided structure was removed by an 'unknown party' on Friday evening, the Bureau of Land Management Utah said in a statement.
News of the discovery in Utah quickly went viral online, with many noting the object's similarity to the strange alien monoliths that trigger huge leaps in human progress in Kubrick's classic sci-fi film '2001: A Space Odyssey.'
In Romania, the triangular structure has a height of about 13 feet and one side faces Mount Ceahlau, known locally as the Holy Mountain.
It is one of the most famous mountains in Romania, and is listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the country.
Romanian officials still do not know who is responsible for erecting the mysterious monolith.
Neamt Culture and Heritage official Rocsana Josanu said: 'We have started looking into the strange appearance of the monolith.
'It is on private property, but we still don't know who the monolith's owner is yet. It is in a protected area on an archaeological site.'
She added: 'Before installing something there, they needed permission from our institution, one that must then be approved by the Ministry of Culture.'
[...]
The Utah monolith provoked arguments about tourists who drove huge distances to see the monolith and were accused of trashing the location, which authorities had tried to keep secret to avoid people getting lost.
But many tracked down the co-ordinates and published them - leading people to drive many hours through the night to reach the 12ft aluminium structure.
And it was revealed that a similar version appeared nearly 20 years ago on New Years Day in Seattle.
[article continues with more info about the Utah monolith - that it's an avant-garde work of John McCracken, an American artist who lived for a time in nearby New Mexico, and died in 2011]
One explorer crouches beside the triangular top which has been left next to a stack of rocks
[...]
A view of the mystery monolith in Magnuson Park in Seattle pictured on January 2, 2001
FULL STORY
And, if that isn't weird enough:
Local media reported that police in the Bavarian town of Kempten, about 79 miles southwest of Munich, are investigating the disappearance, although it wasn't clear whether a crime had been committed.
"We don't know whether it is a criminal offense or not," police spokesman Holger Stabik told local newspaper Allgaeuer Zeitung on Monday.
The peculiar sculpture suddenly vanished from a mountainside in Bavaria, Germany. (Getty Images)
The almost 7-foot-tall (2 meters) sculpture appeared to have been chopped down over the weekend, the paper reported. All that remained on the 5,702-foot-high (1,738 meters) Gruenten mountain was a pile of sawdust and splinters.
The peculiar sculpture has become a hotspot destination for hikers in recent years and even appeared on Google Maps, where it was classified as a "cultural monument."
Media outlets attributed its sudden appearance on the mountain to a local legend that says it was made as a prank birthday present for a young man whose family didn't appreciate the gift. The 440-pound (200-kilogram) sculpture was then hauled up the mountain and left there.
Its disappearance comes just days after a mysterious monolith in Utah made headlines – before suddenly vanishing itself.
The Utah Bureau of Land Management has confirmed that the strange structure was removed by an unknown party. The monolith became a viral sensation after its recent discovery, sparking speculation about what it was and how it got here.
It would seem humans are involved, but can't help but think of Keel and his "cosmic jokers" designation.
Now a mysterious Arthur C Clarke-style monolith appears in ROMANIA after unexplained metal vanished from Utah – so who (or what) put it there?
A mysterious metal monolith has appeared in Romania this week after another similar structure found in the remote Utah desert was removed by an 'unknown party'.
The shiny triangular pillar was found on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt in northern Romania last Thursday.
It was spotted a few metres away from the well-known archaeological landmark the Petrodava Dacian Fortress, an fort built by the ancient Dacian people between 82 BC and AD 106.
The peculiar find comes after a similar monolith was found in the Utah desert with no explanation, sparking wry speculation that it could have been the work of aliens, but is more likely the work of a prankster inspired by science fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In the book by Arthur C Clarke, later made into a film by Stanley Kubrick, a monolith first appears on Earth in Africa three million years ago and appears to confer intelligence upon a starving tribe of great apes to develop tools.
A mysterious metal monolith has appeared in Romania after another similar structure found in the remote Utah desert was removed by an 'unknown party'
The shiny triangular pillar was found on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt in northern Romania last Thursday.
It was spotted a few metres away from the well-known archaeological landmark the Petrodava Dacian Fortress, which is the oldest historical monument in Piatra Neamt.
The monolith is used as a tool by an alien race to investigate worlds across the galaxy and to encourage the development of intelligent life.
In the book, the great apes use their tools to kill animals to eat meat to end their starvation, and to kill a predatory leopard. The next day, the main character uses a club to kill the leader of a rival tribe of apes, leading to an awakening of intelligence and the development of humans.
In Utah, the pillar, which protruded approximately 12 feet from the red rocks in southern Utah, was spotted last Wednesday by baffled local BLM officials who were counting bighorn sheep from a helicopter.
However the three-sided structure was removed by an 'unknown party' on Friday evening, the Bureau of Land Management Utah said in a statement.
News of the discovery in Utah quickly went viral online, with many noting the object's similarity to the strange alien monoliths that trigger huge leaps in human progress in Kubrick's classic sci-fi film '2001: A Space Odyssey.'
In Romania, the triangular structure has a height of about 13 feet and one side faces Mount Ceahlau, known locally as the Holy Mountain.
It is one of the most famous mountains in Romania, and is listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the country.
Romanian officials still do not know who is responsible for erecting the mysterious monolith.
Neamt Culture and Heritage official Rocsana Josanu said: 'We have started looking into the strange appearance of the monolith.
'It is on private property, but we still don't know who the monolith's owner is yet. It is in a protected area on an archaeological site.'
She added: 'Before installing something there, they needed permission from our institution, one that must then be approved by the Ministry of Culture.'
[...]
The Utah monolith provoked arguments about tourists who drove huge distances to see the monolith and were accused of trashing the location, which authorities had tried to keep secret to avoid people getting lost.
But many tracked down the co-ordinates and published them - leading people to drive many hours through the night to reach the 12ft aluminium structure.
And it was revealed that a similar version appeared nearly 20 years ago on New Years Day in Seattle.
[article continues with more info about the Utah monolith - that it's an avant-garde work of John McCracken, an American artist who lived for a time in nearby New Mexico, and died in 2011]
One explorer crouches beside the triangular top which has been left next to a stack of rocks
[...]
A view of the mystery monolith in Magnuson Park in Seattle pictured on January 2, 2001
FULL STORY
And, if that isn't weird enough:
Phallic landmark statue in Germany mysteriously disappears; police investigating
Local police were unsure whether a crime has been committed
The mysterious disappearance of a phallic-shaped sculpture from a German mountainside, where it first appeared without explanation several years ago, has caught the attention of local police.Local media reported that police in the Bavarian town of Kempten, about 79 miles southwest of Munich, are investigating the disappearance, although it wasn't clear whether a crime had been committed.
"We don't know whether it is a criminal offense or not," police spokesman Holger Stabik told local newspaper Allgaeuer Zeitung on Monday.
The peculiar sculpture suddenly vanished from a mountainside in Bavaria, Germany. (Getty Images)
The almost 7-foot-tall (2 meters) sculpture appeared to have been chopped down over the weekend, the paper reported. All that remained on the 5,702-foot-high (1,738 meters) Gruenten mountain was a pile of sawdust and splinters.
The peculiar sculpture has become a hotspot destination for hikers in recent years and even appeared on Google Maps, where it was classified as a "cultural monument."
Media outlets attributed its sudden appearance on the mountain to a local legend that says it was made as a prank birthday present for a young man whose family didn't appreciate the gift. The 440-pound (200-kilogram) sculpture was then hauled up the mountain and left there.
Its disappearance comes just days after a mysterious monolith in Utah made headlines – before suddenly vanishing itself.
The Utah Bureau of Land Management has confirmed that the strange structure was removed by an unknown party. The monolith became a viral sensation after its recent discovery, sparking speculation about what it was and how it got here.
It would seem humans are involved, but can't help but think of Keel and his "cosmic jokers" designation.