Alas, this monolith was not the work of aliens, but a ‘bad local welder.’
The week after the infamous “Mystery Monolith” was unceremoniously toppled and removed from the Utah desert where it inexplicably appeared, another monolith popped up — and disappeared — in Romania.
Although this time around, the occurrence has a little less mystique surrounding it.
“An unidentified person, apparently a bad local welder, made it … now all that remains is just a small hole covered by rocky soil,” local journalist Robert Iosub told Reuters. Iosub noted that shoddy welding contributed to the structure’s quiet overnight disappearance, for which no one had immediately taken credit.
Much like the iconic litter that sprung up on public lands in Utah last month, this metal block appeared in a protected archaeological area — near an ancient fortress in Romania’s Neamt county.
‘Leave No Trace’
The European monolith appears to have been a copycat endeavor. When Utah officials announced their discovery of the structure in November, the mystery seized worldwide attention.
Shortly after the news spread, however, people began to flock to the remote site, which authorities didn’t officially release for fear visitors might endanger themselves or harm the environment. That triggered four men to tear down the monument, calling it “trash” and invoking Leave No Trace, according to travel photographer Ross Bernards.
Bernards uploaded photos of the takedown and an account of what happened on Instagram.
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Still, no one has officially claimed responsibility for either structure (aliens included).
