UFO again? Monolith disappears from US, another found in Romania
MANILA, Philippines — Another monolith appeared a few meters away from an ancient landmark in Romania, days after a similar protruding metal structure was found in an undisclosed wilderness in Utah, United States.
News of the disappearance of the Utah monolith, which stood at 12 feet tall discovered on November 18 by crew members of the Utah Department of Public Safety, triggered interest among netizens. It was immediately followed by news that another one was found protruding at 13 feet tall near the ancient landmark called Petrodova Dacian Fortress in the city of Piatra Neamt in Romania last Thursday.
A netizen's viral clip uploaded via Storyful features the monolith with inscriptions of swirls or circles on it. The uploader even knocked on it, creating a vibrating sound.
One side of the landmark where the monolith stands, a few meters away, faces Mount Ceahlau, one of the seven natural wonders of Romania and is locally known as the Holy Mountain.
In an interview with British newspaper Daily Mail, Neamt Culture and Heritage official Rocsana Josanu shared that their office has started "looking into the strange disappearance of the monolith."
Josanu added that the installation stands on a private property, a protected area on an archaeological site. Any installation needs permission from her institution and must be approved by Romania's Ministry of Culture.
Prior to the news of the disappearance of the monolith in Utah, the state's Bureau of Land Management said on Saturday that it had received "credible reports" that the object had been removed "by an unknown party" last Friday evening.
In a New York Times article, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Nick Street shared his observation on the monolith found in Utah.
"Somebody took the time to use some type of concrete-cutting tool or something to really dig down, almost in the exact shape of the object, and embed it really well," Street said.
"It's odd," he added. "There are roads close by, but to haul the materials to cut into the rock, and haul the metal, which is taller than 12 feet in sections -- to do all that in that remote spot is definitely interesting."
Ode to Kubrick, McCracken's final work?
Netizens were quick to draw reference from the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey."
In the Stanley Kubrick classic, which coincidentally is streaming on Netflix and might have registered a spike in its views, mysterious monoliths began appearing throughout the universe.
"I'm still not over the fact that the monolith from the '2001: A Space Odyssey' is on this planet. Maybe it's Kubrick on his next life," Twitter user Dan Hanson (@savantsports) said, adding an alien emoji.
Another drew the conclusion that whoever installed it was a fan of the late master storyteller.
"The Utah monolith was art, somebody did some 'Space Odyssey' tribute art. I wish the art had been better but I do approve of it vanishing, congrats Kubrick fan artist," another Twitter (@angrycomics) user wrote.
Others pointed out that the Utah monolith resembled the work of John McCracken, who lived for a time in New Mexico and died in 2011.
His son, Patrick McCracken, told the Times recently that his father had told him in 2002 that he would "like to leave his artwork in remote places to be discovered later." — With reports from Agence France-Presse
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