A second metal monolith that popped up in Romania 4 days ago has also mysteriously disappeared
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Aylin Woodward
Dec 2, 2020, 00:21 IST
The monolith discovered in Utah (L) on November 17, 2020, and a monolith discovered in Romania on November 27, 2020.Utah highway patrol/Ziar Piatra Neamt
A mysterious metal monolith recently found atop a hill in Romania has disappeared.
The Romanian monolith appeared on Friday, November, 27, the same day a similar one was reported missing in Utah.
The Utah monolith was discovered on November 18, but vanished nine days later, state officials said.
The origin of neither monolith is certain, but according to Google Earth maps, the Utah structure was erected some time between August 2015 and October 2016.
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The shiny, metal monolith that recently appeared on a Romanian hilltop disappeared Tuesday.
The nine-foot-tall structure "disappeared overnight as quietly as it was erected last week," journalist Robert Iosub, from the Ziar Piatra Neamt newspaper, told Reuters after seeing the structure. "Now all that remains is just a small hole covered by rocky soil."
No one knew where it came from, or who put it near the town of Piatra Neamt four days ago — but the structure appeared on the same day a twin monolith vanished from the Utah desert.
The Utah monolith lived in the desert for years, but the Romanian monolith had a much shorter lifespan
The twin slabs have some differences: the Romanian monolith is mostly covered in interconnected circles, while the Utah monolith appeared smooth. Both seem akin to the giant slab from an iconic scene in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, "2001: A Space Odyssey."
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It's unclear when the monolith in Romania appeared, though local news outlet Ziar Piatra Neamt reported the discovery on Friday, November 27.
Equivalent satellite imagery to establish whether the Romanian monolith has been there for long is not available.
There was no obvious indication of who left either the monolith. Utah state officials poked fun at the idea that aliens left behind the structure.
"It is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you're from," the division said in a statement.
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Bill Bostock contributed reporting to this story.
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