The National Park Service is investigating why the Washington Monument would have gone dark Sunday night.
"The exterior lights of the Washington Monument are currently out," the Park Service tweeted Sunday night. "We are investigating and will have them restored as soon as possible." The agency has not yet reported why the lights would have gone out.
All of the monument's external lights were out except for the red lights at its top that are there as a warning to aircraft, reports Fox News.
The outage sparked speculation on social media from several Twitter users.
One posted a GIF from the 1980 movie "Airplane!" showing a character pulling a plug, and others commented how "super creepy" and how "strange" it was that the monument had gone dark.
Saturday, the Park Service announced the landmark would be closed "until further notice" because of the concern about the spread of COVID-19. It had already been closed since Jan. 11 because of security concerns about President Joe Biden's inauguration, reports CNN.
"National Park Service will monitor public health conditions in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as the opening status of other nearby visitor attractions, and reopen the Washington Monument and other indoor park facilities as soon as it deems it is safe to do so," the agency said in a statement. The monument's reopening date has not yet been determined.
The monument initially was closed in March over COVID-19 but reopened in October, before being ordered closed for a few days in December after a visit by then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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