Another monolith appears outside sweet shop in Pittsburgh

Another monolith appeared outside a sweet shop in Pittsburgh this week after mysterious metal pillars were discovered and later removed in California, Utah desert and Romania. 

Since mid-November, shining metal monoliths have suddenly appeared and then vanished, with the latest showing up outside Grandpa Joe’s candy store.

The tall metal structures have garnered lots of interest, with people stopping to pose for pictures with the latest mysterious pillar.

Owner of the Pittsburgh candy store, Christopher Beers, has since revealed he commissioned the 10-foot tall, 24-in wide triangle of plywood covered in sheet metal. 

A large 10-foot tall monolith has appeared on the street outside Grandpa Joe’s candy shop in Pittsburgh

People have stopped in the street to marvel at the enormous metal construction which was discovered days after others were found in California, Utah and Romania

People have stopped in the street to marvel at the enormous metal construction which was discovered days after others were found in California, Utah and Romania

Since it went up, passersby have been doing double takes as they stroll past the monolith positioned outside the store. 

Mr Beers said he decided to capitalize on the recent interest in the mystery structures and hoped it would provide some light relief from coronavirus news. 

‘There is a mystery behind it,’ said Beers, even though he stripped the whodunit angle from his monolith, which he freely admits was designed to drive up candy sales.

Beers said he was captivated by sculptures that made headlines and enlisted a colleague to erect a similar enigma outside his store. 

Passersby do double takes as they stroll past the new monolith  and take pictures beside it

Passersby do double takes as they stroll past the new monolith  and take pictures beside it

The owner of the Pittsburgh candy story Christopher Beers later revealed he had commissioned the structure

The owner of the Pittsburgh candy story Christopher Beers later revealed he had commissioned the structure

One Facebook post was all it took to generate a media buzz around the ‘mysterious’ metallic creation.

‘Hopefully, it’s a reminder to support small, local businesses that have been so badly hit’ by coronavirus, said Beers, owner of the independent chain of 10 candy stores in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

‘And isn’t it fun to have something to talk about beside the pandemic?!’

Since the monolith went up, business has been brisk at Grandpa Joe’s. Customers eagerly take selfies with the monolith before heading inside to load up on Christmas sweets. The Facebook post is also driving candy sales online.

‘Come see the Monolith before it mysteriously disappears,’ said a post on a Facebook page for Grandpa Joe’s.

Captivated by the appearance of the new monoliths he decided to capitalize on their popularity and place one outside his business

Captivated by the appearance of the new monoliths he decided to capitalize on their popularity and place one outside his business

Since the post appeared, business at Grandpa Joe's has been booming and created a buzz on social media

Since the post appeared, business at Grandpa Joe’s has been booming and created a buzz on social media

‘Is it made out of chocolate?’ commented one hopeful fan on the page. 

Elsewhere, tourists were flocking to the new metal monolith in California, after it showed up within days of others in Romania and Utah being removed.   

Dozen of local hikers had been making the trek to the top of the mountain in Atascadero to snap a photo with the pillar, which mysteriously showed up on Wednesday. 

A moveable monolith has popped up at Pine Mountain in Atascadero, California, on Wednesday

A moveable monolith has popped up at Pine Mountain in Atascadero, California, on Wednesday

The monolith at Pine Mountain is not attached to the ground, different from the one in Utah

It is estimated to weigh 200lbs, making it easy to push over

The monolith at Pine Mountain is not attached to the ground, different from the one in Utah. It is estimated to weigh 200lbs, making it easy to push over

But, just hours after it was found by hikers, a group of Trump-supporters chanting ‘Christ is King’ and ‘America first’ demolished it in the night.

In a video posted to the streaming website DLive, a group of four men dressed in a medley of military fatigues and Make America Great Again merchandise were seen pushing over the monument and replacing it with a wooden cross.

The obelisk appeared to be made out of stainless steel, welded together at each of its three corners and using rivets that are attached to the side panels. It stands at 10ft tall and 18inches wide, the Atascadero News reports. 

In a video posted to the streaming website DLive, a group of four men dressed in a medley of military fatigues and Make America Great Again merchandise are seen pushing over the monument atop Pine Mountain in Atascadero

In a video posted to the streaming website DLive, a group of four men dressed in a medley of military fatigues and Make America Great Again merchandise are seen pushing over the monument atop Pine Mountain in Atascadero

The group took a selfie after toppling the statue and replacing it with a wooden cross. The host of the stream, dubbed CultureWarCriminal, is seen right

The group took a selfie after toppling the statue and replacing it with a wooden cross. The host of the stream, dubbed CultureWarCriminal, is seen right

The monolith at Pine Mountain was not attached to the ground, different from the one in Utah. It was estimated to weigh 200lbs, making it easy to push over.   

The monoliths in Romania and a Utah desert were also removed after their brief stints of notoriety. 

On Tuesday, images emerged of four men working in the dead of night to remove the strange, triangular pillar from the desert in Utah.

The City of Atascadero is aware of the object's existence but it is unknown what will come of it

The City of Atascadero is aware of the object’s existence but it is unknown what will come of it

The mysterious triangular metal monolith that appeared in the remote Utah desert on November 18 and captured the attention of the nation vanished on Friday

The mysterious triangular metal monolith that appeared in the remote Utah desert on November 18 and captured the attention of the nation vanished on Friday

The shiny pillar, which protruded some 12 feet from the red rocks of southern Utah, was first spotted on November 18 by baffled local officials counting bighorn sheep from the air.  

Photographer Ross Bernards, who visited the monolith Friday, described in an Instagram post accompanying the photos how four men suddenly appeared that night, pushed the object over and dismantled it before carrying it off in a wheelbarrow.

‘One of them looked back at us all and said “Leave no trace.” That was at 8:48,’ wrote Bernards.

PICTURED: Three of the four culprits responsible for toppling and removing the mysterious Utah monolith on Friday night

PICTURED: Three of the four culprits responsible for toppling and removing the mysterious Utah monolith on Friday night

The monolith on November 27 just moments before it would be taken down by the group of four

The monolith on November 27 just moments before it would be taken down by the group of four

 Sylvan Christensen has identified himself on Instagram as one of the four men responsible for removing the shiny 12-foot pillar on Friday, which was first spotted near to Canyonlands National Park on November 18 by officials from the Utah Department of Public Safety.

In a video posted to his personal page on Tuesday, Christensen and three others are seen strapping the structure to a wheelbarrow and taking it away from the canyon.

Adventure tour guide Sylvan Christensen  (above) identified himself as one of the culprits in social media posts Tuesday, uploading videos of the monolith vigilante demolition

Adventure tour guide Sylvan Christensen  (above) identified himself as one of the culprits in social media posts Tuesday, uploading videos of the monolith vigilante demolition

‘The safe word is run,’ one of the men is heard joking in the video as the group cart the monolith away. 

The short clip, which has already been viewed over 100,000 times on TikTok, was captioned: ‘Don’t abandon your personal property on public land if you don’t want it to be taken out #utahmonolith #leavenotrace,’ accompanied with a shrugging emoji. 

News of the Utah pillar’s initial discovery quickly went viral around the world, with many noting the object’s similarity with strange alien monoliths that trigger huge leaps in human progress in Stanley Kubrick’s classic sci-fi film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’ 

Some observers pointed out the object’s resemblance to the avant-garde work of John McCracken, a US artist who lived for a time in nearby New Mexico and died in 2011.

But McCracken’s representatives have given ambiguous and at times conflicting responses to this theory, prolonging an international guessing game that intensified further with the monolith’s sudden removal Friday.

In northern Romania, the shiny triangular pillar was found on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt last Thursday

In northern Romania, the shiny triangular pillar was found on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt last Thursday

A shiny monolith vanished on Tuesday from Romania’s mountainous Neamt county, four days after its sudden appearance close to an ancient Dacian fortress.

‘The 2.8 meter (9ft) tall structure disappeared overnight as quietly as it was erected last week,’ journalist Robert Iosub of the Ziar Piatra Neamt local newspaper, who had seen the structure, told Reuters.

‘An unidentified person, apparently a bad local welder, made it … now all that remains is just a small hole covered by rocky soil,’ local reporters had discovered, he said.

The sheet metal structure had a badly-welded join, he added.

A spokeswoman for Piatra Neamt police, Georgiana Mosu, said officers are conducting an inquiry into the illegally-installed structure, which was positioned in a protected archaeological area from November 27. 

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